A Tarot de Marseilles reading

[Sulis]

I got my lovely new CBD Tarot a couple of days ago and I've been very happily looking through these cards since... It's been years since I used a TdM and I am very much out of practice but I figured I need to start somewhere so it may as well be here.

So onto my question:
I've never read much for people face to face and lately I've really done hardly any face to face readings at all (I just don't seem to get much opportunity).
So I'd love to get back into it and asked my lovely shiny new deck:

What effect would doing some face to face readings have on me?
I dealt three cards:

....1....2...3....

1. L'Amoreux VI
2. Le Pape V
3. 6 Coupes

OK, so I have two sixes and Le Pape. Since I don't have positional meanings and I have a Major Arcana card in the centre I'd read that one as the card with the main message:

Le Pape is teaching the acolytes who kneel at his feet; he's a priest and one of the main roles of the priesthood is to help people. So the main message I'm getting from this card is that I think I'd be able to help others with the knowledge I have and the messages I'd get (Le Pape is a channel for the divine, he passes on the word of God or Goddess).
There is a strong spiritual aspect to both Le Pape and The Lovers too.. Le Pape is a 5 and to me the 5s are often about difficult times that teach us something and that help us to grow spiritually so I think I'd learn a lot from doing face to face readings and I'd also get a lot out of it spiritually too.

Sixes are about relationships with others and are also about making choices to restore balance and harmony.
I think doing this would help me feel complete in some way. It would fill a space inside me that's empty at the moment. It's something that I think I really need to do.
The image on L'Amoreux or The Lovers, rather than a choice seems to me to show a boy or young man saying goodbye to his mother as he's about to start his life with his new wife. The angel or cupid above shows that this union has been blessed. This is about taking the next step in life - the man is now responsible enough to have his own household with his wife rather than living with his parents and likewise I think the main message of this card for me seems to be that I'm ready to take this step.
The 6 Coupes, being about making choices which restore balance and harmony says just that; that doing this, reading for people in person would make me feel good about myself. It will restore an emotional balance and harmony that I'm missing right now.

The summary card is L'Etoille XVII or The Star XVII and that card too says that this is something that would really be good for me and is something that I'm hoping to do. The Star though is a long way off in the sky so perhaps it's warning that the opportunity to do some in person readings may not be that forthcoming and it may not happen till some time in the future. Something to aim for though.
L'Etoille is numerically linked to La Justice VIII sine they're both eights so the additional message here is that what I get out of it will be equal to the effort I'll put in.

I'm loving looking at and working with these cards but if anyone who's experienced (or not) at working with historical decks has anything to add, I'd be very grateful .

I've attached some images below.

 

[Lee]

Hi Sulis,

It seems like you've done a great in-depth, comprehensive reading, and I'm not sure there's much to add.

The only thing I would suggest to take into account is development between the cards. In the three main cards you have a strong forward movement from the Lovers to the 6 of Cups. First of all, the cupid on the Lovers is looking at the Pope, and the Pope is looking at the six cups. Secondly, the first two cards each contains a smaller version of the next card, i.e. the male on the Lovers (a young man, flanked by two others) grows into the Pope (an larger, older man, flanked by two others). The staff that the Pope holds is topped by the triple cross, which clearly prefigures in miniature the design on the 6 of Cups (three vertical knobs on each side).

So one might say that the "taking the next step" (the Lovers) leads directly to being a channel for the divine (Pope), which in turn leads directly to more fulfilling interactions with others (6 of Cups) (I too see 6's as relationships/interactions).

An exciting reading!

Edited to add: P.S. One might also look at how the young man grows in stature to become the Pope, suggesting that you may grow in stature in terms of others' estimation of you as a result of your readings. Also, we can look at Cupid's arrow and see how it transforms into the Pope's staff (you're taking a tool from the divine and using it to help others), and how that in turn transforms into the central vine on the 6 of Cups, which looks to me sort of like a spine -- providing strength and support to others.

 

[Sulis]

Wow Lee thanks so much. I love how you've noticed that The Pope's staff is mirrored in the 6 Coupes and how the young man in The Lovers grows into The Pope and so grows in stature... I don't think I'd have thought of doing that but I'll certainly look out for similarities and progressions like that in my readings from now on.
I was trying to tie the central stem on the 6 Coupes in somehow and you've done it perfectly with the spine analogy..

Thanks loads .

I'm liking my foray into the TdM .

 

[le_charior]

Beautiful reading from you Sulis, and very nice observations from Lee, too, thanks! I've never thought about LAMOUREUX as saying goodbye to his mother before parting into a new life with his wife, but it makes total sense to me.

In the first card there is one figure (cupid) hovering above three figures. In the second card this is repeated, Le Pape is standing above his three followers, but he has descended from heaven, he is touching them. I see this as you deciding to leave the realms of theory (looking at the cards by yourself, reading for yourself) and entering in real contact with the people you will be reading for face to face. In the last card, the result of this decision, the opposal between 1 and 3 has dissolved, there is harmony, not a hierarchical structure or opposition - you will benefit from this as much as your sitters.

Great cards, thanks for sharing this with us! And the deck is lovely. (Even if I sometimes miss the grumpy faces that he decided to modernize slightly, but overall I like it a lot).

 

[Sulis]

Thank you le_charior .
I really like the way you and Lee have both brought the cupid from L'Amoreux down to become Le Pape, channelling the message of the divine.. I think I sort of did that but not as thoroughly as the two of you did .
And yes, the flow is there in the 6 showing that I'll get as much out of this as those I'm reading for with no hierarchy or opposition.

I'm loving this deck. I think there is a directness with the TdM that is lacking in decks that have pictures on the Minors. There is such a difference between the pictoral cards and the Minors that the people and images really jump out at you and the characters are so full of life and personality.
I used to use an old Conver Heron when I've ventured into TdM use before - the photo facsimile deck and I love this new and restored version. I can't get on with the Flornoy Noblet at all; I think it's those nipples that I find really off-putting and I feel sure that they wouldn't have been there on the original cards.

Thank you both .

 

[Lee]

I've never thought about LAMOUREUX as saying goodbye to his mother before parting into a new life with his wife, but it makes total sense to me.

I can't take credit for this idea... I first read about it in "Jung and Tarot" by Sallie Nichols, a great book about the Marseille majors from the early '80s.

I can't get on with the Flornoy Noblet at all; I think it's those nipples that I find really off-putting and I feel sure that they wouldn't have been there on the original cards.

My personal opinion about the Justice card is that the red object is the top part of the scales.

 

[Sulis]

I can't take credit for this idea... I first read about it in "Jung and Tarot" by Sallie Nichols, a great book about the Marseille majors from the early '80s.

I've never heard of it before either but I looked really closely at the card and it looked as if the man was saying goodbye to the older woman who was, in turn waving him off to start his new life.

My personal opinion about the Justice card is that the red object is the top part of the scales.

I think it's the nipples on the Reyne de Batons that I find particularly disturbing and I agree that the red marks on Justice may be part of the top of the scales.. I certainly don't think those red marks were meant as nipples in the original artwork and the new nipples that have been added look far too realistic to blend in with the original wood-cut artwork.. Just makes me go 'ewwwwwwwww'.