fyreflye
A Marseille Tarot book in Anglais!!
I've just come across and begun studying an English-language tarot book based on the classic Marseille deck that looks extremely promising. It's The Tarot by Fred Gettings, published originally in 1973 with a 1993 reprint that I found used today. Though its coffee table book format might put you off, it's actually the most useful discussion of Marseille symbolism I've discovered yet.
Gettings breaks down the basic structure of each card, relates the images to sacred geometry, and goes deeply into the basic color symbolism. He shows cards from other decks only to demonstrate how badly they've lost the original symbolic message. He particularly loathes Waite
I've been following along with my Hadar in hand and can see a number of things I hadn't noticed before. His main focus is on the Majors but has a chapter on the minors using a method borrowed from Papus.
Of course there can be many ways to interpret a symbol so I'm not claiming this book has the answer (I mean, how would I know?), but considering how few books in English deal with the Marseille I thought I should pass this recommendation along.
It's long out of print but it shows up on eBay at low starting bids quite often.
If any Marseille experts know this book and have useful criticisms of it I'd like to hear them.
I've just come across and begun studying an English-language tarot book based on the classic Marseille deck that looks extremely promising. It's The Tarot by Fred Gettings, published originally in 1973 with a 1993 reprint that I found used today. Though its coffee table book format might put you off, it's actually the most useful discussion of Marseille symbolism I've discovered yet.
Gettings breaks down the basic structure of each card, relates the images to sacred geometry, and goes deeply into the basic color symbolism. He shows cards from other decks only to demonstrate how badly they've lost the original symbolic message. He particularly loathes Waite
I've been following along with my Hadar in hand and can see a number of things I hadn't noticed before. His main focus is on the Majors but has a chapter on the minors using a method borrowed from Papus.
Of course there can be many ways to interpret a symbol so I'm not claiming this book has the answer (I mean, how would I know?), but considering how few books in English deal with the Marseille I thought I should pass this recommendation along.
It's long out of print but it shows up on eBay at low starting bids quite often.
If any Marseille experts know this book and have useful criticisms of it I'd like to hear them.
