I have just received the MAAT tarot and absolutely love it. I have the deck with book set and am halfway through reading the book. However, the whole astrology/ lunar thing - as ever - just throws me. I have difficulty with astrology and don't know anything about Lunar cycles but would sooooo like to get deeper into this deck. Visually it is so compelling and I love the images - especially the Minors - really speak to me even though I know that, at this stage, I don't know anything about the astrological/lunar aspect.
I thought the book would open with a basic introduction about lunar cycles, but it just dives right in there and asumes you know. OK, Emperor is at the start & off we go!
My question is - to all you MAAT fans & users - what do I need to know in a nutshell about how this deck works?
Just to show you how dumb I am; is it based on one rotation of the Moon around the Earth? Is that what the Moon does? Is the deck restructured with each card at a different phase of the moon? Are there 78 phases to a lunar cycle and are the cards related to qualities of the houses(?) they're in? I really can't work out what she's done with the structure.
I love the deck and, it's odd, but it seems so readable to me without any astrology, just the images, but I'd be constantly made to feel that I'm not getting the full use out of the deck...
(I see there is a 2010 MAAT calendar; money a bit tight right now and I might get it next month if I feel the deck is just unfathomable without it... From what people say here, the lunar system at work here is a very particular lunar system and not the one you'd find in normal astrology books??)
Determined NOT to be defeated on understanding this one. Anyone out there who's hopeless at astrology and has still got a lot out of this deck?