A Really Good Marseille Book...

[Lee]

I don't know if you are allowed to speak about it before it's release, but was wondering what kind of style it was written in. Will it work with element and numerology? Or something else?

Hi LB (I like those initials!) --

In the book I discuss the pros and cons of using RWS-style meanings for non-scenic pips, and then I go on to explore the number+suit method. Specific RWS-derived meanings will not be used (although a set of meanings for the numbers 1-10 is used which correlates to some degree with Golden-Dawn-based numerology). Individual meanings for each of the Minors are not listed. Instead, there is an in-depth discussion of the number+suit method, and I give three successively more sophisticated levels of implementing this method, including discussion of using visual elements on the cards (symbol placement and flora). Readers are encouraged to develop their own particular meanings for the cards. I also include in-depth sample readings so readers can see how the method can be implemented, but without my dictating specific card meanings for the Minors.

My book is not a large book (LS specified a particular length because of publishing considerations), and so I had the choice of including a list of specific meanings for each Minor card, or else showing the reader how to create their own meanings, and using the extra space in other ways. I chose to do the latter, because I feel very strongly that the best meanings one can use for the cards are the ones one creates for oneself.

For the Majors, I decided to forego the method used in most French books on the TdM, which is for the author to give their own esoteric/spiritual take on each detail of the cards. I asked myself, what would I have found to be the most helpful information when I began studying the TdM? The answer was, I would have wanted information on what the imagery on the cards would have meant to their designers, or at least what it would have meant to the general population at the places and times of their creation and use. When I began to study the TdM there was no such information available (or if there was, I didn't know where to find it).

So, in my book I explore each card from an historical and iconographic perspective. I then derive divinatory meanings based on this perspective. This leads to some cards bearing meanings which are rather different than how they are usually interpreted nowadays. It's my hope that the reader will find these differences interesting and that they will broaden one's perspective on the cards. Of course, since I am writing in my own day and time, modern psychological perspectives are reflected as well. Intuitive interpretations of specific pictorial elements on the cards are encouraged, but I do not list my own interpretations of these elements as carved in stone, since I feel these kinds of interpretations are best used in an impromptu and improvisational manner during the time of the reading, and not by memorizing specific spiritual meanings for every blade of grass or curve of stem.

As many of you know, I take a very non-dogmatic approach to the cards. Included in the book are discussions of the inherent difficulties of assigning meaning to the cards and why a non-dogmatic approach is (in my opinion) the most useful. Rather than presenting my interpretations as "the" interpretations, my ultimate goal for the book is that it serve as a useful field guide for readers as they create their own personal meanings for the cards.

Also included are sections on the history of tarot, the history of the TdM designs in particular, and discussion and comparison of various TdM decks available today.

Lee's book does not preclude others to also write one (or two or three!)...

Looking forward to MANY on the Marseille

I agree wholeheartedly!

I often thought about sitting down with the cards and just writing. Researching numerology and symbols that are found. Working with the floral arrangements and trying to identify the plant life in them. But I always imagining that someone would do it better so I left well enough alone, lol.

I would encourage you to go ahead and write, and, if you wish, submit your writings for publication. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose!

-- Lee

 

[Little Baron]

Thanks for your kind words Lee.

I am now even more interested in reading this book. I feel Marseille readings are often interpretted in a reading, as apose to a set of fixed meanings, even though there are a few ideas and phrases I have connected with some of the cards, so I am looking forward to what sounds very interesting. I also think it will be a wonderful addition to many people's English tarot library. There are so many books, continuing to be created and published, that roll out the same old RiderWaite stuff (yawn). For those that find the Marseille a little intimidating or do not want to learn a deck with little resourse material, this is going to be a very valuable publication.

LB

 

[Shade]

I've been holding off on getting my first Marseille for so long, looks like I'll wait until this one comes out. My oen pet peeve is the title of teh card in several languages... in a marseille deck I'd really just rather have the French or Italian title and nothing else to clutter things up. So I may be getting this one for the book and another deck to read with once I know what I am doing.

On those lines, in the Universal Marseille will it say Pentacles in english portion of the cards or coins? Pentacles would really seem odd on a marseille deck (and I'm a wiccan).

 

[Lee]

I also would vote for Coins.

-- Lee

 

[Fulgour]

Fill a tin with tuppance and let your imagination play.
Coins works very well with any deck for this suit.

ps: Tuppance are twixt quarters and 50 cent pieces
in size ~ and they have very energetic weight too.

 

[NightWing]

Happy to Hear...

that you have a Marseille book in the offing, Lee. It will certainly be on my list.

Glad to see that there has been so much interest in this topic, and that I wasn't the only one who felt this particular tarot need.

And yes, best wishes and much encouragement to jmd and any others who can or should be writing books to help others of us and contribute to the collected tarot wisdom that has evolved out there!

 

[Sophie]

Delighted to hear about the book, Lee - especially after reading what you wrote about your approach. It will definitely fill a gap in English, and on the basis of what you said - would be good for the francophones too!

So far my favourite Marseille book has been the Jodorowsky. His approach is very different, so I look forward to reading some new perspectives. I like the idea of the historical/iconographic study for the Majors.

 

[Teheuti]

...is what I'm looking for. Illustrated and thorough, with some historical context, it should be good for both the beginning Marseille Tarot reader as well as those more experienced,...and will be written in English!

Does anyone know of such a book (or books) that you would recommend?

I look forward to Lee's new book.

I'd like to also recommend:
_Mystical Origins of the Tarot_ by Paul Huson which compares and contrasts older meanings to those of the GD.

Mary

 

[stella01904]

MM ~ I recommend Jodorowsky, too.
I didn't read it for a long time because it is in Spanish. But it is worth sitting there with my spanish/english dictionary.
Not only is my Marseille reading getting better, my Spanish is improving! It's a win-win thing. LOL

BB, Stella

 

[NightWing]

Another Possibility

With the apparent dearth of T. de M. books in English, is there anyone out there that might consider taking on the translation of a good, solid book in French, Spanish, Italian, or other language, and seeing it through to publication in English? I realise that arrangements would probably have to be made with the original author and/or publisher, but surely this would be a win-win project all around, or am I missing something?