Learning and different Tarot Interpretations

I recently gave in and bought a new Tarot deck because the Tarot de Marseille was becoming more of a chore to use than it was a learning experience.

I just picked up the Cachet Tarot deck + book combo, and I'm a bit curious as to the interpretations from this book compared to my other one.

I know that you shouldn't simply trust a book with the meanings of the cards, but this is a complete opposite meaning.

The Ten of Swords, I always thought at least, meant ruin or destruction. It had a gloomy negative "aura" around it. In the Cachet book, the Ten of Swords is interpreted as the power of the mind to fulfil ones dreams, beliefs, and aspirations.

I thought that even though meanings could change from book to book that they would be relatively close to one another, but this seems to not be the case.

Also, I am finding that many Major Arcana meanings (from both books too) aren't correlating with my (very basic) studies in numerology.

This is making me somewhat confused. Does anyone have any input on this?

Daimon link said:

The Ten of Swords, I always thought at least, meant ruin or destruction. It had a gloomy negative "aura" around it. In the Cachet book, the Ten of Swords is interpreted as the power of the mind to fulfil ones dreams, beliefs, and aspirations.

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Good news for me I guess.

In all seriousness, I do think that conflicts with the meaning most see in that card.

Is it this one btw: http://www.tarotpassages.com/cachet-lb.htm

Many authors regurgitate what has gone before, without questioning its validity. Ruin or Destruction is a common ‘meaning’ ascribed to the 10 of Swords.
Lets look at some history of the card meanings…

Etteilla (1785) Tears (sobbing grievances, chagrin) etc.
Mathers (1888) Tears Afflictions, grief, sorrow.
Golden Dawn (1888) Lord of Ruin, undisciplined warring force, complete disruption and failure etc.
Waite (1910) Pain, afflection, tears, sadness…etc.

These are examples…

I remember reading a review on this deck and book by Lee Bursten who said that “The book included with the set is nothing to write home about.” Later in the paragraph he states in reference to a particular card, “In fact, this makes me wonder if the author wrote the book without having seen the cards”.

I have seen examples of the 10 of Swords not being the equivalent to death doom dismay and destruction, particularly the Swietlistej Drogi Tarot. When a deck is based on numerology, specifically the Pythagorean Decad, nine is an ending and ten is a transition (therefore death doom dismay and destruction have already occurred in the nine = completion).

The numerological tradition appears (and I may be wrong – it’s an opinion) to be more prevalent in the Marseilles and Eastern European tradition than in the English/American schools. Like the numbering of Strength as VIII instead of XI.

Personally I like transitions rather than endings for the 10.

Yes different decks have different messages. The book meanings of the pips can vary quite widely as you have seen. There is less variance I think in the Majors, but there is some as well. Each deck is different. Tp me here are no rules that apply absolutely to all decks.

Actually there are very few rules in Tarot that apply to everything and everyone at all. There are many many ways to read. And reading is not all you can do with decks, they can be used as meditation tools, story writing tools...

I hope this doesn't make things more confusing for you, but in the way I read (which is my path and have been working great for me)the same card in the very same deck never has the same meaning twice.

I read very intuitively, by analysing the card's imagery. Looking at it like an inkblot test, what I see one day in a card and its imagery are not necessarily what I will see the next. Circles shapes in a card can one day remind me of completetion and wholeness, another day of the moon and romance, another day of oranges and something delicious...it's all in what I "feel" in it at the time in conjunction with the question and position of the card.


Hope that wasn't too confusing. There are many paths one can take in Tarot, I personally never really spent much time learning the cards, and yet my readings are accurate. I know the basic meanings of the Majors, what each suit represents and nothing more. The rest is instinct.

Babs

Thanks for the advice everyone.

TenOfSwords, yup, that is the Cachet Tarot I have.

Umbrae, when you said that the book included with the Cachet is "nothing to write home about", I guess you mean it's not very good? I agree that compared to my other book, this is nothing more than a slightly useful tool, but I was just curious as to why the RWS and other books would refer to ten as the "destruction" and otherwise evil card, while this one did not.

Also, if anyone has the time or knows where I can find, can someone link me up with numerology for numbers higher than 9? So far I haven't had much luck, and would at least like to know the numerology's outlook for 10.

