October 3, 2024 • 17 mins
Today on CARD TALK, I’ll cover:
-what personal tarot card meanings are
-when in your practice to start expanding your understanding of individual cards
-three of my favorite methods for developing personal meanings
-how long it'll take you to develop a full library of meanings
For journal prompts to help you make your own meanings, check out Card Connections, a new resource available exclusively in the 3am.tarot conservatory. And to deepen your relationship with the Magician archetype, check out Magician's Lens, beginning October 26th or available anytime through the conservatory.
For more on Meg, check out 3amtarot.com, and order your copy of Finding the Fool through Bookshop.org or your favorite local bookstore.
Find episode transcripts and more over on the CARD TALK website. And as a special thank you for CARD TALK listeners, click here to download a completely free, exclusive workbook for building your best personal tarot practice.
Love what you’re hearing? Support the pod with a one-time donation or recurring subscription, and please subscribe, review, and share with a friend or two!
CARD TALK is written, edited, and produced by Meg Jones Wall of 3am.tarot. Theme music created by PaulYudin.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:11):
I'm Meg Jones-Wall and this is Card Talk, a mini
podcast for tarot basics andevergreen insights.
I'm here to help you build atarot practice that works for
you.
Glad you're here.
In today's episode, we aregoing to be talking about how to
make tarot cards your own, andwhat I mean by this is having a
(00:31):
set of definitions, meanings andor interpretations that you
develop on your own and use inyour tarot readings or your
personal work with the cards ona regular basis.
Now, sometimes these might beexpansions of standardized
meanings, which I went into alittle bit more in the last
episode, but other times yourpersonal experiences with a card
might take you over time in avery different direction than
(00:54):
classic keywords you might seeothers using or have been
relying on yourself.
Now, if you missed the lastepisode of card talk, I talked
about so-called traditionalversus intuitive meanings for
the cards.
But if you skip that episodeand you're not going to listen
to it, I want to be really clearhere that I don't think this
has to be a binary.
I think there is great value instandardized meanings and I
also think there's a lot ofwonder and magic in personal
(01:17):
meanings for the cards.
Personally, I use both.
I think it's great.
I think it's really fun to havea lot of different potential
meanings for the cards, and Ithink it adds a lot of depth to
your readings, especially ifyou're doing longer readings or
starting to use spreads orexpanding your knowledge of the
cards, or readingcollaboratively with other
people, et cetera, et cetera, etcetera.
Right, knowing how to buildpersonal or intuitive meanings
(01:40):
on top of these kind offoundational standardized
meanings can make for morenuanced readings and more
layered interpretations.
Regardless of whether youprefer to use more standardized
meanings or consider yourself amore intuitive reader, building
personal meanings for your cardscan be an incredibly satisfying
, empowering and trust-buildingprocess that makes your
(02:01):
relationship with the cards alot more personal.
Now, if you're just gettingstarted in your tarot practice,
if you just got your first deckand you're still starting to
figure out what you want to dowith these cards, you can start
to do this, this process ofbuilding personal meanings,
right at the beginning of yourpractice.
This doesn't have to besomething that you necessarily
wait on, but if you are tryingto learn standardized meanings
(02:23):
at the same time as you'rebuilding out your personal
meanings, it could be a littlebit overwhelming.
This really just depends onyour personality, your learning
style, your brain, the amount oftime and energy you have to put
into this practice, et cetera.
Please remember that learningtarot takes time.
You're learning to speak a newlanguage, you are learning a new
process and you're building arelationship.
(02:43):
Besides, building your ownpersonal meanings for the cards
can be a lifelong pursuit, soplease don't rush any of this
process.
Enjoy it, savor it.
Being a beginner is beautiful.
It's not bad.
It's actually great.
Enjoy the process of getting toknow your cards and beginning
to build out a practice.
Now, there are a lot ofdifferent ways to build out
(03:05):
personal meanings for your cards, so in this episode, I'm going
to talk you through three of myfavorite recommendations for
getting started with thisprocess.
