John’s Tarot Course

If you are already a member, email me – bllntr@yahoo.com – and I’ll send you links so you can download all the contents and some extra material.

The site broke at the end of March 2025 because of an upgrade to WordPress and PHP, and the automatic backup got lost.

More to come after May 3rd.

This is quite a long page to explain everything, but divided into sections.
There is a tab above so you can download a .pdf that gives a detailed list of the contents of the Course – videos, audio files, and text including the contents of this Home page.

The original site broke at the end of March 2025 because of an upgrade to WordPress and PHP.

As of now, when you buy, you get links to download all the Contents – videos, audio files, and text – as well as some bonus videos. This means you don’t need an Internet connection to access the material.

The cost is the same – a one-time payment of $197.00 US via PayPal. If there is no PayPal button at present as I put things together, you can log-in to PayPal and make a payment to bllntr at yahoo dot com. PayPal sends me a notification and I email you the links.

I am always happy to talk about the Tarot, but those who buy the Course get priority treatment – with emails, or audio or video files.

This is what you get with the Course

1   A video for every card in the Rider-Waite deck.
2   An mp3 file of the audio for each card.
3   Various videos about Suits, Court Cards, Spread Demonstrations.
4   Audio files for each card outlining ideas for what the answer would be for love, money and purpose of life questions
5   All videos for The Horoscope Spread.
6   All 42 videos in the Past, Present and Future Spread course.
7   A .pdf of The Tarot: Our Path on the Open Road
8   A rich text version of The Tarot Book.
9   Bonus videos on Court cards; Getting ready for a reading, and Telling Time with cards.

A short summary of the Tarot in use

We don’t all of us want a Ferrari or some other supercar; or a 12-bedroom mansion with 14 and a half bathrooms. That might be nice. but it would certainly be a lot of work.

However, we all have questions, and we want answers so we can live better or more fully.

We may have lots of money, but want to know how to get on better with a son or daughter, or someone else. We may have good relationships, but want to know how to increase our income. We can be in a rut, but not know how exactly to get moving.

We can ask other people for answers or for help, and we may be lucky and get a good response. Those others, though, are probably slightly – or greatly – damaged or bent out of shape, but if we turn to our own selves and develop our own abilities, we can proceed with confidence into any situation, knowing we are its equal.

The Tarot will help you fine-tune yourself

CC Zain wrote once that: What the Tarot can be made to reveal is limited only by the understanding of the reader.

So it’s about you developing you. The more you learn, or the more you are willing to learn, the better off you become.

If you’re new to the Tarot…

There are 78 cards in a Tarot deck. There are four suits – Batons (energy and enterprise), Coins (money and values), Cups (love and family) and Swords (hardship and strife). Each suit has fourteen cards – the Ace through to the 10, and a King, Queen, Knight and Page.

There are twenty-two cards with names or titles like The Magician, The Wheel of Fortune, The Sun, and so on. These are the so-called Major Trumps – but that doesn’t mean that they are automatically more important.

So what does it all mean?

People in the beginning want to know what the cards mean. So, for instance: Will I get a promotion? The answer is the Page of Coins. Tell me what it means.

However, this approach starts with supposed meanings, and tries to impose them on living conditions. Instead, start with life.

Learning meanings doesn’t really work, because you still have to pick the right one, or the one that makes sense.

There is a better way

Step 1 – Keep the question in mind.

Step 2 – Then figure out how the card – or the picture on the card – makes sense as an answer to that question, at that time, for the questioner as they are then. The sense may change for a similar question asked a day or a week later because we’re not exactly the same from day to day. It’s kind of organic; it’s not mechanical since you are not a machine. Life is too complicated to have easy answers all the time; the Tarot reflects this.

The picture on a card may show someone walking, or in motion. Remembering the question, ask yourself: In what way does walking away or taking action make sense?

So if you are wanting a promotion – go looking for it. It is not going to just find you.

