ADEPT LEVEL -- Step 13; 21 Ways To Read A Tarot Card

dadsnook2000

This step is all about SYMBOLS. In the Adept Section of this step Mary Greer goes into great detail to both categorize the symbols found within the Tarot as well as to discuss what to be aware of. This chapter is a significant training tool all on its own! Before categorizing the symbols, we will read about the "meaning" that a symbol can represent and the process of "amplification." Then, each of 18 symbol groups are addressed.

Our task in 13.2 is to look again at our chosen card and to carefully review all of the symbols found there. I believe that we will each find a great deal of added meaning by doing this step using the extensive resources that are presented to us. This may take a day or two to accomplish. If you wish to do this in steps, that is OK. I'm looking forward to this after a week in Florida with grandkids to watch day and night -- this will be my vacation. Have fun, everyone. Dave
 

squeakmo9

adept 13:2

symbols

vr 4 of wands

Go back over the list of symbols on your chosen card…
The orange banner…vital energy, spontaneity, joy
The bird…free spirit
#4...stagnation, foundation, realization
The circle of the drum…wholeness, unity
Pink dress…tender love, friendship, beauty
(Midnight)blue dress…depression, melancholy
(Light) blue dress…truth, spirituality
Yellow dress…intellect, fear
My own interp on symbols…
Stage…seen and overseeing?
Hands…blessing/curse?
Females…the receptive, yin, negative/shadow?
The crowd…sharing, conforming, closed-in?
Face in the crowd...connecting, understanding?

Bring any of these symbols into your life:

The VR 4 of Wands are symbolic of:
Family—‘the band’
Customers—‘the crowd’
My connection with both—‘orange banner’
Enriched my life—color blue
Who I was, small me—the bird
Living in the present moment—face in the crowd
Coming together—circle/drum
The limits---#4

Edited to Add: I was looking at Hexagram 61 today(I-Ching)which I went to in reference to a dream I had last night. When looking for a variety of interpretations, I found this one on clarity by Hilary Barrtett. It is interesting since I have a banner, bird and drum, as well as hands outstretched in my VR 4 of Wands:
'Both the significance of the banner and, especially, the vibrations of the drum go right through you, so that you resonate in harmony with something greater than yourself.
'Truth', fu, is a hand or the claw of a bird reaching down over a young one. Though in the context of the hexagram this naturally makes you think of a protecting hand, the same character can also mean grasping and holding on to prisoners of war, the tangible proof of victory. The underlying idea is of a powerful, connecting grasp - 100% present, owning the moment and everything in it.

This interp brings a different angle to my card which resonates on a different level.
 

Jewel

ADEPT LEVEL STEP 13: Symbols
DECK: Fantastic Menagerie
CARD: The Moon

Activity 13.2 – Go back over symbols on chosen card:
Original list:
2 Stone arches – pathways to the unknown
Nighttime – the subconscious, mysteries
Full moon with a face – illuminating, being watched, wistfulness
Climbing ivy – persistent, parasite, survivor
Owl – wisdom, mystery
Human body – human virtues and faults
Carved man shape – creativity, craftsmanship
Stone – solid, enclosure
Shadow mouse – hidden varmint, taunting
Low cut bodice – partially exposed
Lilac to medium purple – mysticism, higher consciousness, pride
Light blue – calm, fidelity, truth, spirituality
Chocker with albatross – feeling of being trapped and/or doomed
Dead mouse bracelet – a reminder
Ring on second finger – married
Circle – (moon, ring and eyes) – unity, completeness, everlasting
Bracelet – adornment or restraint?
Head cover – what is on her mind or covering her thoughts
Lace – intricate, delicate, beautiful
White – virtue, truth, truce, ghosts
Rectangle – building blocks
Balcony – way out, ability to peek over and see beyond
Back turned – not wanting to see or face something/someone (including self)
Downward direction – (albatross pendant, mouse on bracelet, arms and hands) – limits, obstructions, material world of practicality
Fluffy clouds – imaginings, allowing you to only see what you want to see. Clouded judgement

Activity 13.2.1 Add information to list:

1. Plant Symbolism: Ivy – associated with poetry and intoxication. Visions. Associated with the Moon and the feminine. Prophetic dreams. The white ivy leaves are sacred to the goddess of the Moon.