Now, some of these methodsmight work really well for
bonding with the entire deck,while others you might find are
particularly effective for justa handful of cards.
I really encourage you to playaround with these methods and
see what works for you, and alsodon't be afraid to try other
(03:26):
things If none of these reallyresonate.
There are lots of differentways to deepen your connection
with your cards and start tomake meanings with your cards,
but these are three of myfavorites that I think are
particularly accessible and funto get started with.
No matter where you are in yourpractice, my first suggestion
is to find your story in thecards.
Consider what it is aboutyourself, your personality, your
(03:49):
history, your relationships,your experience, your fears,
your ambitions and so much more.
Figure out what parts of thosethings you can find within the
cards of the deck and start toconnect different cards to
different parts of your ownpersonal story, which can really
help you start to find newmeanings within those cards.
For example, the Three of Cupsis a card that a lot of people
(04:12):
associate with celebration, withchosen family, with being
supported by the people whoreally see us as a standardized
meaning.
This card can feel really warmand joyful and supportive.
But for the first few years ofmy tarot practice I was really
struggling to find community.
I felt really lonely and reallyisolated, and so when I pulled
this card, especially when I wasfeeling particularly
(04:33):
disconnected, this card becamereally painful for me.
Pulling it felt reallydifficult.
I almost felt like my deck wasmocking me for something that I
really wanted but was reallystruggling to build, and while
at first I admit I was just kindof pissed at this card, I just
didn't really want to see it.
I started spending more timewith it and eventually, after
(04:54):
kind of bonding with the threeof cups, talking to it,
meditating with it, making analtar for it, journaling to it,
et cetera, I started to seeother sides to it besides that
standard happy friends,celebrate and feel good with
people who love you kind of vibe.
I started to think about theways that emotional outpourings
look in my own life and how Ilet my heart be seen in its raw
(05:15):
messiness, for better or forworse.
I started to associate it withfeelings, overflowing feelings
of all kinds, not just positiveones.
I also thought aboutrelationships that might not be
perfect but that do feel trueand authentic.
And I thought too about thoseinitial fumblings to create
intimacy with other people, toseek intimacy with other people,
(05:36):
to want to be seen by otherpeople, and how sometimes we
have to try out friendships witha lot of different kinds of
people in order to find the onesthat really resonate and match
our energy.
So what that means is that, yes, while I absolutely do still
associate the three of cups ingeneral with celebration, chosen
family and being seen by peoplewho love us, I also personally
(05:58):
have a relationship with thiscard that speaks to working to
build community and how that canbe a messy process of
practicing vulnerability andsharing our hearts and
witnessing how our heart isreceived by other people.
The three of cups, to me alsocan sometimes represent sitting
with complicated feelings.
That might be authentic and notnecessarily very pretty, and I
(06:21):
have meanings for the three ofcups around letting our feelings
take up space, even when wedon't totally understand them or
necessarily have a remedy forthem.
Now, these aren't classicinterpretations of the three of
cups, but they work for me andthey really have shown up
consistently in that way in myreadings, for myself as well as
for clients.
But I would not necessarilyhave gotten to that meaning for
(06:43):
that card if I wasn't willing tosee my own story in that card
for better or for worse.
The second method I want toshare with you is journaling
through the cards.
Now I talk a lot about tarotjournaling because it, for me,
it's been one of the mosteffective practices, both to do
on my own and to teach and dowith other people.
I also recently did a wholeepisode on tarot journaling, so
(07:03):
if you're particularlyinterested in this practice,
definitely listen to thatepisode.
But in general, I thinkjournaling, whatever form it
takes whether you're recordingyourself speaking, writing by
hand, typing or making collagesor doodling or anything else,
tarot journaling can be a reallygreat way of digging deep into
specific cards and seeing whatyou find and what you feel when
(07:25):
you peel back the layers.
Journaling prompts inparticular can give us space to
look at the cards through a lotof different angles, interrogate
our own assumptions around thecards and also think critically
about what else we associatewith the card, even if we
haven't named it that way.
Now, I love to write journalprompts.