Daimon link said:

Also, if anyone has the time or knows where I can find, can someone link me up with numerology for numbers higher than 9? So far I haven't had much luck, and would at least like to know the numerology's outlook for 10.

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might try the numerology threads

Daimon link said:

Umbrae, when you said that the book included with the Cachet is "nothing to write home about", I guess you mean it's not very good? I agree that compared to my other book, this is nothing more than a slightly useful tool, but I was just curious as to why the RWS and other books would refer to ten as the "destruction" and otherwise evil card, while this one did not.

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Actually I was quoting the reviewer of the deck book Lee Bursten. However I do agree with him.

As to why this book did not go into the Destruction aspect of the 10 of Swords, I repeat:

Many authors regurgitate what has gone before, without questioning its validity. Ruin or Destruction is a common ‘meaning’ ascribed to the 10 of Swords. I have seen examples of the 10 of Swords not being the equivalent to death doom dismay and destruction, particularly the Swietlistej Drogi Tarot. When a deck is based on numerology, specifically the Pythagorean Decad, nine is an ending and ten is a transition (therefore death doom dismay and destruction have already occurred in the nine = completion).

The numerological tradition appears (and I may be wrong – it’s an opinion) to be more prevalent in the Marseilles and Eastern European tradition than in the English/American schools. Like the numbering of Strength as VIII instead of XI.

Personally I like transitions rather than endings for the 10.

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That's funny, because I did a search in this forum for numerology, and the only things that I took notice of were the numerology keyword threads. Thanks for the link.

Daimon link said:

I was just curious as to why the RWS and other books would refer to ten as the "destruction" and otherwise evil card, while this one did not.

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Some tarot authors do not want to assign the usual RWS imagery and meanings to their decks so they will not be dismissed as "another Rider Waite clone." Still others may have decided for whatever reason that that's what their personal meaning is for that card, and that's how it should be.

(However , if you logically think about 10 swords , 10 swords seems a lot worse than 1. )

You will find the same conflicts in numerology as well. There are different systems of numerology, with different meanings assigned to the numbers. And originally, the tarot majors had no numbers anyway . And some decks changed their numbers.

If you want clearcut answers, you won't find any. You will find a lot arguments though.

My advice to you would be to test out whatever systems you choose and see what actually works the best .

Continues thinking…

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Hmmm I see what you mean though, about the 10 of Swords…

Some folks run through pain to get to the other side.

Some folks don’t run trough at all, and get hung up.

Sometimes we do both.

The RWS 10 of Swords is this guy with 10 Swords sticking out his back. The Marseilles has 8 crossed Swords and 2 more crossed, barring the way. The Old English shows a sinking ship.

Then there’s the 10 of Wands. After the turmoil of the final wands, it’s like working through the pain and turmoil. Some folks see the burden of carrying 10 Staves home, like the RWS. Now me, I like to think about what I’m going to do with them when I get them home. I could build a Sukkhah, start a fire.

So both 10’s are a culmination – but one does not move on. It’s stuck.

Now the author of the dreadful little book, sounds as if she had some different ideas…

Daimon link said:

power of the mind to fulfil ones dreams, beliefs, and aspirations.

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…lets not blame her, let’s blame the editor who tempered the roughness of standard interpretive theory. The 10 of Swords as a power of the mind, although I can see where the author, er…editor was coming from, its not close to anything.

This is the sort of book that I’d recommend…uh…do you have a table that wobbles?

Come winter...you'll need kindling…

In the Goddess Tarot you get thrown curve after curve with definitions. The 10 of Swords means the ability to make a success out of a very difficult situation, thus ending the turmoil. What a difference from Rider Waite and many others. Even reversed it isn't so terrible. It speaks of having this muck of information that you must cut through in order to make sense of a tricky situation.

When I first started using the Goddess I had used other decks before, but they had much more traditional meanings. This deck is quite different, the Majors almost need to be completely relearned, but to me it was the right fit. The cards just made sense. Other decks, such as the Celtic Dragon carries different meanings with some cards I've seen. The 8 Cups is more about walking away from something before you've finished your task than leaving a difficult emotional situation.

If I begin using a new deck, I usually familiarize myself with what the author wants me to glean from the cards, then I also take my own impression into account. It's a fascinating thing to learn the various takes on Tarot meanings.....