Memorizing card placements on the Tree of Life

I'm a little embarrassed to ask this question, but I'm feeling stuck and hoping some of the more experienced people can help me out here. Do you have any tips or tricks for learning where the trumps fall on the Tree of Life? I've more or less got the card-Hebrew letter attributions down, but I'm having a much harder time with the nonlinear nature of the Tree.

I realize that pathworking on the Tree would probably be the best way to get it into my head, but I really don't feel ready for that.

I feel like there's some sort of step that I'm missing here that would help. If the answer is just "Spend more time working on it, ya lazy slob," then I can deal with that, but I'm hoping there's something that would make the whole thing easier.

This is going to sound bizarre... but I just did something with my students that worked like a D) charm. A game actually... sort of Qabalah Rummy.

In Gerald Suster's Truth about the Tarot he describes a game that you can play either solitaire or (more interestingly) with a small group, in which you essentially "play" on the tree of life, using cards to climb back towards Kether... It is a very active, concrete way to learn all of the placements and how they interact.

It's incredibly easy to learn and after about 3 trees played, my students knew EXACTLY how to get from Malkuth to Hod or from Chesed to Binah...

If you'll PM me your e-address I'll send you the rules.

Scion

There is a pattern to it.

Sort of.

Try laying them out.

Put all the aces, 2's etc where the spheres should be and then put the majors along where the paths should be.

They go more or less in order (apart from the star/emperor thingy)

A very simple but effective technique is to make a quick sketch of the Tree of Life. It doesn't have to be an artistic master piece. Just 10 circles and 22 lines.
Take a few minutes to study the diagram of the Tree on page 268 of The Book of Thoth. Then, from memory, try to write down on the correct paths as many Trump names as you can. Once you've written down as many names as you can remember, check your results with the diagram on page 268 and then fill in any paths you left blank. The last bit helps to imprint it on your memory. Take a break and then have another go.

If you practice this a few times a day you should have it down pat within next to no time. An added bonus is that you will suddenly realise you can also place the entire Hebrew alphabet on the Tree just by thinking of the cards.

Scion, your Qabalah Rummy sounds like exactly the sort of thing I'm looking for! I just PM'ed--thank you.

I have laid the cards out in the pattern (and took a photo to set as my desktop background for a while, in hopes of passively picking it up--that worked about as well as sleeping with a book under your pillow). Spending more time doing and redoing it probably would do it--I was just looking for the easy way out Which it seems might actually exist.

Thanks, all

Games are a great way to learn many aspects of Tarot. I had about 12 different ones (games) that I'd use in workshops.

My favorite is laying the whole deck out in the 'cosmic'sphere' and having a group of people sit around the outside on their birthday (which will co-incide with a decan and hence one of the minor cards) and all can see how they relate to the Tarot natally and with each other via the tarot ( who is in conjuction, opposition, etc with each member in the group).

Scion, I'm PMing you, too!

I roped a (non-Tarot-reading) friend into playing the game with me last night. It was a lot of fun (at least for me), and definitely the sort of quick way to get card placements down that I was looking for. Unfortunately, I don't think I'm going to be able to get him to play with me again anytime soon, because I managed to win a shocking number of games in a row. (If I were feeling mean or self-aggrandizing I might draw some unwarranted conclusions from the theoretical divinatory nature of the game...but )

We did try out a few changes to the gameplay that I thought worked out well. The major one was using Princesses as wild cards instead of Knights. It eliminates "A Knight to the rescue!," but Princesses aren't terribly useful in later gameplay unless someone manages to knock you all the way down to Malkuth. I have a sense that the change can be justified based on the special status of the Princesses, but I'd be willing to be contradicted on that point.

It's a little trippy to be playing a card game and to suddenly remember that the basic structure of gameplay is built, not only into the structure of the cards (unlike most games you could play with Tarot and any games with playing cards), but some would argue into the structure of the universe.

I'm going to have to try some slower-paced, more meditative solitaire rounds too.

Many thanks, Scion

Most excellent!

Very glad to hear it. With the princesses, I know what you mean... and they are after all the "Thrones" of the Aces... so you could make the argument. When playing with larger groups the Princesses beccoe a great discard because no one wants them higher on the Tree and so you can effectively block other players with them.

I think modification will make for interesting learning expeiences. One of my students even went so far as to play this with friends with FOUR stacked trees, climbing all the way up from Assiah to Atziluth. But they quickly realized that you could only climb so high without another deck. And as you say, the structur eof the game is the structure of the UNivers. So the more you experiment the more you test the walls...

You're very very welcome. So glad it worked out.

Scion

Formicida said:

It's a little trippy to be playing a card game and to suddenly remember that the basic structure of gameplay is built, not only into the structure of the cards (unlike most games you could play with Tarot and any games with playing cards), but some would argue into the structure of the universe.

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As above, so below. A game that reflects the Universe without also reflects the Universe within.

The winner should closely scrutinise his winning pack before handing it in should other players wish to continue. And these other players should examine the packs that have been built at the conclusion of The Game. For each player will have acquired a divination of his current state which should be read card by card, in chronological order, from the beginning to the end, as a story. The card on which one ends has the greatest importance for the immediate future.

The Truth about the Tarot ~ Gerald Suster.

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