Pairing Majors with Minors

TaoMark

Hello!
I was taught to read the Tarot using a combination of Major and Minor for each position (separate Majors from Minors, shuffle each pile separately, lay down one fo each for each position in a spread) and then to interpret each pair as if they were one card.

I now read this slightly differently in that I use the Minor to complement and enhance the meaning of the Major. I also teach this method when teaching Tarot.

The question to you all is: have you heard of the first method? The reason I ask is that the lady who taught me is claiming that she owns the copyright on that method and so I cannot teach it. This isn't too much of a problem since I teach the variation detailed above, however I thought (as she originally told me) that the first method has been used for a long time by many people.

Can any of you clear this up?

Many thanks!
 

SunChariot

I have personally never heard of either method. I hope she does not have some kind of copyright on it though (can one copyright Tarot techniques???) because in essence your post just taught us how to do it...:bugeyed:

Bar
 

mollymawk

I don't see how you could possibly copyright a tarot technique. That's just plain daft.

And yes, I have a spread that I use with Majors and Cups only and pair them, and I've seen other spreads that use Majors paired to Minors.

If you got it from somebody who created it and you're writing about it, it is courteous to give them credit, but you can't copyright a technique. How would you ever stop somebody else from using certain tarot spreads? And why?
 

TenOfSwords

From www.copyright.gov:
How do I protect my idea?
Copyright does not protect ideas, concepts, systems, or methods of doing something. You may express your ideas in writing or drawings and claim copyright in your description, but be aware that copyright will not protect the idea itself as revealed in your written or artistic work.
Click to expand...

The answer is a conclusive no.

added: Ideas and such go under patent laws.
 

TaoMark

Thanks!

Thanks to everyone - that has REALLY helped! The problem that I am having is that she thinks that I have "stolen" her idea. This is despite the facts that:
a) I'm not using her technique but a similar (and in my opinion, more effective) one
b) I have researched to prove that many other people use that technique
c) she told me that she herself was taught it by someone else!

She has sent me a message saying that I am "spiritually and morally wrong" - I don't believe I am. When teaching tarot, I ALWAYS give ger credit for anything she has said to me about Tarot, even though I don't teach anything that she taught me.

Thanks to everyone - I feel a lot less despondent and put upon now!
 

kwaw

From Volume 8 of Court De Gebelin's 'Monde Primitif' published in 1781 containing the essays 'Du Jeu Des Tarots' by C. de Gebelin and 'Recherches sur les Tarots' by C. de Mellet:

[Thus making the pairing of minors with majors, one of the earliest methods recorded: C. de Mellet himself claims to be reporting on the methods of the fortune tellers, which if true we may conclude the method to be older than the published account of it.]

Research on the Tarots, and the Divination by the Cards of the Tarot By M. C of M. ***

VI. The way in which one consults the fates:

Let us suppose two people wish to consult the fates, let one take in his hand the 22 letters, the other the four suits. Each shuffles their own cards and then cut each others. They then take their packs in their hands and start to lay them down as they count together up to the number 14. If one of the suit cards turned up matches the number called, it is layed aside and the letter card that was turned with it placed above it. Then they shuffle and cut again. Continue three times through the cards with the same procedure; & when this operation is completed, it is a question of reading the numbers with the letters drawn with them. Happiness or misfortune, whichever they predict, must be combined with that of the letter card that pairs with it, their power is more or less determined by the number of the suit card, multiplied by the character of the letter. For this reason the Madness that does not produce anything, is without number; it is, as we said, the zero of this calculation.

The original French is below, and I would be pleased for any French speaker who can offer a better interpretation than my own poor attempt to do so [my knowledge of French is limited and the above has been tackled with the aid of Babel translator]:

VI. Maniere dont on s'en servoit pour consulter les Sorts.
Supposons actuellement que deux hommes qui veulent consulter les Sorts, ont, l'un les vingt-deux lettres, l'autre les quatre couleurs, & qu'après avoir chacun mêlé les caractères, & s'être donné reciproquement à couper, ils commencent à compter ensemble jusqu'au nombre quatorze, tenant les tableaux & les cartes à l'envers pour n'en appercevoir que le dos; alors s'il arrive une carte à son rang naturel, c'est-à-dire, qui porte le numéro appellé, elle doit être mise à part avec le nombre de la lettre sortie en même tems, qui sera placé au-dessus: celui qui tiendra les tableaux y remettra cette même lettre, pour que le livre du Destin soit toujours en son entier, & qu'il ne puisse y avoir, dans aucun cas, des phrases incomplettes; puis il remêlera & redonnera à couper. Enfin on coulera trois fois les cartes à fond avec les mêmes artentions; & lorsque cette opération sera achevée, il ne s'agira plus que de lire les numéros qui expriment les lettres sorties. Le bonheur ou le malheur que présage chacune d'elles, doit être combiné avec celui qu'annonce la carte qui leur correspond, de même que leur puissance en plus ou en moins est déterminée par le nombre de cette même carte, multiplié par celui qui caractérise la lettre. Et voilà pourquoi la Folie qui ne produit rien, est sans numéro; c'est, comme nous l'avons dit, le zéro de ce calcul.

From
Recherches sur les Tarots,
et sur la Divination par les Cartes des Tarots
par M. Le C. de M. ***

http://www.tarotpedia.com/wiki/index.php/Recherches_sur_les_Tarots

Kwaw
 
When the Lovers appear Page of Cups Reversed