How much importance do you give to Key Words in decks?

[Pao]

For those of you who have decks with key words on them such as the osho zen deck or the quest deck, how much importance do you give to the word written on the cards when you read?

I must say they annoy me because they limit my interpretation of the card. For example I'll see the card 8 of cups in the osho zen deck and the key word is "Letting Go" so then i focus on the word instead of the image (which is a leave with drops of rain on it) and so then i only think of in terms of let go and honestly it just messes up my reading because thats nothing to go on. but i cant seem to stop looking at the words then it becomes a "stupid" reading where you end up saying to the person you must "let go" or learn to "trust" be "creative" with your life and thats not a reading!

so i started covering up the word to only read the images. Though now its kind of pointless because i remember what the word is. oy!

what do you do? forget the words and just focus on the images alone?

 

[BodhiSeed]

When I first started reading tarot and oracle cards, I loved cards with keywords on them; they helped me remember what the card was about. But, when I became more familiar with reading tarot, I found the words often annoyed me. Like you, Pao, I felt a bit boxed in by the meaning given. I have cut the borders off of many cards, and this helps because I lose the keyword and all I'm left with is the picture, which seems to stand out more and brings out details I've missed. I just finished doing the large Thoth, and it was a major improvement! Some decks, like the Osho Zen, don't have borders that could be trimmed this way. I find that I don't use these decks as often as others.

Bodhran

 

[Skysteel]

then it becomes a "stupid" reading where you end up saying to the person you must "let go" or learn to "trust" be "creative" with your life and thats not a reading!

How so?

 

[Elven]

Theres another way to look at this ... good thread by the way ... and that is most Major Arcanum are 'named' or labelled - even if its only a number ... but you eventually get past the name and move through into the intuitive aspects of the reading ... eventually the name or label of the card diminishes and other lights that belong to the card, shines through ... you will move beyond it if thats your desire to do so ...

Just a thought ..
Blessings Elven x

 

[Sado]

For me, in a reading, the keywords function as something that both the querant and I can 'see'. The querant is usually not familiar with the symbolism of the deck, so after the key word has been interpreted, I can explain some more on how the keyword relates to the symbolism of any given card. These associations between the keyword and the symbolism then become mirrored in the querant's thinking: he begins to see parallels between the tale of a card and his own situation, which is what Tarot is about for me personally, the unlocking of what is subsconsciously already available.

 

[rwcarter]

I LOVE the Navigators Tarot of the Mystic SEA. I HATE the keywords on the cards. In about half the cases I understand what the keyword is trying to get at and in about half the cases I don't understand or I disagree with the particular keyword on the card. It also doesn't help that in the companion book the artist/author doesn't explain her choice of keyword for all of the cards.

I've seen the threads about trimming decks and the thought has crossed my mind. But the cards are the perfect size now. Trimming them would make them too small.

So I try to ignore the keywords as much as possible when using the deck.

Rodney

 

[Abrac]

I know a lot of people here really hate titles or keywords, but I like them. A lot of the old allegorical art has banners with sayings on them that help explain the intended meaning of the work. I can see how some might feel they are distracting, but for reading I find them helpful.

 

[Alpha-Omega]

For those of you who have decks with key words on them such as the osho zen deck or the quest deck, how much importance do you give to the word written on the cards when you read?

I must say they annoy me because they limit my interpretation of the card. For example I'll see the card 8 of cups in the osho zen deck and the key word is "Letting Go" so then i focus on the word instead of the image (which is a leave with drops of rain on it) and so then i only think of in terms of let go and honestly it just messes up my reading because thats nothing to go on. but i cant seem to stop looking at the words then it becomes a "stupid" reading where you end up saying to the person you must "let go" or learn to "trust" be "creative" with your life and thats not a reading!

so i started covering up the word to only read the images. Though now its kind of pointless because i remember what the word is. oy!

what do you do? forget the words and just focus on the images alone?

I love the osho zen just because it has the key word. I use that deck manily for "life themes" or "direction path" or as a Add on to my tarot deck. It may limit in someways, but can help.

 

[willowfox]

I would personally avoid any deck that has keywords printed on the cards, it limits the meanings of the cards because one's mind tends to automatically click on to that word and go no further.

 

[Julien]

I think it depends upon what you're doing with the deck...

When I read for others, I tend to ignore the key word.

But at other times, when I'm studying/journaling, and contemplating the cards, the key words can be really helpful. I like to study the meaning of the word (look it up in a dictionary that gives the history of the meanings), or think about synonyms (fun with the thesaurus)... It's amazing how many layers of meanings become available this way. And later, when I use the deck to do a reading, I might consciously remember the things I learned, but I might also just move past that to the images in the card.

Julien