TAROT FOR BEGINNERS BY BARBARA MOORE

Intuition

Amongst practitioners of both the psychic and the intuitive arts, there is much debate about the definitions of each of those terms. The discussions usually focus on how "psychic" and "intuitive" are different, and where, exactly, the information gleaned by these practices comes from. For this book, though, let's quiet the debate and accept the fact that all such wisdom comes from the Divine; whether the Divine is located outside of you or inside of you is not important right now. We'll use the words interchangeably and consider them to mean "a non-rational means of obtaining information, understanding, or wisdom."

Belief in psychic abilities is unnecessary for reading tarot cards. Like so many aspects of tarot reading, this is something every reader must decide about for themselves. If you don't believe in or don't have any interest in psychic techniques, skip this section. However, if the world of psychic powers interests you, then definitely explore it and see how it can fit into your practice. Many psychic readers use the cards as a springboard for their readings, and many readers use psychic practices to enhance their readings, but you don't have to consider yourself a psychic to do so. In fact, many readers are uncomfortable with calling themselves psychics and prefer the word "intuitive."

There are some very simple ways to invite psychic information or open your intuition. We've talked before about centering and grounding. That is useful for preparing for psychic work, too. By centering, we pull our energy into the core of our being so that we can focus and be fully present. By grounding, we connect to the earth and to the universe and to the Divine in a conscious and deliberate way, inviting wisdom to flow through us. As we calm our mind by centering and connect to the Divine by grounding, we are perfectly poised to receive intuitive insight.

But how, exactly, do we receive this insight in tarot reading? When scanning the spread, a symbol or pattern may catch our eye. Stopping to consider it, we feel that we know the meaning, even if it isn't necessarily an interpretation we'd usually apply to that symbol, card, or pattern. That is the most common way that intuition influences tarot readings: simply by presenting a different interpretation than we'd usually use. Most readers call these experiences "intuitive hits." They come to recognize certain sensations that accompany their hits, such as a visual, audible, or even olfactory experience, an emotional reaction, or a deep conviction that they "just know" something is true.

Just centering, grounding, and being open to receiving intuitive information can add layers of insight, meanings, and relevance to your readings. As with any practice, there is always more to learn. If you are interested in psychic tarot readings, do read Nancy Antenucci and Melanie Howard's Psychic Tarot. In the meantime, here are two more methods to enhance the reception of psychic or intuitive information that work for many readers.

Ask

Specifically ask the Divine, your Higher Self, or the universe to strengthen your connection; to guide you; to help you hear or see intuitive information; and to relay it to the querent for her greater good. When you ask, be prepared for whatever will come; let go of expectations; trust the insight you receive. When working intuitively, trust is very important. We are listening to a voice or sensing information from a source we cannot easily identify or explain, which makes the logical mind a little crazy. The logical mind will likely tell us we are nuts. The logical mind can be very persuasive. With intuition, we don't have proof that will satisfy the mind, so we must have faith.

Connect with Your Querent

If we believe that all the answers to all the questions we have can be found within, then the job of the reader is to help the querent hear their own answers. Connecting with your querent is a way of asking her Higher Self to talk to your Higher Self, so you can provide the needed wisdom. I prefer this method that I learned from Geraldine Amaral. First, ask your querent for permission to connect with her Higher Self. Have your querent place her hands in front of you, palms up. 

Place your hands over your querent's hands with your palms down, palms touching lightly. Close your eyes, breathe, and focus on your querent. Tune in to your Higher Self as it talks to your querent's Higher Self. Ask it to guide you during the reading. As you move your hands to continue with the reading, ask that the connection remain intact until the reading is completed. Afterwards, thank both your Higher Self and your querent's Higher Self for their assistance and guidance.

Experiment with accessing psychic or intuitive information. While it is impossible to supply a logical explanation for intuitive hits, it is possible to build confidence to help bolster trust in them. The simplest and most common way to do this is to keep track of your intuitive or psychic experiences. Note the details of the reading, what techniques you employed, what you sensed or experienced, what you said, and how the querent reacted. If possible, follow up with the querent to see how the information played out in their lives. 

Intuition is considered an important element in tarot readings by many people. If incorporating intuition in your tarot practice doesn't work for you, don't worry about it. It is not a prerequisite to being a good reader. Scanning a spread, working with elements and numbers, and using elemental dignities or combinations are not mandatory either. Try them all, but select the ones that work with your beliefs and that make sense to you. While you may not ultimately work with all these techniques, you will likely work with a few so that your readings flow together better and provide useful information. In addition to interpretation techniques, you get to decide which spread or spreads you like. Let's take a look at a few.