Umbrae goes on a Rant about LWB's

So folks start with a LWB. A line is given about the meanings of the cards. It is read and memorized. Then the new deck owner attempts to begin 'readings'. This is akin to reading crib notes on a flight manual and attempting to fly an airplane.
One seems logical, the other silly...but think about it.
History changes things, and we take it for granted. In previous threads I have discussed the historical backgrounds and changes to various cards (6 of sw, fool...).
Let's look at one card...the Queen of Swords. (a divorced or widowed woman). Even back in the days of the RW's, divorce, (on the tail end of the Victorian era) was not common, and carried with it a stigma. Divorce was bad, and remarriage after widowhood was not accepted. heck, we didn't even know about the female orgasm until the '70's! Think about this folks...Just what were those women like? nasty evil frustrated backstabbing...
you get the picture.
So the queen of swords showed up in a spread...what are you going to do? Just start spouting off that "a divorced woman..." Okay, that narrows it down to 75% of the women in America.
What is it the QoS is saying? Manipulative, not your friend. most likely obsessed with the opinions of others; street smart, and a tongue that will cut you to shreds...blah blah blah...
But what does the spread look like? The card means nothing without the spread around it! What is the Spread saying? Is this a person, or an attitude that the male sitter personifies?
Reading the LWB will not improve your psychic abilities. You become a mimic...a fraud. Burn the book.
In the book “Tarot Reversals” Greer devotes an entire page in (short essay) to each card upright and reversed. Each card has a whole plethora of meanings…(and this is important folks)…if you know how to read, and have a modicum of psychic abilities (aka intuition) you will know which one while looking at the CONTEXT of the spread.
The LWB is not current as far as the context of the spread, or in context with the times.
I would always recommend to any new student. Buy two decks. Tape one deck card by card into a notebook. Leave two pages for each card. Write your own meanings first, then hunt down a good book (“Tarot Reversals”) and begin expanding. Examine how you interpreted the archtypes.
As time goes on you will find that some card meanings expand, others contract. Your interpretation one time of the 4 of cups must be different than other times, due to context.
The little white book will ignite at four hundred and fifty seven degrees Fahrenheit. Roast a sausage.

haha, lol, though you are right umbrae.
still i keep the lbw's, just to have the decks complete

kaz

Forgot to mention this…the boxes…I burn the boxes too…Why? Hate them. Why? Because I am burning the LWB…

** Rousing applause**
Good on you Umbrae!!

I was once showing someone my deck and she said to me "how can you read it without the book to look up the cards. You can't be very good"

I get so frustrated with people who buy a deck and spend weeks memorising the LWB that comes with it and then start readings, charging people money and telling them all sorts of crap.

Do you know what I have to go through to convince people that Tarot reading is an intuitive thing not necessarily acedemic? Well I suppose you do.

Maybe that could be the latest way to "cleanse" our decks. We could burn the LWB with some herbs and waft our new decks over the smoke under a Full Moon.

Perhaps we could all have a LWB burning ritual...all of us burning them at the same time!!

Thanks again Umbrae for raising the issue.

LOL Mystique! I can just imagine it - a circle cast around a bonfire under the full moon, hoards of noisy aeclecticans dancing around and tossing LWBs into the flames ...

Can we can toast marshmallows after the ritual?

With all due respect, I whole-heartedly disagree. I agree that the LWB's can be rather limited in their descriptions, but at the same time, they don't "fluff" up their definitions. I find that sometimes a direct interpretation is what I need. Now, I don't always use the LWB, but sometimes.... And I also agree that not all LWB's are very good, and that a person should memorize them, sometimes they can help.

My two cents worth!

It is good to disagree, even wholeheartedly. I must refer you to the ‘Reading Tarot’ section, and a thread entitled “Not too serious meanings of cards”.
It is the inaccuracies, historical, literal, and general.
I am serious about the lack of quality that goes into the LWB’s, that are then carried out upon the unsuspecting public.

I'm not casting any bad vibes on LWBs. it's just that I don't think they should be the "bible" of Tarot the way some people tend to see them as.

Of course in this forum I am yet to meet anyone who really takes the LWB as pure gospel.

Surely you have met people who proudly announce they are "readers" and present their decks, layout the cards and then whip out their LWB to do the reading or recite it like a sermon from a bible.

And if I see one more Celtic Cross spread I'm going to scream! I know the publishers go with what they think is tried a tested, but I ask you, don't you think that some other spreads could be added to the back of these LWB's?

Burn baby burn.....LOL

Well, perhaps they're needed if one is a merest beginner for a while.

But I'll dance around the bonfire on behalf of the Queen of Swords- a free and liberated , independent spirit who has used her life experience well, risen above her emotions , to teach and counsel those in need.

No LWB ever told me that!

Back when I first got a deck, many moons ago, the LWB was about all that was available, unless you had a bookseller that was a bit knowlegable, and would order something for you like, oh, the brand new paperback "Tarot Classics". (oh, joy!), or even better, a book that went along with a modern, hot off the press deck.
I used my cards, in a solitary way for many years, never suspecting all the changes going on in the tarot world.
*Now* I'm working to change how I read, and let go of always using those long-ago memorized meanings, and become more intuitive. Still, once in awhile, the traditional meanings are perfect for the situation at hand.
And I have to admit, I am compelled to keep my LWB's nice and safe from any toasting or roasting. (I still have all my Nintendo booklets, unopened too, but that's a subject for a different forum, LOL.)