lunakasha said:
Here is my analogy: Imagine that you are trying to complete a research paper...and someone hands you a huge, thick reference book without any real system of organization--entries are not listed alphabetically, but randomly....there is no "Table of Contents" or "Index" to help you find the specific information you need....so the only way to find it is by reading through page after page until maybe you stumble upon your answer. Let's say that this is the only book available on the subject.
Personally, after a couple of hours of frustration, I would probably throw the book across the room and find another topic to research!
Hi, Luna --
Following in the spirit of Diana's post, here is how I would suggest you (and anyone else who feels similarly frustrated) proceed.
A) sit down at a table, on which you have placed a Marseille deck and a pen and paper.
B) On the paper, write down the four suits in a column:
Batons
Cups
Swords
Coins
C) following each suit, write down a few keywords or phrases of what that suit will mean.
D) Write down the numbers and courts in a column:
Ace
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
Page
Knight
Queen
King
E) After each number/court, write a few keywords or phrases on what each number/court will mean. You can base the words or phrases on anything. You can use simple numerology, based on numerology meanings you may have read in books, or that you find on the Aeclectic forums (search for "numerology"), or that you find online. You can base the meanings on astrology, or on meanings from the Major Arcana.
For the Court cards, same thing, decide on what each rank means (for example, here's one set of meanings from Gail Fairfield: Page = risking, Knight = focusing, Queen = maturing, King = releasing). As an alternative, you can regard them as 16 separate personalities based on how you read other decks, or based on how the pictures look to you.
F) To read the Minors, you combine the suit meaning with the number/court rank meaning. For example, if 7's are mystery and Cups are emotions, then the 7 of Cups is an emotional mystery or confusion over emotions.
G) When you're looking at a specific card, you can also choose to use the image (i.e. the arrangement of suit symbols and/or the floral decorations) as an added interpretive factor. However, I personally believe that this factor is not something that can be listed and memorized for each card. I think it's something that works best by allowing your mind to make an intuitive leap in a particular context. For example, jmd once wrote that in a specific reading, the image of the 4 of Coins suggested to him the four wheels of a car. I think this meaning just sort of jumped out at him from a particular reading where such an interpretation would have made sense. It's a great interpretation, but that doesn't mean you should memorize "car" for the 4 of Coins. Just look at a card, in the context of the question and the position layout, and neighboring cards, and see if anything comes to you from the image.
H) Try doing a few three-card readings using this method.
In my opinion, after following these steps, you know now everything that anyone else here knows about reading Marseille pips. The only thing the "Marseille experts" have that you don't is experience, and that's only gained by practice.
I hope I don't sound snarky in this post, but I'm puzzled when people ask for "information." There really isn't any information other than what I've written here in this post. If you want to see people doing it as an example, then just go to the H&I forum index and look for the practice reading spreads that Rusty Neon started. Those posts will give you an excellent idea of how to go about doing it. But I don't think there's a body of knowledge out there for you to find. I think the general methodology is relatively simple. Just grab a deck and start laying out cards.
If you hunger for more, then I can only say that I've spend many pleasurable hours wandering around in old posts and threads, using the Search feature or just scanning down the forum index. I don't see it as any big chore. It's fun. You can get a good start by following the links people have already listed in this thread.
Hope this helps --
Lee