What mnemonics and data sets do you use with your decks?

[Raya]

I used the numerology system a lot. I made a list of all the minor arcana in rows, all the aces in a row, all the 2s in a row, etc, and thought about how the number and suit combined to make the card's meaning. I like numerology, so I already knew a lot of the numbers' meanings. Similar for the Court cards. ( Eg, Cups are emotions, king is a master, so the King of Cups is a master of emotions, very in touch with his own and sensitive to others. 4 is stability and structure, pentacles are money, so: very stable money situation, structure built around financial stability, be wary of clinging to it.)

As for the major arcana, I'd use the Fool's Journey a lot to learn those, and that worked for the first ten at least. After Justice, I just had to do the best I could to remember.

These methods aren't perfect, but they worked for me.

 

[jmd]

Totally agree with you, Mac22 - there appears to be a modern 'mnemonic' which seems to me totally antithetical to the long traditions that instead includes chambers and theatres by which to visit and engage with various interconnected wealths. It is these to which mnemonics is, as far as I'm disposed, better suited.

Oh! and by the way, perhaps I should also mention that tarot itself becomes a vehicle by which each image begets and reveals its own wealth, thereby itself becoming its own mnemonic - and the partial hints in its own internal structure assists in understanding in a more dynamic fashion, and also leads some to want to either replace, re-order, or add cards.

 

[mac22]

Totally agree with you, Mac22 - there appears to be a modern 'mnemonic' which seems to me totally antithetical to the long traditions that instead includes chambers and theatres by which to visit and engage with various interconnected wealths. It is these to which mnemonics is, as far as I'm disposed, better suited.

Oh! and by the way, perhaps I should also mention that tarot itself becomes a vehicle by which each image begets and reveals its own wealth, thereby itself becoming its own mnemonic - and the partial hints in its own internal structure assists in understanding in a more dynamic fashion, and also leads some to want to either replace, re-order, or add cards.

This was exactly what I was aiming at. . I'm finding the Noblet deck well suited to "revealing itself" thru its images.

I started with memory recall patterns in HS, got in on the foundations NLP [Neuro Linguistic Programming] in college, then on to Yates & the _Art of Memory_.

Mac22


Mac22

 

[dandelion]

I really like the idea of arranging things on the "tree" - that visual is often effective for me, and I think I might give that a try in the near future with tarot.

Your question is timely Mac22, because I’m at the point now where I’ve found my journals, while critical to my exploration of tarot, are not indexed and therefore not a handy “flip-to-what-is-relevant” resource.

My plan is to create documents on my computer where I can collect relevant notes, thoughts, etc. for each card individually. I tried to do this when I first began my tarot studies, but I found it too limiting. I think that now that I have so much material to work with, a structured, scalable index will be more practical.

Also, as far as mneumonics go… For myself I find I use a rather non-scientific mneumonic: a sort of "personal alphabet."

If I may explain: as a writer / artist, I have drawers, cabinets, computers, and boxes filled with sketches, stories, poetry... you name it. For me, there are some very specific works which have a particular meaning or significance in my life.

As I’ve studied tarot, I’ve found my artwork reorganizing itself in my mind to match up with many of the cards of the tarot. Specific pictures or poems I’ve drafted in my life time connect with specific tarot cards, and bring with them a whole wealth of meaning.

While on the one hand, this was a little surprising, it also makes a lot of sense. I get the impression that many readers rapidly make connections between the tarot, and other significant parts of thier own lives. Rather like a song can remind us of a particular time or place in our memory.

-d

 

[kwaw]

In the Steele Sermon, a preachers diatribe against gaming, the preacher speaks of the 21 points of the die, 21 steps on a ladder to hell, as being as so many steps in six rooms; the die itself, emblem of the subject of the sermon, becomes a mnemonic devise upon which to hang his narration.

I like to use the deck itself as the mnemonic tree (one of the meanings of 'taroch' in Milanese dialect is 'tree') upon which to hang all the historical, allegorical and anagogical associations of the figures, emblems and tropes contained within it; and for the literature, art and other cultural artifacts in which the same or similar tropes appear.

