Anyone familiar with Robert Place's method?

[Nurtia]

I just bought his The Tarot and was going through his method, which I am fascinated about but...

I am using the Mythic Tarot and unlike the Rider-Waite, there are many cards with multiple people in it, all seemingly relevant to the scene.

The question is, how should I evaluate the direction of the card? Meaning, given that there are more people and their own backs, should I "only" consider the main character's position in the card, ignoring the rest, to determine its orientation?

I ask this because if I think for example to the 5 of swords, where Apollo dominates the scene compared to the character, do I need to just look at Orestes here?

 

[Espirito]

Hi, if you search in this forum, you will find nice things about robert place, and his method.

Try it

 

[Trogon]

Howdy Nurtia. I'm not familiar with Mr. Place or his method. However, I feel that your question is pertinent to just about anyone who reads Tarot by using the images (as opposed to those who work primarily with the minors based on number/suit/element/etc - such as those whose decks have simple "pip" cards for the Minors).

Using your example of the 5 of Swords - in the RWS decks, it has 3 people illustrated in the card - one who appears to be the "victor" and 2 who have "lost" (2 others are hinted at by the presence of a total of 5 swords). So, I would have to use my intuition, looking at the image, to decide is the person in question the "winner" or the "loser"? This card sometimes brings to mind something from my childhood - we would play marbles, occasionally for "keeps", meaning each player would keep the marbles they shot out of the ring. The winner was the one with the most marbles. Needless to say, one would not risk their finest marbles if one were not extremely good. I was not very good ... apparently, this is how I lost my marbles.

The point is, I think most Tarot decks have some cards which illustrate multiple people (10 of Coins, Death and The Devil are all good examples). In those cards one should consider the other characters who are either pictured, or implied, in the image. (My opinion anyway.)