The vast library called Tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 09 Nov 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Ace	09 Nov 2004
I THINK this is the right place to put this, if not, Moddies, please feel free to shift it! It a discussion of the High Priestess, I called her the Librarian of the deck: she had the answers, you must ask the questions. See: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=32278&page=1&pp=10 I told someone about that and she said that if the HP is the librarian, the Heirophant is the cataloger! And I suggested the Hermit is the researcher. What do you guys think? do we a libary staff here to the askaskic record library or what?

Rusty Neon	09 Nov 2004
The King of Coins would be the library philanthropist ŕ la Carnegie. The Queen of Cups would be the library volunteer. The Page of Cups would be the student sitting in the library burning the midnight oil. The 7 of Swords would be the person who doesn't return library books and CDs. The 7 of Cups would be the perplexed library patron who can't make his book selection.

Fulgour	09 Nov 2004
}) The Hierophant doggedly puts books back in the wrong place and The Hanged Man drearily follows the Hierophant around, putting the misplaced books upside down on the shelf as well. :smoker:

Bean Feasa	09 Nov 2004
Heh-heh-heh, great thread! Great characterisations Ace and Rusty! I'll add a few - Page of Swords - that hyperactive kid who insists on rearranging the books, while singing and talking nonstop. Chariot - in a hurry, tries to skip the queue, wants the book he/she wants NOW. No concept whatsoever that other readers even exist. 10 of Swords (a la RWS of course ;)) Drama queen - you don't understand how important this is - he/she has to have this book or the sky will fall. How could you be so awful as to suggest there's a waiting list already! You cruel, cruel librarian It's early in the morning here and the grey matter's not too lively. Might get back later with some more.

Alissa	09 Nov 2004
I like this.... I'd say the High Priestess is the cataloguer. She silently sits with all the Universal information, spinning it out into bits and bytes that others can digestibly manage a piece at a time. She's the databank. She spits out what we ask her for, and nothing else but that. But, if we don't know the right question, we won't get the answers we seek. The Hierophant is the reference librarian, the one with all the skills to get to the answers others need. He gives those skills to the inquiring ones. He is the middle man; a teacher, by book and by example. I guess the Pages are the pages... the book shelvers. I'd say the Queen of Pentacles is working the circulation desk. She checks out your books, giving and receiving, maintaining her building's collection as it ebbs and flows with patron checkout.

Chronata	09 Nov 2004
I see the page of Pentacles sitting in that library too... With a huge stack of books about animals and the environment, and crafts... The page of swords has a huge stack of books as well, in a weird range of subjects, but he doesn't look at them as much as browse through them...usually while talking on the cell phone at the same time.

RedMaple	09 Nov 2004
Justice is of course the librarian of the Law library. The five of pentacles are a couple of homeless people trying to get warm. The 3 of cups are three young women partying in the stacks. The four of wands are all those people who feel more at home in thelibrary than anywhere else.

Kit	09 Nov 2004
Great thread! :D But who would be the person who sends off the overdue letters, informing the absent minded patrons that the tarot books they borrowed are now three months overdue and they owe the library a $15 late fee and the price of the lost texts if they don't return them in the next week? Could this be Justice reversed? :joke: Raeven Edited to change the typing error in overdue (originally spelt overdie) :laugh:

Cerulean	09 Nov 2004
could be the embodiment of the Naughty Librarian in some of us. Unfortunately, the imagined scene is Dalisque, due to influences of this recent tarot gift...my imagination hears the voices and beast singing, "Once you start me up, I'll never stop," and the feminine figure with the head thrown back in delight has just been told she won the contents of Universal Knowledge in the lost golden plates...the big question among the heads is whether it's 22 or 78 cards. In diminished or reversed form, it's a mere reflection of tarot lust, a shadowy rider half-snoring in a dream, on a pale steed with heads saying, "Whose on first..." Some alternative meanings for this card, known also as Strength: http://www.villarevak.org/ma/e2.html Please excuse this small attempt at humor if this doesn't jive... Cerulean

