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 Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 3:56 pm
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Necroing for Maze:
Maze The book I just finished - I skipped the bit on combo-cards, admittedly - was written by Ann Moura and is called Tarot for the Green Witch. It mentions/uses a couple of decks but the explanation is pretty general. I'm not qualified enough to be sure if these decks are RWS-style or not, but she does mention that her style of tarotting is based on the way of the Green Witch? Among the decks she mentions and portrays cards of in the book are the Bucklands Romani Deck, the Sacred Circle deck and the Robin Wood deck which has cartoony pictures which look pretty awesome, admittedly (/comic-book geek). She's the author of Drawing Down The Moon and a bunch of other Green Witch things, apparently. She's big on the 'if it doesn't fit, change it so it does' practice too, if I read this book right. As for what I have in mind when considering tarot.. That's the reason I'm not sure I should or shouldn't pursue it. I'm bored right now, so I need input. I was provided with input in the form of a book on tarot. I'm sort of getting interested in it, and I suspect that with practice I'll probably get totally awesome with it (/lack of realistic insight), but part of me is a bit iffy about having to use cards in order to do something that I feel I should be able to do without them as well. I don't want to grow a crutch I don't need, but I have to admit that at this point in space and time my psychic abilities/intuition/etc. is, uh.. somewhat limited by the fact that I've got work to do and haven't really gotten around to making time for it. In that regards, bringing a game of cards with me might be a good way to help me practice inbetween. I'm getting the impression that tarot reading is more like poking the matrix and going /what is, rather than /what will be, and that it should give you a better insight in things that are currently influencing situations you (or whoever you're asking about) are in, but seeing as how I only read two books on the subject, I'm probably not qualified for more than a general impression of. biggrin
I looked up some reviews of Moura's book and it seems interesting, and regarded as well-constructed, though a really green witch-specific approach. It's designed for an intuitive style of reading, which sounds like you're looking for, but my advice is to find a book with a wider scope to get a background in the different interpretations.
There's a ton of symbolism in the "classic" RWS, and the hermetic approach gives Qabalistic and astrological correspondences for them. There's the whole Fool's Journey with the Tree of Life way of looking at the majors, and Crowley switched the position of some of the cards to fit his use of the sephira. He wrote the whole Thoth book before the deck was designed, so Thoth-based decks are really intended for that specific approach to Tarot...on the other end of the spectrum, the Jungian approach looks at the figures on the cards as archetypes found in the collective unconscious, and this is probably (IMO) better-suited to RWS-style decks, since those have a HUGE variety of themes and art styles, and if you find a deck where the images really "speak" to you then it's going to be easy to see the archetypal themes in them, and determine how you unconsciously relate to the story the images present.
So: deliberately-encoded ancient mysteries about the universe/flashcards for the inner human mind/old-timey card game/all of the above, depending on what you go with.
In my experience, reading Tarot isn't likely to turn into a crutch. I use it when I have difficulty analyzing my situation and want to look at issues from a different point of view. Using the set framework of specific images and their interpretation can give different insights than other methods of exploration. It's not a replacement, but an addition to my toolbox, and I use different tools for different jobs. If I were having a lot of dreams about...birds, for instance, I'd opt for research and journeywork to get some answers, but if I kept having the same sort of arguments with my girlfriend, a Tarot reading might give me a better perspective on how I react to conflict and how to (hopefully) change my behavior. or more practically, a Tarot reading and a talk with my girlfriend and a therapist.
Does that make any sense?
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Posted: Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:51 pm
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Because Tarot is a subject near and dear to my heart, I felt the need to add my two cents.
I've been fiddling with Tarot for about 11 years, but only made a proper study of it within the last 2-3. I have owned three decks: one Scapini, that I never got very attached to; one generic Celtic tarot with rather disjointed imagery; and a lovely Universal Waite that I currently use.
I haven't done a lot of book-study on Tarot, but I found the workbook "Tarot For Your Self" by Mary K. Greer (ISBN 0-87877-077-1) to be very interesting, and while I don't personally find much use for, say, numerological or astrological correspondences, the exercises contained in the book were quite useful for getting to know the cards in a more intuitive way.
I'd say that for my reading style, I favor a Jungian perspective, mixed with a generous dash of holograph theory. This is why I never read on a situation that I am too emotionally involved in - it's frustrating to pick up the symbolic "phone" looking for the wisdom in an already upsetting situation, only to find that there's only yourself on the other end of the "line." sweatdrop
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Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 2:40 pm
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AvalonAuggie Necroing for Maze: I looked up some reviews of Moura's book and it seems interesting, and regarded as well-constructed, though a really green witch-specific approach. It's designed for an intuitive style of reading, which sounds like you're looking for, but my advice is to find a book with a wider scope to get a background in the different interpretations.
The boring book I read in Dutch - something about a key to tarot - was full of symbolism and explained the RWS. I thought the metaphorical view of the Bible was interesting, but it was only mentioned in passing. It did mention the switcharoo that had been done with the cards - 8 and 11, I think, of the Major Arcana? - but the tone and the background were a bit.. eh.
There's also a bunch of word plays in there that I'm not sure will translate very well to English, but I admit that I'm not sure in what degree decontextualization or translations are required for tarot.
I fail at math, so haven't really felt compelled to look at Qabala anything yet. I'm not too sure I remember much of anything from my time reading Jung, so I guess I'll have to pick that up again, hehe..
I hadn't found the Thoth deck yet either, it should be mentioned, so I'll have to have a look at that, definitely. Especially if it differs so much..
Moura does touch upon the Tree of Life spread, but I'm not sure that's what you meant with the ToL way of looking at the majors..
But the RWS is a deck that has the 8 and 11 reversed, and has specific symbolism that returns in each version of the deck, and despite the art differences, the deck always looks the same and means the same, then?
Whereas Moura's interpretation is a lot more flexible than that..
No clue on Thoth and Jungian archetype-versions yet, but I'll see if I can't find a book or anything on it. biggrin
Quote: Does that make any sense?
And that does, actually. Thanks. 3nodding |
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