why am i worse at tarot reading now? i've lost all specificity. i think i had the most of it back when i was reading for people on the aeclectic forums - there was a lot of "real life" questions (vs. spiritual/internal/personal development type of stuff), so it was easy for there to even *be* specifics for me to get. and i wonder if it's also partially because i'd only just started getting some proficiency in tarot, i didn't know it inside out yet. it was a tool that helped me open up somehow. increase in knowledge = decrease in intuition? (after a certain point, at least). it's easy now to default to some sort of meaning for a card very quickly. i think that's why my preferences switched to pip decks a while back, it forces me to read a whole scene fresh every time. but is that as specific as my earlier RWS skills? and (how) can i work on expanding that RWS-like accuracy? it definitely tightens up when there are spread positions, but i know it's perfectly possible to give accurate and specific open readings as well... maybe an exercise like trying to come up with 10 different messages for the same three cards (always in the same order/positions)? sometimes looking more at the "instant" meaning, sometimes at the associations/correspondences, sometimes at the image - see how much it changes, if taking it All into consideration together paints a cohesive, richer picture?
i'm thinking about this because i pulled some general guidance cards from the drowning world tarot last week and i was surprised how broad the message was. the cards were Justice, Queen of Cups and 10 of Wands.
my original takes:
later takes:
so that's only 6 messages, not a full 10, some better than others when it comes to specificity. it would definitely help if i had a question but for now the lesson definitely is to take my time and return to the same spread a few times to find more nuance than whatever the first "obvious" thing is.
this all reminded me i'd started and never gotten back to tom benjamin's "your tarot toolkit" - specifically for buliding precision in your readings. time to dust it off! i'm also really tempted to undertake something like windvexer here:
but i don't know i if i have the stamina. also i am of the belief that each card really can mean anything and it's only the context of the questions, circumstances, other cards present that narrows it down and specifies it, so i'm not sure how that type of reading (very specific meanings per card) would gel with me. i think i want to arrive at a specific message while allowing the cards to dance with each other fluidly, maybe that's still possible. i think windvexer's method definitely works when using tarot as a means to an end - getting the answer. but for me, reading the tarot is the goal itself, i just like spending time with it and puzzling it out. i feel like a quick banging out of the answer would rob me of that opportunity...? regardless if i'll ever reach for that type of solution, i plan on being a bit more critical of my readings in the foreseeable future and practicing specifics.
