Beginner with Swiss Deck & a Question

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 21 Jul 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

c orlando	21 Jul 2002
Hello, This looks like a lovely forum. I have an older deck which I came across recently after moving, it's the Tarot 1JJ Deck made in Switzerland. I have been working toward a transfer & promotion in my job and that was my question. The card for the present situation was the Star, but the overlying card for immediate obstacles was the Devil. The past foundation card was the Hermit, and the past events card (no 5)was Strength. The 10th final outcome card was the lovers. The Ace of Pentacles (I guess because it's the card with one "coin"?) was also in there somewhere. Q: How would you generally interpret this? Especially cards 1,2, & 10. And also, where could I find a chart identifying the minor arcana cards in this deck & how to interpret them? I'm just a beginner but since I have this deck I wanted to try to learn on it. Thank you for any help / assistance..!

fairyhedgehog	21 Jul 2002
Hi c orlando Pleased to meet you and welcome to this forum :) To get help with your reading, your best bet would be to post the whole spread in the 'your readings' section - You'd need to say which card means what in your version of the Celtic Cross spread eg: 1 my situation - Ace of Pentacles 2 what crosses me - 2 of Swords 3 below - foundation - 3 of cups 4 recent past - 4 of Wands etc according to what your spread is, as there are many different versions. It's pretty hard to say what a card means out of context. I'm not sure about the best book for your deck, hopefully someone else will be able to help with that. All the very best and hope you have a great time in here, FH

Diana	22 Jul 2002
edited

Umbrae	22 Jul 2002
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/basics/index.html Welcome to the forum!

Emily	22 Jul 2002
Hi c orlando, I think Stuart Kaplan bought a book out that was specific to this deck called 'Tarot cards for fun and fortune telling' published by US Games Systems. This was back in the 70's but if you do a search you might be able to find this book, its probably still in print, but in my opinion you may be able to use this deck with R/W interpretations. Hope this helps :)

Rhiannon	22 Jul 2002
Quote: Originally posted by c orlando I have been working toward a transfer & promotion in my job and that was my question. The card for the present situation was the Star, but the overlying card for immediate obstacles was the Devil. The past foundation card was the Hermit, and the past events card (no 5)was Strength. The 10th final outcome card was the lovers. The Ace of Pentacles (I guess because it's the card with one "coin"?) was also in there somewhere. Q: How would you generally interpret this? Especially cards 1,2, & 10. Welcome to the forums! I would also suggest that if you have this spread written down somewhere that you post the full spread over in the "Your Readings" section as Fairyhedgehog suggested. But just on the off chance that you DON'T... I can see by the Star that you are hopeful about this promotion and are looking forward to it. I would say that the Devil crossing this is someone trying to hold you back, could it even be yourself? Is this card showing us your fears? Do you feel trapped by your circumstances? The Past 2 cards, Hermit and Strength suggest to me that you usually go inward for your strength. You get through things by either pulling away from people so that you can't be hurt or that you just have an inner light that you can utilize. This also could be saying that you have learned your current job well and even though it was a difficult process, you have now mastered it. The lovers card to me indicates a choice. Not knowing what the other cards in this spread are, I can't really tell you what the choice is about... but you probably already know anyway. I would highly recommend getting a spiral notebook or something similar and writing your readings down. Jot down anything that pops into your head as far as what the meanings might be as well. It helps in the learning process to be able to go back and see what we've thought before. And please do check out the other (VAST) resources we have here. And it really is a nice place... you'll like it here! R :)

fairyhedgehog	23 Jul 2002
Hi, I've just seen the book by Kaplan on ebay.co.uk - it is a lot called 'Tarot books Kaplan and Douglas' and is no Item # 1752083442 Quote: Up for auction are 2 paperback books. One is entitled 'Tarot Cards for fun and fortune telling' and is written by S.R.Kaplan and is a guide to the IJJ deck of Muller & Cie, Switerland. The other book is entitled ' The Tarot - origins, meaning and uses of the cards' written by Alfred Douglas and illustrated by David Sheridan Don't know if this helps.

c orlando	25 Jul 2002
Thank you, everyone, for the helpful responses to my post. Rhiannon: I think that you must be a very perceptive card reader as your interpretation seems pretty accurate. Interestingly after I posted my question a person at work I had been wondering about ("will she help? or hinder?) blew up in my face in a very 'devilish' way. Pretty spooky, huh? Well it scared me but I believe she operates a lot from fear & we all know how contagious fear can be. The Lovers as the final outcome card still has me intrigued. If it is to be a choice I do hope it is a good choice! Thank you for the tips about the books, as well, I do appreciate it. I am thinking perhaps I will do the cards again in a few days & see what comes up on the matter.

Diana	25 Jul 2002
edited

c orlando	25 Jul 2002
Diana That is a good idea, I'll remember it for the future. After the book comes in the mail I'll have a few more answers, too, because only the major arcana cards are positively identified by the booklet. Sometimes I think maybe I should just go buy that other deck (the real popular one & oldest one around) so it would be easier to learn on. But these cards are nice to look at, so "oh well." (you can see the deck at: http://www.angelfire.com/la2/tarotdeevah/tarot/agmuller.html) With regards to The Lovers card, since I am single, it also occurred to me that it might pertain to meeting someone at work. However I tend to agree it relates to choices since my question was about career stuff. Thanks again to all for the posts - very cool site! I'll have to recommend it to my sister.

The Beginner with Swiss Deck & a Question thread was originally posted on 21 Jul 2002 in the Using Tarot Cards board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Using Tarot Cards, or read more archived threads.