Where do your "meanings" come from?

[The crowned one]

I have been pondering this quite a bit lately. I was reading an older journal of mine and it has so much "new age" fluff in it I actually offended myself a couple of times by how "off" my interpretations were compared to my mindset now but I have to admit enjoyed my naive enthusiasms and blind trust in both myself and those authors I was just shy of plagiarizing in my old journal.(There is tonnes of great new age idea's out there but I seemed to gyrate towards the fluffy stuff back then

Where do you get your meanings from? Waite? De Mellet? Mathers? Golden Dawn? Case? Who do you draw you inspiration from? The foundation, groundwork or base's of your readings? If it is someone new age ( to more or lesser degree's) like Pollack, Ricklef or Greer do you know where they derived thier cards foundations from? I would think it would be important to find out.

Even if you are a Intuitive reader you can not just pull meanings out of the air, thats just random and makes no sense as tarot cards, once we leave the game behind, evolved as a system and was slowly molded into many systems (with many add-ons, some ridiculous in my opinion some quite good). I feel you must have a foundation of knowledge you work from that with practice, success's and the growth of confidence will give you the ability to read intuitively successfully. Tarot is a system that requires study before intuition can play a leading role.

The more I read, and the farther I take tarot back in time the more I feel I need to revamp my whole tarot iconology, meanings and interpretations. I think I might have missed a good part of what tarot is because I did not understand its history and Phoenix like rising into the world fortune telling.

All that just to ask: where do your meaning come from?

 

[Le Fanu]

Im conscious that meanings for me are constantly evolving. Years ago when I was just starting out, I had a notebook with lists of one word meanings/ adjectives which were - come to think of it now - quite wide of the mark and a bit "dated". What I mean by this is that the meanings were quite traditional and not really adapted to contemporary life. Look at any of those LWBs from the late 70s and you´ll know what I mean...

Then I rediscovered tarot years later and it (and I!) had evolved. I have to say, the book which comes with the V.Romantic was fundamental for me in this sense. It really got me thinking for myself and I found the tone of the book so helpful. I used to consult this for ages. It really consolidated the minors.

Then I found that other methods starting coming to the fore. I tend to take the basic meaning of the card and it takes me to what I understand by the concept of the card. For example; 4 of cups. Apathy. With time, my mind developed a meaning which is my understanding of that concept and all it´s various facets and twists and turns and implications. I also know how I work and - for example - if a deck I love comes with a book, I buy it and read it. Other meanings get laid on; like rock strata in geological formation

Also, regular reading for myself and trying to interlock meanings. Or discovering new ones from the books I have. For example, I did a reading, got the 10 of wands and couldn´t really see how it fit into what I was reading. Then I consulted a book and saw that one meaning could be "blocked thinking" and that meaning - again, with all it´s implications - has stuck with me.

Of the New Age authors you mention, I haven´t read any and none really appeal to me. Im not being arrogant, but I enjoy the layering of meanings which happens in an organic way, no rush, with time, throughout life, just by dint of living and thinking. And of course, looking long and hard at cards.

Also, it depends on the deck. With Marseilles based decks, Ive started tuning in to numeology and the way a suit "develops". This also happened with the Thoth. Im also conscious, that in certain decks, I respond to the aesthetics, the artwork. I use the Klimt a lot and it really drawns me in and new meanings jump out at me. I get carried away by Thoth; the rhythms, the composition, the atmosphere, the changing colour of the skies as a suit progresses.

But all based on the original keyword. Im now experimenting with decks like Tarot of the III Millennium and Im waiting for Tarot of the Imagination and wondering, "what would it be like to break with familiar systems as these decks do and let the mind be completely governed by images and the unconscious which do not bear any resemblence to familiar systems?"...

Gosh.. never meant to write such a long reply...

