Tips for reading with the Marseilles

[DrTodd]

This is a wonderful thread....I like to sit and line up a random selection of cards from this deck and do exactly what pendu suggests: tell what the cards are saying individually and as a group/sequence...each card is part of a story and each story is different yet, like our own lives, contain similar elements...we hold onto the unique and are surprised at the commonalities we share.

This is a deck for a lifetime and always suprises me....I keep a notebook on what the cards are telling me, and the more I do this, the more I learn and become comfortable with the cards for readings....very nice...

[firefrost]

Many thanks, DrTodd. I've not been able to do much over the weekend but I'm hoping to do quite a lot with my Noblet next week.

[Paul]

Here’s my two-cents.

I agree that the TdM needs to be encountered freshly. I’m a big fan of making the TdM leap and then leaving behind your Rider-Waite and Crowley decks. That’s right, bury ‘em, go through the stages of dying:

Denial – “I'll keep my Rider-Waite/Crowley decks, thank you. The TdM is an obsolete artifact, far inferior to our modern decks that have more artwork on them and even have themes.”
Anger– – “Who are these TdM snobs anyway?”
Bargaining– “I can have both; I’ll just keep the Rider-Waite pictures in my head or use the Golden Dawn stuff as an overlay.”
Depression– “I can’t read this dang deck; there’s nothing to use in the primitive pictures.”
Acceptance– “There’s something uniquely available to me in reading with the TdM, something more authentic.”

[firefrost]

Hi Paul, I like your posts. My answers:

No anger, just admiration. I did argue with myself a few times before getting up the courage to post in the Marseilles thread as a part of me thought the readers and posters could just roll up their eyes at this bumbling idiot. I take my hat off to the Marseilles readers now, whereas I didn't understand them before.

I wouldn't call them snobs. They're intelligent people who know and care enough about their tarot to research its history and learn to read with the early decks. I suppose that could appear frightening to some. Okay, I'll admit it, it scared me!


Definitely in denial just now. There's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'm going to part with my other decks!

No bargaining. When I use TDM, I'm going to read the story the cards tell me. Online readings will be the black and white - I mean purple and white proof


No depression. I'm going to go with the flow of a row of cards laid out before me, see what characters are saying to each other and what the pips remind me of.

Acceptance - definitely! I do agree with what you wrote there!

[Paul]

Originally Posted by firefrost

Definitely in denial just now. There's not a snowball's chance in hell that I'm going to part with my other decks!

Acceptance - definitely! I do agree with what you wrote there!

I hear ya'.
I still have all of my other decks. There was no bra burning, or rather card burning party.

If you make the leap, then the RWS and Crowley images fade over time.

I will likely get slapped for this next comment: It's like the training wheels are removed, and then you realize you never needed the training wheels.

[firefrost]

Originally Posted by Paul

I will likely get slapped for this next comment: It's like the training wheels are removed, and then you realize you never needed the training wheels.

Nice metaphor!

[mac22]

Originally Posted by Paul

I hear ya'.
I still have all of my other decks. There was no bra burning, or rather card burning party.

If you make the leap, then the RWS and Crowley images fade over time.

I will likely get slapped for this next comment: It's like the training wheels are removed, and then you realize you never needed the training wheels.

I tend to think of TdM as a more "mature" taste/like... It has more depth, complex, textures, shades & subtleties than many other decks like RWS & Thoth [imo]. TdM is for when teens grow to adults... as tarot readers evolve.

Mac22

[le pendu]

Originally Posted by Melanchollic

I'm Back, Miss me?

Hi Melanchollic.

It's GREAT to see you back!!! I'm glad that you're happily back in Japan, and ready to join in on these discussions. You've been missed indeed.

I agree with you completely about reading, and expanding your "historical vocabulary" shall we say.

At the very least, it gives us CHOICES in what meaning to apply to a situation. For me, it's actually the connections to tarot through art, history, religion, etc... that are the foundation of why I love it so much, and how it keeps my interest.

I tend to try to imagine the meanings of the cards as they might have been interpreted in the 15th century, it's a game I like to play. That requires stripping off all of the later meanings and researching what the iconography would have conveyed to a player at that time. Of course, there is still much speculation, and my ideas on the subject tend to change over time. For instance, the Bateleur is a character that I've changed my opinion on several times. He was originally, in my interpretation, much more of a trickster. Now he's gained a bit more humor and is somewhat more benign.

Le Pendu is another who's interpretation seems to have changed pretty drastically by the 18th century and later.

My personal belief is that the titles were added after the images were already in use, even in the TdM, so I'm more suspicious of trying to read too much into those "keywords", and often wonder if we've been somewhat misled by them? For me, it's the images.

anyway.. blah blah blah... great to have you back.

[Melanchollic]

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[Foucault]

What a great thread!

firefrost - You're getting some great advice. I'm loving Le Pendu's contributions. See, to my mind, if what you're interested in is reading with the Marseilles, you don't need a book - the deck IS the book; a wonderfully rich picture book.

As long as you can put what you've previously learned behind you and look through a beginner's eyes, I think the cards will tell you all you need to know.

Good to see you here too, Dr Todd! Glad you're continuing with you journey to Marseille.