I have worked with Tarot for a long time. They have become ingrained into my being at this point and the meanings are tucked away in my head to pull out when needed. The thing is I still study them. Just because you know it doesn’t mean the learning stops there.
There is always something to learn from the Tarot or about it. Do not stop exploring it just because you’ve been at it for years. If anything it is once you know the cards well that the deeper exploration starts and that deepening is very profound.
Journaling the Tarot has been instinctive to me. The ability to go back and read old entries is extremely valuable. Performing the same exercise a year later, ten years later will get you something very different than the first time you did it. Repetition can be a good thing, it let’s you know where you were and where you are now.
This work helps to make it more effortless when doing a reading for someone else. Some readings are crystal clear and others are more murky and than there’s everything in between. As a beginner reader I used my book to look up the meanings and tended to be rather literal. This morphed into more of an intuitive approach based on the cards meanings and interactions with each other.
As my ability to read intuitively increased so did my ability to see the cards interacting with each other and how they can change meanings and nuances within a spread. Which created deeper meanings for the person I was reading for.
Not knowing the question is my favorite way to read. But I find when doing distance readings for someone I don’t know I need a question to focus. If I have meet you I can focus on what I call a psychic imprint. Since I know your energy, I can feel it and tap into it for a reading. But if I don’t know you, a name and question become my focus that let’s me tap into the Universe and do a a reading for you.
