Tielle Miller of Pooks Apotheca discusses the benefits of reading tarot cards intuitively rather than by memorizing their traditional meanings with the Writual Society.

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Hi everyone and welcome my name is Dayna Schmidt-Johnson. I am the Community Manager and house astrologer for the Writual Society. Today we are going to be talking about how to intuitively read tarot. If you're wondering what that means, then you're in the perfect place. You know, tarot can be intimidating, there's 76 cards, and if you're trying to memorize them all, oh, what a nightmare! Plus the reversals, so that's like 76 times times two. But reading the cards intuitively can make everything so much simpler and tune you into your own intuition, connection, spirituality, and can be a really beautiful way to read the cards. So to tell us more about how to intuitively read tarot is Tielle Miller from Pooks Apotheca. Welcome, Tielle! We're so excited to have you today.

Tielle Miller
Thanks for having me, Dayna.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Before we get into the how, let's talk a little bit about the why. And maybe it's actually like a why not? Like, why is it maybe not the best idea to just memorize the card meanings and read the cards from their traditional standard meaning?

Tielle Miller
Well, I think that it's really important to do an intuitive read whenever you start reading Tarot, because you can apply a lot of the things that you've learned along your lives and your practice to the cards, the colors, if you're really good with like color therapy and color meanings, the numbers, just the expressions on people's faces, everyone reads things a little differently. So if you just go by the book, you might not actually get exactly what that card is trying to speak to you.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
That's interesting. If you're just trying to like match one to one, then you're not getting everything that you would necessarily out of the card that you would if you're just reading it intuitively and for what it says to you in that moment. Is that what you're saying?

Tielle Miller
Yeah, I think you can really overlook a lot of the meaning and messages that are trying to come through to you if you literally just go off memorization.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Interesting I because I think a lot of people do come to it as like, Okay, I just need to learn the meanings. And then we're good to go. But you're saying like look over the card. And the color therapy is really interesting. I know there's a lot of symbolism on the cards, what else should we be looking out for?

Tielle Miller
You want to look for your background, you want to look for emotions that are coming through the cards, you want to look at expressions, you want to look at numerology, you want to look at the colors, you want to look at patterns, like you said, symbolism. There's tons of animals in every deck of tarot. It's just really what you understand and what you know. And once you do, and it's like an intuitive read on a card. A lot of the times when you compare that to a traditional meeting, you'll be really surprised that they go pretty hand in hand most of the time anyway.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Yeah, that makes sense, because they're designed to be able to pick up those kinds of things. Right?

Tielle Miller
Right.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
How long have you been reading cards intuitively? Did you start that way? Or did you start with the memorization route?

Tielle Miller
So anytime anyone asks me how they can learn to read tarot, I actually give them an intuitive like starting kit, if you will, I tell them to get a journal strictly for their Tarot practice, and grab one suit of the deck. And what I tell them to do is take a card and carry that card with you take it through your day, and journal what that card means to you. And then once you do that, look up what the actual meaning is compare it. And there you go, you know, especially as an intuitive reader, sometimes that traditional meaning might make sense there are times still after I've been reading since a long time since I was 16. And I'm 32, so there's times now even so I will read and sometimes I still do look up cards and check my books and reference check and stuff. But I definitely recommend learning intuitive first and then just kind of doing a comparison with their traditional meanings to the cards.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Yeah, and such a different approach than what's normally done which is the opposite: Okay, I have my deck, I have the book, I have to look everything up as we go. Instead, you know, taking it in first probably helps really connect with the deck as well.

Tielle Miller
Absolutely, absolutely.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
What do you like about practicing this way? What makes it more beneficial to you then going off the meanings?

Tielle Miller
So kind of like what you said connecting with your decks is so important. So I am a deck collector. I love vintage decks I have my my deck collection is insane. And every deck has the same cards in it. But once you really connect with those decks, like you read all those cards so differently, you know, so I would definitely say it is just very connection based and I feel like whenever you put a traditional meaning on the tarot cards and just say, this is what this means this is how it should be read. Now you're kind of doing a right versus wrong against your intuition. And you should never tell your intuition that it's wrong.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Oh, I love that. That's such a important insight, right? Like saying the right versus the wrong because I think there really isn't one in Tarot. It's what you're taking in. It's how you're interpreting it, especially against your own situation, what you're asking the card, right? You could pull a card; the same card for two situations could mean different things right? When you're reading intuitively?

