The real meaning of the tarot cards...

[Ramses]

Hey folks...

how are you?...I hope you are all ok ...

Well, I own about 10 different tarot decks...3 or 4 of them are quite unusual, you know...but, my point is...I?m the same person...
You know...all these unusual decks come along with booklets, many times explaining and giving different meanings to the tarot cards than we are used to study...
In my opinion, they are all valid, cause I think the real meaning of the tarot cards is the one YOU give them...
Of course I respect and think the meanings we all know, the traditional meanings are great....but..

I think that the readings are successful only because of the meanings you know, the ones you have in your unconscious...I don?t think we are supposed to interpret a card in a way only because a book said so ...

If I think, if in my unsconcious The Fool means freedom, this is gonna be the real meaning for me (of course, I?m only giving an example here...lol)...

What do you people think???

LOVE,PEACE AND HARMONY TO YOU ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[slinky_jo]

I get what you mean! To start with, it's good to read the LWB just to familiarise yourself with the traditional meanings of the cards. But to me, the card changes its meaning depending who I am reading for. I use them more as clairvoyance tools, every reading/card/etc vary each time, depending on the "vibes" I'm getting from other people. But then again, my friend's had the same deck for 5 years and still reads from the LWB during readings! Is this cos she's lazy, or doesn't believe in her own intuition??

 

[MeeWah]

Ramses: Agree with you to an extent.
An effective Tarot deck (one whose design & style speaks to the reader) embodies something of the spiritual truths that one recognizes on an instinctive level; perhaps the part that connects with a universal consciousness. While knowledge of the traditional or basic meanings are helpful, it is the unconscious associations (though it could be argued that some associations are on a conscious level) triggered by some feature--imagery, number, color, etc--of a card that enhances the "book meaning" & gives it a fuller expression.
Each reader brings to a reading his unique perspective, the sum total of personal experience & wisdom.
Slinky_Jo: Have also experienced cards changing in meanings, according to the particular throw & depending on the querent. As you indicate, the cards are merely tools--much as any instrument of divination or far sight is.

 

[Ramses]

Hey folks....

agree completelly with both of you....that was exactly what I was trying to say, though I?m not good trying to put my thoughts into words...
But, I totally agree with you guys...

What I really meant is ...I see so many books telling people how to interpret the cards, telling how to keep your cards, telling you to do so many things...and many of these books don?t tell people that it all depends on a personal choice...

I coudn?t agree more that the books help a lot, and that the meanings vary from reading to reading....

Of course it would be extremelly difficult to a person to recreate all the cards and their meanings....
Yeah....reading, getting information that may contribute to enrich our readings is essential...I, for instance, can naver get enough of it ...I?m always reading about tarot, and always want to read more...
I completelly agree that the cards are merelly tools for the use of our natural intuition, for the psychic power...otherwise, how could we explain so many other methods for fortune telling....I , myself, read my philosopher stones, even better than I can read the tarot...maybe cause I still have so much to learn about the tarot cards, which are so rich in meaning, and a extremelly helpful tool for the connection with something higher....

The point I was trying to make is that , maybe we should discuss it more, because there are so many newcomers to the tarot world, and to the fortune telling world in general....and there are so many books, and so many people who fail to explain to the newcomers that the tarot exists only to help us with our lives, and that its use should be as most natural as it could be ...
I think this is not so good, cause people, and books, who/which keep on telling people how to do and interpret everything, make people loose a bit their abilities to use intuition naturally, making some people rather memorize instructions and texts, and forget a bit the power of the unconscious mind, the power of intuition, of being natural and open to the energies which surround us ....

Well, that?s just it ....that?s my opinion...and I?d be glad if more people would be willing to discuss it more...and, as the two of you above did it, to fill up the holes in my text, to write all I forgot to mention, so that the people who have just begun using the tarot can make the best out of it ....

Thanks a lot for all of your attention and contribuition to this thread...and also to the forums, which I have been fiercilly reading and participating, as so many people....

Thanks a lot ....

LOVE,PEACE AND HARMONY TO YOU ALL !!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[xeper]

I agree with pretty much everything that has been said here. While I think its important to read the books ON the tarot, I also think reading about things like the Collective Unconscious (Jung) and phenomenology really helps.

I beleive within each individual unconscious there are a priori cues, clues as to how things will likely turn out in a situation. These come across in the general flow of emotions and to really know them is like picking a very specific peice of hay out of hay stack and putting it under a microscope- its not easy.

I see the tarot, as a system of motiffs and symbols, are an important tool/ filter in finding those specific peices of hay and analizing them. Just my opinion.