How important is Symbology in Tarot to you?

[SunChariot]

I don't think you have to do anything in Tarot. All you have to do really is to find what works for you. That will not be the same for each person.

As for me, the symbology in the cards...is over 90% of my readings. I do not study symbololgies. I find what they mean inside myself. And that means that I have no "set" meaning for any given symbol. One moment it means one thing, the next another. But it truly does work and give accurate readings, well it does for me anyway. It's a matter of feeling it inside and going with the flow.

Babs

 

[SunChariot]

Very important, without symbols what's the point of the cards?

That's how it seems to me too.

Babs

 

[Minotauro]

OH , but you DO understand them


just because you dont understand them the way the creator of the deck intended doesnt mkean you dont.

a flower can represent beauty. and the brieffness of life.

in the raider wait the flower in the death card as far as I know represnets life , but for me it doesnt its just a flower one I dont like all that much.

symbols are everywhere! but the meaning of that symbol is diferent for every people
:'D

so you might not know much about all those pantheons , but you know a little bit about each one , and who says I cant see the snake in the lovers as wisdom or rebirth as the snakes in mesoamercian religions? afetra all I am from mexico.

but then again as a mexican I was raised catholic too , so I know the snake can mean sin and temptation. but also moses staff , and medicicne the snake represents medicine too!

do you see what I mean? you do know the symbols , just.. not the same way others do

instead of trying to know what everybody else thinks about this or that... why don you ask yourself what that reresents TO YOU!

or the sitter! ask the sitter hat does he see? what does he think the snake means??

it could remind him of a pet , it could remind him of his childhood in the field or swamsp or how his jerk of a brother always scared her with one!

 

[SunChariot]

Those are my thoughts too. I don't like to study symbolism or to have to use someone else's idea of what something means. I like to FEEL it inside me what it means to me. From that part of me inside when you turn off all thought, that part that you can access during meditation and that has the ablitiy to connect to something deeper and greater....

Babs

 

[PAMUYA]

Wonderful replies on this thread. When I first read your title "How important is Symbology in Tarot to you? I thought I read playing cards for 4 decades, didn't need pictures to read cards. But numbers are symbols and they have meanings, the suits clubs, hearts, spades, and diamonds have meanings, combine the two symbols and you have the minors in tarot (pretty close ) . I guess you can "make up" your own meanings to each card, although then you would have issues with communicating with other card readers. All launguages must have a base of rules to follow.

You can read with "any" deck if you can read by number and suit, the different pictures on the different decks can spur different reactions in you. Due to my reading back ground when I read with tarot cards the first thing I notice is the number and the suit, that moves me in a curtain direction, then I see the picture which effects me more in an emotional manner. We all relate to pictures differently, I use to be deathly afraid of dogs, so any picture with a dog sent me into a panic mode, some see a dog as "man's best friend".

I do like tarot decks with lots of symbols in them, in most cases they are the older more classic tarot decks (not the most beautiful decks, but a lot of thought put into them). I love to learn from them. Symbols don't give you the answers, they open the mind to possibilites, giving vast meanings to each card.

 

[euripides]

oh this is an old thread resurrected, isn't it.

I'm a bit of an obsessive about symbolism. Nothing makes me happier than an hour of ferreting through old manuscripts and paintings in search of meanings and connections.

But I feel the cards can work on multiple levels.

With the Touchstone, for instance, sometimes I can just look at the expression of the person, and get an emotional response. I see them as a person, read their character. On another level I might look at their clothing and the scene portrayed - a feast, a spilled cup, maybe a window. Then there's the next level where there's references to Homer in a greek sculpture or a complex puzzle from one of those Renaissance paintings. Kat Black makes it easy to research by meticulously crediting all the sources for each image in each card, bless her.

It actually doesn't take a long time to get some familiarity with symbolism though. Just devote a little time regularly to looking up symbols and their meanings, reading the mythology. It depends how much you want to know.

 

[Minotauro]

oh this is an old thread resurrected, isn't it.

I'm a bit of an obsessive about symbolism. Nothing makes me happier than an hour of ferreting through old manuscripts and paintings in search of meanings and connections.

But I feel the cards can work on multiple levels.

With the Touchstone, for instance, sometimes I can just look at the expression of the person, and get an emotional response. I see them as a person, read their character. On another level I might look at their clothing and the scene portrayed - a feast, a spilled cup, maybe a window. Then there's the next level where there's references to Homer in a greek sculpture or a complex puzzle from one of those Renaissance paintings. Kat Black makes it easy to research by meticulously crediting all the sources for each image in each card, bless her.

It actually doesn't take a long time to get some familiarity with symbolism though. Just devote a little time regularly to looking up symbols and their meanings, reading the mythology. It depends how much you want to know.

yes , sorry I just HAD to answer it X)

 

[nisaba]

Well, I think my title sums the aim of this post up quite well. I've been doing a lot of reading since I've been here. I only use the Druidcraft, but just through reading general posts and readings, you see a lot of the symbology which is used in cards.

My problem is, I don't think there is any system which I would really completely understand the symbology of.

Symbology is quite a complex and academic part of Philosophy. I never studied it. However, I find it really important to have at least a bit of a handle on the symbolism of a deck, as opposed to symbology.

(That's meant to be comforting and reassuring)

 

[willoe]

For me, I think that I can be more accurate and exact if I understand the little things going on in the card. From those smaller, maybe less obvious symbols, I can figure out the nuances and degrees of where the card is at in terms of whatever the spread/issue/question is. If I'm just looking at the big picture (the card itself, without any of those smaller symbols and additions; astrological, elemental etc) I'm not getting the full story, just the overview.

But I really enjoy picking apart the layers of cards. That's probably my most favorite part about reading. I've got notebooks full of in-depth analyses of symbols and where they're found and what it means to interpret them in whatever setting.

Uh, long answer short: for the way I read, symbology is very important as it lets me know the exact coordinates of where I am, not just the general area.

 

[fallingstarheart]

Isn't the tarot a work from the occultists? Supposing it is so, following this line of thought it makes perfect sense to study the esoteric symbols, of course... if it's a deck that has them. But I have strong shades of, how should I say it? Hardcore'ism.

I agree with scion's perspective wholeheartedly, I'm recently getting to tarot because of my long interest and fascination with the occult. So much so, that my next deck will very likely be the hermetic but I'm not so fixed in thought as I'd like to get my hands on a very abstract deck like the Terrestrial.

Hell, I just wish to get some good sources of occult material as they are prone to veil their teachings. I guess this is the long road, but don't get me wrong, I know there's people that don't need this knowledge to read the tarot as I know a very good reader that doesn't pay much attention after she lays out the spread which get's me thinking if she needs the tarot.... Mmmmmhhhh.....