Pretty much every resource Ithink I've ever made includes
(07:45):
journaling prompts, including mybook.
So if this is something thatreally appeals to you, check out
Card Connections, which isavailable as part of the 3am
tarot conservatory membershipprogram, and I will drop a link
to that in the show notes.
But even if that's not your bag, that's totally fine.
You don't necessarily needjournaling prompts in order to
journal with the cards.
Now to give you another examplefrom my own life on how I've
(08:06):
used journaling, let's talkabout temperance in.
In my own practice, I struggledwith the temperance card a lot,
but what that means is thatI've actually written about it
at least as much as any othercard.
I think I've written abouttemperance more than most other
archetypes.
I find a lot of truth on thepage and trying to articulate my
feelings and my impressions andmy understandings of archetypes
(08:27):
that trip me up, the process ofchoosing which words describe a
card or reflect myunderstanding of the card often
reveals a lot to me as I go.
Sometimes I'll look down atwhat I've written and then
really have to think is thatwhat I think?
Is that how I feel, or doesthat just feel like what I'm
supposed to say?
Journaling really gives me achance to reflect on what comes
(08:49):
out on the page and how that'sreflected within me.
But specifically journalingabout through and to the
temperance card as an archetyperevealed all kinds of layers to
me.
Now, in a standardized way, thecard of temperance usually gets
described as being about likemoderation, balance,
self-control, etc.
But through journaling I reallystarted to explore temperance
(09:11):
as being the aftermath of deathand the process of trying to
figure out how these different,fractured, changing pieces of
self might be trying toreorganize and restructure
themselves in the wake of areally big loss or shift, even
if that loss or shift is a goodone.
Temperance as internalcontradictions that reveal more
truths.
Temperance as internalcontradictions that reveal more
(09:31):
truths.
Temperance as internal friction.
And temperance as a messyrebirthing or reconnecting
process.
Now I love when this card comesup in readings, because I have
so many writings on it from myown work and it feels like a
really richly layered, complex,gorgeously messy card to me that
I love getting to talk about.
Every time I work withtemperance, it seems like
(09:53):
something new comes up, which isa real delight for me as a
mercury ruled person, and everytime I challenged myself to
journal about this card again orto write a new essay about it
or to create a course abouttemperance, which someday I'll
finish I find something newwithin this card.
It's an ongoing process.
There is no end point, and Ithink that's really cool.
The last thing that I want toreally recommend, if you're
(10:15):
looking to make personalmeetings for the cards is
something I've definitely talkedabout before, but I want to
reiterate here.
It's this idea of building agrimoire or a tarot reference
for yourself.
Now, journaling or trackingyour card pulls isn't for
everyone.
For some people, that feelsreally restrictive or boring or
just like too much work orstressful or whatever, and
that's honestly fine, but I lovethe practice of creating a
(10:38):
reference that you can keepbuilding on and adding to over
the entire duration of yourpractice.
Now, as I said, I know I'vementioned this before.
I also talk about the processof building a tarot grimoire in
my book, finding the Fool, butsince I've given you examples
from the other two exercises, Iwant to tell you a little bit
about how this process startedfor me and how having a tarot
(10:58):
grimoire has impacted me.
My tarot grimoire happened byaccident.
I had been writing aboutindividual tarot cards in this
cheap notebook from thedrugstore for a while, and I'd
also been sharing insights ontarot on Instagram for a few
years.
But I realized that not onlywas it really hard to search and
reference those differententries, but also that social
media is not really to betrusted, and I didn't have any
(11:20):
of that writing backed upanywhere but on Instagram, which
made me nervous.
So I downloaded all of myInstagram data, but it wasn't
super easy to look through.
So I decided to do the kind ofarduous process of organizing
all of that writing into a waythat would be easy to reference.
Now there are lots of ways thatyou could do this notion or
(11:42):
Google docs or whatever but Iuse a software called Scrivener,
which is something that I writemy books in and I use for
different writing and researchprojects.
