The path rests on three supports: observation (look before recalling), recording (fix and verify), ethics (do not promise what cards cannot give). Two 30–40 minute sessions a week outperform one marathon: reading skill is recognition, and recognition grows from spaced repetition.

You will need: one deck with scenic Minor Arcana, a journal, and this Almanac. Do not buy a second deck before week five: switching tools at the start masks the absence of practice.

Week 1 — meeting the deck: sort the three layers, lay the suits in order, make the first seven one-card entries 'description → connection → meaning.' Forbidden: reference books during description. Allowed: after writing, check the library and add what you did not see.

Week 2 — details: colour, gesture, gaze, landscape. The '12 details, 6 verbs, 3 meanings' exercise on unfamiliar cards. At the end of the week — the first three-card spread 'essence — influence — advice' on a real but not heavy question.

Week 3 — numbers and suits: the ace-to-ten axis, four elements, forty meanings through combination. Week 4 — court cards and Majors: stages of maturity, big themes, first readings of 'Major + Minor' pairs. Week 5 — synthesis: adjacency, amplification, conflict, counting suits and numbers across the whole spread.

From this point every spread is recorded with a review date. By the end of week five your journal should hold at least fifteen entries — your first accuracy statistics.

Week 6 — ethics and difficult requests: practise reformulations and refusing dangerous claims. Week 7 — three practice readings with partners' consent and written feedback. Week 8 — a review of your records, identifying your favourite templates, and a final full-protocol session.

The portfolio consists of 20 one-card entries, 10 pairs, 6 triplets, 3 full readings, your own ethical contract, and a page of 'what I cannot do yet.' The last part is a sign of mature practice, not a deficiency.

Beyond this point the path branches. The historical branch — the Marseille deck and reading without scenes; the systematic — Thoth, astrological correspondences, Kabbalah; the practical — large spreads, working with partners, a first platform for feedback; the creative — writing practices and authorial projects.

Whatever you choose, keep three habits from the first weeks: description before meaning, recording with a review date, the ethical contract before someone else's reading. They are the load-bearing structure on which any specialisation rests.