When I started to look deep within the images of the Tarot cards, there were several books that helped me along the way. One of those books was Mary K. Greer’s 21 Ways To Read A Tarot Card. Not only did it give me a way to explore the Tarot cards in many different ways (21 actually), but it also gave the process a very creative turn.
Today, I am going to share my thoughts about this very wonderful book with you.
While learning how to read Tarot cards is often seen as a very difficult process, many beginners also perceive the process as having to ‘learn’ the different meanings of the cards. I have never believed in rote learning. When I teach Tarot to students, I always show them how to derive the meaning of the card from the image on the card. I feel that this method is more conducive to creative thinking, and can help the student when he starts reading for other people, and starts tapping into his intuitive side.
This book can really take this process further and deeper. Within the pages of this book, a student of Tarot will find some really interesting ways in which he / she can explore the different aspects of the Tarot cards and get to know the cards a lot better, and I dare say, in a more creative manner.
21 Ways To Read A Tarot Card: Introduction
The introduction section of this book begins with Mary K Greer’s approach to Tarot card readings. She calls it the R.I.T.E. method, which is a Reading that is Interactive, Transformational and Empowering. This, I believe, is a very fundamental aspect to any Tarot card reading. Going further she talks about the role of empathy in a reading, why people come for readings, what one can truly gain from readings, how meanings can be found and woven into the cards, the value of symbols and creating a healing outcome from and of the reading.
Further along in the book, she also discusses the traps that a reader might fall into while using this method, and offers different solutions for such situations.
21 Ways To Read A Tarot Card: How To Use This Book
This section talks about how to go about getting the best from this book. Here, she talks about the two levels on which students may explore the book: the Apprentice level and the Adept level. Mary K Greer suggests using the Apprentice level for all of the 21 methods, and then going through the 21 ways again using the Adept level. She also suggests using a Tarot Journal to record your observations.
21 Ways To Read A Tarot Card: The 21 Steps
Starting from Step 0, and moving on to Steps 1 through 21, Mary K Greer brings us back to Step 00, which she calls Full Circle. In each of the steps, she has talked about how to go about it at the Apprentice level and at the Adept level. And of course, at each level, she has given different activity based exercises to help you do the step. Without giving away too much (there isn’t much space here to talk about each step at length, trust me), here is a list of the different steps:
- Step 0 – Stepping Out
- Step 1 – Name
Step 2 – Description- Step 3 – Emotion
- Step 4 – Story
- Step 5 – Number
- Step 6 – Mode, Suit, Element
- Step 7 – Synthesis
- Step 8 – Metaphor
- Step 9 – Query and Snapshots
- Step 10 – Meanings
- Step 11 – Range
- Step 12 – Modification
- Step 13 – Symbols
- Step 14 – Dignity and Theme
- Step 15 – Dialogs
- Step 16 – Drawings
- Step 17 – Embodiment
- Step 18 – Imagination
- Step 19 – Myth and Archetypes
- Step 20 – Deck Comparison
- Step 21 – The Possible Self
- Step 00 – Full Circle
Each of these steps give you a very interesting way to look at the Tarot card from a new angle, and exercises that will help you get the process going.
As you go along, you will find your outlook of the card changing, evolving and getting more interesting as time goes by.
21 Ways To Read A Tarot Card: Appendices
After these steps, the book has an interesting set of Appendices; each designed to add more information to your growing knowledge base. These include appendices for:
- Emotions List
- Number and Rank Keywords
- Mode, Suit, Element Keywords
- Elemental Dignity Combinations
- The Empress Vision
- Archetypal Motifs Chart
- Reading Styles
- Traps and Solutions in R.I.T.E.
- 21 Ways Worksheet
The last of these, the 21 Ways Worksheet is a brilliant template that you can use for writing down your observations in your journal.
21 Ways To Read A Tarot Card: My Experiences and Thoughts
I have to plainly admit here, that I have still not completed all of these steps for all of the 78 cards. That being said, the cards that I have put through their paces using these steps have opened up to me in more ways that I ever anticipated.
If you are looking for a way to gain the most from this book, I would suggest selecting a bunch of cards that have always managed to confuse you or confound you and work your way through all these steps for those cards. Believe me, you will find yourself so pleasantly surprised!
For example, I always had misgivings about the 7 of Swords card or even the Knight of Pentacles card. Similarly, I always wondered about the Star card’s deeper meaning. Don’t ask me why, but these cards always managed to stump me in my readings. When I learnt Tarot, the only meaning I knew for the 7 of Swords was ‘cheater’, and the Knight of Pentacles seemed like one heck of a non-moving fellow. As for the Star, well, she seemed all ‘positive news’ and all, but I still didn’t ‘get’ her, you know. And yet, the whole time, below the surface, I had a feeling that there was more to this card than just that.
So when I got this book, I chose to put these cards through these 21 steps, and I was so amazed at myself! I mean, I had no idea that I had so much insight into these cards’ images inside of me the whole time! Wow!
Buy This Book
If you think that this book is for you, then you can use the link below to order your copy.
Your Thoughts…
Do you have a copy of this book? What did you think about the review? What were your experiences of this book? If you don’t have the book as yet, do you want to buy it? Do let me know your thoughts in the comments section below.