Tielle Miller
Absolutely.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Hmm. So you said that you tell people to do this from the get go. So I'm, I'm assuming you believe at least that this is a better practice for beginners than to just dive right into the meanings? Will those with a lot of experience reading Tarot, especially those who have like, memorized those meanings, have them down pat, are they going to have a harder time learning to read intuitively?

Tielle Miller
You know, I, I would think that it might be harder to just kind of open your mind past what you know that card to mean. But I think that if it was given a shot, that might actually deepen their connection with their Tarot practice.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Does this change deck to deck?

Tielle Miller
Yes.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Can you explain that a little bit more?

Tielle Miller
Yeah. So I have a deck that is really gentle and kind and soothing. And I feel like whenever I read that deck, a lot of the meanings are very, like, pat on the back, like you got this girl. And then I have a deck that is very blunt. And whenever I read that deck, I can pull the same exact card. And I feel like it's always just kind of like, get it together. What are you doing? Pay attention here. So from deck to deck, I think that is the importance in the intuitive reading is really just if you read all the cards all the same, like you really only need one deck, then right?

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
That's a very good point. You're right, every deck has like a different energy and a different feel to it. And so you're getting something a little different out of each deck in how it speaks to you. Right, right. Hmm. All right. So okay, so we are going to be diving into this topic with you so much deeper in the Society in April, for our workshop, but how can we kind of begin to think about this process and begin to read the cards intuitively, or at least start thinking that way?

Tielle Miller
Okay, so the first thing is to grab that Writual Tarot Journal. And then every single day when you do your reading, literally write down your intuitive message from your cards, and then grab your book, like don't don't do it the other way around, don't grab your book first and say, What does this mean? Because that's shutting your intuition down. So if you get your cards of the day, and if you're very, very new, I suggest just doing one card today, personally. But if you're not very, very new, and you're like, just still in that beginning stages of practice, just do the intuitive journaling first, and then check your card meanings if you want to learn both, but I definitely recommend intuitive reading over traditional.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
I think that's so interesting, because it can be really hard for those of us who are newer, not to jump immediately to the meanings and be like, well, I don't understand that card and what it's trying to say. But you're saying hold off on that, that instinct to jump right into, you know, I always flip back to the beginning of the Writual Planner for the meanings pages. I'm like, what does the cheat sheet say, this is this is the meaning of this card. And you you're suggesting to hold off on that maybe don't even touch it at all, and allow messages to come through through journaling instead.

Tielle Miller
Yeah, so what I'm like thinking is, when people are starting to read tarot, they really do get so set on that, like, you receive a card and you're like, I bet this means this, like I'm feeling this means this and then you check your book. And that's not what it means. And now you're wrong. I don't think that that's you're not wrong, like it's okay to reference check and see, like, I wonder if this is what this means. But if it's not, it could, it could just very well mean something different for you and your situation. And especially when I do readings, the same card might have a different feel or pull or meaning for two different people, even though it is the same card. You know, you really do have to follow that intuition in your reading is like it's so important.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Yeah, and I'm sure reversals play a part in that too, right? Whether you get it upside down or not has a different meaning. And I think a lot of people get hung up on Oh, well, it's flipped. What's the real meaning behind that as opposed to, okay, I'm feeling this from the card in reverse.

Tielle Miller
Yeah, so I have a deck. And it every time I have a reversal on that deck, and a lot of people feel like reversal automatically means like opposite meaning. And sometimes it doesn't for me, especially in the way that I read, I feel like reversal means extra attention. So when I get a card that's reversed for me, it's like, this is so important right now, you know what I mean? So and that's, that's my way of intuitive reading. Is that right by everyone? No, but for some people that might be.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Interesting. I love hearing from readers and how they interpret because I think it gives those of us who are less experienced at the cards, just a new point of view and maybe something to try or think about in the future. So that's, that's incredible. Tielle listen, thank you so much for being here today. We are thrilled to have you as our April guest teacher in the Writual Society to learn everything about intuitively reading Tarot, I personally can't wait. In the meantime, where can people find you or more about Pooks Apotheca?

Tielle Miller
So I'm on all socials, TikTok, IG, Instagram, Patreon and @pooksapotheca is the handle.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Perfect, easily findable. We will hunt you down. We'll follow you and we will connect with you again in April in the Society.

Tielle Miller
Awesome. I can't wait.

Dayna Schmidt-Johnson
Thank you so much for being here today. Have a good one.

Tielle Miller
You too.