There is one main theory which I have concluded over time. I believe that the cards work as a trigger to my memory and help me to think of solutions to problems; helping me decide what to do by making me think about the situation in more depth. No "spooky psychic" stuff going on, it's just prompting my mind to work more. Whenever I do a reading for myself, I can spend up to an hour looking over my regular Celtic Cross spread, not because I'm trying to think of what the cards mean (both individually and collectively), but because I'm trying to figure out what they are saying to me and what parts of my life they are trying to indicate.
I almost never look at any guidebooks when looking for meanings in the cards, it's what you read in the cards and how you apply it to your life that counts. Recalling the meanings during a reading becomes second nature. With practice I have learnt to find the relevent meaning in the cards almost instantaniously, at only a glance, because I always know which parts of my life need addressing the most. Again, no amazing psychic skills, just my active mind thinking about my life in more detail.
Much like the weekly horoscopes in a newspaper, people say "but what you say the cards mean could apply to anyone, it doesnt work", well thats the point in my opinion. I don't think that it's meant to work on any psychic level, just a subconscious and mental one. This is why I never do readings for anyone other than myself. I feel that you cannot gain from a reading if you get someone else to do it for you because you don't have sufficiant knowledge or experience with using the cards yourself. If my theory is correct then to get the best results from a reading, you must learn and do it yourself. No-one can look at your life, judge what's right, what's wrong, and suggest how to improve it better than yourself. If you are not willing to use the tool (after all, the cards are just a tool, it's you that is doing the work) yourself in order to take a good hard look at yourself, then what good is it going to do if someone else tries it instead? It's not that difficult once you get the hang of it. Then again, tarot isn't for everone just as Witchcraft, psionics or George Bush isn't for everyone. I took to tarot like a duck to water, and the fact that I devised my own way of divining with playing cards before I came to tarot may have helped; which at least goes to show that I'm a card person. But anyone who wants to learn can do it accurately, once you know how to look for YOUR OWN meanings in the cards. Let them speak to you personally, it works so much better that way.
The best deck to start with *in my opinion* is the Rider-Waite deck (which is the deck I own). As well as it being the original tarot design, its simplistic design and clear symbols make it easy to read once you know how to look for them. After all, it's the most popular deck for a reason. To get a good foundation on reading the cards, I suggest "The Pictoral Key to the Tarot". It will give you a good idea of the universal symbols and meanings of the cards, as everyone must start somewhere. Learning how to look for your own meanings for me came with experience. I used to rely on the guide all the time until I realised that ultimately it wasn't getting me anywhere. I've learnt to look at the cards both for face value (the obvious meanings) and the hidden meanings (the ones which aren't so obvious which you may need a prior understanding of occult symbology to see). This takes a lot of practice to hone.
I wont go into any more detail about how to read the cards, there is way too much to explain here. I'll leave it to the books on this one. ^_~
