Learning to Love the Pips

[Wendywu]

I thought that too, but it's working for me (much to my surprise)

Years ago, when the pips seemed difficult to me, I worked my way through jmd's book (which is his 30 week course all gathered together) and did the exercises in it. Since then I have read using that knowledge plus my "dollop of numerology" and elemental associations. I grew to love TdM decks far more than any others.

Now I am doing the exercises in EE's seekers' threads, carefully and seriously. I have watched his dvd (a gift from an amazingly generous friend!) and his Tarology book arrives this week. Next payday I'll get his other books. I like the fact that I am expected to read widely about renaissance art etc which is something I haven't really done before; my interests have tended to focus on other things. I am learning a lot and thoroughly enjoying myself. Exercise 3 starts today (for me) and looks interesting!

I also printed out the whole of Mel's Baked Goods thread and one fine day I'll start work on that one

I expect that in the end all the various things I have learned influence my reading technique, but I enjoy experimenting!

 

[Richard]

Yes, JMD is a fine tarot historian. I have read his book and refer to it often. I think it is the best thing available for TdM information. I can't say the same for EE's astonishingly creative approach or Mel's ultra-systematic Baked Goods method, although their work is interesting also, in their own way, but not my way. It's my damned skeptical mindset, I suppose. I just have to live with this rationalistic curse. I suspect you can easily find even more to criticize in my system, but it works for me, so.....

 

[Wendywu]

I think that's the absolute beauty of it though isn't it? We each find a way that works for us and that we enjoy working with


I must admit I printed Mel's thread a long time ago, and every now and then I get the ream of paper out, stare at the contents and flinch

But jmd is a very different kettle of fish - I have that book as paper and a pdf, and it's my favourite tarot resource combined with Robert O'Neill's Tarot Symbolism. I work my way through his exercises because they are such fun.

At the moment I'm enjoying flexing my intuitive muscles and seeing where I go with it. Hopefully in future I'll achieve some sort of synthesis that I probably won't even be conscious of but that will be my way of reading TdM.

 

[kwaw]

To start off I would suggest just apply some simple general rules/principles. As an example of simple general principles here is an 18th century method of reading ordinary playing cards, which could be easily adapted to Tarot pips:

An 18th Century method of divining by cards:

"I will teach you the great art of divining by the cards, an amusement we often have in the country, when the parties are over. You are acquainted, no doubt, Madam, with the art of Patience, or drawing cards at once, but this is nothing. Instead I will, madam, put you in a position to answer all sorts of questions, to make an oracle of several card games. You are prudent, and have too much sense to give disagreeable answers to persons who could consult you, or to scare them: this is a very necessary precaution that every wise seer must take, because often predicted calamities frighten more than promised pleasures delight."

"The general rules: the hearts indicate happiness & success in gallantry, and the diamonds, of one’s interests & finance; clubs are favourable to one’s ambitious views, and spades to war projects or military advancement: contrary, the spades are unfavourable in the affairs of gallantry, the clubs must give reason to fear that financial and business interests go wrong, the hearts announces big disappointment to projects of ambition, and the diamonds act contrary to soldiers. If it is a married man who questions & is distinguished, the king is the most favourable card there is, if it is a woman, it is the queen; & if it is a young person, it is the Valet. The tens signify the greatest happiness or misfortune, then the nines, eights or sevens in the decreasing order, and finally the ace is the smallest injury or slightest advantage.

According to these principles, we can query the Oracle: the questioner forms the question and writes it in the briefest possible words on a piece of paper , which is handed, folded, to the person who draws the cards. (If the questioner enters into the question the name of a person they do not want to make known , they can simply indicate the number of letters of which it is composed .)

The high priest, or high priestess of the Oracle, counts all the letters that are in the sentence of the querent, as they are written, without regard to good or bad spelling, then takes two sets of pique cards , making sixty-four cards , and shuffles them until well mixed together , and the person concerned cuts the pack. Then as many cards as there are letters are drawn, and all those ones mean nothing : it is the card which immediately follows that decides the fate, good or bad, according as it is a favourable colour or otherwise , and depending on whether it indicates the level of happiness or unhappiness. If it is a colour that is not relevant to the question, or if it falls on a woman, when it is a man who asks, or a servant when he is an old man married or widowed, in all these cases the cards are redone. If the questioner saw that the Oracle are difficult to explain , fears that it tells some bad success, he is master of his paper to throw it in the fire, and cease to question : but if he wants absolutely know what to expect , we shuffle the cards anew , cutting & pulling a second time , and up to three & four...

