New Orleans Voodoo Tarot: Kether - The Four Aces

Lyric said:

For me, this deck just sings to me when I keep it to the personalities involved and the parts they play and their interactions with each other and with humanity, insofar as I've learned them at this point.

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I'd go with it, that's how the deck has chosen to speak to you.
that's what's important.
IMO forget all that tree of life jazz and just let the deck sing. it's speaking to you. you're not working towards a doctorate so stop worrying and let go of all that extraneous stuff.

edited to add:

I've known people whose immigrant parents-grandparents are practitioners of Macumba and Santeria and from what I've been told these are very visceral occult arts and I have never known them to incorporate any Kabbalistic elements into their work.
I don't question Ms. Glassman's ability to make the appropriate correspondences within the Voodoo tradition and the validity of incorporating these elements as a practical application into the Voodoo Tarot, but I doubt they are necessary.
When I read your description saying the deck "sings" to you when you relate to the Loa hierarchy my immediate gut reaction was, breakthrough, she's got it right on, that's wonderful.
don't over intellectualize, that's just putting a roadblock in your way, just go with what the personalities are saying to you. anyone who can say the cards sing to her is definitely on the right track.

Thank you so much! That makes me feel so much better. Sometimes I feel like I'm the ugly duckling among the swans so it's good to hear your encouragement.

Lyric said:

Thank you so much! That makes me feel so much better. Sometimes I feel like I'm the ugly duckling among the swans so it's good to hear your encouragement.

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Absolutely not. Without your help and inspiration, the Voodoo would still be in its box. Believe me. Studying it alone was very lonely.

Go at it how you feel is right. I am pretty much doing the same. The only reason that I am noting the Kabbalistic references is because in some of the reading of the text, they did make sense. Helped me understand the numbers a bit and tie the cards and characters together. I am not working towards a doctorate either but it goes all over the place if I don't have a little order. And I like a little order, lol.

But I am prepared to drop the Kabbalah if it doesn't work.

LB

Everyone learns differently, LB. If the Kabbalah and structure like that works better for you, then by all means, keep learning it that way. I think everyone should do it the way that makes it work for them. I was just feeling like I was going to hold things back if I couldn't comment on Kabbalah and such.

I will see how things go. I am prepared to try all ways and eliminate if I find no use. And I know very little about Kabbalah so any comments will be strictly from a novice perspective.

LB

I'm sorry I took this off topic with my insecurities. Back to the four Aces.

Did you see where I was coming from about the calm Damballah with the eggs falling and the angry one with the fangs showing, a frown and flames? What do you think?

The Ayida Wedo symbolizes the subtle pressures that this snake loa uses to communicate with a subject. Rather than communicating in words, this subtle, loving pressure communicates the wishes of the loa.

In a reading, I think I might interpret this card as a message to listen to the subtle messages from the Higher Power that don't come with words or "aha" moments, but instead as little nudges and pressures from our subconscious telling us to "do this" or "don't do that". To heed our "gut instinct", which is given to us for this purpose but that we so often ignore. Heeding this subtle guidance will save us from facing the more forceful reprimand of Damballah la Flambeau, having roused Damballah to action against us or having to shed tears of facing our failures like in the Olodumare card.

I like that idea, Lyric. About Ayida. I always see 'aces' generally, as unformulated expressions of their suit. I once had an 'Ace of Cups' which just represented tears for me. Just tears and no more. Emotion. And here, I can see what you mean - nudges being emotional reactios and feelings. Something that cannot put into rational thought or words. Is that how you mean?

In terms of the other two, yes, I get it. As with what I have just said, Damballah can be just fire - untamed - an offer of fire that needs to be controlled in some way. The other Damballah hangs in the crossroads of the tree. Action that is yet to be made. When we get these aces, it is up to us how we tame them, act on them or work with them. In the same way, the Santeria ace gives us the clay to mould something with, rather than a completed object. It is all about creation, rather than the created.

When I wa trying to explain Kether, I saw that sephirot as the giver of light, which it is supposed to be. And I saw these 'uncontrolled' elements as gifts in their purest form. That was what helped me understand the purity of the ace.

Does any of that make sense?

LB

LittleBuddha said:

I like that idea, Lyric. About Ayida. I always see 'aces' generally, as unformulated expressions of their suit. I once had an 'Ace of Cups' which just represented tears for me. Just tears and no more. Emotion. And here, I can see what you mean - nudges being emotional reactios and feelings. Something that cannot put into rational thought or words. Is that how you mean?

In terms of the other two, yes, I get it. As with what I have just said, Damballah can be just fire - untamed - an offer of fire that needs to be controlled in some way. The other Damballah hangs in the crossroads of the tree. Action that is yet to be made. When we get these aces, it is up to us how we tame them, act on them or work with them. In the same way, the Santeria ace gives us the clay to mould something with, rather than a completed object. It is all about creation, rather than the created.

When I wa trying to explain Kether, I saw that sephirot as the giver of light, which it is supposed to be. And I saw these 'uncontrolled' elements as gifts in their purest form. That was what helped me understand the purity of the ace.

Does any of that make sense?

LB

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OK, now I see what you mean about Kether. It could be the giver of "light" as in "I see the light" ( lol ) or in other words, the light has dawned on me now.

What I mean about the subtle "gut feelings" is the unspoken nudge you get from somewhere down deep that tugs you back when you start to do something you may regret. In my youth, I never paid any attention to that and was always out of the frying pan and into the fire because of it. It's the little flicker of "something" that says "you may be sorry you did this. Better not do it" that you often brush off and do it anyway.

Yes, I know what you mean, Lyric. And I think that all of the keys and lwa have their own little gut-tugs - with different punctuation and different tastes.

LB

I think I was going to post these in another post and couldn't find my notes. Then I discovered they're in the book. Duh!

But I'll post them anyway:

Santeria=Earth=Pentacles

Rada=Air=Swords

Petro=Fire=Wands

Congo=Water=Cups

At first glance, with everything about this tarot being so different from most tarots, it may not seem that these correspondences mean anything. But I think with time and study, it might become more clear what their correspondences really are.