Terry Donaldson - Step by Step Tarot

Title Page STEP-BY-STEP TAROT A COMPLETE COURSE IN TAROT READERSHIP Terry Donaldson

Introduction and Historical Origins INTRODUCTION AND HISTORICAL ORIGINS WHAT YOU WILL ACCOMPLISH There have been many books on the Tarot, but never one like this. This book has come into existence as a result of my training other people in the field of Tarot readership, of having trained personally over 1,000 people in the subject to a high standard, in many countries and in many languages, and on a one-to-one basis over a 20-year period. The techniques which I am giving you in this manual are techniques which I know work, and, if you follow them through, will enable you to experience the wonder which the Tarot holds in store for you. The experience of Tarot readership is not a trivial one. To desire to work with the Tarot, whether to be able to do readings and to help other people or even for one’s own insight into the meaning of life is a really enjoyable thing to be able to do!

1. Effortless Effort 1 EFFORTLESS EFFORT You will master the Tarot not by struggling with ‘the meanings’ or by battling with the cards in any sense whatsoever. Sometimes it may be that you hit an impasse in your studies. Don’t panic. Nothing is accomplished without sacrifice, perseverance and patience. And the sacred mysteries don’t always reveal themselves to the casual enquirer. You will make progress in your studies if you can allow yourself to enjoy what you are doing. And by exercising the principle of effortless effort. This is not the principle of laziness, though, but of gently, effortlessly, stretching into the work which lies before you!

2. A Deck You Will Be Comfortable With

3. How the Tarot Works

4. Story-Telling with the Tarot

5. Tarot Worksheets

6. The Heightened Meanings

7. The Court Cards

8. Concentrated Meanings

9. Spreads and Layouts

10. Card Reversals

11. Practical Tarot Guidelines

12. Now About Those Cards You Can’t Remember

13. Doing the Same with Playing Cards

14. Brainstorming the Four Elements

15. Meditation with the Tarot

16. Twinning

17. About The ‘Negative’ Cards

18. Use a Tape Recorder

19. How to Avoid Depletion

20. Where to Go from Here

Appendix

Code of Tarot Readership

Bibliography

About the Author

Other Books By

Copyright

About the publisher

There have been many books on the Tarot, but never one like this.

This book has come into existence as a result of my training other people in the field of Tarot readership, of having trained personally over 1,000 people in the subject to a high standard, in many countries and in many languages, and on a one-to-one basis over a 20-year period.

The techniques which I am giving you in this manual are techniques which I know work, and, if you follow them through, will enable you to experience the wonder which the Tarot holds in store for you.

The experience of Tarot readership is not a trivial one. To desire to work with the Tarot, whether to be able to do readings and to help other people or even for one’s own insight into the meaning of life is a really enjoyable thing to be able to do!

The Tarot has always held a great deal of mystery down through the ages, especially for those who have desired to become more familiar with its message.

It is a message - or a map - of how we may achieve greater fulfilment in our lives, through a balancing of the emotional aspects with the material. Not through a denial of either. Many people can’t see a way out of their problems because they do not have an alternative point of reference from which they can begin to see what choices they do have. The Tarot reading can be that starting-point for many.

It is important that the Tarot reading is well delivered. It is not enough just to say things off the top of one’s head in the hope that maybe some of it will stick or somehow make sense to the Querent. (A ‘Querent’ is someone who has come to ask a question from the Tarot.) It is also important that the reader is able to work directly from the imagery of the cards, without having to disturb the continuity of the reading by breaking off to get out a book to check on the meanings of cards.

There is an intellectual discipline involved in learning how to read the Tarot, just as there was a discipline involved in first learning how to read the words which you are looking at now. But it is not a difficult one. There is a sensitivity involved in the art of reading the Tarot. It is not a mechanical process either. You could say that it is a bit similar to learning a craft.

There are people out there who still cling to the outdated notion that to be able to read the Tarot you have to be born with a hereditary gift to do so; that the art of Tarot reading is something akin to having dimples or buck teeth: it would have to come down the family line.

The truth is that the door of the Tarot opens itself to all those who genuinely desire to understand its mysteries, and who would make positive use of the knowledge and guidance which they would receive.

The exercises which I am giving you have enabled many people from many different backgrounds, religions, walks of life and educational levels to make sense of the imagery of the Tarot, and to become skilled and effective readers for social, personal and professional purposes.

I have had many professional readers come by to train with me and without exception they have all gained greatly from the experience. I have their feedback letters on my noticeboard for anyone who is interested to come by and look at.

For a long time I was very resistant to the idea of writing up the set of training exercises and making them available indiscriminately to the public. I used to have a very set idea that the Tarot could really only be taught in a one-to-one student/teacher ratio. The Tarot today is being promoted through workshops, weekend courses, correspondence courses, even holidays abroad, as well as in its historical tradition of one-to-one.

Now more than ever there is a real need for people to think in terms of getting themselves trained as readers, so that they can be effective in giving guidance to the many out there in our society who need it, who are seeking. So that they can be instrumental in guiding themselves as well!

The wonderful thing is that in the Tarot, there’s something for everyone! The basic message of the Tarot is that there is hope and that such hope may be realized through creative change.

In the pictures of the Tarot we have a set of windows through which we may look at life. We have a description of how the mighty creative forces of the universe ebb and flow, of how Yin and Yang manifest their energies in a physical world.

Compressed in the cards, we have many legends and stories from mythologies, astrological and archetypal significance, and esoteric secrets from a wide range of backgrounds.

But they are all different fingers pointing to the same moon: hints as to the kind of perceptions we first need to make in order to be able to change our lives. In other words, we all see the same truths from a different viewpoint.