But what I did is made aseparate digital file for all 78
cards in the deck and I wentthrough all of my Instagram
posts, journal entries and otherwritings and painstakingly
copied and pasted them all intothis big digital project.
It took a while and it was kindof tedious, but the end result
(12:04):
was that I could click on any ofmy card files and see,
organized and dated, what I hadwritten about that card in
various readings and at varioustimes.
And then, anytime I pull a cardand feel stuck or uncertain or
have some thought that feelsreally profound or come up with
a new layer of meaning, I canscroll back through my own
experiences and both read thetruth and support and wisdom
(12:27):
from my past self, but also makenew entries and continue adding
into it.
This has become an invaluableresource and practice for me and
I just kept adding to it,letting it grow with me over
time.
Now, eventually, this becamethe inspiration for the first
draft of Finding the Fool.
I ended up going back to a lotof those notes and letting them
(12:48):
contribute to this book, but Istill have it and it's really
cool to be able to see how myown understanding of individual
cards has shifted and changedover time.
I also like to add in notes orkeywords or insights or stories
or links from other authors thatI love.
I put in song lyrics thatremind me of different cards.
I put in images that I findliterally whatever strikes my
(13:10):
fancy.
Now yours doesn't have to bedigital.
You could just get a loose leafnotebook or traveler's notebook
or just a cheap notebook fromthe drugstore, like I had.
You can do this in whateverformat you like and you can
build this anytime.
You don't have to be like meand go back through time.
You can just start fresh todayand just start recording your
thoughts on cards as they comeup.
But tracing your own historywith individual cards can also
(13:33):
be really helpful foridentifying and exploring the
meanings that you alreadyassociate with each card, as
well as questions you have aboutdifferent cards.
And when you start to have thatas a compendium, as a reference
, you start to really see whereyour mind and heart goes with
each card and you can reallystart to expand on that in a
more intentional way.
(13:55):
Of course, there are plenty ofother ways that you can make
personal meanings for your tarotcards, and you might find that
just doing readings or having aregular, consistent tarot
practice or doing card studiesin other ways also helps you,
over time, develop thosepersonal meanings.
You can explore correspondences.
You can connect meanings withthe imagery and specific decks.
(14:15):
You can research differentdecks to see what comes up
Really.
The sky is the limit and Ihighly encourage you to
experiment with different waysof making meetings for the cards
on your own to see what sticks,to see what feels good and to
see what you might want to dointentionally and what you might
just want to let emergenaturally over time.
I always like to include a tipor trick in these episodes, and
(14:36):
so for this one, I just want toremind you that this isn't
really a process that you canrush.
Sometimes, personal meetingsfor your cards really do just
come up over time through yourreadings and through your
studies.
This process of consistentlyengaging with the tarot,
consistently exploring the tarot, consistently talking to the
tarot, is all part of building apersonal relationship with your
(14:58):
cards.
So, rather than being impatientto have this elaborate catalog
of personal definitions for yourcards, just take it bit by bit
and try to enjoy the process.
Prioritize curiosity anddiscovery over a sense of having
all of the answers.
Your practice and the meaningsthat you associate with the
cards are going to continue toevolve the longer you work of
the answers.
Your practice and the meaningsthat you associate with the
cards are going to continue toevolve.
(15:20):
The longer you work with thecards, the more perspectives you
allow in and the more curiousyou become.
Now, if you find that notionfrustrating, allow me to just
remind you that in my experience, this can actually be one of
the most joyful parts ofdeveloping and strengthening a
tarot practice, because thispart never really has to end.
You're not necessarily gettinghit an end point where you're
(15:41):
like now I know all the meaningsof this card and I don't have
to study anymore.
So try to just settle in andenjoy the ride.
Let the tarot reveal itself toyou over time.
Enjoy the process ofcontinually deepening your
relationship with the cards andsee what happens.
You might be surprised, withconsistent effort, how your
relationship with these cardsreally blossoms and how your own
(16:03):
personal meanings slowly becomeintegrated with any other
standardized meanings that youmight have had from the
beginning.
