AT's role as a "Book of meanings"

I've noticed that there has been quite alot of threads and posts about not using books as references when reading, not reading the books until you're familiar with the cards, how the books and LWB's are informative into what the creators of any random deck were thinking, but ultimately unimportant in the larger scope of things because its what we see when we read that's important, that the only resource we should rely on is our cards and our intuitions, and so on and so forth.

What I'm wondering, and God please save me from the wrath of enthusiastic ATers, is if Aeclectic is just another resource that we rely on if we get stuck, that we turn to to validate our readings and ourselves.

This occurred to me recently after I posted a thread in the "Your readings" forum and got just 1 response. And all I could think was "That's it?? Thats all the help I get??" And then I meditated on the reading and came to my own conclusions, which I may not have done had I had a plethora of responses to chose the best of.

I am absolutely not contesting the validity of AT. This has been a great source of deep and interesting conversation, a community of compassion and knowledge, and altogether fun place to hang out and learn what tarot is all about. Without this forum, I would be nowhere near the reader I am....

The question is....isn't AT an (albiet HUGE) book of other's interpretations of the cards that we can open and look up a meaning?

Exactly!!! That's why I don't post my readings or look up thirteen's meanings when I'm doing a reading. I also don't read about the meaning of a card much right now. I'm trying to be 'book free' as best I can. AT is a book.

I do shake my head with some of the readings that people post. Spreads that have positions that duplicate each other, clarifying cards and reading multiple times on the same question. Ya just gotta trust what's inside and in the cards.

Jen

I don't think this 'issue' that people have with book meanings comes from reading them as-you-read-the-book. It's when people turn to the book whilst doing a reading, or intentionally learning them off pat for readings. I think probably everyone here has read books, LWBs and still picks up a meaning from them in their heads while reading once in a while. So to answer your question, i think AT is such a resource as you sugested, that can be used either way. If i card read on here, i don't appeal to other material on the site to find my answers, i just read. But i guess you could use it LWB style to look up a meaning.

I think you're right though, if we get several respondants to a spread then we are probably likely to pick the one that appeals, or we expect is true!

And i don't think there is anything wrong in seeking to validate ourselves though each other here; we do it in all other areas of our lives quite naturally-though family, collegues, team mates...we get feedback from them on how well we're doing, but here it's just more noticable, especially for those of us who are not pro's and get little or no feedback outside of AT. It's more obvious also because we are asking for feedback. As long as we aren't relying on others to validate, s'ok.

Pook said:

The question is....isn't AT an (albiet HUGE) book of other's interpretations of the cards that we can open and look up a meaning?

Click to expand...

Yes/No. As an overly-enthusiastic AT member I heartily agree/disagree.

See here’s the thing…

If you simply do a search on say, Seven of Cups, you’ll come up with a gazillion interpretations for the Seven of Cups.

But if you read very carefully – you’ll see that some folks use static meanings, and some folks take context into consideration.

So AT can be far more than a Big Book O’ Meanings, it can be a Big Book O’ Context – depending on where you look, and how you assimilate what you read.

Problems with books is, they lack context to your sitter.

I am only going to respond to the validation aspect of this conversation. For the first 10 years or so of my tarot journey I had no one to talk tarot with, or ask questions from. I knew no one interested in tarot at all. Then one day I discovered AT, and what an incredible world opened up to me.

I found such a wealth of experience and knowledge here. Not to mention the variety of decks I was introduced to and later "forced" to purchase *LOL*. I do not post readings here, but AT validates many things for me, mainly that I am not alone in my interest in tarot or in taking it seriously. Lets face it, tarot is still not mainstream, and not everyone is really interested in talking about it or my exciting new deck! *LOL*. But I can come here and talk

Like you I find great value in this community, and cannot thank Solandia enough for making it happen. I have been here since this was a small community, before the time of memberships. It has been wonderful to see it grow into what it is today.

Umbrae said:

Yes/No. As an overly-enthusiastic AT member I heartily agree/disagree.

See here’s the thing…

If you simply do a search on say, Seven of Cups, you’ll come up with a gazillion interpretations for the Seven of Cups.

But if you read very carefully – you’ll see that some folks use static meanings, and some folks take context into consideration.

So AT can be far more than a Big Book O’ Meanings, it can be a Big Book O’ Context – depending on where you look, and how you assimilate what you read.

Problems with books is, they lack context to your sitter.

Click to expand...

Eh! so it's an like an ongoing reading. marvelous!

I agree w/ Jewel. Eventhough I live in NY a large city where there's tons of people interested in tarot i know NONE so coming here for me is wonderful and i have learnt a lot. I post my readings on here to get some feedback, learn what others see and diff perspectives bc i feel thats how you learn. its exciting to see how diff ppl view the same card in such diff ways and i love to have discussions about it. perhaps someone will see something i missed. I could choose to agree or disagree but for me its been helpful in my quest to learn more. Yes its true sometimes you only get one response, oh well what can you do lol maybe you read correctly so others dont feel the need to answer by saying "same here". either way whether i get answers to my post or not, Im still learning everyday i visit here and love it!

rebecca-smiles said:

Eh! so it's an like an ongoing reading. marvelous!

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Exactly!

Books, once written – remain so.

Books are static.

Aeclectic Tarot, by its nature – and the interaction of its members, is dynamic – like life…like Tarot.

...and we can always come back and say, 'Whoa, I sure screwed up..."

I like it because it's also dynamic in the way that while you're discussing things, you're asking more questions and having more questions asked of you.

Usually just the act of explaining the situation completely to some one helps you collect your thoughts on a subject. ^_^

I'm glad that I wasnt attacked for this question. I'm simply curious and going thru an extremely "know-thyself" period right now.

As a, until recently, rather casual tarot reader...and I say that in terms of how often and how deep my reading went....I often would read in a manner that , well, frankly wasnt reading the cards, it was reading the books.

rebecca-smiles said:

And i don't think there is anything wrong in seeking to validate ourselves though each other here; we do it in all other areas of our lives quite naturally-though family, collegues, team mates...we get feedback from them on how well we're doing, but here it's just more noticable, especially for those of us who are not pro's and get little or no feedback outside of AT. It's more obvious also because we are asking for feedback. As long as we aren't relying on others to validate, s'ok.

Click to expand...

I think you may be onto something, here....I dont knowthat I've thought of it in that light before. I'll think on that some more.

Umbrae said:

Books, once written – remain so.

Books are static.

Aeclectic Tarot, by its nature – and the interaction of its members, is dynamic – like life…like Tarot.

...and we can always come back and say, 'Whoa, I sure screwed up..."

Click to expand...

Edited to say: I have deleted part of the statement that I made earlier. I re-read it and realized that part of the reason I love Aeclectic is because the people here are capable of seeing beyond the black and white.
So, you're right. I think it's a context thing.

But what about people who consider members here to be "an authority" on tarot and regard thier opinions as such, even when the opinions change?