Frannie said:
I have the book "21 ways to read a tarot card", where there is an explanation on dignities, is that enough to get me started?
Certainly it can get you started, however, in looking it over, I occasionally sacrificed GD purity for modern usability. The single best place to start, if you want to understand the GD system, is with "Book T" - which is available in the following places:
*
http://www.tarot.org.il/Library/Mathers/Book-T.html
* Regardie's _Complete GD System of Magic_
* Robert Wang's _An Introduction to the Golden Dawn Tarot_
Again, the important thing is to lay out the cards as Mathers shows them and follow the examples closely. Best to use a Marseilles or Italian-style deck so that the RWS images don't confuse you.
Also, I can recommend Paul Hughes-Barlow's lessons, even though we have some differences of opinion:
http://supertarot.co.uk/lessons/beg.htm
You have to really look around to get to all the good ED stuff, as it is scattered around the lessons.
Liz Hazel has written the best book on Elemental Dignities:
_Tarot Decoded: Understanding and Using Dignities and Correspondences_. She examines all kinds of "Dignities" from a primarily astrological pov. This book helps you to understand the concept of "dignity" in its largest sense, better than any other.
I have a doubt about neutral cards. Do they just DON'T count in a reading, like, ignoring them to the point of taking them off the table?
I mention this above. When using a GD spread I ignore them. When using a Celtic Cross or other "non-order method" I read them, but look to see if they could reflect a problem. In a GD spread, based on the "counting" - a card that is ignored in a pair may become significant as part of a triad or vice-versa.
I also have a doubt when a card is Ill dignified.
Liz Hazel's book is the best place to really clarify what ill-dignified means. Basically, the card is not operating at its best because it is "afflicted" in some way. This can be by card placement (a water card in a fire position in a spread), or is in relationship with any card with which there is some kind of traditional 'enmity.' The term is most often seen in classical astrology texts, although modern psychological astrology works differently.
let's say Fire and Water, like a 3 of wands and a 8 of cups, which one of both is ill dignified?
Examples are good. The 3 of Wands part of you needs one thing in a situation, and the 8 of Cups part needs something else.
Let's say the RWS 3 of Wands needs to stay put (while everyone else sets sail?), while the 8 of Cups needs to leave in the middle of the night and go elsewhere. What do you do? For Mathers, we could say that these two needs cancel each other out as no action is possible. Other cards will tell the story of what happens. However, for me, this hidden inner conflict may be central to understanding WHY there's a problem. A decision (even if it's outwardly the same one) can be made more consciously and perhaps for different and more compassionate reasons.
Mary