New Meanings For New Deck???
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 16 May 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| Fairawen |
16 May 2005 |
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I'm a bit confused, and I hope some can help me. I've been looking into the world of new types of decks (and considering buying some in the far future) and was wondering something.
Alot of people seem to base the translation of the card on the picture when it isn't a classic RW or type of RW. Such as one reading I had, the person actually looked at the picture on the card (someone looking out the window) and said I was looking for new things or something like that. Though that wasn't exactly the cards traditional meaning. But... he was right.
So... if I'm reading for someone else using a diffrent deck (like Vampire, Conolly, ect. Something that doesn't have RW symbolism) should I just stick with the classic meaning, or go on instinct and look at the picture, getting a feel for what the pic is saying to me? Or... is it more of what the reader feels is right? :P Sorry, I'm just easily confused.
Hope someone can help, or I'm doomed to confusion... :P
~Fairawen~
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| tarotbear |
16 May 2005 |
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What was the deck?
Just so you understand, the 'meanings' of Tarot cards are not written in stone anywhere. Every time you look at a card, you can see something you never saw before, no matter how many times you have seen the card or studied it. Today, your reader made a 'different' connection. It may not be in any book you have ever read, because it may not exist in any book! Somehow, when the reader looked down today at the card they have seen 100s of times, they were compelled to say 'You are looking for new things.'
So, were they correct? :smoker:
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| rainwolf |
16 May 2005 |
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I see the minors as being defined by the planets they are assigned to--because there are several meanings for the houses and planets, this leaves some room for interpretation which for you and me, make uncomfotable because we cannot find a system and think that these tarot readers are just throwing words into the wind that come into their heads.
So the picture is just the image the author thinks of when they try to describe what a planet in a house signifies. I also think that because THAT deck was CHOSEN at that SPECIFIC TIME, that it has a special meaning to go by the picture and the picture should be worth a thousand words.
Does that make any sense?
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| The Dreamer |
16 May 2005 |
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I use quite a few non RWS decks, and many of them have their own book- not just a little white book but a big book. Just because it's not RWS it doesn't mean that there's no other possibility of getting a meaning than by looking at the picture.
Of course, lots of people like to get their meaning from the picture, regardless of the deck.
And some people switch around in how they get their meaning.
It's pretty much up to you to see what works for you with any given deck, any given time you use it. But non RWS decks aren't any more confusing than anything else, unless you try to make them into RWS. Or- if you want, you can map the meaninings you use for RWS onto other decks- but I don't see what the point of having the other decks would be, then.
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| Fairawen |
16 May 2005 |
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Ah. So... you go (mostly) by what's in the book that comes with the deck? What if it's just a dinky little white book?
See, I thought the RWS meanings were for every deck. See how confused I am? I'm also tired... *yawn*
~Faiawen~
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| The Dreamer |
16 May 2005 |
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Yeah, I always go by the book. I've been posting a lot about that lately- it seems I'm one of the few in the world who does.
I pretty much take each deck to mean something different. Some are more different than others.
Most of my decks have big books. The Haindl has a really good little book. The Liber T had a totally worthless little book, and I haven't been able to use it.
But I agree with rainwolf- however you do it, by picture or by words, I view it as meaningful that a specific card of a specific deck was chosen.
And then, some people throw intuition into the mix, which throws meanings out the window, sort of. Not my way, but whatever works.
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| Fudugazi |
16 May 2005 |
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I go mainly by the picture and only use the book when I am stuck - i.e. if I hit the blank spot (so in a live reading it is an act of memory). But I also spend a lot of time in between readings looking at the deck, writing about it, meditating on various aspects of the cards - singly or in groups; reading about the symbols used in the deck, myths and legends associated with it, history, whatever is relevant for that deck (I also take from fiction, poetry, films, mathematics, numbers, geometry, etc. etc.) - including the book that comes with the deck (where there is one); I do all that in order to see different angles, some learnt by observation, some by reason, some by reading, some by intuition.
In a reading, it it intuitive as to what those cards mean at that time for that person, and your intuition will of course call upon many sources, including all you might have learnt from books and other sources. But when someone is sitting in front of you don't want to be parroting from a book of meanings or worse, read from one! (if you read for yourself alone, I suppose it doesn't matter, though personally I use the same method for myself as for any other querent).
Tarot reading is always an act of creation which involves the interraction between two persons (sometimes in one body) - reader and querent. The cards are springboards for that act of creation.
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| Eco74 |
16 May 2005 |
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I go by the pictures primarily.
