General Notes on Tarot
My Ten Commandments of Tarot

1) Thou shalt use tarot as an instrument of love and healing and remember it is not for control or self gain.

Tarot is used to help others, not to manipulate people with knowledge about them or of what may happen in their life. It is true that there are situations where it is not appropriate to tell a seeker all that has been revealed, but it is never appropriate to use information revealed by tarot to control others, even if it is supposed to be "for their own good."

2) Thou shalt use tarot and perform readings from a place of calmness and centeredness and clear thy head, heart, body, mind, spirit, and soul from anger, pain, and dark influences before using tarot.

Darker influences, such as anger, fear, pain, lust (not just erotic lust!), and jealously can stand between the reader and useful, valid readings. All readers and seekers deserve the clearest, most unbiased reading possible. Doing a reading under negative influences can cause misleading, false, or even contradictory readings.

3) Thou shalt at all times be aware of the free will of the reader and the seeker.

Tarot can tell us what influences are acting on us, but it never tells us exactly what will happen. Each individual has free will and the ability, at all times, to determine the direction of his or her life by making his or her own choices. A reading may clearly indicate an event. No matter how certain this event is, it is still up to the seeker to either bring it about, avoid it, or decide in what manner it will be faced.

4) Thou shalt use tarot to learn about thy self and others who ask. Those who do not ask often do not wish to know or do not wish to be known about.

Use tarot to give information to people that ask for it, but do not use it to pry or spy. Sometimes a person will ask for a reading on a possible romantic interest or on an ex-spouse with whom the seeker is still angry. There is no difference between using tarot to find out what others do or feel and eavesdropping on conversations or activities to find out the same information.

5) Thou shalt allow all to have their own opinions of tarot and work with those who seek or who believe and avoid trying to change opinions of those who desire to argue.

There will always be skeptics and people who will even violently denounce tarot. They speak their opinions, which they have as much right to hold as you do to believe in tarot. It is not the place of a reader to convince a skeptic or critic. If the time comes, they will be lead to a desire to learn or accept tarot on their own. Until and unless that happens, entering into a discussion or debate on whether tarot is Truth is usually the best way to lose that debate or discussion. Entering an argument or fight about the Truth of tarot is a guaranteed way to lose that argument or fight, as well as respect for both you and tarot.

6) Thou shalt remember that knowledge is like fertilizer and should be spread. Tarot and the ways of tarot are not secrets to be known only by a few.

Tarot is to help others. When a seeker asks questions, it is to learn and to be helped. A seeker may want to know how tarot works or what cards can mean. The ways of tarot are not the secrets of tarot. Knowledge is always to be shared. Questions are meant to be answered.

7) Thou shalt remove thine own ego from thy readings.

When reading for yourself or for friends, it is important to see what the cards are saying. Do not be influenced by what you, as a reader, wish to see, or by what may be too painful for you to see. Remove your wants, desires, fears, and pain from your readings so what you see is Truth, not Deception. Ego and desires can even influence what cards appear.

8) Thou shalt focus only on the current reading and the seeker for whom the reading is being done. Let not thy energies be distracted, diverted, and diluted by other times or people.

When a seeker (whether it is yourself or another) asks for a reading, it is a disservice to allow your energies to be distracted by remembering other readings or comparing the present seeker or reading to others. There is only the present, the current seeker, and the current spread.

9) Thou shalt remember that all who read tarot are unique individuals and will all have different interpretations of each card, each deck, each seeker, and each situation.

Five readers will interpret the same card in the same reading for the same person for the same situation in five different ways. Tarot, like time, spirits, and the future, changes. Readings and interpretations vary and reading tarot is not a contest to see who agrees with whom. Reading tarot is an opportunity to help others and yourself.

10) Thou shalt remember that tarot is a gift and a gift, like mercy, "blesseth him that gives and him that takes."

As Shakespeare said, "The quality of mercy is not strain'd; it droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven upon the place beneath. It is twice blest: it blesseth him that gives and him that takes." (From The Merchant of Venice) The entire quotation would be appropriate here. There are those that read professionally and do so for an income and there are those who do readings for free. In whatever capacity, do not be stingy with using tarot to help people. Doing readings for seekers is a gift, which should be thought of as mercy.

---

General Notes on Tarot

The following are suggestions and notes for beginners about tarot and learning tarot. They are suggestions, since situations and people make it difficult to make solid and fast rules about conditions that may change.

1) Develop and stand by your own ethical and moral code about the use of tarot and how you will deal with different attitudes.

2) Read The Ten Commandments of Tarot and use them to create your own guidelines. These are written from experience. They are designed to help readers avoid what could be serious problems and maintain a respectable reputation. Unlike the original Ten Commandments, though, they are not written in stone and each reader may feel the need to make personal modifications. They are a starting point.

3) A person can start reading tarot cards with notes on a spread and notes on a deck. A person does not truly know tarot until he or she knows the spreads and cards so well the knowledge is internalized. Memorization helps, but it is only when a reader steps beyond memorization and fully internalizes details of cards and spreads that mature readings can develop.

4) Cards, spreads, and meanings change, not only from person to person, but over time. Cards do not mean the same thing to me now that they meant to me a year ago. Be aware that meanings and specifics are not static and be open to the hints cards may be giving you about changing conditions.

5) Pick a deck that is comfortable for you. It is best that beginners start with a deck that is close to the standard imagery of the time (in late 20th century America, that is generally a variation of The Rider Tarot). After the messages of the cards have been learned, it is much easier to grow into other non-traditional decks. Don't be surprised if you have to try several different decks before you find one that works well with you.

6) When picking a deck for a beginner, it is strongly suggested to pick a deck that uses imagery close to the "traditional" imagery on decks such as Rider-Waite. This is the imagery that is easiest to learn, since it is what is most often described and referred to in books. It is also easy to transfer experience with this imagery to other decks.

7) There are many decks that are not true tarot decks, such as medicine cards, or The Lover's Tarot, or the Inner Child cards. The last two decks mentioned use the structure of tarot and are basically tarot decks, but the card names and designs are intentions are so different from standard, they can be confusing for beginners. There are also many other types of decks designed for divination and meditation. Be sure you, as a buyer, know what kind of deck you are buying and for what purpose you are buying a deck.