You may be wanting to increase sales – so visit new locations and meet new people; take action instead of passively waiting and expecting the universe to magically do it for you.

You may want to improve a relationship – so what can make sense here is to take a short trip or go somewhere interesting or different with this person. This would make sense if it were a child or a friend, but not so much for a co-worker or a boss. In that case, you might invite the person for coffee so you can talk over what you need to say. That would make more sense.

Reversed or upside down cards

There are 78 cards in total, but they may appear upright or upside down, so really we have 2 x 78 or 156 possible answers.

Sometimes, in life, things don’t go according to plan. People may not be able to do what they promised; your plans may change as you get more information; there can be delays. If nothing else, a reversed card can show a delay or a glitch, so you get a warning that things won’t go as expected. This can be useful.

The audio files

In the audio files, I talk about three types of questions.

One – Questions about relationships; maybe romantic, or personal with a friend, co-worker, child, neighbor, etc. We see what sort of person may be shown by any card and then we can know how to treat them or what to expect; or we can know what the same card says about you; and what the card might point to if you want to improve a relationship.

Two – Questions about money, work and business. Any card, upright or reversed, can describe conditions in these areas and we can then imagine what the prospects are; we also consider what might be best if you want to bring about improvement in those areas.

Three – Questions about how to live fully, or get out of a rut. We might be stuck or unable to see what to do, so we want to know how we can feel that we are living fully and living better; each card can be read to point us in a purposeful direction.

No matter the exact question that someone is asking, since we are considering the sense a card makes, you should be able to connect the card to answer the question. You just need to do a bit of thinking for yourself – but that’s ok, and you’ll find you discover all sorts of interesting ideas and solutions already within your mind. You don’t start off with an empty mind since you have had experiences in life.

Figuring out answers will give you confidence in yourself, as well as a sense of your own power and intelligence. This is good.

Even knowing the question, the reader probably couldn’t say everything – but the questioner knows the details or the ins-and-outs of the situation so they can take what is relevant from what you say about and around the card. Just give it some thought and you’ll discover that you know more than you give yourself credit for. You are actually already wise.

Which deck to use?

I use the Rider-Waite cards and suggest you do the same.

It’s the easiest deck to make sense of because there is a picture on each card, and we get most information about the world through our sight. We can read the picture and don’t have to bring in numerology or astrology or some other -ology that we don’t really understand and that will only make us think we know more than we do.

What to do next?

Work on your answer.

Think about the question some more, and make connections between the different ideas contained in the picture on the card.

Ask questions of and for yourself – and pay attention to the answers that come into your mind.

Make a list of what you might do, but write down everything that comes into your mind – no matter how outrageous or how stupid it might seem. You want quantity right now, and can decide later if the idea is good or bad, but don’t come up with ideas and immediately critique them.

If you let some time pass between the two activities – creating and critiquing – then you have a chance of discovering nuggets of gold.

So later, when you have a list of possible actions, you start to look for quality. Examine each item on the list and think about it – is it doable, or too difficult, or will it lead to more problems, or annoy too many people; or will it take you in a purposeful direction, even if it is only the first step? Etc.

If you spend some time working on the strengths and weaknesses of each point – and discarding those that are unworkable or not important – you will have a clearer picture of what you want and what to do – and you will have a much greater chance of success because of your own thinking. You are drawing on your own self, and discovering it’s a lot stronger and better than you had come to believe.

Study The Tarot

The Tarot was developed by people for people. We all recognize the truth, and it’s better to live with it. We might sometimes lie to others, but we shouldn’t lie to ourselves.

Using the Tarot is like having a useful conversation with a wise part of your own self. If you can trust yourself, you can trust the Tarot. It’s not so much about some magical power that controls you and your life, and that rewards you when you are ‘good’, but is just waiting for you to mess it up so it can punish you.

Life is good, and so are its possibilities.

Study of the Tarot will make this clear. The more you are willing to learn, the clearer it becomes.