If I get little or nothing specific from the image I go by suit+number or what the major or court signifies.
Mostly all of it entwines somehow and numerology, colors etc. blend in depending on whether it seems relevant for the question at hand. Sometimes colors stand out, other times the suit decides the importance of certain areas of the card set by color etc.
But primarily the pictures..
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| Ace |
16 May 2005 |
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I am going to add another signature line: "throw the $@##%(*&&^ LWB away."
If you always go by the book, you might miss an important new meaning that the universe via the picture is trying to tell you. I go only by the picture UNLESS I am reading for myself then I go by the book, since I am too likely to interprete the picture as I want it to be. BUT I do have one weird experience sometimes. Since I tend to be completely monogamous-serially monongamous but completely. I get to know a deck well. SO I might be reading with say, the Robin Wood and see in my mind's eye, an Ancestral Path version of that card and it's meaning will make sense for this reading.
So just go with WHAT THE CARD MEANS AT THAT MOMENT YOU ARE READING IT, forget the rest!
and get some rest,Fairawen.
Ace
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| Fairawen |
16 May 2005 |
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Hm. So it seems you kinda go with a combination. If your learning, go with the book, then ever afterward go with the picture but keep the meaning in mind. So... if I looked at the Ferret Tarot (example) version of 10 of Swords, where it looks like the ferret has been a target for knife throwing practice, and I felt that this was what it was talking about, I should just go with it. Very interesting.
Also, it seems alot of you have sepretate styles, so I suppose I make up my own, though focusing on half picture half meaning seems to click somewhere deep down. :P
And, Ace, when I last posted it was 2 or 3 AM. I got sleep now. :P Thanks for concern. *lol*
~Fairawen~
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| rainwolf |
16 May 2005 |
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Ah. So... you go (mostly) by what's in the book that comes with the deck? What if it's just a dinky little white book?
See, I thought the RWS meanings were for every deck. See how confused I am? I'm also tired... *yawn*
~Faiawen~
If its a small LWB, I take the interpretations presented to me, and make more based on the theme supplied by the limited ones in the LWB. When i get new decks, I would(if i had more time) go through the whole deck and interpret the symbolism the artist of the deck included in their cards.
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| mike gorth |
16 May 2005 |
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As tarotbear said,
it's how the reader interprets it
It's all in the eye of the beholder (as I've said before, another great twilight zone episode)
Once I got the feeling for the tower to be a new idea. Like inspiration and it sort of was. If you look at the tower in the Hanson-Roberts tarot (you can see the entire deck on tarot.com ) it looks like there is a bright light coming from behind it. either way, it's how you feel. I mean, if the tarot was always literal then there would definitely need to be more than 78 cards because there is so much more than just those 78 meanings. Sure there is reverse but the tarot opens you up. Your reception. Try meditating and thinking about nothing and all of a sudden you will start thinking about some random things and such. (over the summer my mentor is going to teach me to control it and become (for lack of a better term) psychic so I can channel it to what I want, tarot helps you do it but I'll be doing it on my own, I'm so excited)
It's quite thrilling to think about because I won't need tarot to do even more!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! of course I love tarot too much and I couldn't think about abandoning this site so I'm here to stay. And I'm still going to do the Free Readings on reading exchange and if you haven't gone there and asked for one.... DO IT!!!!!!
Mike Gorth
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| SunChariot |
16 May 2005 |
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I go by the pictures primarily too, and their symbolism. I do this with all my decks. But you can see there are a lot of different ways to read and people all get answers they are happy with or they would not do it that way.
Tarot is a spiritual tool, and each of us is on our own spiritual path. What works well for someone else may not for you, and what is best for you may not work well for someone else.
Try both ways and follow your instincts and see which "feels" right to you and works well and gives you the most accurate results, or you may end up combining and using parts of different methods together.
Best of luck finding your Tarot path. :-)
Bar
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| Ace |
17 May 2005 |
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Hm. So it seems you kinda go with a combination. If your learning, go with the book, then ever afterward go with the picture but keep the meaning in mind. So... if I looked at the Ferret Tarot (example) version of 10 of Swords, where it looks like the ferret has been a target for knife throwing practice, and I felt that this was what it was talking about, I should just go with it. Very interesting.~Fairawen~
Robert (or Richard?) Buckland put it nicely: read the booklet once or twice then throw it away.
Target practice is a good way to look at the 10 of Swords, or someone putting too much pressure on you and "pinning you down" or maybe someone actually attacking you or your character. Or....
Ace
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The New Meanings For New Deck??? thread was originally posted on 16 May 2005 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.
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