Which Tarot remains silent for you

[FLizarraga]

There is hope for me yet, l shall have to get tough also and do a serious deck interview. l had hesitated in case it gave me the silent treatment again. Out of interest which did you use. l have two so if there is another its all power to the elbow as they say.

I have found a lot of excellent deck interviews here in the forums and in Tarot blogs, but FireRaven's hits the sweet spot for me: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=44573. Not too convolute, not too simple, just perfect.

You can also make up your own, of course. Design it especially to draw out a silent deck.

I used to be heavily into the esoteric (what magpie9 so aptly calls "the Golden Dawn Judeo/Christian kudzu," plus a lot of Oriental woo woo), but now I find myself not caring enough about that stuff. A smattering of Kabbalah, though, goes a loooooong way, particularly with the minors. It gives you an underlying structure. (You don't need to go all Sefer Yetzirah --just the Tree of Life basics.)

 

[Nemia]

I worked with the Thoth for many years without any Kabbalah at all, and whenever I tried to get into it, it just closed down in front of me (although I speak, read and write Hebrew and thus had no problem remembering all the associations of letters and sephirot names). I just didn't "see" anything when I read Geburah or Yessod.

But it all fell into place one day, and while I'm very very far from being a Kabbalah scholar, I have begun to understand what it's about, and I see and feel the sephiroth, and find them not only in tarot. It does help. I'll never feel secure with kabbalah the way I understand astrology or symbols. But I have a long past with both, and kabbalah is new to me.

You can have a satisfying tarot life without kabbalah, but introducing it may spice up things a bit ;-)

And it may be another tool to make silent tarot decks talk..

 

[FLizarraga]

I worked with the Thoth for many years without any Kabbalah at all, and whenever I tried to get into it, it just closed down in front of me (although I speak, read and write Hebrew and thus had no problem remembering all the associations of letters and sephirot names). I just didn't "see" anything when I read Geburah or Yessod.

Ironically enough (my oh-so-devout Catholic family turned out to be Marranos) I have the opposite problem: I can't remember the names of the sephirot for the life of me, and can't tell a Hebrew letter from another.

But the very concept of the sephirot, even if you reduce it to the merest basics, is not only extremely, breathtakingly beautiful, but useful.

 

[Madrigal]

Kabbalah remains an utterly closed door for me, closed in the sense that I've not felt the impulse to turn the handle. It feels like an extremely mental/intellectual lens to my inexperienced eye. And yet there is talk of it being beautiful...breathtakingly so...how does this manifest?

And to keep things on topic, my newest deck, Roots of Asia, was absolutely silent as I looked through the cards...which I found really surprising and yet...perhaps strangely apt as I consider the Buddha's Smile.

 

[FLizarraga]

Kabbalah remains an utterly closed door for me, closed in the sense that I've not felt the impulse to turn the handle. It feels like an extremely mental/intellectual lens to my inexperienced eye. And yet there is talk of it being beautiful...breathtakingly so...how does this manifest?

I'll leave the details to Nemia, but Kabbalah is much more spiritual than it is intellectual.

And for me there's a crystalline beauty in the world of ideas, anyway...

And to keep things on topic, my newest deck, Roots of Asia, was absolutely silent as I looked through the cards...which I found really surprising and yet...perhaps strangely apt as I consider the Buddha's Smile.

The scans I have seen are pretty, and pretty intimidating, too. Perhaps a good sit-down with it and a deck interview will help. Looking into the particular school of Buddhism this deck springs from, if any, may also be useful.

 

[Madrigal]

I'll leave the details to Nemia, but Kabbalah is much more spiritual than it is intellectual.

And for me there's a crystalline beauty in the world of ideas, anyway...

See, that's where I get a bit tripped up. I'm a lover of ideas and the expansive realms they allow one to roam in. Plus I have poetic inclinations and I like to think of language as the embodied gesture of mind. My life is such that I'm steeped in various spiritual traditions due to my dh's path and yet Kabbalah's pull eludes me. It feels somehow like the body is missing and while I know that's a highly inaccurate perception on my part it remains. I wonder why? Perhaps it's time to delve in...

The scans I have seen are pretty, and pretty intimidating, too. Perhaps a good sit-down with it and a deck interview will help. Looking into the particular school of Buddhism this deck springs from, if any, may also be useful.

I think the artist is Thai so I'm assuming Theravadan lineaage not that those kinds of distinctions matter ultimately. There's a fascinating article on him here. This deck is a real work of heart-mind, he lived it intimately and went into retreat for a year with it. So it's compelling to me, with all my years of Vajrayana buddhism, that my first experience with it was silence. But yes, definitely a deck to sit down with and explore intimately.

 

[Thoughtful]

I have found a lot of excellent deck interviews here in the forums and in Tarot blogs, but FireRaven's hits the sweet spot for me: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=44573. Not too convolute, not too simple, just perfect.

You can also make up your own, of course. Design it especially to draw out a silent deck.

I used to be heavily into the esoteric (what magpie9 so aptly calls "the Golden Dawn Judeo/Christian kudzu," plus a lot of Oriental woo woo), but now I find myself not caring enough about that stuff. A smattering of Kabbalah, though, goes a loooooong way, particularly with the minors. It gives you an underlying structure. (You don't need to go all Sefer Yetzirah --just the Tree of Life basics.)

Thanks Fliz, l will use the deck interview you so kindly mention and see if the deck opens up to me. Not thought of making my own, now there's a thought, should be an interesting little project for me.
l will consult the book l have and like you say perhaps look again at Tree of Life basics. But need to do this interview first

 

[Thoughtful]

You can have a satisfying tarot life without kabbalah, but introducing it may spice up things a bit ;-)

And it may be another tool to make silent tarot decks talk..

Duly noted Nemia thank you

 

[FLizarraga]

Thanks Fliz, l will use the deck interview you so kindly mention and see if the deck opens up to me. Not thought of making my own, now there's a thought, should be an interesting little project for me.
l will consult the book l have and like you say perhaps look again at Tree of Life basics. But need to do this interview first

I hope you get it to talk. It would be great if you post your results in Readings.

A warning, though: once they start talking, they won't shut up....

 

[FLizarraga]

I think the artist is Thai so I'm assuming Theravadan lineaage not that those kinds of distinctions matter ultimately. There's a fascinating article on him here. This deck is a real work of heart-mind, he lived it intimately and went into retreat for a year with it. So it's compelling to me, with all my years of Vajrayana buddhism, that my first experience with it was silence. But yes, definitely a deck to sit down with and explore intimately.

Thanks for the article. It is fascinating.

A word about Kabbalah: it reminds me A LOT of Buddhism. Maybe that will pique your interest?