I advocate using the cards to 'Trigger' your inner-voice-guide using the imagery on the cards themselves. I have heard that there are some tarot readers who have never read a book on the tarot and just picked up a tarot deck and started reading using only the imagery (pictures) on the cards and (I guess) their own impressions. Personally I doubt this but then anything is possible.
But sometimes your IVG (inner-voice-guide) needs a nudge because it may
not be working all that great on a particular day, you may draw a blank for a
particular card, and so on.
This is why you need the 'Trigger' of keywords and phrases. Perhaps
one of the keywords or phrases you assign to a certain card will 'wake up' or
'trigger' your IVG. It is up to the individual to pick and choose what
keywords and phrases they wish to associate and assign with which card(s).
Hopefully this trigger of using keywords and/or phrases will turn the old
inner-light on and get your IVG jump started. If not then try weaving your
reading/story around these 'trigger' words and phrases.
Also I have seen several people on this list go into detail about what a card
looks like. At the same time very few actually tell us what they think
each individual thing on the card represents to them. This is what I call Visual
Imagery Reading (VIR) - breaking down each part of the picture on a card.
So if your IVG isn't functioning, and you just can't get anything with a VIR,
then fall back on your trigger(s) .... keywords and phrases you have
selected for the particular card or cards.
Over time you will find that you won't know when you are using the cards
imagery, your own IVG, or the keyword and phrases trigger in a reading. In
all likelihood they will become so integrated that the lines between them will
virtually disappear.
See: Visual Imagery Reading
See: Tarot Card Worksheet
Don S.