 

[thorhammer]

I was reading an older journal of mine and it has so much "new age" fluff in it I actually offended myself a couple of times by how "off" my interpretations were compared to my mindset now

I suppose to a great degree I'm at this place right now, ashamed as I am to admit it! But we all must progress, mustn't we? I haven't exposed myself to any "true" historical or "serious" research or study just yet, as to be honest it's hard to know where to start. I'm about to take the plunge with the Thoth - and most likely am going to be waaaaaay out of my depth, get scared off and remain in the shallow end all my life .

But to a certain extent, I'm a lot like Le Fanu, in that I like the layered, organic approach. I am lucky (not to say that anyone else is different - I'm just not in your head ) enough to have a sharp mind, that makes giant leaps very quicky (mental whiplash, often!) and I end up a long way from where I started many times I sit down to explore a card or symbol or theme. The thing is, I don't tend to think in words, but more in feelings. A card will put me in itself, and I'll suddenly feel what it's like to be there - and oftentimes the same card will *feel* completely different two days running, or three . . . That is where the layering comes from, for me. In some cases, it takes time, in others it's almost instantaneous.

This habit of my mind of extreme cat-leaping means also that my meanings for cards are very complex, and if I were to try to give a visual to it, I'd say it's like a lawn made up of one of the runner-type grasses. My mental *runner* goes a certain distance, then roots itself, in something like a symbol or correspondence (surprising - to me - how often all of them seem to marry up, even when I didn't think I knew that particular link). I know a little about a lot, and I suppose in a way this makes me dangerous!!! But in the end, it gives me a great framework upon which to build a tight understanding.

Another thing I find is that I tend to try to express my understanding of a Tarot concept or card in metaphors (see above ) - I realise that this makes me difficult to understand, and I try hard to *translate* for my sitter, but I usually slide back into meta-meta-metaphors by the end of the reading. I dunno. I get good feedback, so maybe I get my point across. Maybe I don't.

I have to say, the book which comes with the V.Romantic was fundamental for me in this sense. It really got me thinking for myself and I found the tone of the book so helpful. I used to consult this for ages. It really consolidated the minors.

I know!!!! I learnt so much from that book! I was so clueless before I read it, and although I didn't click with the deck, still it sticks with me and helps me to make connections.

All that, to say, it's about making connections, to me. Phew. Shutting up now.

\m/ Kat

 

[Kenny]

I flicked though An Introduction to The Golden Dawn Tarot (Wang) and found at the back Book T. In it there were keywords to the cards for divination and it though me completely compared to where I currently stand with my understanding of the cards.

My meanings come from reading widely and trying to understand everything, though now I feel that I'll have to start fresh--a new style of cards* for a new understanding of tarot.

Most of my old books have been packed away and I'm now waiting for my new cards to come so that I can start restudying tarot.

Kenny

*I'm going to be going TdM for a while, at least!

 

[franniee]

While my first deck was the universal waite it was not the one I learned on that was the mythic. I went thru that deck with a magnifying glass and read with it exclusively for years. When I learned the deck I wrote up a book of meanings. I added to the book as new things sprung to mind but all in all it is as it was. Those are the meanings that still spring to mind.

To me this deck was brilliant! I wasn't crazy about the art but it transcended the aesthetic for me I love mythology and to relate each major to a story and each suit to a story was perfect for me! It was burned in my memory. To this day if I have a blank spot the story comes to mind.

I have a bunch of books but to be truthful I never read through them. I prefer to learn by doing and while I may have looked up a card in the beginning I never sat down and studied the book with the deck or vice versa.

I have been reading with the thoth for a few months now and it is so different from the RWS decks that I have to catch my breath and free associate. With this deck the 5 of cups isnt betrayal..... it is disappointment but it is more than that. Mars in scorpio.... so I have to get lost in the card.

