Three important lessons about tarot reading
In 2004, I wrote my first tarot book. It got great reviews, but you have probably never noticed it because it was a Dutch book, and you may not be fluent in it 😉. Thousands of people still learn about tarot with my book.
The way I teach tarot is not the only way. I love other people’s techniques because I learn a lot about them. But I have three pet peeves that I want to discuss with beginning and advanced tarot readers.
But first, let me tell a story about my book. I knew it had been “helpful” for people. I never understood how helpful it was until about five years ago (years after the publisher discontinued the book), a lady heard my name. Her eyes turned big as if she’s been stung by a bee. “Jolanda Bolt?” she parroted my name after me. “Allow me to ask you a weird question, but are you THE Jolanda Bolt, who wrote the Tarot Werkboek?” When I acknowledged her, she said: “Oh my god, you changed my life!”
It was my turn to be surprised. “Changed your life?” I said, suddenly afraid I had ruined it. “Yes,” she said, “you taught me to read the cards, and my life hasn’t been the same since then!”
“Oh my god, I have a fan!” I said, and we both laughed out loud. We talked for a while, and she insisted that I’d give her an autograph on a piece of paper that she could stick in her book. It was a funny situation, but it also felt terrific, knowing I had made a difference in someone’s life.
The new book to learn about tarot
In 2021, I took the book and translated it into English. I thought it would be an easy task, but I almost regretted my decision weeks later. I knew I had no one to answer to, but even though it was not easy at times, I wanted to finish it because I wanted to impact more lives.
the book has been released on 11 August 2022! Now you can learn about tarot with me! I have big plans for future publications and transformational opportunities.
Translating and rewriting the book helped me reconnect with the beginning reader I once was. I see how I used the writing to learn. I still use writing to learn. Having to translate the text I wrote twenty years ago made me aware of how overwhelming it can be to look at the seventy-eight cards and have no clue about their meaning. Over the years, I have learned valuable lessons about what not to do when reading tarot cards.
Don’t memorize the meaning
When you learn about tarot and how to do a reading, many beginning tarot readers think they need to memorize the meaning of a card. Memorizing the meaning could help when you want to become more fluent and confident, but it will grow on you when you keep going. Who cares if you use a book? Check with yourself if you have high expectations about how you want to do a reading.
Above that, I firmly believe that creating a great reading is also about connecting specific keywords you once wrote down in your tarot journal or that you just found in a book. Creating the story from one keyword to the next brings value to your reading. We human beings thrive on stories.
Your expectation to memorize all card meanings may come from seeing someone reading the cards with ease. It helps to know the cards’ meanings, but it helps more to know how to tell the story they project. This skill is something you learn by doing hundreds of readings.
Thirdly, knowing the meaning of the cards comes in time, when you do many readings. You do that by pulling a card for yourself every day. Don’t let your expectation ruin your joy in doing a reading when you learn about tarot.
Stop using big tarot spreads
This aspect is a bit of a pet peeve for me. You don’t need any big tarot spreads to do a reading. An important example of a big spread is the well-known Celtic Cross tarot spread. When I first started to learn about tarot reading, I used this spread in all my readings, even when I had a simple question. I didn’t know any other way to do a reading.
Now I know that a simple question earns a simple tarot spread. If there is one thing I want to teach you when you learn about tarot, it is that you don’t need any spreads at all. One question, one card. Learn to tell the story that is in that one card. It is enough—more than enough.
There are a gazillion tarot spreads, but I mostly use spreads with a maximum of five cards. Because I often do my personal readings in the evening, I need to stop the reading because it is bedtime. The next day, the reading doesn’t feel right anymore, and I don’t finish it. An extensive reading only works when you can finish it in one sitting.
One card reading it is for me.
Not taking action
But the most crucial aspect that beginning AND advanced readers need to do is to take action on their reading. Most of us (me included) do a reading and leave it with that.
Manifestation only works when we manage to change the vibration of this third dimension. Manifestation takes massive action. Because this takes time, we become impatient and thus leave it hanging in the fourth dimension. The fourth dimension is the dimension of thought and emotions. Manifestation only works when we manage to bring it to the physical level. Sometimes I wonder if we’d rather keep thinking about our desires instead of manifesting them.
To manifest your desires, you need to take action aligned with your soul’s purpose. I believe this is why so many people struggle with manifestation because we live in a world that runs on thought. It would help if you translated those thoughts and ideas into action: no aligned action, no manifestation.
Tarot Guide for Beginners
My book, Tarot Guide for Beginners, has been released on 11 August 2022. Your journey to learn about tarot takes off! Why don’t you subscribe to my newsletter to stay in the loop about this and future releases or readings?
Photo by Soulful Stock on Unsplash.
Before you click away from this blog, I want to thank you for reading it, whether you’re reading every blog or you happened to find this website by searching a random keyword you wanted to learn more about. It means so much to have you here on this metaphysical journey with me.
My understanding of the metaphysical and how to manifest an abundant life change and evolves all the time. What I hope is that you got something out of this blog. I want you to have a more fulfilling, more authentic life, and one of the ways to do this is to subscribe to my newsletter so you can stay up to date with what I’m creating. Another thing you can do is to decide what this blog taught you, leave your comment below and tell one person you know. Thank you, and I love you.
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