reading the pictures... ignoring the LWB

[Aerin]

Total agreement with Aerin here. I couldn't have said it better myself.

*takes bow*

When I look at Lenormands, for example, or Sibillas, I don't see that. True, I can analyse my own reaction to the word "clover" but the image (the same in various decks, white owl, blue owl, red owl, dondorf, Piatnik...) itself isn't particularly wide-reaching. I always think that with Lenormands - much as I love them - the meanings are more "objective" and fixed than tarot card meanings. And people still love them. There is definite memorisation invloved, but - unlike tarot - there are only 36.

Here is an interesting thread on interpreting a Lenormand symbol with respect to its historical/ cultural background

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=100408

It put me in mind of the wounded Pelican in churches, that needs explaining now http://www.religionfacts.com/christianity/symbols/pelican.htm

ETA: and I just refound a book that takes the complete opposite approach to interpreting tarot in your own way: Tarot Workbook by Kathleen McCormack. It gives you stuff to memorise for card combinations as well as individual cards, the antithesis to anyone who reads via personal symbolism. I mentioned it in this thread and there's a quotation from it too http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=10352

It is very, very cheap from an amazon marketplace seller if anyone is that curious...

 

[Herzog]

I'm wondering if there's a further distinction worth considering...
Reading the pictures on a strictly personal level verses reading the pictures literally with no personal interference. Is there a distinction here worth considering?

If I see the Hermit as my grandfather and all of his traits etc, this is fine and it works, but then there's the literal interpretation of an "old man with a cane holding up a lantern." And then there's the LWB keywords; introversion, solitude, self exploration. Although the LWB keywords may be implied by the description of an "old man with a cane and lantern", they do not necessarily imply anything about my grandfather.

 

[gregory]

I don't think I have EVER "seen" a card with the grandfather level of personal stuff in it - it would be strictly the old man with lantern etc. There IS a pic of a cat of mine (well, I THINK it is mine and so does Lillie - but the artist never met him ) in the Pagan Cats - but I HONESTLY don't think that would affect how I saw the card if I drew it... I can't imagine it going that far into the personal...

 

[Herzog]

It was just an example... probably a poor one But it's akin to linking the Courts with people in your life or like saying "so and so is very Knight of Wands". The Hermit could be the man down the street or the guy at the filling station. The bigger point was this idea of interpreting these images personally verses the LWB keywords verses describing the image literally and what all these techniques accomplish etc.

 

[gregory]

I know what you mean - I just cannot imagine it happening in a reading, like !

 

[MagsStardustBlack]

I think you go with your gut feeling on a card, what jumps out at you, Seeker or Swords, the horse may feel relevant, the book description may suddenly come to mind, the image of a teenager may fill your mind, the sword may seem important, you may get a sudden feeling of someone being hurt with hasty words, a colour may stand out. It just depends on what jumps out i guess. I think all methods work, just some work better for some people than others.

I wonder if reading the images developed in the poorer areas of the city when people were less likely to be able to read. People may have had no choice but to learn to read intuitively.

I like the fact that cards have universal meaning, it is good when you begin to have this knowledge under your belt as one tool, i however prefer intuitive reading, which is just a different tool. I also feal having the universal meanings as a base helps the intuitive process work more smoothly for me anyway, i feel it broadens my spectrum as i am new to tarot.



xxMags

 

[MagsStardustBlack]

I don't think I have EVER "seen" a card with the grandfather level of personal stuff in it - it would be strictly the old man with lantern etc. There IS a pic of a cat of mine (well, I THINK it is mine and so does Lillie - but the artist never met him ) in the Pagan Cats - but I HONESTLY don't think that would affect how I saw the card if I drew it... I can't imagine it going that far into the personal...

The Strength card reminds me of my daughter, i feel that her soul has an aspect to it that resonates with the gifts of the Strength card. When i see this card i always think of her.

She is also a Leo, that has part of the visual connection within my own decks, and she loves animals, mainly pussy cats. Even when they scratch her, she still loves them more, so there is a memory association there to. She has such a strong will, she is very gentle to animals and she is so brave and has courage.

If it came up in a reading, i however wouldn't likely connect it to her unless the reading was about her or could involve her.

 

[firemaiden]

I'm interested in the lineage of this method. When and how was it developed and by whom?

Now you've got me thinking, you could say the first intuitive readers were Monsieur Antoine Court de Gébelin who played tarot party and right away got to imagining what the cards were supposed to mean, and Monsieur le Comte de Mellet. Here is my translation of de Gébelin's description of his initial reaction to the tarot:

Invited a few years ago to a lady friends house, to meet a lady, Madame la C. d'H, who had just come from Germany or Switzerland, we found her busy playing this game with some other people. We play a game which you surely dont know... or perhaps you do; what game is it? The game of tarot. I had once the opportunity to see this game when I was very young, but I didn't know anything about it... it is a rhapsody of the most bizarre and extravagant figures: here is one, for example, I took care to chose the most amazing of these figures, and one which has no relationship to its title - it is the World. I glance at the card, and immediately I recognise the Allegory: everyone leaves his game immediately to come and see this marvelous card where I perceived something they had never seen before, and then each one showed me another, and in a quarter of an hour, I had seen the whole game, explained and declared it was Egyptian...

See : Discovering Gébelin ! , translation and discussion of Monsieur Antoine Court de Gébelin's Du Jeu des Tarots, 1781.