 

[re-pete-a]

Pictures, words, colour, impressions, feelings. Don't always need the cards,but don't play it as clairvoyant. Ran it past the archetype in this ones life(30 yrs or so),he told this one "about time"you started.The universe was consulted(the word said,clarity needed) had an answer in 15 mins,still not enough, consulted another professional friend,she said "was waiting for you to start"??3 times should be enough,A.T. has since added many new perspectives,and still does.

for exampleTCO, the feeling here is that your at a cross road as to your trust in your abilities, You have put in so much time and mental energy,your at a low and as such am having trouble with trust. ..anger.
________
Uggs

 

[celticnoodle]

like franniee, I also learn best by doing, and so when I buy a deck, I normally just dig right into it. If a book has been included with the deck, I will read through it too.

I have also purchased many tarot books that I have tried to read through, but I have found to be difficult to do so. They are okay for when you get stuck to grab & look up a certain card, but for the most part that is all.

Except for two books that I have been fortunate enough to purchase as well-- My personal 'bible tarot', a book I absolutely love and often read from beginning to end, and have marked into with my own interps founded along the way is titled- "It's All in the cards" by our very own AT member-John Mangiapane, (can't recall his AT name). It is a brilliant book, and if you saw my edition, you could tell I think so, as the poor book is falling apart. I re-read through it many times a month, and find his interps great and have for the most part learned these, (not memorized though) for my own interps as well. They just seem so right on for me, and I can identify with them so well.

The 2nd book that I absolutely love and have also re-read many times came with the deck--"Legend - The Arthurian Tarot" by Anna-Marie Ferguson. I absolutely love that book too and often read through it even when I'm not using the deck.

however, my best way for reading is through symbols that I pick up on in each card--colors, animals or plants, etc. on the card. I look at the eyes of the person in the card, or perhaps the way they are depicted. I am BIG on symbols for reading tarot. I sometimes can 'pick up' on things using my still developing clairvoyance, clairaudience, & claircognizance skills too, so sometimes I trust in that and throw it in as well. Mostly though, symbols are it for me, to the point that I am working on creating my very own deck---not for resale, of course, but a personal deck that will have symbols on each card that I identify with.

 

[Aerin]

I'm not sure where all the meanings I get come from any longer....except that the biggest influence has been books and internet.

The first book I read (even before I had a deck) was the Terry Donaldson one and it taught me that there is no one meaning for each card. One of the biggest influences was doing the Joan Bunning course when Barnes and Noble used to do a facilitated one for free. And then I read Pollack and Greer. But the Mary Greer Tarot Reversals probably had a big impact on my readings because of the sheer range of ideas...

All the deck books I have ever read have also added. Plus Thirteen's stuff on Aeclectic.

So... all that comes together with my mind and I read. I am able to be more intuitive now that I have that basis. Mainly because I'm not worried about 'getting it wrong' any more.

Aerin

 

[Umbrae]

Accumulated over time via journaling. You take a little of this, a little of that…artwork here, numerology there…mix in…

Age for a few decades.

Spice by doing a few thousand readings for a few thousand strangers.

Add in some de Millet, Etteilla, Lévi, Manley Hall...

 

[The crowned one]

Pictures, words, colour, impressions, feelings. Don't always need the cards,but don't play it as clairvoyant. Ran it past the archetype in this ones life(30 yrs or so),he told this one "about time"you started.The universe was consulted(the word said,clarity needed) had an answer in 15 mins,still not enough, consulted another professional friend,she said "was waiting for you to start"??3 times should be enough,A.T. has since added many new perspectives,and still does.

for exampleTCO, the feeling here is that your at a cross road as to your trust in your abilities, You have put in so much time and mental energy,your at a low and as such am having trouble with trust. ..anger.

No, I am really happy... but I am curious. Sometimes it seems the more I learn about the cards the more I separate my readings from what I know of the cards history and ture past. My readings are stronger then ever. Here is what happened to set this post off: I was doing readings and as a part of a sequence we had the "lovers" card come up. We were chatting idly about the over all picture as we had come to the end of the reading and were just winding down. She had asked a question about the" lovers" as a card rather then in the context of the reading. I said" here lets look at my journal notes" I paged to "lovers" read it to myself and said "never mind" and went on to explain what I feel now. It was so naive and mis-smashed that I was a bit shocked that I had written something that schlocky.