An Interview With Nina Lee Braden

you may not have time for the concrete steps. However, this is just my personal feeling. Use the book in the best way for yourself. Who's to say that my way is right and that yours is wrong?

Q: Many of your exercises are based on what the cards mean to the reader, did that create any problems for you when writing them?

I did have problems writing the "Unnamed" exercise. Early on in the process, I picked a name for each exercise. With the unnamed exercise, I couldn't come up with one. That block held me back for a long time. I finally decided just to call it "Unnamed". After that, it flowed really well. Q: What is that exercise about?

The unnamed exercise is about grief, and often grief is so profound that words are not adequate. It was with that in mind that I wrote the exercise. It uses the pictures of the cards to express grieving.

Q: I understand you also give workshops. Again, considering that the cards have different meanings for each individual, do you find it difficult to teach Tarot?

No, not at all, my approach, from the very beginning, has been that the meanings of the cards come from a variety of places. Meanings come from the pictures on the cards (this will vary from deck to deck), the body of written work on the Tarot (this varies a fair amount as well), and the interpretation of the individual reader. We take a similar approach with literature. Since that is my background, it was easy for me to transfer the approach to Tarot.

In literature we are taught that there is no one absolute way to interpret a passage or a symbol. Instead, in great works of literature, there are multitudes of ways to interpret a passage or a symbol. For example, in Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, what does the scarlet letter A stand for on Hester Prynne's dress? Does it stand for "adultery"? Well, yes. But it also stands for: "Arthur (Dimmesdale, Hester's lover), angel, atonement, alone, and more."

I love teaching Tarot and find it infinitely delightful and enlightening. I admit that the idea of multiple correct interpretations is more difficult for my students than it is for me. My English students have a bit of trouble with it, and so do my Tarot students.

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