Teaching the Tarot to Children

Atticus, only 6 years old, has asked to learn the Tarot. It was bound to happen; my husband is an avid Tarot reader and I've been drawn to my old deck again, doing at least one reading a day now. He likes to sit close, hovering over the cards. 

"Mom, what does that one mean? Mom, I like the pretty clouds. Mom, that one looks weird." As to be expected, he finally asked, "Mom, can I try?"

We've started off slowly. He practices shuffling and cutting the deck, learning how to manipulate the oversized cards in his small hands. Despite his enthusiasm to learn the Celtic Cross spread, we're limiting to a Three Card spread (Past, Present, and Future,) until he has a better understanding of how the Tarot works, that the cards are symbolic, and how to synthesize the card meanings with the position meanings. 

It has only been a few days, but he is doing well. He'll ask if he can "look at the Tarot cards." I'll grab the Russian Tarot deck off of the shelf and hand him the cards along with the book that goes with them. He shuffles slowly, methodically, concentrating on his question, on not dropping the cards. Slowly, he cuts the desk, looking up to see if I'm watching, to double check he's doing it right. I say nothing and just smile at him; he knows he's doing it right and does need confirmation from me: he needs to learn to trust his own judgment. 

He's lay out the cards slowly, one at a time. The bright Slavic imagery lays before him, waiting for interpretation. He sits there, motionless, gazing at them. Then he will speak, saying the name of each card, in turn. He glances up at me and I ask him what he thinks each card means, what he feels each card means. We go over each card, discussing the pictures, talking about the different suits, and sometimes comparing the cards to the same card of another deck.

Admittedly, it will be a while before he'll be proficient, but that's no reason why he can't try now. At the very least, he's building familiarity, getting a feel for the cards, and has he has no real idea what the individual cards mean, I'm hoping that to use this as an exercise to strengthen his intuition. He's very rational, very thinking more than feeling, though he is quite a talented energy healer and can cast Circle on his own. 

Husband and I are working out a simpler Divination method for him, similar to Runes, but much better suited to him, as the symbolism will be more basic, easier to interpret. I am hoping that Titus will like to learn as well, but lately he's been rather... contrary. It doesn't seem to matter what we're talking about, but Titus doesn't like it. He didn't have fun, that's not his favorite food, and no, no he never said that. He'll be over this soon enough, we are in changing times still and this is how he's manifesting his stress. 

The boys are continuing with meditation, though, a couple of times a week. We've moved away from just a few minutes for the entire attempt, to now going for a couple minutes once they start actually doing it right. Seems a little tough, but eventually they do push through it and sit there, perfect pose, even breathing, and lose themselves inside.