Alright, let’s talk about getting into tarot meanings. I didn’t try to swallow the whole deck at once. Honestly, who has time for that? I decided to just pick two cards and really sit with them. Felt more manageable, you know?
So, I grabbed my deck – it was pretty new back then, still stiff. Shuffled it a bit, just getting the feel, and pulled two cards off the top. Didn’t do a fancy spread or anything, just wanted two to focus on. I happened to pull The Lovers and the Five of Swords. Quite a pair, right?
Getting Started: Just Looking
First thing I did? I just looked at them. Seriously. Put them side-by-side on my table. The Lovers card, in my deck, had this couple, an angel, looked all harmonious and stuff. Choices, relationships, that kind of vibe came through just from the picture.
Then there was the Five of Swords. This one felt… different. You see this guy smirking, holding a bunch of swords, while two other figures walk away looking defeated. It just screamed conflict, loss, maybe even a hollow victory. The feeling was pretty stark compared to The Lovers.
Digging a Little Deeper
Okay, pictures are great, but I needed a bit more. So, I pulled out that tiny booklet that comes with most decks. You know the one, the Little White Book. Found the pages for The Lovers and the Five of Swords.
- The Lovers: Keywords were like ‘union’, ‘harmony’, ‘choices’, ‘relationships’. Made sense with the picture.
- Five of Swords: Keywords talked about ‘conflict’, ‘loss’, ‘winning at all costs’, ‘humiliation’. Yeah, matched the vibe too.
But just reading keywords felt kinda dry. Like learning vocabulary words for a test. Didn’t stick.
Making it Personal
This is where I think it actually started clicking. I put the booklet away and just thought about those cards in relation to, well, me. My life.
The Lovers: I thought about big choices I’d made. Not just romantic ones, but any time I was at a crossroads, needing to align with my own values. Felt that weight of decision, the hope for harmony.
Five of Swords: This one was tougher. I thought about arguments I’d ‘won’ but felt bad about afterwards. Times maybe I’d pushed too hard, got my way, but damaged something along the path. Or times I’d been on the losing end, feeling that sting of defeat. It wasn’t pleasant, but connecting it to real feelings made the card’s meaning much clearer than just ‘conflict’.
Putting Them Together (Just for Kicks)
Then, just fooling around, I thought, what if these two showed up together? What could that mean? Maybe making a choice (Lovers) that leads to conflict or someone feeling cheated (Five of Swords)? Or maybe choosing to walk away from a conflict (leaving the swords behind like the defeated figures) to find harmony (Lovers)?
I didn’t have a definitive answer. Wasn’t trying to do a real reading. It was more like getting to know two different personalities and imagining how they might interact. I scribbled some notes down, messy thoughts really, in an old notebook.
The takeaway for me was this: Focusing on just two cards, really looking at them, feeling them out, and connecting them to my own experiences made the meanings stick way better than trying to memorize 78 definitions right off the bat. It was slow, yeah, but it felt more real. And honestly, that’s how I continued, bit by bit. Still do sometimes when a card feels fuzzy. Just pull it out, sit with it. Works for me.
