reading the pictures... ignoring the LWB

I'm interested in the lineage of this method. When and how was it developed and by whom?

I'm sure the method has been unvented many times by folks who've been given a deck of tarot cards without a LWB. Those folks either had to read the pictures or not use the cards for tarot purposes.

Its also a wonderful way to get use out of decks in other languages, who's LWB is inaccessible.

Herzog said:

I'm interested in the lineage of this method. When and how was it developed and by whom?

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Probably centuries ago. I believe LWBs were a very, very recent invention, dating only back as far as the early twentieth century. (I could be wrong, and I'd be fascinated to see older LWBs). And by that, I'm not referring to older material on Tarot, but to LWBs.

The LWB is a carry over from the Golden Dawn and of the chosen "meanings" of their initiates and most likely began with the first publication of the RW Deck. These things are perhaps a good reference for the training Tarot reader, but by all means shouldn't be considered as the only meanings as it is usually just the creator's of that deck and how they personally perceive them to mean (however having said that most LWB are just simply reprints of the RW one). To really develop a relationship with Tarot and your deck forget the LWB.

I created a LWB (well... just a little book, really! ) to go with my deck. The thing is, all the way through that book I try to remind people that the meanings given are my version only, and I encourage people to dismiss my thoughts and instead read the cards using their intuition only, whenever they feel comfortable doing so. The meanings are offered merely as a springboard, or, even more-so, a back-up, for those who are either new to reading and/or haven't mastered Self-trust.

My cards are really all about looking at the artwork for clues, as they were created in such a way that they aim to reach a person's Higher Self through symbols. Used that way, the book is redundant, which made me query thye actual need for same even as it was taking shape... weird, huh!!??

It's not only my cards, either. I was asked to read a series comprising one card from each of 8 decks, laid out in a chronological story line. It didn't matter that most of the decks were unknown to me, or that they were mismatched (very different energies)... once laid out like that, and read as I saw them, they told their story!!

Tossing LWB's sounds like a rebellion or a liberation. So who were the first to suggest this new/old approach?

nisaba said:

Probably centuries ago. I believe LWBs were a very, very recent invention, dating only back as far as the early twentieth century.

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I would say that going with what you feel, going with your feelings only (the generic you, not you as in nisaba) and not paying attention to theory or what the artist was thinking of, is a much more recent invention. Seriously. I don't mean this flippantly. I think prior to the 20th Century, there was a sense that there was theory and a system behind most things. Even if we think about the illiterate churchgoer gazing up at altarpieces, there was a huge amount of objective baggage to be taken into account. You couldn't just gaze at a painting of the Last Supper and decide what it meant to you and yourself. This, I think, is quite a recent invention.

I'mk not saying we should go back to that, or that we can. But the focus on us and our feelings and our reality and what we feel as paramount, is quite a recent thing.

I'm not sure that centuries ago people did just pick up a deck of cards and look at the pictures as we do and just spout off, while looking at the details. I think it is much more complex than that.

I haven't read all the answers others have given, but my guess is that it stems back to the first person who used Tarot for cartomancy. It was first begun as a game, after all, and somebody got the idea to tell fortunes with a deck---that's where it began, I'm sure. That would go back hundreds of years, right?

I think that I can honestly say that I've never bothered with a little white book.. I've glanced at a couple but no more than that.