"... it is for the one who takes care of the cards, never to admit some issues that can be put to them, for example, this: Is my wife unfaithful to me? Or: I still love Mr. ... or M. ..., Does he love me still? These are objects that one should consult other Oracles with a sensible heart and a well mind. But one can rotate the question into one that is more suitable: here are some examples of things that can be asked, and on which the Oracle is able to answer. Will I be happy in my love? Will I be successful in my attentions? Suppose we adopt the last sentence, which contains thirty-oneletters: first thirty-one cards will be drawn, and the thirty-second will be decisive. If it happens to be an ace of heart , the plaintiff is mocked, because it is proven that it will have only a very small success , if it is the ten of spades, he will complain ; if it is a clubs , or diamonds , or a king, or a servant , when the questioner is a lady , then the Oracle does not answer. However it spoke, when the divination is over one must burn the paper that contains the question."

Translated from "Mélanges Tirés d'une Grande Bibliothèque, Volume 2" 1779 by Marc Antoine René de Voyer de Paulmy d' Argenson.

 

[Wendywu]

That is interesting kwaw, and could be of great help to those just starting to find their own way of reading . I'm going to save it and when I have time, I'm going to try it with playing cards!

Personally I found Lee Bursten's info (and his little book that came with the Universal TdM) of enormous benefit when I started out with TdM, and then I found the very old threads here followed rapidly by jmd's book. However, lately I have been getting very set in my ways with how I read TdM; things hadn't changed all that much for a couple of years. I am enjoying the shake-up that EE is providing - his exercises are fun, informative and I am being made to really think about the cards again.

 

[kwaw]

One can go on to augment the simple general principles with other simple methods.

The method I first used as a child when reading ordinary playing cards was literary, based on word play, puns, idiomatic phrases, proverbs, nursery rhymes, etc. Does the card or combination of cards bring to mind such word-play or literary reference? Apply it to the question. This is akin to the method of EE. The tarot as a game itself suggests some allusions to such word play. For example, one of the earliest recorded titles we have of the smallest trump, the trump of least value, is 'bagatelle' and that means both juggler/trickster/sleight of hand artist and a trifle, a small thing of little value. And I think in some cases the earliest name and intent of this type of image was possibly on this sort of punning wordplay between the image on the card and the rank value of the card in play. This is the first method I used and one that I still apply a lot, the most probably. As I first started reading with ordinary playing cards the pip cards of the tarot have never really been a problem for me. I would suggest as you start to learn reading with non-illustrated pips you use small spreads (say three card) with the pips alone; or one's that combine a major card with a minor (such as C. de Mellet's).

Then there is number symbolism, of which there are various methods. Just pick one and stick with it. I use the pip numbers with reference to the Tree of Life; I perhaps over complicate this by applying old tarot game rules about two suits being ordered 1 - 10 and the other two 10 - 1. Thus for example to Malkuth I apply the Aces of Swords and Batons and the Tens of Cups and Coins (this corresponds with how you may have seen the Sefiroth on the Tree of Life numbered, for example Malkuth 10=1; Yesod 9=2, etc). Most people however just apply all the 10s to Malkuth, all 9s to Yesod, etc., and as the most simple method is probably the way you might prefer to go (if you chose to apply a method of number symolism based on the ToL - there are plenty of other methods to go with if you have no interest in kabbala or the ToL).

The last method I use is the pips to trumps method. There are various ways of doing this, pick one and stick with it. I created my own method again based upon those old tarot game rules.

Another method is if you are already familiar with an illustrated pip deck such as the RWS, just apply them, why fix what ain't broke? I first learnt tarot with Crowley's Thoth deck, and will occasionally fall back on applying what I learnt from that when reading the TdM if I find myself stuck.

 

[Barleywine]

To start off I would suggest just apply some simple general rules/principles. As an example of simple general principles here is an 18th century method of reading ordinary playing cards, which could be easily adapted to Tarot pips:

Thanks for this. I suspect it sheds much light on how my grandmother used to read the playing cards (since, sadly, she stopped doing it before my time).

 

[kwaw]

...
Then there is number symbolism, of which there are various methods. Just pick one and stick with it. I use the pip numbers with reference to the Tree of Life; I perhaps over complicate this by applying old tarot game rules about two suits being ordered 1 - 10 and the other two 10 - 1. Thus for example to Malkuth I apply the Aces of Swords and Batons and the Tens of Cups and Coins (this corresponds with how you may have seen the Sefiroth on the Tree of Life numbered, for example Malkuth 10=1; Yesod 9=2, etc). Most people however just apply all the 10s to Malkuth, all 9s to Yesod, etc., and as the most simple method is probably the way you might prefer to go (if you chose to apply a method of number symolism based on the ToL - there are plenty of other methods to go with if you have no interest in kabbala or the ToL).

