Wondering: A short list of Marseille conundrums...

[Rusty Neon]

I'm still reflecting ...

The Ace provides the Baton.

The Valet holds the raw Baton - still a branch. He has to carve it. As an apprentice and a servant, that's his job.
The Knight carries the the polished Baton to the court.
The Queen and the King hold the Baton that show their status and their function.

The only polished baton is the one that the King of Batons has. The Knight's and Queen's batons are more fine than the raw wood in the Ace and the cudgel in the Valet, but still not as polished as the King's baton. If the King's baton is polished within the royal Batons court itself, who polished it between the time of the scene in the Knight card and the time of the scene in the King card?

 

[Diana]

If the King's baton is polished within the royal Batons court itself, who polished it between the time of the scene in the Knight card and the time of the scene in the King card?

Ah... a King has many servants and skilled carpenters and cabinet makers. But you know, as it's the Tarot and the Tarot is also about Self-Development, he may have polished and fashioned it all by himself. The King of Batons is a skilled person himself. Probably the most skillful of the whole Tarot.

 

[jmd]

Moderating note

I have had to remove seven posts from this thread - in case the flow of posts does not appear quite as 'flowy' as it was.

 

[jmd]

For those interesed, we once begun a discussion on the Mamluk Polo-Sticks suit and the Chinese Bamboo suit in another thread:

• the Chinese connection and the Polo stick

 

[Fulgour]

...Well, maybe I have used the Fournier once. As to this latter, it’s also the cheapest Marseilles deck one can find in Portugal, and I don’t love it to bits, but – contrary to Diana – I like it more everyday.

Because this deck always serves me so well, being uncomplicated, straight, honest and unpretentious. Visually, it is not very appealing, at least to my aesthetic values, but even that makes me feel sympathetic. Poor little deck, and so user-friendly!... Silvia

Hi Silvia,

Sitting here now with Fournier's Le Tarot de Marseille on my table,
after having shuffled it a few times and just handled the cards a bit,
I have to say how surprised I am at the flexibility and nice feel the
cards are showing me ~ and they really seem to be very responsive!
This is definitely a deck I am going to let come out and play again...
Have you also Fournier's Tarot Espanol in your collection, and if so
how do you find that deck to be? I'm still needing to focus on the
first deck, but the other is now also hinting at me from afar to visit.

Fulgour

 

[Moongold]

Hi Elf ~

I agree with the comment that JMD made: if you feel attracted to the Fournier, buy it.

My first Marseilles was the Conver which I got simply because I wanted a Marseilles and it was the only one available in Melbourne immediately. I found it hard initally to warm to and heard about the Fournier from some comments by Lee. Fell in love with the colours immediately and this is the Marseilles I mainly use at present. I call it my kitchen table Tarot. I also have a Hadar but don't use it much.

It is good to see all the activity with the Marseilles and I wish there had been more of it at my first two "rushes" of interest in the deck. I use the Marseilles for private study (Irene Gad; and Meditations on the Tarot) but am mainly trying to learn the Ancient Egyptian by Barrett at the moment. I am finding a whole new world there too.

Thanks,

Moongold

 

[Shalott]

Personally, what counts for me is that more and more people are using the Marseilles deck. In time, they will teach THEMSELVES which deck they like, which they don't, and what speaks to them and what doesn't.

I'm just happy that the Marseilles tradition is no longer seen on Aeclectic as some kind of oddity and some kind of fossilised frenchified elite way of reading.

People see now that it is ALIVE. And as young and spritely as it was all those hundreds of years ago. That the message it conveys is still VALID for today... and that it fits in so beautifully with the universe we live in in the 21st Century.

I couldn't care which deck was scanned... even if it were the Camoin, I would still be rejoicing.

What I love more than ANYTHING in the Tarot, is the Tarot of Marseilles. And I really log-on to Aeclectic these days with something to look forward to. A place where I can actually share my love of the USAGE of the Marseilles, and not just its historical aspects.
{respectfully snipped...}

I just wanted to say how well said I think this is...sorry if I unflow what jmd has reflowed, or something...I have gone back in time and read some of jmd's and Diana's and Rusty's early posts from just a couple of years ago and saw that there were but a very small handful of Marseille-niacs, and by the time I joined, the Historical research section was burgeoning (my word of the week ) and now look where we are. People are coming to Marseille in droves. As someone who loves history (still learning big-time re: Tarot) and loves to see threads of consistency in today's world, this is just wonderful. To me, tha fact that Marseille is not just making a comeback but is proving itself to be vital and applicable in today's world says a lot more to me that anything confined to the world of Tarot. I think it says something about us and our basic nature.

Re: the reading circle, personally I just don't have the time to commit to something like that. I try to participate in the reading exchange whenever I have time. But I've always been someone who needs to go my own way. I don't always play well with others!

Re: the Fournier, overall I like it. The SIZE is so perfect for someone with smaller hands like me. The colors are...different. The character on the card, and the main icons on the pips aren't recolored. I think the paint they used is really thick...it may have been better executed. But yeah, if you find it appealing, get it! It's not all that expensive and fairly easy to find, I got mine from AlidaStore but they seem to be on vacation right now. Le Valet d'Coeur has it right on their main Tarot menu http://www.levalet.com/index.htm (look for Tarots and Cards in French in the navigation frame). Can't seem to access Tarot Garden right now, but I think they had it too?

 

[smleite]

Hi, Fulgour!

Very responsive, that is exactly what I think of Fournier’s deck. I don’t have the Tarot Espanol, but it keeps staring at me every time I shop at El Corte Inglés, a big Spanish department store here in Lisbon. If I ever buy it (it is not a priority, now), I’ll share my impressions of it with you, of course.

Silvia

 

[WolfyJames]

I think the Founier is a good beginner Tarot de Marseille, for those who venture in the Marseille world for the first time. It is a real Tarot de Marseille, based on the Conver. The colored backgrounds of the pips help to differenciate the suits, the Epees and Bâtons can be difficult to distinguish at first. If you use reverse in your readings, you can easily distinguish straight cards from reverse cards as well, which is not the case of many Tarot de Marseille. The size is nice and the cardstock is of a good quality, it's nice to hold and to shuffle, the back of the cards is lovely. You can buy it easily anywhere for a good price. The Fournier adds colors and life in the rawness that is Tarot of Marseille. If you find Tarot de Marseille hard to like, which is my case, the Fournier might help you get used to the Tarot de Marseille, and with time, appreciate it.

http://www.learntarot.com/fmdesc.htm

 

[Moongold]

The Ace provides the Baton.

The Valet holds the raw Baton - still a branch. He has to carve it. As an apprentice and a servant, that's his job.
The Knight carries the the polished Baton to the court.
The Queen and the King hold the Baton that show their status and their function.

I like that conceptualization of the batons, Diana. Thank you.

Perhaps there is material about this elsewhere but I read isomewhere in the Encyclopaedia of Tarot that historically the Batons have different associations from "Wands" in, say, in the Golden Dawn scheme of things.

If I am reading the Marseilles intuitively I might associate any one of a number of meanings to the Batons in the Marseilles. I did this recently in a reading for damfino in Your Readings which just flowed. He was happy with it.

One of the hiccups I experienced initially with the Marseilles was the feeling that its European history proscribed many interpretations but I'm finding that to be increasingly less so.