Let your practice evolvenaturally and enjoy it as it
comes.
That's all I have for you today, but, as always, thank you for
spending this time with me and Iwill see you soon for more Card
Talk.
Card Talk episodes are alwaysfree for everyone to enjoy, so
(16:26):
if you love what you hear,please consider supporting the
podcast by subscribing,recommending Card Talk to a
friend or two or donating tohelp with production costs.
You can find episodetranscripts, learn more about me
and join my signature TarotConservatory membership program
through my website, 3amtarotcom.
Thanks for listening and seeyou next time you.
I'm Meg Jones-Wall and this is Card Talk, a mini
podcast for tarot basics andevergreen insights.
I'm here to help you build atarot practice that works for
you.
Glad you're here.
In today's episode, we aregoing to be talking about how to
make tarot cards your own, andwhat I mean by this is having a
(00:31):
set of definitions, meanings andor interpretations that you
develop on your own and use inyour tarot readings or your
personal work with the cards ona regular basis.
Now, sometimes these might beexpansions of standardized
meanings, which I went into alittle bit more in the last
episode, but other times yourpersonal experiences with a card
might take you over time in avery different direction than
(00:54):
classic keywords you might seeothers using or have been
relying on yourself.
Now, if you missed the lastepisode of card talk, I talked
about so-called traditionalversus intuitive meanings for
the cards.
But if you skip that episodeand you're not going to listen
to it, I want to be really clearhere that I don't think this
has to be a binary.
I think there is great value instandardized meanings and I
also think there's a lot ofwonder and magic in personal
(01:17):
meanings for the cards.
Personally, I use both.
I think it's great.
I think it's really fun to havea lot of different potential
meanings for the cards, and Ithink it adds a lot of depth to
your readings, especially ifyou're doing longer readings or
starting to use spreads orexpanding your knowledge of the
cards, or readingcollaboratively with other
people, et cetera, et cetera, etcetera.
Right, knowing how to buildpersonal or intuitive meanings
(01:40):
on top of these kind offoundational standardized
meanings can make for morenuanced readings and more
layered interpretations.
Regardless of whether youprefer to use more standardized
meanings or consider yourself amore intuitive reader, building
personal meanings for your cardscan be an incredibly satisfying
, empowering and trust-buildingprocess that makes your
(02:01):
relationship with the cards alot more personal.
Now, if you're just gettingstarted in your tarot practice,
if you just got your first deckand you're still starting to
figure out what you want to dowith these cards, you can start
to do this, this process ofbuilding personal meanings,
right at the beginning of yourpractice.
This doesn't have to besomething that you necessarily
wait on, but if you are tryingto learn standardized meanings
(02:23):
at the same time as you'rebuilding out your personal
meanings, it could be a littlebit overwhelming.
This really just depends onyour personality, your learning
style, your brain, the amount oftime and energy you have to put
into this practice, et cetera.
Please remember that learningtarot takes time.
You're learning to speak a newlanguage, you are learning a new
process and you're building arelationship.
(02:43):
Besides, building your ownpersonal meanings for the cards
can be a lifelong pursuit, soplease don't rush any of this
process.
Enjoy it, savor it.
Being a beginner is beautiful.
It's not bad.
It's actually great.
Enjoy the process of getting toknow your cards and beginning
to build out a practice.
Now, there are a lot ofdifferent ways to build out
(03:05):
personal meanings for your cards, so in this episode, I'm going
to talk you through three of myfavorite recommendations for
getting started with thisprocess.
Now, some of these methodsmight work really well for
bonding with the entire deck,while others you might find are
particularly effective for justa handful of cards.
I really encourage you to playaround with these methods and
see what works for you, and alsodon't be afraid to try other
(03:26):
things If none of these reallyresonate.
There are lots of differentways to deepen your connection
with your cards and start tomake meanings with your cards,
but these are three of myfavorites that I think are
particularly accessible and funto get started with.
No matter where you are in yourpractice, my first suggestion
is to find your story in thecards.