Kwaw

 

[celticnoodle]

though I tend to be (now) a 'go with the flow' kinda tarot reader, I must admit, rosanne's system intrigues me! at first i wanted to do the same. I did have (from a tarot teacher) a black & white xerox copy of all 78 cards from RWS that the teacher gave us all. I put them into a binder, and a blank piece of college ruled paper behind each one, to keep notes on what I thought of each card, what other thought that I could suddenly 'see' that message too, and did that for awhile. but that got to be difficult. I had often thought of doing just as you are now, Rosanne. but I"m not computer savvy. so, i just started to go with the flo. it works for me. so i'm sticking with it.

however, one day, if i ever get that savvy with the computer--i may do the same as you! now, i do have one book, that i keep very handy, if i feel i need some extra clarification/help with a particular card. i also keep jotting down all my notes and feelings for each card that is covered in this book. this book goes everywhere with me, when i take a tarot deck. it's my tarot guide/bible & i don't leave home w/o it, {usually }. I use to also carry the above binder w/all the 78 pages & put a copy of my readings in the back. but that got to be a bit cumbersome. so now it's just 'go w/the flow' and my deck & this book!

 

[elvenstar]

I've been thinking about this and came back to add the obvious, which I didn't say the first time round, namely that the cards themselves are my device. But I see others have already said that. Things in my tarot garden that I attach stuff to are each major as a concept, numbers, suits, elements and their qualities, colours and some basic (to me) symbols I guess. What I don't use is astrology and the tree of life, but I do use 'the tarot device' to help me learn a bit more about these. I'm not systematic, I just let the connections form naturally behind the scenes, some are strengthened by converging paths, others wither away with disuse. But I don't do any of it deliberately. I'm very methodical and analytical in other things I do, including my work, but it doesn't feel appropriate for me here.

 

[mac22]

I really like the idea of arranging things on the "tree" - that visual is often effective for me, and I think I might give that a try in the near future with tarot.

Your question is timely Mac22, because I’m at the point now where I’ve found my journals, while critical to my exploration of tarot, are not indexed and therefore not a handy “flip-to-what-is-relevant” resource.

My plan is to create documents on my computer where I can collect relevant notes, thoughts, etc. for each card individually. I tried to do this when I first began my tarot studies, but I found it too limiting. I think that now that I have so much material to work with, a structured, scalable index will be more practical.

Also, as far as mneumonics go… For myself I find I use a rather non-scientific mneumonic: a sort of "personal alphabet."

If I may explain: as a writer / artist, I have drawers, cabinets, computers, and boxes filled with sketches, stories, poetry... you name it. For me, there are some very specific works which have a particular meaning or significance in my life.

As I’ve studied tarot, I’ve found my artwork reorganizing itself in my mind to match up with many of the cards of the tarot. Specific pictures or poems I’ve drafted in my life time connect with specific tarot cards, and bring with them a whole wealth of meaning.

While on the one hand, this was a little surprising, it also makes a lot of sense. I get the impression that many readers rapidly make connections between the tarot, and other significant parts of thier own lives. Rather like a song can remind us of a particular time or place in our memory.

-d

A tree, a garden, a theater, an alphabet, a town .... many things can be used.

I too have had things reorganize in my life according to the Tarot.

Many things in life: art, music, smells call all be mnemonic triggers.

The mind & memory are the greatest known computers.


Mac22

 

[mac22]

In the Steele Sermon, a preachers diatribe against gaming, the preacher speaks of the 21 points of the die, 21 steps on a ladder to hell, as being as so many steps in six rooms; the die itself, emblem of the subject of the sermon, becomes a mnemonic devise upon which to hang his narration.

I like to use the deck itself as the mnemonic tree (one of the meanings of 'taroch' in Milanese dialect is 'tree') upon which to hang all the historical, allegorical and anagogical associations of the figures, emblems and tropes contained within it; and for the literature, art and other cultural artifacts in which the same or similar tropes appear.

Kwaw

Steele's sermon does show a type of mnemonic. Like you I'm finding, to my delight, that the Marseilles deck works wonderfully as a mnemonic for me.

Mac22

 

[ofbainbridge]

I see the tarot as a story...the major arcana represents the main plot or central journey...the minor arcana each suit is a particular chapter of that story or journey giving the details so it actually ties all together...