2. Animal Symbolism:
a. Owl – Deception. Wisdom. Warns not to assume all is well. Sees what others miss. Predator. Death bird. Wisdom, darkness, silence. Recognizes the underworld. Keen sight and hearing. Air.
b. Owl head: conscious deception, conscious willingness to be silent (secretive) – or unconscious – to apply wisdom to deceive or be deceived.
c. Shadow mouse above (in moon): shadow=hidden, mouse=vigilance, persistence, prey. Up (above)=aspirations, elevated consciousness.
d. Dead upside-down mouse: dead=blocking, no longer trying. Mouse=vigilance, persistence, prey. Upside-down= limits, obstructions, practicality.
e. Shadow mouse in background of card: warning coming from a distance and barely if even perceived.
f. Dead hanging mouse in card foreground – dominant frame of minds of ignoring need for vigilance. Not seeing.
g. Albatross, upside down, choker, foreground – Conscious decision to continue destructive behavior despite warnings that cannot be ignored.

3. People and body parts:
a. Woman’s body – feminine characteristics
b. Arms hanging down – choosing to do nothing

4. Clothing: Skirt and blouse – represent her outer personality and worldly trappings. Role, status, how others see you.

5. Buildings:
a. Stone arches: beauty and vulnerability. Being exposed. Defines but does not separate.
b. Wall: defines and separates space.
c. Castle: sovereignty, power, and authority.
d. Columns/pillars: paths or portals. Strength upholding beliefs. 2 pillars represents duality.

6. Objects:
a. Jewelry: bracelet, choker, ring – beauty and preciousness.
b. Wooden cut out of human – represents what is on Lady Owl’s mind. What she is waiting for or wanting.

7. Earthly environment: night sky. Night=dark/mystery. Sky=spiritual realm, mood, emotions.

8. Celestial bodies:
a. Moon – associated with feminine, magic, madness.
b. Clouds – hide brilliance of the divine. Phantoms from the astral plane. False imaginings.

9. Directions/Containment:
a. Out – conclusion, unconscious, outsider, exposed.
b. Foreground close: more immediate. Dominant and present.
c. Left – passive, receptive, past-oriented. Holding or binding.

10. Geometry, Patterns, Shapes:
a. Upside-down triangle – perfection that unites all dualities but descending toward the material.
b. Circle – wholeness, unity.

11. Color:
a. Gold (necklace): riches, wisdom, truth
b. Blue (skirt, sky, arches): cold, melancholy, depression, spirituality, truth, calmness
c. Purple (shirt): higher consciousness, pride, dignity
d. Brown (dead rat): delay, depression
e. Black (outlines/shading): negation, silence, despair
f. White (moon, wall, Lady Owl): innocence, purity, virtue, truth, weakness, ghosts

13:2.2. I rarely remember my dreams, but will for look for these symbols in my life.

13:2.3. Brining the symbols into my life:
1. Wear predominant colors – I actually wear these colors quite often.

E.T.A. - I decided that I really could just not see the purpose doing a collage would serve me so I have deleted that idea. I have ivy all over my house, wear lots of purple and blue, have an arch in my entryway, and lord knows I live in my own little world like Lady Owl a good portion of the time (which I am finally starting to address though denial is a beautiful thing), and I wear lots of rings. I think a lot about the past (card board man sitting on the veranda) ... so to be honest I am a living collage of this card. I think focusing on seeing myself and addressing this will be much more useful to me. I am basically a walking Moon card *LOL*. If I pasted myself in my journal I think my hubby would get upset, and I might get fired from work *LOL*.
 

dadsnook2000

Dave's 13th Step. The list.

The Fey Hermit card contains a multitude of symbols. Using the book’s order, the following symbols are noted:

PLANTS: none

ANIMALS: Moose/Cow head positioned as if mounted on a set of stairs; Red Salamander watching the Hermit on the stairways; Purple small creature, “cute” with long tail and long ears; Green dinosaur-like creature, smaller than a breadbox, with back-plates protruding along the length of the body and having two small curved horns; a brown cat-like creature with bright eyes peers from shadows on the stairs.

PEOPLE: The Hermit is the sole “person” in this card. He appears to be “adult” in stature, and he is walking “down” a stairway which ends in another step and leads to crossing stairways headed down and up.

