5 Myths About Learning Tarot

Are These Myths Holding You Back?

Myth #1: Learning tarot is 100% based on memorization; I’ll never be able to memorize everything!

 
Actually, I don’t believe in memorization as a teaching tool. As a part of studying for my Masters in Environmental Studies, I also picked up a diploma in Education. The research is incredibly clear that simple memorizing doesn’t motivate students and it doesn’t help retention. I bring these learnings into the way I teach. I’ve spent the last four years teaching my own course (not in tarot, haha) at an arts university here in Toronto, and as a part of my commitment to ensuring my students actually retain and apply what they learn, I know first hand that memorization is NOT the way to go.
 
Furthermore, it’s NOT necessary as a starting point for learning tarot. Relying on memorized lists takes the soul out of a reading.
 
I place a high value on ensuring my students are grounded in the WHY of everything. WHY do cups tend to represent emotional life, and WHY do pentacles tend to represent both money and the physical body? Sure, we can memorize endless correspondence lists – but great tarot readings aren’t built on memorization. They’re scaffolded on knowing the hows and whys of the symbolism involved, and being able to relate all of those ideas to one’s own life and experience.
 
The worst tarot readings I’ve ever received were done by folks who simply memorized the cards. There was no heart, no soul; everything they said to me was boring and generic; I couldn’t do anything actionable with it and couldn’t tell what it meant for my life, despite my best efforts!
 
So, trust me: memorization is not the bulk of what and how I teach.
 
Correspondences only make sense if we also understand the whys and the hows (why does this thing correspond with that meaning?), and that also helps so much with memory and retention. When we rely too much on memorization, our readings become stale. Let me show you another way.
 
 

Myth #2: Learning tarot is 100% based on psychic skills and intuition, and I need to develop those so much more before I even start learning to read tarot.

 
This is something I hear a lot, and is the total other side of the coin to Myth #1! Just like tarot isn’t 100% based on memorization, it’s also not 100% based on already having a phenomenal intuition.
 
Commonly, I find folks use this excuse as one to stop them in their tracks, as a way to keep tarot learning as always a ‘to do later, sometime in a galaxy far, far away’ type of thing. Because we’re often NEVER satisfied with where our intuition is at – we think we have to be perfect to even start – we don’t take action, and our dreams of learning just sit in the ether, unrealized.
 
To the contrary, I believe that tarot is an amazing tool for helping to DEVELOP intuition and psychic skills! Whenever I work with anyone who is struggling with intuition, I always, always suggest they pick up a deck of cards. The cards give our intuition something to hang on to, an anchor and container to play, move, and expand.
 
If you pick up a deck of tarot cards and dedicate yourself to learning with them, trust me, your intuition will continue to improve. The perfect intuition thing doesn’t need to come first – and regardless of where you’re at on your intuitive journey, working with tarot will give what intuitive connection you’ve already got a little bit of a boost.
 

 

Myth #3: Learning tarot is hard and intimidating.

 
Learning tarot doesn’t have to be hard.
 
My style of teaching is open-hearted, candid, no-bullshit, and approachable.
 
I’ll never shame you or blame you for what you don’t know. I’ll never judge you for whatever interpretation you’re starting with.
 
With my years of experience teaching in diverse environments all over the world, I’ve developed methods to help connect students to their own vision, their own potentials for creation and connection, in ways that help connect subject matter in lessons to learners’ everyday lives. If a subject matter is obtuse or seems irrelevant or impenetrable, students often shut down. I am skilled at helping students find ways in to the material, so it is a bit less scary.

 

Myth #4: Learning tarot will take one million years, that’s time I don’t have.

 
To the contrary, learning tarot doesn’t have to take forever.
 
You just have to start.
 
The sooner you start, the more you know.
Where would your readings be at now if you actually started going deep the first time you wanted to? How long ago was that? One year, five? Think about it!
 
Obviously, as with anything, learning never ends – I’m still learning more about the cards every day, even after reading them for 20 years – but as soon as you begin with a little pocket of time here, a little pocket of time there, I think you’ll find that learning tarot can be a fun, playful, exploratory and grounding little ritual that you CAN make time for little by little.
 
Rome wasn’t built in a day, sure; but why not begin by laying the first brick now?
 
 

Myth #5: I’m not good enough to start.

 
Yes, you are.
 
You are ready to learn tarot, no matter who or where you are in your own practice.
 
Reading forever and still struggling? You can still start now, and commit to taking the process more seriously.
 
Always been curious but don’t know a damn thing about magic or witchcraft or energy let alone tarot card meanings? Awesome. I’m here for you, too. There’s no such thing as a stupid question. We all begin somewhere, and nothing makes me happier than seeing excited folks dip their toes into this powerful practice.
 
Fill in the blank: “I’m not _____ enough.”
 
What word do you put in there as a reason to not begin diving into your spirituality? To not begin learning tarot? To not apply for that job, ask that person out? To not take the first step to living the life that you really desire for yourself?
 
Our spirituality should be a place of home; an anchor.
 
You are enough.
 
You are enough, just as you are, and I believe in you, just as you are: however long you’ve been ignoring your spiritual practice, how little you feel you know.
 
You have everything you need – right now – inside yourself, already, to begin.

 

How would it feel...

...to be able to trust your own knowledge of the cards, to trust your own intuition, and to have confidence in the counsel you’re able to give yourself?
 
How would your life change?
 
I invite you to take a few moments here – stop reading this email, close your eyes, take a deep breath – and imagine yourself six months down the line, reading for yourself and your friends.
 
What would it feel like to connect to your practice in a more rigorous, thorough, and authentic way?
 
What would it feel like to FINALLY commit to deepening your spiritual practice, to putting in the time and the work and taking the leap to trust yourself and believe in yourself?
 
What would it feel like to have your best friend tell you, “Wow, that was the best reading – thank you so much for that, it was life changing!”
 

Wanna find out?

Sign up for Tarot Without Bullshit online course, or Tarot Without Bullshit Inner Circle with Group Coaching - email me at ceo@sabrinamscott.com for an exclusive invitation to join up.