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Tarot:

6

SO, You Think You’d Like To Read The Tarot?

by

Anna Burroughs Cook

PART ONE

Hello, and Welcome! What would you say if I told you that, “Once upon a time, the opportunity to learn the Tarot involved much more than paying the admission fee.” Although there weren’t nearly as many Tarot Teachers as there are today, all of your better Tarot teachers actually had waiting lists for registration. Are you surprised? Well, I should think so! Nonetheless, “Once upon a time, when learning the Tarot wasn’t the same as plunking down the cost of ticket for a ride in an amusement park. In fact, interviewing prospective students was a teacher’s first priority, and we each had our own style.

I chose to interview my students by requesting their attendance at an “introductory” session - and kept my checkbook handy for possible refunds. After inviting the students to chatter amongst themselves and get to know one another over coffee or tea and cookies, I’d wander about conducting private mini-interviews with each one, before handing out the class materials. Whether or not, you’d remain in my class depended upon your response to one simple question – Why do you want to learn the Tarot? Each response to that one significant question enabled me to determine which student’s were really ready to tackle the Tarot, as well as most likely to complete the class, and showed the greatest intuitive promise to become a clear, as well as conscientious Tarot reader.

private mini-interviews with each one, before handing out the class materials. Whether or not, you’d remain in my class depended upon your response to one simple question – Why do you want to learn the Tarot? Each response to that one significant question enabled me to determine which student’s were really ready to tackle the Tarot, as well as most likely to complete the class, and showed the greatest intuitive promise to become a clear, as well as conscientious Tarot reader.

In the early years, the answers ranged from the unintentionally misguided such as “ my grandmother says all the women in our family have the “second-sight” and it’s time for me to take my place, but she died before she finished teaching me,” to the silly, “I’ve ALWAYS felt different from other people – even as a small child, those who didn’t see me as “special” recognized that I was different,” all the way up to the spiritually sublime, – translation, “Jesus Wants Me For A Sunbeam, but I don’t want to be a nun or a minister just now. Hey, Anna do you know that ministers don’t have to pay taxes?”

Yet in less than two decades, much like society the answers to my question began to change - and not always for the better. For instance, “ I need to know what’s going on in MY life and Astrology is too hard,” or “my friend Shirley uses the Tarot to tell her what her boyfriend is up to but she says she doesn’t really know how she does it so she can’t teach me. But I want to know what MY boyfriend and MY sister are up to!” and how about, “ I didn’t believe in any of this stuff, until I had a Tarot reading last week. I asked the reader a bunch of questions and, boom! They told me exactly what I wanted to hear, - it was SO awesome that I want to do that too!