Ever heard of this?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 24 Mar 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Greyhart	24 Mar 2002
I'm learning tarot as a guide to my spiritual path. I'm using Robin Wood which is only the second deck I've seen and I like it very much. The first deck I bought was Rider Waite but it just did not speak to me. I couldn't get comfortable with the imagery or the style. Robin Wood seems more accessable to me and easier on the eyes. Since I haven't done any readings for others and am not sure I want to use tarot that way I've had a hard time finding a spred that fits my purpose. Well, several weeks ago I dug out my old dog eared copy of The Woman's Encyclopedia Of Myths and Secrets and looked up tarot and found a way to use the deck that is really intriguing and I've begun to merge it with other symbolic systems I use and am having quite a fun time of it. This is new because up to now I haven't found tarot very enjoyable. If anyone has heard of this or is using some form of it please give me some pointers. If not I would appreciate your thoughts none the less. Here's how it works. The Major Arcana is divided into two decades- 0 thru 9- and 11 thru 20. That leaves 10 and 21. Think of the symbol in the Magician's right hand. The two decades are laid out within this infinity symbol with 10 and 21 occupying the center as a bridge between the sides. Begining at the left hand bottom center lay out 0-9 clockwise back to the center. The Fool will be below and to the left of The Wheel of Fortune and The Hermit will be above and to the left of it. 11-20 lay out begining at the center bottom of the right hand counterclockwise back to the center. Justice sits below and to the right of The World and Judgement above and to the right of it. As I understand it the left hand relates to worldly matters and the left hand to spiritual ones. Each card is now paired with its' opposite in this way. 0, the first of the left hand with 20, the last of the right hand. 1 with 19, 2 with 18, and so on. Each reveals and comments on the other adding to the symbolism and deepening thier meaning. I've begun to use this layout with a rune-like alphabet I've been working on for way, way too long and am having some success with it. By setting a question in runes which correspond to the cards I add a shuffle of sorts to the process. By the way, a simple hand written diagram works as well as the full layout of cards but the layout is a good focus for meditation. I would like to know what everyone thinks. I know it's a slog but that couldn't be helped :-) Thanks

Lion-O	24 Mar 2002
The only "different" way of using the cards is when I pick up the deck, shuffle it a small bit and then "accidently" pick out a card. I'm not doing this very often but for some weird reason the card *allways* (up untill now) reflects my state of mind (believe me; that changes from time to time ;)). When doing readings I simply use the celtic cross. Anyway; this sure sounds *very* interesting to me and I'm sure going to give this some more attention next week, I have to try this sometime as well. From what I've seen it sounds very logical and also very 'reasonable'.

The Ever heard of this? thread was originally posted on 24 Mar 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.