BODY PARTS: The Moose/Cow creature appears to be a head.

SUPERNATURAL FORCES AND BEINGS: Only the “animals-creatures” could qualify for this definition.

CLOTHING: The Hermit wears a very tall purple hat, a long full red coat, black/grey high boots with brown soles, grey pants.

BUILDINGS AND STRUCTURES: The Hermit is exploring stairs that lead every which-way as if in the proverbial “house-that-Jack-built”. There are multiple doorways, doors, broken ladders spanning the space between stairways. There are no windows.

OBJECTS: The Hermit holds a square lighted lantern casting a yellow light; the broken ladders noted earlier, a book which is closed and resting on a ceiling/floor surface at the end of an upside down set of stairs.

MODES OF TRANSIT: The Hermit is stepping, different from walking in a subtle sense. The creatures are not really moving about.

ACTIVITIES AND GESTURES: The Hermit is watching where he is stepping; the creatures are watching the Hermit. The Hermit has a concerned, surprised look on his face, his lips are pursed as if he doesn’t believe what is seen.

EARTHLY ENVIRONMENT: None.

LIQUIDS: None.

HEAVENS, CELESTIAL BODIES: None.

DIRECTIONS, CONTAINMENT: The scene that the Hermit is within suggests all directions without a sense of order or clear transition. The scene is without order-orientation but it is quite constrained as if within a tower.
GEOMETRY, PATTERNS, SHAPES: The doorways are rounded at the top as if they were church doors. The stair-steps are a predominate shape or pattern.

LIGHT, DARK: The lantern casts the only light in this card. None of the doorways open to the outside world. Dark shadows lie wherever the lantern’s glow doesn’t reach.

COLORS: Grey makes up the background structure; red is the clothes-color of the Hermit except for his tall hat which is purple. The creatures have blue, purple, green, red, brown colors.

NUMBERS: Six doorways are indicated, seven sets of stairs, three doors, two ladders, five creatures, one person. It is as if the card was trying to portray counting --- 1, 2, 3, (4), 4, 6, 7.

The next step is to watch for the appearance of these symbols in my life and to try to use/display these symbols in my life. I’ll report on this in a few days. Dave
 

dadsnook2000

Daves list -- the symbols

The Fey Hermit card is loaded with symbols. Like many symbol sets, it takes some work to combine symbols into super-symbols or meaning-sets which both reduces the number of factors to consider and enables a "summarization" to use as a central statement to guide the better appreciation of the individual symbols. I'm going to attempt to start with the most prominent symbols and symbol groups to condense a few primary meanings out of this card.

The Fey Hermit wears Red as a vitalizing force and a large purple hat (dignity, power). Normally self-assured, this Hermit is seeking his way (stairs, lantern) within a superficially safe environment (circular tower) that requires a plan and approach to fathom why there are so many choices (stairs, switch points) leading to opportunities (closed doors). The choices require a multiple view of life's challenges as the levels of thought and appreciation (stairs up and down) require the Hermit to keep a lot in mind.

Suggestions abound in the form of "following his intuition", having the patience to learn and evolve one's path to improvement, using his intellect and logic, accepting that ancient knowledge and former learning experiences can be recalled to help him. Actual answers may be at hand in the book, but like all books, this one may educate but not provide a specific answer.

What comes out of this card, which I selected as a personal avatar of my life at this point in time, is that I am intellectually and logically finding my way within a confined framework of life that requires choices and offers several paths to doors that can be opened. I have a lot of resources to draw upon, and my searching will lead to more resources. All of these resources are the equivalent of the multi-path stairways --- mental tool choices as well as physical effort choices. I get the sense that any door that is reached is the one door, they are all the same in what they represent. In summary, movement and choice is required in succession in order to leave the closed-loop environment I'm within.

*****

The biggest thing in my personal life now is the book I'm trying to finish. I have positioned it for both early-studies astrological students as well as more capable astrologers who have not had the time or success in working on predictive projects. The book leads the reader through steps, introduces new material in a given order which accumulates into a methodology that is logical and consistent while being quite simple in its concept. I'm aware of the danger of introducing too much in terms of tools, techniques, methods while I attempt to keep a focus on achieving clarity and simple steps.