Consider what it is aboutyourself, your personality, your
(03:49):
history, your relationships,your experience, your fears,
your ambitions and so much more.
Figure out what parts of thosethings you can find within the
cards of the deck and start toconnect different cards to
different parts of your ownpersonal story, which can really
help you start to find newmeanings within those cards.
For example, the Three of Cupsis a card that a lot of people
(04:12):
associate with celebration, withchosen family, with being
supported by the people whoreally see us as a standardized
meaning.
This card can feel really warmand joyful and supportive.
But for the first few years ofmy tarot practice I was really
struggling to find community.
I felt really lonely and reallyisolated, and so when I pulled
this card, especially when I wasfeeling particularly
(04:33):
disconnected, this card becamereally painful for me.
Pulling it felt reallydifficult.
I almost felt like my deck wasmocking me for something that I
really wanted but was reallystruggling to build, and while
at first I admit I was just kindof pissed at this card, I just
didn't really want to see it.
I started spending more timewith it and eventually, after
(04:54):
kind of bonding with the threeof cups, talking to it,
meditating with it, making analtar for it, journaling to it,
et cetera, I started to seeother sides to it besides that
standard happy friends,celebrate and feel good with
people who love you kind of vibe.
I started to think about theways that emotional outpourings
look in my own life and how Ilet my heart be seen in its raw
(05:15):
messiness, for better or forworse.
I started to associate it withfeelings, overflowing feelings
of all kinds, not just positiveones.
I also thought aboutrelationships that might not be
perfect but that do feel trueand authentic.
And I thought too about thoseinitial fumblings to create
intimacy with other people, toseek intimacy with other people,
(05:36):
to want to be seen by otherpeople, and how sometimes we
have to try out friendships witha lot of different kinds of
people in order to find the onesthat really resonate and match
our energy.
So what that means is that, yes, while I absolutely do still
associate the three of cups ingeneral with celebration, chosen
family and being seen by peoplewho love us, I also personally
(05:58):
have a relationship with thiscard that speaks to working to
build community and how that canbe a messy process of
practicing vulnerability andsharing our hearts and
witnessing how our heart isreceived by other people.
The three of cups, to me alsocan sometimes represent sitting
with complicated feelings.
That might be authentic and notnecessarily very pretty, and I
(06:21):
have meanings for the three ofcups around letting our feelings
take up space, even when wedon't totally understand them or
necessarily have a remedy forthem.
Now, these aren't classicinterpretations of the three of
cups, but they work for me andthey really have shown up
consistently in that way in myreadings, for myself as well as
for clients.
But I would not necessarilyhave gotten to that meaning for
(06:43):
that card if I wasn't willing tosee my own story in that card
for better or for worse.
The second method I want toshare with you is journaling
through the cards.
Now I talk a lot about tarotjournaling because it, for me,
it's been one of the mosteffective practices, both to do
on my own and to teach and dowith other people.
I also recently did a wholeepisode on tarot journaling, so
(07:03):
if you're particularlyinterested in this practice,
definitely listen to thatepisode.
But in general, I thinkjournaling, whatever form it
takes whether you're recordingyourself speaking, writing by
hand, typing or making collagesor doodling or anything else,
tarot journaling can be a reallygreat way of digging deep into
specific cards and seeing whatyou find and what you feel when
(07:25):
you peel back the layers.
Journaling prompts inparticular can give us space to
look at the cards through a lotof different angles, interrogate
our own assumptions around thecards and also think critically
about what else we associatewith the card, even if we
haven't named it that way.
Now, I love to write journalprompts.
Pretty much every resource Ithink I've ever made includes
(07:45):
journaling prompts, including mybook.
So if this is something thatreally appeals to you, check out
Card Connections, which isavailable as part of the 3am
tarot conservatory membershipprogram, and I will drop a link
to that in the show notes.
But even if that's not your bag, that's totally fine.
You don't necessarily needjournaling prompts in order to
journal with the cards.
Now to give you another examplefrom my own life on how I've
(08:06):
used journaling, let's talkabout temperance in.
