piscesdreamer said:
Is there not a uniform meaning for each of the pictoral interpatations of the tarot symbols?does the fool or the devil mean one thing in one deck and mean something different in another?
I wish there were an early document detailing what each card should mean from the early years of Tarot development, but there is no such document. We can't even know for sure that Tarot cards were used for anything but a game for several centuries.
As far as the TdM goes, this leaves a great deal of openness to diversity, with most people creating their own system of interpretation. Some people use numerology, cabbala, color, or even counting the petals of a flower to give interpretation to the cards. Others have developed a system of interpretation based on what they believe the origins of the cards may have been. For instance, if they believe Tarot holds a secret, gnostic school of thought, this influences how they read a card, The Popess may be read as as representing Mary Magdalene for instance.
The wonderful thing about the RWS deck is that a complete *system*, with interpretations, was handed down to us. But even though we have knowledge of what each card should mean for this deck, most people seem to overlay either accumulated meanings on top of the cards, or intuitive meanings, so again, there is no universal standard for interpretation. For some, it seems going by the rules set forth by the Golden Dawn and Waite are just a starting point. Modern reinterpretations/variations of the deck take us a step farther from this system, usually losing or adding symbolism.
Then we have the Thoth, which is possibly the most complete system. Crowley went to great lengths to define what each card should mean in his system, and there is an overarching philosophy that (in my opinon) makes the system a complete working tool for those who choose to abide by it. Alas, like the RWS, most people seem to choose to use Crowley's interpretations as a starting point and again lay their own accumulated or intuitive meanings on top of it.
So is there a definitive meaning to any card? I don't think there is or ever has been. Just look at The Hanged Man... the earliest documents that we have refer to him as "The Traitor". He is clearly a man hung by gallows, as we might suspect a traitor should be. Yet many people give this card a positive interpretation such as "Self Sacrafice" or "A world turned upside down giving a new perspective". On a more middle ground reading, he is sometimes "Stagnation" or "Suspension". But rarely do I hear this card interpreted as "Treachory", "Betrayal", or even "Punishment".
How many readers do you know that interpret even the most clearly indicated cards as they are named and displayed? Is Death read as Death? Rarely. He has been "softened" to mean "A major change", or "A new beginning". The Lovers is often interpreted as "A Choice", rather than the perhaps more obvious "Love". The Fool, rather then representing foolishness, is refered to as "Innocence", or "The start of a journey".
So here we go again, the discussion that never ends... Did the creator of the Tarot, as it has come to us, have definitive meanings set for the cards? Was this even their intention? We will probably never know for sure. So we are left to search for answers, and our answers are usually based on the accumulated knowledge and experierience of our relationship with Tarot. Because this is an individual search, the answers are individual, and the interpretaions are individual.
You *do* have the choice to use a system if you choose. You could choose to use the Golden Dawn's system, or Waite's, or Crowley's, or the system specified by the creator of any of the modern decks... each is equally valid. Or you could, as most seem to do, create your own system, which is also as equally valid as any system named above. But no, there is no definitive meaning for any card.
robert
