I have one tarot deck and I love it. I know the purpose is to read the card and use your intuition to decide what’s going on… but I am still relying pretty heavily on the guidebook that came with my deck for meanings. How important is it to rely on the guidebook that comes directly with your deck rather than say… googling the card that comes up? My guidebook is tiny and the font is SO hard to read… but I kinda feel like it’s more accurate? Thoughts?
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I love this book.
I have been using it to help me learn tarot.
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I tend to use the guidebooks for my specialty decks, ones that interpret the Rider-Waite Smith imagery through their art, like The Grimalkin Deck. The artist tells stories for each card that help illustrate the meaning of the card which I find to be helpful. Otherwise for the standard RWS decks, like Golden Art Nouveau Tarot, I use my quick read guidebook, Holistic Tarot book, Biddy tarot or Labyrinthos online.
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When it comes to speciality decks, I’m with Artemisia - I prefer to use the card interpretations in the guidebook that comes with deck. This is just because the descriptions there often relate to the artwork or explore things that the artist/deck designer included that may not exist in Rider Waite or other traditional decks.
At the same time, any tarot deck that follows the general structure of tarot (Major/Minor Arcana, 78 cards, the cards have the standard names, etc) can be used with the traditional card interpretations. I don’t see anything wrong with using the traditional meanings found online or in other guidebooks to help guide your readings! 
Because at the end of the day, there is no one set way to read each card - every tarot card is based on an archetype/theme of the human experience and can be interpreted in multiple ways. The more interpretations you have in front of you, the more possibilities you can consider to help you find which meaning best applies to the overall reading.
Just my two cents on the table! Happy readings 
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I think it’s really going to depend on the deck. If the deck is created with traditional RWS imagery, even if the art style is different, then it’s really easy to connect the symbolism back to your standard meanings. If the deck uses different symbolism and imagery, it might be more difficult to connect it back to the traditional meanings.
I don’t think relying on the guidebook in any capacity is right or wrong, for what its worth. I sometimes still look back at the guidebook when I read the cards. I mean, there are 78 cards – 156 if you count the reversals – and that’s a lot to memorize!
Is there any reason why you couldn’t take pictures of the pages of your guidebook and turn them into bigger images you can read on your phone or computer? This is one option, especially considering it’s the one you connect with more and feel that it’s more accurate.
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Which deck is it? Maybe we can find a digital copy that’s easier to read?
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And if you’re like me, and absolutely refuse to learn by memorisation, you will at least need to refer to your own notes regularly, anyway. 
I don’t refer to the guidebook, but I refer to my own notes every time. Maybe one day I won’t need or want to, but with weeks where my brain just isn’t up for it (like recently), I’m so, so glad that I have something to rely on. 
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