OK ... you decided that you think that maybe it might be fun to learn the cards or whatever. First off, please realize that anything that has to be learned will take some time and that rushing through things or skipping areas will not a good reader make. Very very very rarely does someone go out and buy a deck of Tarot cards and be able to honestly boast that they had a feeling of immediate communication with the deck the first time they looked upon the images of all 78 cards ... and so think rather that you will part of the majority, those of us who sat down and read many a book, asked scads of questions, and practiced regularly.
Another thing to consider before trekking off to learn something new, even in divination aspects, is that one area of thought to study does not mean the person will "learn" or "master" it.
OK, you heard that "everyone is born with the gift but many chucked it aside and never thought about it (due to culture, religion, family, location, etc) and others unknowingly used it ... and still others have the potential to learn how to bring it out to view and apply it." ... did you take this to mean that everyone is psychic? And what do you think of when you hear the word "psychic"? What skills is psychic? If one is psychic ... and born that way ... does this mean they can read runes and tarot, scry a crystal ball, and do astrology charts with ease?
OR .... does it mean that everyone is born with an innate sense of intuition. Some may stifle it and not trust gut instincts or silent warning bells ... others may be more willing to trust these and be more willing to enjoy their dreams, inner voices or whatever. Now ... this still doesn't mean that if everyone in the state of (let's say for example) Kansas went out and bought a Tarot deck that every person would be able to "read" a Tarot deck spread regardless of how long of a time period they devoted to learning it. Sometimes you are drawn to an area that is right for you ... other times you have to find it through trial and error. You also have to realize that what you may think would be "cool to know how to do" you may not be able to pull off ... so keep an open mind and a stiff upper lip, be willing to be open to saying (if need be) "I tried such&such but it wasn't for me ..." much like if you tried piano lessons and later found out that the piano wasn't for you.
So ... where can one look up a good starting point? The Web is a good starting point actually. If you do a search on www.excite.com for the word Tarot - you will get approximately over 1,000,000 pages easy come up. Now this is way too much to sift through I know ... and I don't expect you to even think of visiting that many home pages in a short time period.
Read some of the descriptions of the pages listed, click on the ones that sound cool to you on the first 2 or 3 pages and read what they offer. Are these all teaching sites? In an odd way, yes. Many folks who have a section about a form of divination will also relay to you:
Now, many people teach about divination ... some for free, some charge. Which brings about the question so often asked: How much should one pay for lessons?
And that is a sticky question. It can't be laid out as easily as a price on a reading because it is more involved, more time required, more one-on-one, and more. So ... how much is too much?
I would say that if it costs more than you have ... then don't sign up even for a payment plan of payment. *chuckle* But seriously, I have heard a price range of $75 to $500 for teaching others.
Why such a wide variance? Many reasons actually:
Like with Tarot, some classes may be set up to cover 3 or 4 cards per session then 10 spreads practiced upon. Other people may break that down to where they have 3 levels of classes: one to cover the basics of reading and the meanings of the cards, a step up class where they delve more into the reading aspects and the connecting of one card to another in a reading, and lastly a more advanced class like situation where they explore various spreads and share opinions on them before trying to develop some of their own. Another class may only be 3 to 5 sessions where they introduce the person to the glossed over basics so they get used to handling the cards and appreciate the imagery but then turn them out on their own for the person to learn more through books and asking around. Now all three ways are GREAT ways to learn ... one is not better than the other because it will greatly depend on who is teaching it and how they approach the teaching of it.
If it is a person you located over the web who offers to teach but asks for a fee ... take advantage of lurking in newsgroups or reading through archived postings from those newgroups (alt.tarot, alt.divination, alt.astrology, alt.skeptic, and some others are good resources). It is amazing how some readers are not afraid to call a person a "scam artist" or a "fake" but yet a few back this with detailed reasons of why. Then you can think a bit and see if these reasons started to ring true to you also. If the person offering to teach has made postings on the newsgroups that contained "predictions" ... read these also and then follow them with reading what others said about them. If you don't like the teacher's reading style or level of integrity (or maturity as well factored in) ... then do you think you will want to pay them to teach you?
I have even seen one day events that last like 5 or 6 hours devoted to nothing but "teaching" ... and those usually cost a nice tidbit since they are hosted by someone well-known or authored several books on the topic. I haven't personally attended any of them but drooled a couple of times over the pamphlets of such events. LOL! The last flyer for one I saw had a price quote (advance reservation) of $145, which was pretty consistent to what I had seen in the past.
Why are one day events more? Not necessarily because of who is speaking (though they do often do these for a set fee of some kind), but mainly because these events are held in more private settings so the cost of that is added into the pricing as well as other little things like the advertising/printing costs, any food snacks provided, reimbursing someone for helping them set up or break down the room, etc. These events can be informative though - I have talked to some people who attended them and talked highly of these events even though they are only one day and not spread out to let the information really soak in.
Now the best tools for learning anything to do with divination are these:
As with finding a reader, use your resources available to you off the web also for finding a teacher. Don't be shy ... if you want to really learn then find out how! Even if they just relay a title of a book, look the book over (you dont' have to buy it just because someone thought it was nice in their eyes ... it has to make sense to you also and be felt a wise purchase for you at that time). Look for "new age" themed brochures or freebie type magazines in your area ... and ask around. Talk to other readers about how they learned or who taught them. New Age or Psychic Fairs will often hae guest speakers who are close to where you live and will discuss many topics - who knows, you may find your teacher listening to a lecture then asking around and finding out they indeed do take on students.
© 1998 by Secretive aka Carol