I did a reading using my learner tarot deck and it got me thinking.
My learner tarot deck is really good because, not only does it give you an idea of each card’s meanings, but it also details additional symbols and states clearly which apply to which card. Plus, the little booklet it comes with goes deeper in the symbols depicted on the cards themselves, like the colors of the clothes, sky, shoes, objects, thus really supporting learning.
I like that, I like learning about these intricate details, and seeing them easily mapped out like this helps me anchor them to memory.
See here below how they are laid out:
I like knowing things, even what some might call impractical things. I simply enjoy studying and understanding how the world works. Being able to do a draw and have all these additional details on the cards, plus the traditional image of the card itself, really helps me learn.
I cannot recommend this type of deck enough to anyone interested in learning the symbols of the tarot, it can really help. I love books and they are crucial in deepening knowledge, but they are different things, different avenues of learning about the tarot.
Learner cards are also good at increasing confidence in yourself as a reader. Of course you do not need to learn all of these details, being an intuitive reader can work very well also.
The cards truly are for everyone.
But I digress, I wanted to write about the symbols on the cards.
I like symbols and I like all the meaning humanity has attached to them in the course of our existence.
I like that we all looked at the same sky, we all had the same human experiences and depending on the nature around us, on the harshness of our histories, on the advancement of our studies, we gave them all meaning and have attached symbols to them.
When I first came to Ireland, I was amused and fascinated by how two different cultures solved the same problems in different ways. I got this idea when I was in an old Georgian house and the garden door had a lock on it, a lock like none I had ever seen before.
Something like this below:
I loved it and found it fascinating. Of course we have locks in Romania, but I had never seen one quite like this, and I thought it was so interesting to see how a different culture solved the same issue, locking the door, in quite a very different way.
The lock made me realize that symbols may work the same way. Different cultures looked at the same sky, experienced the same fears, hopes, deaths, births and seasons, yet often arrived at different symbolic languages to describe them.
Now, as I write this, I think I must sound like such a child. Still, I suppose we all discover the world at our own pace, some earlier, some later.
Though, coming back to the topic at hand, perhaps that is one of the reasons tarot fascinates me. Beyond readings and predictions, it is a tiny museum of symbols. Every card carries ideas, stories and meanings gathered over centuries by people trying to understand themselves and the world around them.
And now it is our turn …