In my own practice, I struggledwith the temperance card a lot,
but what that means is thatI've actually written about it
at least as much as any othercard.
I think I've written abouttemperance more than most other
archetypes.
I find a lot of truth on thepage and trying to articulate my
feelings and my impressions andmy understandings of archetypes
(08:27):
that trip me up, the process ofchoosing which words describe a
card or reflect myunderstanding of the card often
reveals a lot to me as I go.
Sometimes I'll look down atwhat I've written and then
really have to think is thatwhat I think?
Is that how I feel, or doesthat just feel like what I'm
supposed to say?
Journaling really gives me achance to reflect on what comes
(08:49):
out on the page and how that'sreflected within me.
But specifically journalingabout through and to the
temperance card as an archetyperevealed all kinds of layers to
me.
Now, in a standardized way, thecard of temperance usually gets
described as being about likemoderation, balance,
self-control, etc.
But through journaling I reallystarted to explore temperance
(09:11):
as being the aftermath of deathand the process of trying to
figure out how these different,fractured, changing pieces of
self might be trying toreorganize and restructure
themselves in the wake of areally big loss or shift, even
if that loss or shift is a goodone.
Temperance as internalcontradictions that reveal more
truths.
Temperance as internalcontradictions that reveal more
(09:31):
truths.
Temperance as internal friction.
And temperance as a messyrebirthing or reconnecting
process.
Now I love when this card comesup in readings, because I have
so many writings on it from myown work and it feels like a
really richly layered, complex,gorgeously messy card to me that
I love getting to talk about.
Every time I work withtemperance, it seems like
(09:53):
something new comes up, which isa real delight for me as a
mercury ruled person, and everytime I challenged myself to
journal about this card again orto write a new essay about it
or to create a course abouttemperance, which someday I'll
finish I find something newwithin this card.
It's an ongoing process.
There is no end point, and Ithink that's really cool.
The last thing that I want toreally recommend, if you're
(10:15):
looking to make personalmeetings for the cards is
something I've definitely talkedabout before, but I want to
reiterate here.
It's this idea of building agrimoire or a tarot reference
for yourself.
Now, journaling or trackingyour card pulls isn't for
everyone.
For some people, that feelsreally restrictive or boring or
just like too much work orstressful or whatever, and
that's honestly fine, but I lovethe practice of creating a
(10:38):
reference that you can keepbuilding on and adding to over
the entire duration of yourpractice.
Now, as I said, I know I'vementioned this before.
I also talk about the processof building a tarot grimoire in
my book, finding the Fool, butsince I've given you examples
from the other two exercises, Iwant to tell you a little bit
about how this process startedfor me and how having a tarot
(10:58):
grimoire has impacted me.
My tarot grimoire happened byaccident.
I had been writing aboutindividual tarot cards in this
cheap notebook from thedrugstore for a while, and I'd
also been sharing insights ontarot on Instagram for a few
years.
But I realized that not onlywas it really hard to search and
reference those differententries, but also that social
media is not really to betrusted, and I didn't have any
(11:20):
of that writing backed upanywhere but on Instagram, which
made me nervous.
So I downloaded all of myInstagram data, but it wasn't
super easy to look through.
So I decided to do the kind ofarduous process of organizing
all of that writing into a waythat would be easy to reference.
Now there are lots of ways thatyou could do this notion or
(11:42):
Google docs or whatever but Iuse a software called Scrivener,
which is something that I writemy books in and I use for
different writing and researchprojects.
But what I did is made aseparate digital file for all 78
cards in the deck and I wentthrough all of my Instagram
posts, journal entries and otherwritings and painstakingly
copied and pasted them all intothis big digital project.
It took a while and it was kindof tedious, but the end result
(12:04):
was that I could click on any ofmy card files and see,
organized and dated, what I hadwritten about that card in
various readings and at varioustimes.
And then, anytime I pull a cardand feel stuck or uncertain or
have some thought that feelsreally profound or come up with
a new layer of meaning, I canscroll back through my own
experiences and both read thetruth and support and wisdom
(12:27):
from my past self, but also makenew entries and continue adding
into it.
