MarkMcElroy
Of Pips and Practicality
Wow! Thanks!
Tarot means a great deal to me. I work with it every day, often several times a day. (It helps to be lucky enough to be writing full-time about Tarot!)
I appreciate, honor, and practice the meditative, reflective, and divinatory aspects of Tarot. At the same time, I'm also fascinated with the cards as a tool for generating action and focusing intention.
I'm very interested in bringing new folks into the Tarot community -- particularly those who have never touched a Tarot deck before. I'm eager, then, to come up with practical applications that anyone can use. At the same time, I hope the applications in these books will also give experienced Tarot users some new ideas and approaches to try.
I do tend to work with decks that feature illustrated pips ... and since so many of the people I work with have never seen Tarot cards before, I default to illustrated pips in workshops and classes, too.
(The least-skilled beginner can look at the RWS Four of Cups and guess that the card "means" boredom or restlessness. Show corporate types the TdM Four of Cups, with four beautifully arranged pips, and they draw a complete blank.)
The good news is that the techniques do work with any deck -- including the TdM! Especially if you're already comfortable reading and working with the Tarot of Marseilles, you would be able to use that deck with these applications with no problem at all.
PS: I had the honor of attending a great workshop, led by Tom Tadfor Little, focused exclusively on reading with the antique Tarots. I've shared his great, easily-learned system with dozens of people (giving proper credit, of course). His approach dovetails well with these exercises and applications, too!
Thanks again for your interest! The entire text of Putting the Tarot to Work is online at TarotTools.com; I hope you'll feel free to browse it and see how easily the TdM can be used with that material.
All my best,
Mark
Diana said:
Wow! Thanks!
Tarot means a great deal to me. I work with it every day, often several times a day. (It helps to be lucky enough to be writing full-time about Tarot!)
I appreciate, honor, and practice the meditative, reflective, and divinatory aspects of Tarot. At the same time, I'm also fascinated with the cards as a tool for generating action and focusing intention.
I'm very interested in bringing new folks into the Tarot community -- particularly those who have never touched a Tarot deck before. I'm eager, then, to come up with practical applications that anyone can use. At the same time, I hope the applications in these books will also give experienced Tarot users some new ideas and approaches to try.
Diana said:
I do tend to work with decks that feature illustrated pips ... and since so many of the people I work with have never seen Tarot cards before, I default to illustrated pips in workshops and classes, too.
(The least-skilled beginner can look at the RWS Four of Cups and guess that the card "means" boredom or restlessness. Show corporate types the TdM Four of Cups, with four beautifully arranged pips, and they draw a complete blank.)
The good news is that the techniques do work with any deck -- including the TdM! Especially if you're already comfortable reading and working with the Tarot of Marseilles, you would be able to use that deck with these applications with no problem at all.
PS: I had the honor of attending a great workshop, led by Tom Tadfor Little, focused exclusively on reading with the antique Tarots. I've shared his great, easily-learned system with dozens of people (giving proper credit, of course). His approach dovetails well with these exercises and applications, too!
Thanks again for your interest! The entire text of Putting the Tarot to Work is online at TarotTools.com; I hope you'll feel free to browse it and see how easily the TdM can be used with that material.
All my best,
Mark
), it reminds me altogether too much of the characters in the 'male enhancement' ads currently polluting television.
A Happy Ending! 