The last method I use is the pips to trumps method. There are various ways of doing this, pick one and stick with it. I created my own method again based upon those old tarot game rules.

...

Here is a table with my trumps to pips method. It looks more complicated than it is, and is easy to remember once you grasp the principle behind it. It is based on the fact that there are 220 emblems among the pips, 55 in each suit (the sum of 1-10, e.g., 1 Sword + 2 Swords + 3 Swords etc.,), and when you apply the old game rules about two suits running 1 to 10 and two 10 to 1, they fit neatly into a 10 by 22 table. Thus if you look down the column below XXI you will count 10 d's - thus I match the Ten of Coins (denier) with trump XXI. Trump XXI is one of the exceptions in that the majority of trumps have two pips cards allocated to them. For example beneath XX there is one S (Ace of Swords) and 9 D's (9 of Coins). Reading across gives you the sefiroth & planetary spheres, e.g., the Ace of Swords (one S) is along the bottom row = Malkuth/Sphere of Earth or elements, the nine D's (9 of coins) are along the next row = Yesod / Moon.

http://www.tarotforum.net/attachment.php?attachmentid=58709&d=1344932921

I tend to integrate a lot of systems so this works OK for me. The simplest pip to trump method however, and the one which I think most use, is to simply link a pip with the same numbered trump, e.g., all nines link with trump 9 the hermit. Some may extend that by for example linking the nines with Trump 9 and/or 19.

 

[kwaw]

"The general rules: the hearts indicate happiness & success in gallantry, and the diamonds, of one’s interests & finance; clubs are favourable to one’s ambitious views, and spades to war projects or military advancement: contrary, the spades are unfavourable in the affairs of gallantry, the clubs must give reason to fear that financial and business interests go wrong, the hearts announces big disappointment to projects of ambition, and the diamonds act contrary to soldiers. If it is a married man who questions & is distinguished, the king is the most favourable card there is, if it is a woman, it is the queen; & if it is a young person, it is the Valet. The tens signify the greatest happiness or misfortune, then the nines, eights or sevens in the decreasing order, and finally the ace is the smallest injury or slightest advantage.

There are various methods of correspondences between the French suits (hearts, diamonds, clubs, spades) and Latin suits (cups, coins, clubs, swords). I prefer:

hearts = cups
diamonds – coins
clubs – clubs
spades – swords

So, for example, to translate the above general principles into tarot, latin suited, terms:

Cups are good in matters of romance, leisure, pleasure, social life, drinking & dining, arts, clothes, ornaments, decoration, fashion, peace, questions of health related to lifestyle , diet, etc. They are related to priests, religion, the church and the cardinal virtue Temperance. Swords are contrary in questions related to such.

Swords are good in relation to questions of war disputes, litigation and other legal matters, protections, soldiers, armed forces, protection, guards, police, questions of health relating to for example surgery, dentistry, invasive intervention etc. They are related to the nobility, ruling classes and the cardinal virtue Justice. Coins are contrary in questions related to such.

Coins are good in questions of money, banking, transportation, communication, business, travel. They are related to the merchant classes, the city and the cardinal virtue Prudence. Batons are contrary in questions related to such.

Batons are good in questions of country matters, agriculture, husbandry, fertility, labour, supplies, production, craft. They are related to the working classes and the cardinal virtue Fortitude. Cups are contrary in questions related to such.

 

[Richard]

......The simplest pip to trump method however, and the one which I think most use, is to simply link a pip with the same numbered trump, e.g., all nines link with trump 9 the hermit. Some may extend that by for example linking the nines with Trump 9 and/or 19.

Yes, but then it would be an advantage to memorize the sequence of trumps. That's a total of 10 cards to memorize at the very least! How can I ever remember that Trump 9 is the Hermit (not to mention that 19 is the Sun)? I'm jesting of course, but I do think that this may account for some of the resistance to this method, which otherwise has the advantage of being intrinsic to the deck as well as recognizing that there may be interrelationships between the trumps and pips.

On the other hand, if tarot was invented in France by Mary Magdalene in the 1st century CE, perhaps a method of reading which almost makes sense does too much violence to its absurd origins. Thus we are back to the EE game of analyzing flowers and vines, although there is a You Tube video in which EE himself admits to 'sometimes' using trumps only.

This is all so tiresome. I still think we should choose our tarot gods carefully.