firemaiden
After some rather pointed conversation with close friends about this whole certification organisation thingy, I got to thinking,... you know the problem with an organisation for certifying tarot readers is... well, its kind of like.. how do you regulate the invisible? Can it be done? should it be done?
Why yes of course, you may answer, it's being done in your own backyard every day, it's called "Religion". Priests are ordained and certified every day, and there are whole books written on precisely the correct way to worship and attain God... what's wrong with that?
Well, for those of us who tend somewhere between ag- and gnostic, we prefer our spriritual experience be served on a schmorgasboard all-you-can-eat buffet table without a menu, your choice of eating style - chopsticks, knife and fork, fingers, or some kind of bread-ish wrap...open 24/7. In fact, the very word "organisation" tends to oppose just about everything we hold dear.
For me it boils down to the very heart and soul of what "Aeclectic Tarot" means to me: the word "Aeclectic" speaks of freedom - freedom of thought, freedom of expression, freedom of creativity.
As long as I have been a member of AT, there have been at least two distinct views of how Tarot is to be approached. The first being that there is a standard deck, the RWS which has a definable body of meanings which can be memorized. The standard text-book might be seen to be Joan Bunning's compendium of meanings. Such an approach lends itself to standarisation or codification without too much trouble.
The second approach, however, is the one which I would really associate with our website, since it is the one I have learned here, and it does not lend itself to standardisation or codification in any way at all. For this approach, I should like to set forth a body of proposals which might be adapted, and formed into my new Dis-organisation, which shall be deemed the "Tarot Dis-certification Disorganisation"
1) Whereas Tarot is not something that can be reduced to any body of meanings, because it is like a kaleidoscope which changes with every turn of the scope, reflecting colours and shapes in myriad sizes and possibilities as infinite as the universe itself
2) Whereas each person will react to the images of the 78 cards, in ways entirely personal to them, which might possibly never be repeated by any other human being
3) Whereas the art of free-associating in response to images generates ideas which can never be labeled "right" or "wrong"
4) Whereas the person being read for ("Querant") cannot be fully known to the reader, nor to the cards, and as such the reader is wise to maintain an attitude of respect for the ultimate unknowability of that person, and not use the cards to dictate some definite truth, but rather as a bridge in reaching that particular person - which bridge will of necessity be different every time.
5) Whereas the accuracy of a reading cannot be readily judged, the outcomes of apparently completely off-the-wall readings being perhaps possibilities that might not completeley unfold for decades, or perhaps only in dreams...
6) Whereas the Reading of Tarot is an art form which seeks to touch the invisible, and the mystery, which by definition refuses to have a definition...
7) Whereas we readers in pursuit of that forever unknowable Ultimate Truth, shall forever remain STUDENTS
The Tarot Dis-certification Disorganisation will seek to dis-certify Tarot readers.
There will be no Leader, no board, and no organisational structure of any kind.
Your proposed additions to this list of whereas'es, reactions, and suggestions are welcome WHATEVER THEY MAY BE.
Why yes of course, you may answer, it's being done in your own backyard every day, it's called "Religion". Priests are ordained and certified every day, and there are whole books written on precisely the correct way to worship and attain God... what's wrong with that?
Well, for those of us who tend somewhere between ag- and gnostic, we prefer our spriritual experience be served on a schmorgasboard all-you-can-eat buffet table without a menu, your choice of eating style - chopsticks, knife and fork, fingers, or some kind of bread-ish wrap...open 24/7. In fact, the very word "organisation" tends to oppose just about everything we hold dear.
For me it boils down to the very heart and soul of what "Aeclectic Tarot" means to me: the word "Aeclectic" speaks of freedom - freedom of thought, freedom of expression, freedom of creativity.
As long as I have been a member of AT, there have been at least two distinct views of how Tarot is to be approached. The first being that there is a standard deck, the RWS which has a definable body of meanings which can be memorized. The standard text-book might be seen to be Joan Bunning's compendium of meanings. Such an approach lends itself to standarisation or codification without too much trouble.
The second approach, however, is the one which I would really associate with our website, since it is the one I have learned here, and it does not lend itself to standardisation or codification in any way at all. For this approach, I should like to set forth a body of proposals which might be adapted, and formed into my new Dis-organisation, which shall be deemed the "Tarot Dis-certification Disorganisation"
1) Whereas Tarot is not something that can be reduced to any body of meanings, because it is like a kaleidoscope which changes with every turn of the scope, reflecting colours and shapes in myriad sizes and possibilities as infinite as the universe itself
2) Whereas each person will react to the images of the 78 cards, in ways entirely personal to them, which might possibly never be repeated by any other human being
3) Whereas the art of free-associating in response to images generates ideas which can never be labeled "right" or "wrong"
4) Whereas the person being read for ("Querant") cannot be fully known to the reader, nor to the cards, and as such the reader is wise to maintain an attitude of respect for the ultimate unknowability of that person, and not use the cards to dictate some definite truth, but rather as a bridge in reaching that particular person - which bridge will of necessity be different every time.
5) Whereas the accuracy of a reading cannot be readily judged, the outcomes of apparently completely off-the-wall readings being perhaps possibilities that might not completeley unfold for decades, or perhaps only in dreams...
6) Whereas the Reading of Tarot is an art form which seeks to touch the invisible, and the mystery, which by definition refuses to have a definition...
7) Whereas we readers in pursuit of that forever unknowable Ultimate Truth, shall forever remain STUDENTS
The Tarot Dis-certification Disorganisation will seek to dis-certify Tarot readers.
There will be no Leader, no board, and no organisational structure of any kind.
Your proposed additions to this list of whereas'es, reactions, and suggestions are welcome WHATEVER THEY MAY BE.