Rusty Neon	09 Nov 2004
Raeven wrote: But who would be the person who sends off the overdue letters, informing the absent minded patrons that the tarot books they borrowed are now three months overdue and they owe the library a $15 late fee and the price of the lost texts if they don't return them in the next week? Could this be Justice reversed? :joke: And other candidates for the job: The Queen of Swords and the Queen of Wands. I wouldn't want the Queen of Swords coming to my door on a bad hair day of hers. :)

amyel	09 Nov 2004
Bean Feasa wrote: 10 of Swords (a la RWS of course ;)) Drama queen - you don't understand how important this is - he/she has to have this book or the sky will fall. How could you be so awful as to suggest there's a waiting list already! You cruel, cruel librarian Tee Hee...Sounds to me like the 10 Swords wouldn't even be in the library, they'd been in the bookstore buying it NOW. And harrasing the book store clerk because the book is sold out already....

amyel	09 Nov 2004
Rusty Neon wrote: And other candidates for the job: The Queen of Swords and the Queen of Wands. I wouldn't want the Queen of Swords coming to my door on a bad hair day of hers. :) Now, Rusty....I resemble that remark.... :)

Bean Feasa	10 Nov 2004
The Magician would do publicity/outreach, giving library tours, dazzling people with the wonders of the OPAC, convincing them that the Dewey/Universal/Congress system's a doddle really! I guess the Chariot could also be the mobile library operator. Who would do inter-library loans though - any ideas?

Kahlie	10 Nov 2004
Quote: Who would do inter-library loans though - any ideas? The World/The Universe? She's usually singing and dancing, but I bet she can stop for a bit and pick up some books and distribute them through the Universe.

Satori	10 Nov 2004
The Knight of Swords would be the library stalker, watching people from around the corners of the stacks, and peeking at people thru the empty places in the shelves. He'd be a little creepy, a little disheveled... I think the Hermit would be the homeless man in the corner, with a book open in front of him. He has stubble on his face, fingerless gloves on his hands, and a really ratty coat on. He isn't reading his book, he's read it before many times, but to the casual observer he is an old, dirty man, snoozing in the warm library. The Fool is the teenage boy who is sniggering and laughing at the Hermit, and his school friends are arranged around him, kind of laughing, but not quite sure what to do. They think the Fool is very foolish, but they are intrigued by his seeming lack of respect for anything, anyone. The Empress is reading a book to the children in the Children's area. She has a book about horses open on her lap, and she is reading about a foal being born. The four children at her feet are the Ace of Swords, the Ace of Wands, the Ace of Pentacles and the Ace of Cups. They are everything and nothing. Fully formed and yet full of potential just waiting to be activated. And me, I'm walking in with a couple of overdue books and my two little ones. I slip two dollars to the Hermit for coffee later, give the Fool and his buds the eye, wander over to the reading circle with the kids, and report the Knight of Swords to the librarian because I see him staring at the kids!!!

Bean Feasa	10 Nov 2004
As you can see, I'm enjoying this immensely: Strength - the library porters/shelvers Six Pentacles - bookbuying librarians 10 Wands- overworked and underpaid library assistants Kahlie I like your idea of the World for inter-library loans. Temperance could probably do it too since she's always pouring stuff from one thing to the other :)

Kahlie	10 Nov 2004
The Devil.... For me The Devil is either: - An annoying person that doesn't bring back books, or makes doodles in them, rips out pages and generally destroys them. - Somebody who tells me that a book may not be taken from the Library, so I have to come back every time to check it, and back, and back and back... - Somebody who tells me that that book is coming soon, but doesn't put my name on the list so I have to return every time to check it Postively the worst kinda guy you can meet... Stopping you from learning important knowledge, and feeding your addictions. Can we ban him from the library? Although, he is also the good influence that keeps you persuing knowledge... because you are simply addicted to learning... So maybe we ought to keep him. He especially helps people get attracted to books by showing them the lovely ones with nice covers, but no real knowledge inside... Or by keeping them overlong so they miss important meetings... Edit to add: And he would be in charge of the "Coming out soon", so he can tantelise people with things they can't have... And the "Just New" because everything is always away and not returned yet...

