Ancestral Path

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 18 Nov 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Teal	18 Nov 2002
I have a question for some of you experienced readers who have used a deck like the Ancestral Path deck that departs somewhat from the traditional imagery and meanings of the tarot cards. The question is: When you read with the Ancestral Path, do you just disregard the enclosed LWB and read intuitively based on your prior knowledge of tarot in general? Or do you study the LWB and absorb the altered meanings? If you read intuitively based on prior knowledge of tarot, do you improvise when the images on the cards don't have the visual clues of the more traditional decks? I have Ancestral Path and it's a beautiful, emotionally moving deck, so I really want to be able to eventually read intuitively with it, but find it discouraging to think of having to relearn whole new meanings for imagery and individual cards whose meaning differs in the LWB. I've been studying so hard to come to the place where I can read without consulting books constantly, but this would seem like I'd have to re-do all my hard work.

Kiama	18 Nov 2002
I find it best to rea das I always do: Intuitively... This means I just say what I see in the cards, and if needs be attach the more traditional meanings. But that realy is a last resort. Besides, I couldn't read the LWB for Ancestral Path, cuz it's in German! :D It is a beautiful deck, and one that lends itself particularly well to intuitive readings. Kiama

Teal	18 Nov 2002
You must be somewhere outside of the US. Mine has the English LWB. I think I'm going to start working on attaching my own meanings and reading it intuitively. I'll just keep a separate journal for that deck and see what develops. I'll practice on my youngest daughter and her friends. They're pretty open minded.

Woof	18 Nov 2002
I've been using the Alchemical and while the majors are pretty similar the minors are different. I find the LWB (which is pretty big in this case) is very much in line with what I would intuit from the images on the cards. When I'm confused I refer to the LWB but, yes, I read it differently from my Universal Wait or my Aquarian (Waite clone). I don't find this very difficult, maybe it's because the images are so clear and clean in style. Woof

Kiama	19 Nov 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Teal You must be somewhere outside of the US. Mine has the English LWB. I got this deck in a trade from Germany. I don't mind it being in German, cuz I'm not one for reading the LWB unless I really need to... And I Have a friend here in the UK who is German, but speaks better English than me, who can translate if I need it! :) Kiama

Teal	19 Nov 2002
My only difficulty with the Ancestral Path is that if I refer to the LWB on cards that don't prompt my subconscious enough, the meanings are different on some of them from the standard. The art work is so fantastic, though, that I just keep going back to it. I'm going to get the book one of these days, and maybe that will help.

Sorceress_Jade	19 Nov 2002
I do the same thing with this deck. While I love the images, I have difficulty with some of them. Usually those are ones that don't coincide with classical interpretations of that card. I suggest you do use the LWB, when you feel you need it, and go with your gut on the rest. Keeping a separate Journal for the deck is a fabulous idea. Write all your intuitions in a way that's easy to compare what you felt different times. Who knows. Maybe some day you'll write a book on the deck ;) What's your favorite card from this deck?

Teal	19 Nov 2002
My favorite card is the Queen of Sacred Circles. A close second is the Hanged One. But they're all really beautiful. I think the King of Sacred Circles looks like Robert DeNiro, though. LOL And in the Buckland Romani, the Page of Chivs looks like Kato Kaelin from the OJ Simpson trial. Also in Buckland, the man in the Nine of Chivs looks like my late husband to me.

juice	20 Nov 2002
I had gotten the Ancestral Path in a trade and it will not be leaving. The Hanged Man may be catchy but the Tower is awesome. I really like the nine of cups, the dancer at the banquet. The five of cups sticks out in my mind. Dang, I think I need to go look at that deck again.

Sorceress_Jade	20 Nov 2002
The reason I got the ancestral path was because the ... i don't have the deck in front of me... i believe it was the 9 of sacred cirlces. Baskets full of food. There's just something about that image that gives me that feeling. It took me a while to realize what the hanged man was, but when I did I really liked it and the thought process that went into it. Very original and fitting. I've always kinda liked the Fool to. Its kinda silly, but fun loving and peacefully quarky too. I also like the different demensions. It's nice to have some variety. Although I made my case too small for them, grrr, they barely fit in it and the flap is usesless, lol.

HudsonGray	20 Nov 2002
I've found the actual book done for the deck helps explain some of the meanings even better. Since it's not a Rider Waite clone it does help to spend a week with each suit laid out in order on a dresser or shelf & just looking at the connections between the pictures & going over their meanings. By doing it by suit you get each culture at a time (Arthur, Egyptian, etc.) AND you do a group effort rather than card by card, which for me goes faster. The little white book on this one is rather short in it's explanations, so the book does help a lot. There's also a timeline in the back of the book, if you want to use the cards to narrow down a date during the year with this deck, each card stands for 1-5 days, particular days.

Teal	20 Nov 2002
I'll try to get the book, for sure. I have it on my list for shopping. Thanks for the input on it. As a tip for any beginners out there who want to learn tarot, don't do what I did-----I got a bunch of "theme" decks first, and couldn't really "get" it. Then I got one that clicked with me but had more traditional meanings and learned that one. Now I can pretty much work with any deck, but still have to work hard on learning a couple of decks that differ somewhat in their meanings. Basically, though, the groundwork is there for me now and I can branch out some. Ancestral Path could probably be used with traditional meanings for an experienced reader, but for me it's difficult because the visual clues aren't the same on the cards that stray from traditional. Teal

The Ancestral Path thread was originally posted on 18 Nov 2002 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.