Actual Meaning Vs. Intuitive thought

[Fier]

If you want a 'step two' for this practice, once you've been through the deck (and if you're trying to go through the deck in random order but still get through it, rather than pull the same card over and over again, you should set the cards you've already studied apart until you've moved the whole deck over) try moving up to two cards at a time, then three, etc.

 
Marilyn, I want to thank you for your input and the information you gave in this thread. You've given me a lot to think about and a whole new outlook on using the tarot. I was unsure of "intuition vs. symbolism" myself, but what you've said really makes a lot of sense. I have some oracle cards I will use for intuitive readings, for tarot I am going to try to actually learn the symbolism.

A couple questions. If tarot is NOT about using one's own intuition, where is the reading coming from? Do you believe that the cards in the spread are placed there by some particular entity?

Also, how do you choose the cards? Do you shuffle and just draw from the top? Spread them out and pull the ones that speak to you? Something else?

[Marilyn/Absentminded]

A couple questions. If tarot is NOT about using one's own intuition, where is the reading coming from? Do you believe that the cards in the spread are placed there by some particular entity?

I would like to answer/talk about these questions but I can't do it right away.  I'm having some minor surgery tomorrow (just dental but they are making an incredible fuss about it) and will be out of things for a bit after.  If I don't get back to this in, say, a week's time, please poke me.  Just not in the face.

Also, how do you choose the cards? Do you shuffle and just draw from the top? Spread them out and pull the ones that speak to you? Something else?

Before age and arthritis caught up with me I was able to stack a tarot deck as easily as a poker deck, so I have always made it a practice to have my clients shuffle and cut for themselves.  I don't pick the deck up until it is ready to deal.

Also, I am nosy and full of advice at the best of times, so pulling specific cards would just be an excuse to give my own opinion, which is not always useful and not what most people want out of a reading.  If I do spread the deck out, I do it face down.  Many of my clients are also readers, so I don't let them pull specific cards either.  Too much temptation.

Absent

[Fier]

If I do spread the deck out, I do it face down.  

 
Oh yes, I meant face down. Doing so face up would have everyone pulling the nice pretty cards!

Good luck with your surgery!

[Elementalist]

So, I'm pretty new to the tarot, and I'm not super psychic or anything, but nearly every time I do a reading with my deck what I feel like the cards should mean pretty much never match what they actually mean. I mean, they aren't polar opposites or anything, my feelings are usually related to the original meaning, but it's always slightly different. Does this happen often to anyone else? How often do you use your own inferences rather than a typical guidebook meaning?

 
I've got my own interpretation for every card in my tarot deck and I always go with that. Tarot is just a divination tool and it works by representing meaning to you, the reader. If you understand a card to mean something then that's what the energies are seeking to communicate with you. The reason why we energetically season a deck is to imprint them with our personal aura and become attuned to our cards. The cards that are drawn in a reading are just the universal energies talking to you in a language you understand. If you take The World card, for example, to mean completion rather than achievement, then The World card will only appear when completion is meant.

In the beginning I took the acknowledged meanings of the cards because I had no other reference point. Over time though each card took on personal meaning to me and that is what I read when I read them. For example the Ten Of Swords, I've dubbed The End. Meaning finality, never being resurrected as an issue and total resolution. This card only ever appears for me when the querent needs to put something to rest as the next step in their journey. Other readers will read that card entirely differently and yet we would both be right in the context of our individual readings.

Intuiting the cards I take to mean as a process of attunement where a previously objective tool becomes personal in nature.

[Elementalist]

Intuiting the cards I take to mean as a process of attunement where a previously objective tool becomes personal in nature.

So saying that my own understanding of each card is fixed. If I draw Ten Of Swords it means The End even when I don't want it to. :

[treetrunk78]

So, I'm pretty new to the tarot, and I'm not super psychic or anything, but nearly every time I do a reading with my deck what I feel like the cards should mean pretty much never match what they actually mean. I mean, they aren't polar opposites or anything, my feelings are usually related to the original meaning, but it's always slightly different. Does this happen often to anyone else? How often do you use your own inferences rather than a typical guidebook meaning?

 
As you can tell by all the great responses you've gotten so far, there's not a hard and fast rule for this. I've been reading for a few years now and, as someone who loves tradition, I tend to stick to traditional accepted meanings a lot. However, intuition will always play a part and, occasionally, as another poster mentioned, those meanings become shaded. In my experience, it really is a blend of both. In one reading, the 9 of Coins may describe an attitude and then turn around and describe a situation in the next. When my intuition kicks in, it doesn't really ever overturn the traditional meanings. It just tends to find another meaning of the card that's on the spectrum of the meanings it's gained over the years.

[moongate]

So, I'm pretty new to the tarot, and I'm not super psychic or anything, but nearly every time I do a reading with my deck what I feel like the cards should mean pretty much never match what they actually mean. I mean, they aren't polar opposites or anything, my feelings are usually related to the original meaning, but it's always slightly different. Does this happen often to anyone else? How often do you use your own inferences rather than a typical guidebook meaning?

 
The way I've always viewed it, is that the guidebook is merely a guidebook for those who are just starting out.
Once you've gotten used to looking at the cards, you can begin to draw your own meanings from them.
Or, you can look at what the guide says and compare it to your interpretation. Sometimes it's the disparity between yourself and the guide book that will help guide your way.