A question about your experience of *using* the Marseilles tarot

Myrrha

Hi all

If this question is in the wrong place please feel free to move it. I wasn't sure it fit in the study group thread in the study group forum.

From looking around on the web and reading old threads here at AT I've noticed that different readers of the Tarot de Marseilles have different ways of interpreting the cards, especially the pips. Some systems of interpretation use color symbolism, but the different decks are colored differently!

So, to those who have some experience reading with this deck, if you *receive* a reading with the TdM from another reader who uses a different system than yours, how do you feel about it? Are you constantly thinking "No, no, that isn't what it *really* means" or is it pretty much accepted among people who use this deck that there are different systems of interpretation, all valid?

--Myrrha
 

lunakasha

Excellent question, Myrrha!

I have often wondered about this....as you say, the different decks have subtle variations, so do people read "what they see" in a given deck, even though it might vary from what they normally associate with that card?

Coloration is going to make a huge difference too....I am only beginning to study the Marseille, and am basing my opinions only on what I have seen and read online, but...I am pretty sure there are certain decks which have only three colors--red, yellow and blue. Others also have green, so there are only four colors. And then there is the Fournier deck--the one that I plan to study initially--which has a much wider range of colors....

I am afraid at this point I don't have the experience to answer your question, Myrrha, but I am glad you raised the question, and I look forward to hearing from those who have read from different decks....

:) Luna
 

Diana

Myrrha said:
So, to those who have some experience reading with this deck, if you *receive* a reading with the TdM from another reader who uses a different system than yours, how do you feel about it? Are you constantly thinking "No, no, that isn't what it *really* means" or is it pretty much accepted among people who use this deck that there are different systems of interpretation, all valid?

This is not an easy question to answer Myrrha and a very interesting one.

I think that one cannot get away from the fact that when one is reading Tarot, there is a lot of intuition that goes on. So one either trusts the reader's intuition or one doesn't.

However, the cards must be read as well, and not only one's intuition, or else one could also read with raindrops (with startling accuracy, but raindrops are not Tarot). So if I find that the reader is saying something which doesn't make sense to me, I would ask them to explain what they are basing their interpretation on. Because it is reassuring to know that they have some notions of numerology, suits, elements, etc. And also it is good to know that they are reading the cards together, and not separately. Because, for example, a Four of Swords that follows a Papess will not mean the same thing than a Papess that follows a Four of Swords.

But I would only ask for explanations if I am puzzled.

However, one should normally trust the reader I think. They are more objective and see things that we cannot necessarily see because we are part of the problem.
 

lunakasha

GREAT thread, Rusty!

Sounds like exactly what I was looking for re: color variations between decks....

:) Luna
 

jmd

As mentioned earlier, there is inevitably an element of 'in-the-moment' sensing by the reader when in the specific act of reading - so, personally, I do not generally tend to see what I would see in the spread if I was doing the reading.

If I find that the person doing the reading does not seem to be making sense of the cards, or the narrative does not flow, then indeed I may have a look and (silently) read into them myself.

The same question, by the way, could also be asked of any deck which a person may be used to: how do you respond as a reader reads familiar cards in unexpected ways?

It would probably be fair to answer that, for most of us, we would listen to the reading, and then also attempt to see how they may have come to that narrative given the cards laid out. If we are confident that the reader is him- or herself confident, we would probably then also ask them how they may have come to an interpretation so far removed from our own possible sense for the spread.

With regards to colours, the deck at hand is of importance. Nonetheless, familiarity with another version - for example, the soil/floor on the King of Coins - may bring an added element which may not be physically represented in the deck at hand.

Each card, after all, is but a representation of far broader and deeper scene having connections with other cards and concept.
 

Myrrha

Thank you all for answering. It makes sense that querants would be looking for a readers particular intuition as well as their knowledge of the cards.

Thanks Rusty Neon for the link, that is very helpful. I will look at my Heron deck again in the light of Alexandre LeMat's color system.

Jmd: Yes, you are right a querant could second guess the interpretation of a reader no matter what deck is used. I just thought that since the unillustrated pips leave more room for different systems of interpretation it might happen more with the Marseilles.

Edited to add: Diana has casually introduced a whole new can of worms with her comment about cards having different meaning depending on the order! Eeek! It never ends... :)

--Myrrha
 

Diana

Myrrha said:
I just thought that since the unillustrated pips leave more room for different systems of interpretation it might happen more with the Marseilles.

That is a very interesting thought Myrrha. I wonder though if it is not quite the opposite!

Reading with the Marseille certainly leaves the same amount of intuition as it does with any other deck - whether it be Tarot, Oracle or whatever. But the Marseille is such a STRUCTURED deck. The basic structure, the foundation, especially when we are talking of the minor arcana, is numbers. Numbers are very precise and exact. So are elements. So are suits. So are colours, etc. etc.

So perhaps it is the scenic pip Tarot decks that leave more room for different systems of interpretation. Because each person will react to the picture in a different way, because of their history, background and emotions.

I don't know... I find it in fact much simpler to read with the Marseille because of its structure which is simple for a beginner like me, but I can imagine can get extremely complex for someone more advanced and who has more functioning brain-cells than I do.
 

Myrrha

Diana said:
But the Marseille is such a STRUCTURED deck. The basic structure, the foundation, especially when we are talking of the minor arcana, is numbers. Numbers are very precise and exact. So are elements. So are suits. So are colours, etc. etc.

I do see your point about the structure, Diana. If a reader uses one numerology system/color system and sticks with it it could be very precise and exact. A foundation!

--Myrrha