A number of other symbols and events/people have come into my life also.
** For several nights I have had a dream in which a sea-gull sized bird with large eagle-eyes has been resting on a pillow in my bedroom. After a couple of nights I let him/it loose out of the window.
** Another astrologer has come back into my life after 30 years and is becoming a close Internet friend offering viewpoints and commentary on my work as I am for her work. Having an objective view of one's work is good for living within a subjective project.
** Both the tarot and a wider range of astrological work has been brought back into my life, giving me a better balance inspite of the increased time and effort required to be inclusive. I feel a lot better about this.
** Several long-standing projects have been wrapped up, freeing up some time but more importantly freeing up my mind.

This step has really expanded my appreciation for the complexity and meanings found in this card. It is richer than I thought, even though I saw it as being rich in meaning when I first chose it. A valuable step for me, showing me that one can always benefit from going back over ones work.
Dave.
 

Verdi

21 Ways step 13
The Lady (Empress)
I also used the Penguin Dictionary of Symbols. Especially in relation to the frog in the card.

Colours: I believe these are related to the pregnancy and the emergence of new life, and all the promise that symbolises.
Green of fields and cloths: Hope, growth, nature, regeneration
Red of cloth: Life force energy (new)
Blue of Cloak and stream: Peace, serenity, calmness

Objects etc:
The fruit: Blossoming of potential. Fruition of one’s labours, wealth, harvest, abundance, the beginning of things (seed), sexual desire
Golden chalice:
The wheat: Rebirth, harvest, abundance
The frog: relates to water; emotions and feelings. Frogs are lunar creatures corresponding to the element of water. Resurrection symbol, as seen when spring arrives and the frogs begin to croak loudly heralding a new season of life.
The flowers; beauty, desire, potential for new seed
The Throne: Authority, eminence, rest.
The Lady’s headband: Limiting the intellect.
Her breast plate: Protection of the heart.
Landscape: realm of consciousness and possibilities, fertility, fecundity as related to womb.
Trees: Connecting the spirit to earth and heaven. This could also be the Druid Tree of life.
The Lady and her pregnancy: new life, love, caring, protection, Mother Nature, mothering.
Her bare fee: knowing where you are going. Keeping in touch with feeling and emotions.

I see many correspondences concerning new life, creation and potential in the symbols of the card. The creators seem to have thought well and hard about the symbolic make up here. Key words used for this card by the authors are; Fertility, Abundance, Passion, Creativity, Sensuality, Nurturing, Motherhood, Beauty, Happiness and Healing.

The last, Healing, seems to lack a symbolic representation in the card.

The colours are interesting. I took a colour analysis once. I am a winter person, preferring dark, stark and well defined colours. Consequently I use a lot of black, white, red and dark greens. Green being the predominate colour in this card. Will think more about this next time I am out shopping.

Andrew :)
 

coyoteblack

Hello Again

Tarot of Dreams
Moon
step 13 adept

The main group of images I want to amplify are movement, devices, animals, direction.

This is different then many other moon cards because in most cards you are moving in the card in this card a dog and wolf are in the foreground, bats are coming through mirror like device right at the reader/sitter.

The device is almost a magnifying glass between 2 posts, it is magnifying light in the foreground.

There is water but instead of the traditional beach it is a stream coming from under the magnifying glass.

the moon is way in the background the bats are flying away fro it through the magnifying glass and towards the foreground.

The other point and I think one of the most telling is a tamed domestic dog on the right and a wolf that tradition is never been domestic or tame to the left. everything in the picture is moving towards them.

What I gather is almost everything in this picture is duality, movement from one thing to something else and it deals with emotions and sub conscience. the stream is telling as well as it is moving towards the pair of animals in the front.

I know from personal experience the emotions we face in the night time of our sub conscience can have a real effect on how we deal and see things. most of life is perception and what we do with-it and this card can take a deep look at it. but because we do not see this in our conscience life it is difficult to acknowledge.

This card can deal with depression and this happens to a lot of people during the holidays. I think this card offers the solution along with the problem. our feelings and emotions are real but sometimes they are not based on reality but they can change our perception of reality. if we re feeling bad or the world seems gray maybe make a gratitude list or look for happier hings and you will see them.

I will look for these images through out the rest of my step work.

I have included a picture of the card.
 

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