This has become an invaluableresource and practice for me and
I just kept adding to it,letting it grow with me over
time.
Now, eventually, this becamethe inspiration for the first
draft of Finding the Fool.
I ended up going back to a lotof those notes and letting them
(12:48):
contribute to this book, but Istill have it and it's really
cool to be able to see how myown understanding of individual
cards has shifted and changedover time.
I also like to add in notes orkeywords or insights or stories
or links from other authors thatI love.
I put in song lyrics thatremind me of different cards.
I put in images that I findliterally whatever strikes my
(13:10):
fancy.
Now yours doesn't have to bedigital.
You could just get a loose leafnotebook or traveler's notebook
or just a cheap notebook fromthe drugstore, like I had.
You can do this in whateverformat you like and you can
build this anytime.
You don't have to be like meand go back through time.
You can just start fresh todayand just start recording your
thoughts on cards as they comeup.
But tracing your own historywith individual cards can also
(13:33):
be really helpful foridentifying and exploring the
meanings that you alreadyassociate with each card, as
well as questions you have aboutdifferent cards.
And when you start to have thatas a compendium, as a reference
, you start to really see whereyour mind and heart goes with
each card and you can reallystart to expand on that in a
more intentional way.
(13:55):
Of course, there are plenty ofother ways that you can make
personal meanings for your tarotcards, and you might find that
just doing readings or having aregular, consistent tarot
practice or doing card studiesin other ways also helps you,
over time, develop thosepersonal meanings.
You can explore correspondences.
You can connect meanings withthe imagery and specific decks.
(14:15):
You can research differentdecks to see what comes up
Really.
The sky is the limit and Ihighly encourage you to
experiment with different waysof making meetings for the cards
on your own to see what sticks,to see what feels good and to
see what you might want to dointentionally and what you might
just want to let emergenaturally over time.
I always like to include a tipor trick in these episodes, and
(14:36):
so for this one, I just want toremind you that this isn't
really a process that you canrush.
Sometimes, personal meetingsfor your cards really do just
come up over time through yourreadings and through your
studies.
This process of consistentlyengaging with the tarot,
consistently exploring the tarot, consistently talking to the
tarot, is all part of building apersonal relationship with your
(14:58):
cards.
So, rather than being impatientto have this elaborate catalog
of personal definitions for yourcards, just take it bit by bit
and try to enjoy the process.
Prioritize curiosity anddiscovery over a sense of having
all of the answers.
Your practice and the meaningsthat you associate with the
cards are going to continue toevolve the longer you work of
the answers.
Your practice and the meaningsthat you associate with the
cards are going to continue toevolve.
(15:20):
The longer you work with thecards, the more perspectives you
allow in and the more curiousyou become.
Now, if you find that notionfrustrating, allow me to just
remind you that in my experience, this can actually be one of
the most joyful parts ofdeveloping and strengthening a
tarot practice, because thispart never really has to end.
You're not necessarily gettinghit an end point where you're
(15:41):
like now I know all the meaningsof this card and I don't have
to study anymore.
So try to just settle in andenjoy the ride.
Let the tarot reveal itself toyou over time.
Enjoy the process ofcontinually deepening your
relationship with the cards andsee what happens.
You might be surprised, withconsistent effort, how your
relationship with these cardsreally blossoms and how your own
(16:03):
personal meanings slowly becomeintegrated with any other
standardized meanings that youmight have had from the
beginning.
Let your practice evolvenaturally and enjoy it as it
comes.
That's all I have for you today, but, as always, thank you for
spending this time with me and Iwill see you soon for more Card
Talk.
Card Talk episodes are alwaysfree for everyone to enjoy, so
(16:26):
if you love what you hear,please consider supporting the
podcast by subscribing,recommending Card Talk to a
friend or two or donating tohelp with production costs.
You can find episodetranscripts, learn more about me
and join my signature TarotConservatory membership program
through my website, 3amtarotcom.
Thanks for listening and seeyou next time you.
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