Read some philosophy

Shakespeare and poetry are always good; Plato and Aristotle are maybe not as immediately relevant or accessible for our everyday life.

However, you can download books by Thomas Troward from http://www.gutenberg.org/ and read about how to make the most of being human. His writings are not so much New Age, but more like what you come to know in your old age.

This Tarot Course

There is an old joke about someone interviewing for a job. He is told:
You can’t get the job unless you have experience.
So how do I get experience?
You need to have the job.
But I can’t get the job unless I have experience.
That’s right.

So it’s a bit like: You can’t read the Tarot unless you know what cards mean. At the same time, you can’t really know what cards mean unless you read them.

Most Tarot instruction presents a structure to get through the material, but it is artificial and can be misleading.

They divide the cards into major and minor trumps; and separate the court cards. This makes us think that some cards are more important, or that some deal with spiritual matters while others are more about everyday affairs. The problem is that it’s not true.

They separate the Court cards as representing people – but any card can represent a person, and any Court card can represent a condition or a situation. They aren’t limited only to people.

The teachers will often begin with the Major trumps and start with the Magician. Why? It is number 1, but so what? This doesn’t mean it is most important, or that it should be a starting point.

So they give us an artificial format and we learn cards within that context, but then we have to un-learn some ideas and be aware of wrong assumptions when we read spreads.

What we do that is different

On the other hand, if you are examining or reading a card and can watch a video about that card and what it is and what it might mean in a reading, then you are adding to your own understanding at that moment – and it stays with you – and this puts you in a better position for later.

You can start anywhere – and choose what card to study, or pick cards at random and work with their videos.

You start from where you are – and move forwards, or backwards, or sideways, or in all directions at the same time. The Tarot is about life, and life happens all at once – so there are card-related explanations that you can refer to as you need or want them, instead of being given a manual or instruction book with a set order. There is no real beginning or end.

If you work through the exercises below, you will develop ability to read cards.

A procedure to follow

So, for example, you could write down a typical question like: What will happen in my marriage? and pick a card for the answer.

Make some notes about what you might say to the person who asked that question. Then watch the video for that card. Then make some more notes.

With the same question in mind, pick another card. Write down what you might say to the questioner. Watch the video. Add to your notes and increase your understanding.

Shuffle. Use the same question. Pick another card – and it might be one you have already chosen and so it is time to do more thinking about it, instead of considering a new card, and that in itself in interesting. Make some notes. Watch the video again. See what more you understand this time.

You will discover that you develop understanding and are drawing on your own knowledge – instead of learning someone else’s apparent meanings and trying to fit those meanings with a real person’s real question.

The main point is: It’s not so much what a card means or is supposed to mean; it’s more about what SENSE it makes as part of the answer to the question. A card’s meaning – or what it points to – depends to a great extent on the question asked. The 7 of Swords can be what to expect from marriage, as well as: How do I pass the exam? If you start with the picture rather than the supposed meaning, you will be able to say something relevant and helpful to the questioner.

Becoming comfortable reading the Tarot.

When we read a book, the pages are numbered so we usually begin at page 1 and work our way through to the end.

The Tarot can be considered as a kind of book too, except that the pages are not in a fixed order. This can make reading the Tarot very interesting and complete, though maybe sometimes difficult.

The solution is to relax, and take it one step at a time. Even if you learn only one thing each day, then you have learned more than 360 by the end of the year, and that’s more than many people learn in a lifetime.

Your studies will, however, enable you to learn a lot more than one thing in a day. There will also be periods when you stagnate; you don’t seem to be learning anything or making obvious progress. Then one day you’ll be back, with a sense of new clarity, in part because you’ve been digesting ideas when you thought you were stuck.

With this in mind, begin anywhere that you want. If you follow your instincts or the ideas that you have and the questions you ask yourself, you will make the progress that is right for you.

