Cerulean
Dear Futuremoth....just some thoughts...
...when I choose the new deck, there is something in the interplay in the words, pictures and where I am at that will help me to learn the deck. So I take my learning deck-by-deck.
Some people refer to Joan Bunning's free learntarot.com site and find among the options and choices of meanings, there's a something that appeals to them. They come up with their own collection of meanings based on learning the content at the site and also their own tarot deck to work with their choices. You are probably familiar with standard meanings--I was when I first
read through her text--but I liked her information to help supplement my own approaches at the time.
Some decks have text that specifically work with the structure of the deck--my favored Celestial have the Princesses embody a season of the year and it works wonderfully for me. However another deck with the same artist, Kay Steventon, has the pages as all children with an elemental association more strongly depicted in the image (Page of Cups, Water for instance)--her Spiral Tarot differs in theme and structure and image, so my approach to that deck is quite different. Each of these decks has it's own theme and while some people see the art motifs as similar, I now do not agree with that view. When the Celestial first came out, I thought her choice of images in both decks were going to be similar enough, that I'd just wanted to choose one deck. But now I see the different decks so specifically unique, I like having both.
The Celestial's constellation theme and book author really sheds light on the images in a different way--so this is an instance where I would say a book really does make a difference and improves how I read with this deck!
If it is specifically courts and you don't see a system in the deck text or how it's structured, then options might range from checking a specific book (say Tarot Court cards with Mary Greer/Tom Tadforlittle) and using the variety of information to apply to all decks...or narrowing how you approach courts and minors and majors by how you read with the deck. There are some decks that you will pick that you might only use one way...say to build a fantasy story...or do love and family relational readings...and so the approaches may be different. A fantasy story deck might have lovers between queens and kings or triangles with pages and other courts...a relationally-read deck might just show a sword king as an older authority in the realm of solving problems and a sword queen as a fierce, but sympathetic person to serve as a guide in helping clear your path.
I'm only suggesting from what I've been doing lately--so hopefully it is a bit helpful!
I tend to associate suits with different aspects of my life, elements, and the courts might be attributes of the human psyche or an outside person--but most likely I see tarot readings as reflections for the person that is being read or who requested guidance/knowledge based on the reading. How you approach readings might show what works best for your choices in interpreting courts and their influences in a reading.
Best wishes,
Cerulean
...when I choose the new deck, there is something in the interplay in the words, pictures and where I am at that will help me to learn the deck. So I take my learning deck-by-deck.
Some people refer to Joan Bunning's free learntarot.com site and find among the options and choices of meanings, there's a something that appeals to them. They come up with their own collection of meanings based on learning the content at the site and also their own tarot deck to work with their choices. You are probably familiar with standard meanings--I was when I first
read through her text--but I liked her information to help supplement my own approaches at the time.
Some decks have text that specifically work with the structure of the deck--my favored Celestial have the Princesses embody a season of the year and it works wonderfully for me. However another deck with the same artist, Kay Steventon, has the pages as all children with an elemental association more strongly depicted in the image (Page of Cups, Water for instance)--her Spiral Tarot differs in theme and structure and image, so my approach to that deck is quite different. Each of these decks has it's own theme and while some people see the art motifs as similar, I now do not agree with that view. When the Celestial first came out, I thought her choice of images in both decks were going to be similar enough, that I'd just wanted to choose one deck. But now I see the different decks so specifically unique, I like having both.
The Celestial's constellation theme and book author really sheds light on the images in a different way--so this is an instance where I would say a book really does make a difference and improves how I read with this deck!
If it is specifically courts and you don't see a system in the deck text or how it's structured, then options might range from checking a specific book (say Tarot Court cards with Mary Greer/Tom Tadforlittle) and using the variety of information to apply to all decks...or narrowing how you approach courts and minors and majors by how you read with the deck. There are some decks that you will pick that you might only use one way...say to build a fantasy story...or do love and family relational readings...and so the approaches may be different. A fantasy story deck might have lovers between queens and kings or triangles with pages and other courts...a relationally-read deck might just show a sword king as an older authority in the realm of solving problems and a sword queen as a fierce, but sympathetic person to serve as a guide in helping clear your path.
I'm only suggesting from what I've been doing lately--so hopefully it is a bit helpful!
I tend to associate suits with different aspects of my life, elements, and the courts might be attributes of the human psyche or an outside person--but most likely I see tarot readings as reflections for the person that is being read or who requested guidance/knowledge based on the reading. How you approach readings might show what works best for your choices in interpreting courts and their influences in a reading.
Best wishes,
Cerulean