Music and Tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 02 Mar 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

closrapexa	02 Mar 2004
Has anybody ever thought about connecting different songs or types of music to different tarot cards or decks?

jmd	02 Mar 2004
The thread Tarot Music mentions some pieces of interest - though it may now be a little our of date...

full deck	02 Mar 2004
Try meditation on Tarot to some of Karlheinz Stockhausen's later music. It's a bit interesting to try since his music deals more with pure sound than melody and harmony. I normally don't do this sort of thing though but I've done it a few times anyway.

closrapexa	02 Mar 2004
I wasn't talking about music to spread with. I was talking about a song or type of music that makes you think things like, gee that's a real king of swords song. Songs that make you see; truly; what the card is about when translated into everyday words and feelings. For instance, "I'm only happy when it rains" by garbage makes me think of the tower.

Aerten	02 Mar 2004
America's "Horse with No Name"-- kinda reminds me of The Fool! :P Gary Jules' "Mad World" (from the film Donnie Darko) makes me think of the Four of Cups. -Aerten

horoskope88	02 Mar 2004
Oh I was going to post on same idea... There's on Thai song by the singer Palmy that really makes me think of the Hermit. In fact, I was having a really hard time understanding the Hermit...but I heard this song and I was like--that's it! I get it now! Rough translation of the lyrics... "With loneliness in my heart I let my heart empty Reviewing over everything that has passed I want to be missing, I want to disappear, not let anyone see my face Hide from everyone, hide from their eyes, and give time to my heart To think over everything, to review all that's passed...and try to understand." Basically, the song is about...going through a troubling experience...and withdrawing from the world to "give time to my heart," seek understanding. This song really clarified the Hermit for me. Anyone else have a similair experience with another song and another card?

cartarum	05 Mar 2004
get an mpeg player to play 156 songs randomly. each of which identify with a particular card, reversed or upright. nice dont make yourself crazy though.

Ilithiya	05 Mar 2004
Hmm... The Halloween Tarot and Oingo Boingo go along well in my opinion... the Tarot of the Dead could go well with that too. Dead Man's Party is a good match with the Chariot... Nobody Lives Forever for Death. I can just see those flowers start to dance. :)) Led Zeppelin's Tangerine reminds me of the Eight of Cups. Godsmack's I Stand Alone could fit the Knight of Swords very nicely... but somehow also seems to describe The Hermit. This is fun! llly

Cerulean	06 Mar 2004
I was listening to snippets of 'celtic' music in a cultural anthropology class of how and what celtic influences came into what we know of Ireland. Now these were 20th century mixes of oral poetry that became musical strains that also flew into European music with harps and bagpipes and orchestral/choral blends. Something in praise of a dying King Arthur departing for Camelot on a barge took one to a feeling of the majesty of a departing emporer. I wondered at certain strains of music to evoke a tarot allegorical card mood. A Gregorian chant took one to meet the Pope at the end of the Cathedral...the beginning of Beetoven's 5th became beginning charge of a Mars-like chariot or the Knight of Swords... Some beautiful posts about poetry and the tarot and how to read the poetry as you read the tarot reminded me of how visual I make the tarot experience...when it might be enriched otherwise. At a recent conference, I choose to sit next at a table near a room where we would have attended a class in a guided meditation. I asked a woman at the table if it was alright for me to sit with my lunch bag, as the other tables had family groups. She was sitting, facing outward, eating lunch--not hunched over as if she wanted to hide away, but relaxed adnd sociable. I wanted to sit and eat as well. She graciously said she didn't mind if I sat down to eat my lunch and began talking to me. I realized within a moment or so she was without sight as she faced me. She was quite astute in the listening mode, as she turned her head when her boyfriend was approaching before I looked up and saw him arrive. When we talked, I didn't mention the tarot lectures I was attending, I just spoke about the variety of different lectures that I was experiencing and enjoying. Afterward, I thought of poetry and how we could have spoken about that, or any musical experience, but I didn't think about tarot. It's primarily visual for me, although there are ways one can evoke a sense of an Emporer or Pope with musical strains. Anyway, I was thinking for poetry, how would one evoke a tarot allegory or archetype without visual references? How can one do it--well, through experiencing and then describing music is one way. Thanks... Mari H.

The Music and Tarot thread was originally posted on 02 Mar 2004 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.