The more things change, the more they are the same especially when it comes to human behavior. So many things appear to be happening...and they are...and yet there are templates that overlay the events, patterns and sequences that the events fit into. The question is: Where in the pattern, the sequence, are we? What template are we in?
The more life experience an aware person has, the more likely he is to know what is happening and what will happen because he 'has been there and done that.' He is keen to the sequence, he knows what happens when you.... Life experience allows one to intuit the sequence, see the patterns, and know what comes next. Life experience is what tells us not to do the same thing and expect a different result. (Life experience is the reason tribal people usually honor elders.)
Individual tarot cards represent points in the sequence, represent places in the pattern. When you apply the scene the card represents to the question at hand, you 'put two and two together' intuitively, you realize what the pattern is that is developing in the question at hand, and hopefully you come up with four. You usually do. As President Lincoln said, nothing is 100% !00% of the time, and I take that personally!
The more you know tarot, the less simplistic your reading of it is. Nuances and details in abundance are to be had in tarot. And the way you know tarot is to listen to it. (That is the way to learn generally, isn't it?) If you ask questions you know the answers to, to discover what the meaning of the cards is, you are listening to tarot.
The nuances and the details appear when you reach the point in learning tarot that you perceive meaning in combinations of cards, not just in single cards. The more cards you combine in your perception, the more details you get. Eventually in your learning of tarot, you will be able to look at a 13-card spread or layout and immediately understand the gist of the answer, then you look at the cards that surround those theme cards and get the details. Not the other way around, at least part of the time, at least on a good day.
Seeing themes, seeing 'theme cards' is what allows you this quick overview. Life experience with tarot is the way to arrive there. (Someone who already knows and teaches you is of course a shortcut.) What you do when the overview, the gist, comes immediately (or quickly) to mind is notice that in the different areas of the spread appear cards that mean a similar or the same thing—let's say leaving, or delay, or taking action. Okay, now you know the answer is about that particular thing. Now you know the other cards are modifying the main theme.
If you are one of those now rare people who instinctively understands what the subject, verb and object of a sentence are: A similar process lies in the dominant and modifying cards!
That is the way to expertise in tarot.
A demonstration can be had by contacting the writer below for a reading of tarot.
Books You Might Enjoy:
Will Herberg - The Writings Of Martin Buber
Hermes Trismegistus - Book Xi Of The Common Mind To Tat
Benjamin Rowe - The Book Of The Seniors
Melita Denning - The Aurum Solis