Books that Focus on Reading Un-Illustrated Minors?

MacMorrighan

Hey guys, I bought and use Lo Scarabio's deck, "The Ancient italian Tarot", which I adore (it usually yields uncanny results in their accuracy or how they relate to the question or individuals involved), but I was hoping to explore a number-based system for more easily interpreting the un-illustrated minors in a way that could also reconcile the planetary and astrological association of each pip card (E.G., the Three of Swords is Saturn in Libra and the Six of Pentacles is the Moon in Taurus, etc.). However, invariably, almost every book written on the tarot is of extremely limited value when it comes to a deck with un-illustrated pip cards. For example, Deborah Lipp's new book, "Tarot Interactions", proclaims that it (and her system) may be used with ANY book, but that is not the case since her system cannot be used with un-illustrated pip cards and some exercises require a specific type of deck that the Tarotist may not use (E.G. cards with herbal illustrations on every card). In one exercise she advises her readers to lay out 5 cards and then to blend, burn or drink, an incense or a herbal tea with the herbs depicted on the cards. However, some cards depict potent entheogens, such as fly agaric and datura!

Take Care,
Wade
 

Zephyros

Sounds like Qabalah is what you're looking for, it's all about the numbers, and the interactions between them and the astrological attributions.
 

Nemia

I find Yoav Ben-Dov's Open Reading very useful when reading unillustrated pips. It's written about his own version of the Marseilles tarot, the CBD de Marseilles, but it helps me with my other pip-style decks.
 

3ill.yazi

Do check out the Marseilles subforum here, there are a number of threads on how to read the pips, as there really isn't one great authority.
 

Naomi Ningishzidda

It's easy and you don't need a book. I will try to write an article on it. You need to just memorize the meaning of numbers 1-10. You can use the definitions of the Sephiroth or some attribution system based on 10's, there arn't many around, but 777 is the definitive manual, or Gematria.

Then, memorize the nature of the four elements intimately. Using this method you can read any card.