Visual Imagery Reading (or VIR)

Start with a Tarot Journal

For your tarot journal I recommend using a 3-ring binder so you can add and toss sheets, information, notes, etc. whenever you want or need to.  (See Your Tarot Journal.)

Grab your journal and a pencil (no pens please. Ok use a pen if that's all you have.) Place the journal in front of you on the table or floor. If you have someone who can take notes for you that will make this exercise all that much easier but it's not necessary and you may be more comfortable doing it by yourself.  To make things easier on you I have created a tarot card worksheet you can use instead of plain lined paper.

You can find the worksheet page => here!

Make sure you have no tarot books, keyword sheets, etc. near at hand.

There is no need to ask the cards a question since we are not seeking an answer to anything but doing a simple 'Visual Imagery Reading'.

Visual Imagery Reading

Shuffle your tarot deck.

NOTE
This will work better if you use a traditional deck like Rider-Waite, Robin Wood, Mythic, or any deck that is strong on imagery. I recommend the Rider-Waite or Robin Wood decks and the card I'm using (the Three of Swords) is from the Robin Wood deck, but this is entirely up to you.

If you normally cut your cards go ahead and do so.

Select the top card and sit it on the table or floor in front of you. If it's reversed turn it upright.

Try to take note of the 'initial first impression' you get when you turn up the card. It makes no difference what this first impression is as there is no wrong or right here.

Immediately write down the name of the card and the first impression you got in your journal. If you use the worksheet there is a place for First Impressions on the left, near the top.  If you have an assistant tell them what you felt and have them write it down. Make sure they get the name of the card as well.

If you get no initial impression then put something like this in your journal, "No first impression noted."

Three Of Swords from the Robin Wood deck.

When you are ready take the journal and start to describe (write) what the card looks like in your own words. If all you jot down is:

3 swords in red heart
clouds
rain
The number 3

Next to the things you see in the picture on the card write down what each might represent to you.

3 swords in red heart (a knife to the heart, lots of pain)
clouds (cloudy, overcast)
rain (dreary, have to stay in to keep from getting wet)
The number 3 - Self-'Expression', Joy of Living [See: Basic Numbers]

Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Then open them and study the card some more. I mean really look at it and at the same time try to stay as calm and focused as you can. As you do ask yourself what you see in the card? What could it mean? And most importantly, what does it mean to you. Seek that inner voice in your head and listen to it no matter how bizarre it might be in what it's trying to communicate to you!

Start writing down your feelings and thoughts about what you think the card is trying to tell you. What your inner self sees in the card. If it helps ... visualize yourself as actually being the card.

"Clouds and dampness surround me. I'm feeling great pain and hurt because someone has stabbed me in the heart. I feel more depressed the longer I look at the card. I would like to hurt whoever did this to me."

Compare this to the first impression you got of the card. Do they jive? If so jot down something like, "My first impression was right."

If not try to sit there and think what it was that gave you that initial impression? Write down any thoughts that come to mind. Then write down why you think your first impression differed from what you saw and read later in the card. If you don't know, or can't figure out why they were different then write that down too.

Put your cards and the journal away and go shopping, or shot some hoops, or whatever for awhile. When you're ready go back and pick up your journal and reread what you wrote. Make any comments you might feel are necessary or any impressions that you might suddenly be feeling because you should be visualizing the card in your head as you read your entries.

If you wish consult the book or resource you trust the most to see what is written about the card you selected. Here it is important to remember that the two might not jive but that does NOT mean what you saw and read in the card is wrong. Trust what you felt over anything else. If you wish note the differences in what you read and what the resource says about the card in your journal.

If what you felt and wrote in the journal coincides with your resource all well and good. If not ....

Then decide for yourself what you want to believe. Your inner insights, or words written by someone you don't even know.

You can try one or more 'Visual Imagery Readings' the same day or wait and do another one tomorrow. If you do more than one VIR the same day I strongly recommend that you do no more than three. One or two is probably best.

If you pull up a card you have already 'read' take a moment to study it again. You may get a completely different read on it this time, or sense that you need to add some new insight you picked up from it. If so then find the entry for the card in your journal and jot down these new feelings or insights. Draw another card, repeating the same process until you get to a card that isn't in your journal and do a VIR on it. To me writing things down helps to reinforce things in your mind and makes them easier to remember. And why set it up to where you have to look at cards you have already read? Because of possible new insights you might pick up from the card, or cards.

You might also want to add the date (and maybe even the time) when you did the VIR, as well as the date/time you added something later. Check the times every once in awhile to see if there might be a pattern. You may find that you read the cards better and get more insight about them at a certain times of the day. If so try to do the VIR's during those time periods.

Note: I wanted to write down heartbreak while I was writing what I was feeling when studying the card but did not. I can't tell you why, I just didn't. The one thing I couldn't translate into words was the sense of betrayal I felt at being stabbed through the heart (betrayal is one of many keywords for the 3 of Swords). I felt it intensely but I just could not recognize it for what it was, and/or communicate it from my brain to paper. This was a good exercise for me and made me realize that I need a lot of work in letting my inner window show me what I'm missing and helping me to communicate it.

My journal entry for my Visual Imagery Reading for the 3 of Swords

3 of Swords

3 swords in red heart (a knife to the heart, lots of pain, heartbreak, betrayal, and loneliness)
clouds (cloudy, overcast)
rain (bleak, dreary, seeking shelter from the rain/pain)
The number 3 - Self-'Expression', Joy of Living [See: Basic Numbers]

After 1st and 2nd VIR
Cut through the heart, heartbreak, a feeling of betrayal and/or loneliness, outlook dreary and bleak

Visual imagery will help you immensely so make use of it and trust yourself and your inner guide when reading your cards.

The 3 of Swords From Other Decks

As you can see the Classic Tarot Deck (based on the French Marseilles Deck) gives you only a picture of three swords which conveys very little visual imagery so I don't recommend using it if you're just starting to learn the tarot.  The card for the Mythic Deck does a wonderful job of conveying the cards meaning except for loneliness - but the sense of betrayal is very heavy in this card.  In the Dragon Deck this is one of the better cards for visual imagery but I do not recommend this deck for those just starting out with the tarot.  Every card has a dragon (or dragons) on it and can be extremely confusing trying to distinguish the difference between one dragon card and another.  But it is a beautiful deck of tarot cards none the less.

But Visual Imagery is not all there is to it reading the cards and you will soon discover that this method of reading doesn't work for all the cards like the Aces and the Court Cards! So you also need to learn how to do a Suit Elemental Reading which I will get to another time.

Don S.