Pay attention to your thoughts and ideas and musings, and when you come across something interesting, or make a connection, write it down somewhere and keep it. Even if you never look at it again, it is in your subconscious mind and will come forward when you need it or when it’s relevant.

You might hear the words of a song and make a connection with a card; write it down. You might come across a quote and it makes you think of a card; write it down. If you observe someone’s behavior that seems typical of a Court card; write it down.

Teach Learn

I used to teach a college course on communication and early on I wrote the word “teach” on the blackboard, and asked how you teach. I then removed the first letter and was left with “each” to make the point that you have to treat everyone as an individual. This is why I present so much in the beginning and let you pick and choose what you want, or what you are led to.

In the same college class, I would then write the word “learn” on the blackboard and ask how you learn. Removing the first letter leaves “earn“. Learning takes effort and attention and some work, and so we earn knowledge.

You get a lot of information up front, not to overwhelm you, but so you have everything you need, no matter your preferred method of learning. I am here if you get stuck or need help with anything. Email bllntr at yahoo dot com.

How to begin

Just to re-iterate: I can re-upload video files any time you want if there should be a problem downloading them or if you lose them.

You might like to begin with The Tarot Book to get an overview. Reading cards is not so much about knowing meanings, but more knowing what to do with them, and how to relate them to the question that was asked.

If you want a structured approach, you could start with the videos in the Past, Present and Future course. If you work through them in sequence, the information will set you up to make use of cards and do readings.

If you are happy starting anywhere and moving backwards and forwards and sideways, then start and trust that you are in the right place, because you are.

The other point I want to mention is a kind of leap I made after seeing a video on YouTube. I often watch the Film Courage channel where interesting people talk about writing and making movies. One person’s subject was screenplays – and how some writers are like architects while others are like gardeners. I immediately thought of Tarot readings.

Some people expect or want a Tarot reading to be like a blueprint or what an architect would give you. Everything is figured out in advance and you just follow directions. So for example: to fix a relationship, do this, then this, then this and on Friday afternoon this will happen and it will all be better… Etc.

This is one type of reading where the reader is expected to give directions and make predictions. This is what some people want. It’s certainly useful to give people specific activities that will help them reach their goal.

On the other hand, think of a gardener who plants a seed and lets it grow at its own pace – maybe only watering and weeding. This can be another type of reading or approach to the Tarot. You pick cards and then talk about the ideas the cards show – you plant seeds in the mind of the questioner and let them grow at their own speed and in their own way so that questioners can solve the problem for themselves according to their own preferences, while learning as they go.

You might then, while studying, write down a typical question and pick a card to answer it. You explain and describe as an architect, and then as a gardener – and see how the meanings and suggestions differ. This adds to your understanding.

Before a reading

Before a reading, I ask the questioner to pick a number between 1 and 9, and a number between 0 and 22 and to tell me their selections. This identifies a couple of Major (and numbered) trumps to talk about and to put the questioner into their own current situation. This is like the gardener. Then I can be the architect when analysing the cards that come up.

The Course includes various files to help you get to know cards, as well as suggestions on how to shuffle and how to begin a reading. You can of course develop your own method, but you might like to apply these methods in the beginning and adjust them later if you want to. This way, you can be comfortable with the mechanics of reading, and don’t have to worry or wonder if you’re doing it right.

Course Videos – a brief description

You probably already know that the Tarot is made up of 22 Major Trumps – cards with titles – as well as 56 Minor Trumps in four Suits consisting of Court Cards – King, Queen, Knight and Page – and ten pip cards from the Ace through to the 10.

There are therefore videos for
Major Trurmps
Batons
Coins
Cups
Swords
Court Cards

Since the Course is meant to be practical as well, there are videos outlining exercises to get to know cards and what they might mean, as well as videos demonstrating the Yes-No spread, the Past, Present and Future spread, the Celtic Cross and the Horoscope spread.

Exercises
Spreads

There is a Questions and Answers section giving additional information and material based on real questions and problems people have had.

Questions & Answers