re-pete-a said:
Havn't read all the posts , but the problem found is that the intellect is way too slow to describe a pictured feeling.
So finding discriptions requires a pause in the flow, until the words are found that fit the mood and FEEL of the picture.
Grizabella said:
It seems that I know the message of the cards in an instant from the pictures, but to actually verbally read the cards for someone, you have to go into another mode and try to begin from the beginning and string it all together.
Exactly. (Come to think of it, this whole thread feels a bit like a tarot reading with all the putting feelings/impressions into words...)
I do "feel" my cards more than I actually "read" them. Slowly, I think it's not surprising that the multiple translations take a bit of time...
Grizabella said:
Now I just take it for granted that not only will I be able to relay the message, I'll probably even get added information along the way.
This is important, I think. Not only do we occasionally lose things in the translation, but we also gain other things in the process from card through mind through mouth.
It's the same with the several languages. One may not be able to directly translate a saying or metaphor from one language into the other, but sometimes the attempt to do this brings up other exciting metaphors/sayings that in turn enhance the general card meaning in our minds.
Le Fanu said:
What is also true, I think , is that for those of us who read for ourselves, we are so used to processing the information in an instant and not really having to articulate it. We read in symbols, process in symbols and the information goes right back into the brain, in symbols. I don´t know about anyone else, but when I read for myself, I can process the information much faster simply by dint of not having to then reformulate that into words. But I know what the cards are telling me and where Im going...
I find this in my habit to actually write down rather little when I read for myself. I've also found, however, that the slowing down which the writing brings helps me look again and again at the same card(s) - and suddenly, additional layers of meaning open up that I would have missed if I had just "brushed over" the cards in an instant. And it's often
emotional information that I gain, not just more/prettier words.
Which is what canid also said:
canid said:
In reading tarot, we're forced into having very strong concept imagery, which in turn makes articulating concepts very difficult. I have a really hard time turning the 'images' of what I know a card means into words - it's like descriptions are running around in my head just fine, they just can't find a way to my tongue. I think maybe the only way to reconnect the mouth with the concept is by practice. Stop reading for yourself in your head & force yourself to say it. I know, I get in a hurry or lazy & don't want to bother because, what the heck, I already KNOW, why should I have to speak it?
I'm wondering how many of us mostly think in concepts/symbols/images/emotions/moods outside of our tarot readings, too? To me, this is just the "natural" way to "think" (if that is even the right term - maybe I should say "perceive, process and produce information and meaning"), so tarot reading comes relatively easy to me. So, how do all of you usually "think"? And how is that different or similar from how you "think" during a tarot reading?
moderndayruth said:
i am more comfortable reading in English than in my mother tongue, though (unlike BE) i speak 'bad English'; my language, as much as i love it, has some 'fatalistic feeling' to it, its burdened with our tragic history of wars, for me - there are too many 'linguistic mine fields' one should watch out when speaking in it... When i say 'Emperor' or 'King' in my language, immediately correlations are made to historic figures - aha, the good rooler/domestic traitor etc., which usually has very little to do with the actual Arcanum/Court's meaning in the reading...
I both agree and disagree with you here. I also have an easier time with "Emperor" than I have with "Kaiser" or "Herrscher." "Emperor" seems a more open word to me, I didn't grow up with it. Then again, I believe that the associations that come with a certain word can immensely enrich a reading, too. Even if the Emperor in another language brings up a lot of negative associations, aren't they also part of that card's meaning, if only as a sort of "reversed" one? Like you have the ideal/archetype on one hand, and the real/historic interpretations of that archetype on the other hand, but it's actually their combination that makes the mental image of the Emperor's meaning complete?
[By the way, images work similarly for me: the DruidCraft's 10 of Cups reminds me in an awful way of Nazi family and race propaganda, so that will always be one of my associations with this particular version. Which is a good thing, in my opinion, because "family" isn't automatically something nice and positive. Think of the Bohemian Gothic's 10 of Cups for a version that purposely depicts the "baggage" of the family archetype in the image.]
And how much of this is still on topic?