Kahlie	10 Nov 2004
Bean Feasa wrote: As you can see, I'm enjoying this immensely: Kahlie I like your idea of the World for inter-library loans. Temperance could probably do it too since she's always pouring stuff from one thing to the other :) I think Temperance is too busy writing books between subjects that are "normally" considered incompatible but seem to flow from her pen anyway... And by re-writing passages in book she finds "too" passionate/violent etc, so the books are more tempered. Books by her hand would include: The Literary value of Comic Books The Art of Feces The Modern View on the Ancient Myths etc. etc.

Fulgour	12 Nov 2004
How about The Wheel of Fortune as the old Dewey Decimal System, now you see it, now you don't.

Kit	15 Nov 2004
I'm sitting in a library now, typing and wondering...Who is sitting at the computer terminal in our tarot library? Raeven

Kit	15 Nov 2004
The Nine of Swords is the woman fumbling for her library card which she seems to have misplaced, who is late for an appointment and is being told by the High Priestess/Librarian that there is a $12 late fee and three overdue books on borrowed on her card anyway, and would she like to clear it today? The Nine of Swords replies that she really needs this book, because she has an assignment due tomorrow, and if it's not handed in, she'll fail her course... The Librarian suggests a book of calming bedtime meditations. Raeven

Ace	16 Nov 2004
I posted this, then got lost! The fool (I think) is the student who just got his first library card--I can do anything! the whole world of knowledge is at my feet! the Magician is a guy trying to make sense of the book learning. It says if i do this, I get this result... Why doesn't it work? what if I try?.... and so on. the Interlibrary loan person? hmmm, I like the world for that but my thought was the Star, passing the information around and nurturing new. WHat is the tower to you guys? how about the LA library that had an earthquake and had all of its thousands of books knocked off the shelf, this was several years ago! Oh, and I can be the four of Pentacles some times: let me check them all out now and have them for when I am ready for them! I love books.

Melpomone18	20 Nov 2004
I know it sounds strange, but I think of the library as an entity, and the high priestess as an embodiment of it. She's this vast, treasure trove of knowledge, she's mystery, the unknown...all of those dusty books that you don't even know exist but could be of immeasurable help to you if only you could find them.To me, the hermit is more of a librarian (not that librarians are all hermits or anything, we certainly are not!) contemplating to find the answers, searching for deeper truths. The hierophant is also a likely candidate for reference librarians, who sometimes do a little double duty as teachers in a way. Justice is a librarian who deals in orders and acquisitions, making sure that the library gets the books that they've paid for and that all of the invoices are balanced. The emperor is the cataloguer whose sensible ways and preciseness bring structure to what could easily be a chaotic mess. The empress is a children's librarian whose compassion fosters a love of books in young children. The page of pentacles is the computer geek "cy-brarian" in tech services who keeps the entire system running. The world is the library catalogue, the thing that puts the knowledge of the high priestess at your fingertips. (I play the role of Justice, by the way)

Moongold	23 Nov 2004
Malpomone, I love the concept of the High Priestess as being the library entity. Within such a concept I would see the Magician as being the Reference Librarian - the breath of knowledge. The Empress would make a wonderful Children's or Community Librarian and the Hierophant as Cataloguer sounds ideal. It is the Cataloguer who organizes the knowledge, provides a bridge between the community (outer world) and the knowledge (inner world). I guess how one goes on from here depends on what internal classification system one uses Hahahahaha :).

Melpomone18	27 Nov 2004
Moongold wrote: I guess how one goes on from here depends on what internal classification system one uses Hahahahaha :). LOL, I think that the hierophant would use dewey. It has to be something steeped in tradition no matter how impractical. :)

The The vast library called Tarot thread was originally posted on 09 Nov 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.