Interesting Combinations using a three card system for courts

Bernice

Bernice: The approach to the spreads is, to my mind, what makes this book worthwhile (for me). They can appear to be somewhat complicated, but therein is a 'method' for working quite specifically with a deck - once you're happy with your card-meanings.
LATER: I'm revising my opinion about the above now that I'm further into the book. Not so sure that the way the Prophesy spread is handled is as good as I thought it might be.

I haven't found the method re. the courts that LB posted, the author advises to note which way a court card faces. No mention of the three-card method.

I've re-read an example reading of the Prophesy spread, 3 times, ad it's not explained very clearly.....

Is anyone else reading this book? If so, how are you getting on with it?

Bee :)
 

Satori

Bee I'm about to put the Message on order. I think that I"d like to see in it first and get a feel for it, so am trying to find it at the local bookstore, just to see it on the shelf.

Funny you can't find the whole court card system LB spoke of.
 

celticnoodle

Satori said:
Funny you can't find the whole court card system LB spoke of.
the way LB explains it in his posts is really much easier to understand then the book. but after you posted about not being able to find the whole court card system he spoke of, i decided to look through the book to see if I could find it.

I think, if you first look at page 86 that is titled "Face Cards and Imagery" it gives you a bit of an overview of how LB was describing with the court cards. take a peek at pages 86-89. then, skip up to page 115 and read through page 119 to seeing court cards in each position of a trio and how Deborah Leigh interprets them. also she shows a trio w/o any court cards. again, I feel that the way LB describes it in his original post is easier to understand, but she does cover it in these pages.

then, it does appear she covers it more again in the next chapter and pretty much for the rest of the book. like I said, I haven't gotten through this book, and have put this book down for so long, I really feel like I need to re-start at the beginning again.

It probably would be better to work on it if you had a group of people working together, I think--or at least for me! not sure if we could start a group on this site to go through the lessons together. I know LB started to do that after he started this original thread--but then decided not to do it afterall, and so it ended.

If anyone is interested in working on it and posting the lessons and discussing each lesson between us here-let me know. I'd be interested in joining in too!
 

Glass Owl

celticnoodle said:
the way LB explains it in his posts is really much easier to understand then the book.
You can say that again :)
 

Bernice

Many thanks for responding celticnoodle :)
Celticnoodle: If anyone is interested in working on it and posting the lessons and discussing each lesson between us here-let me know. I'd be interested in joining in too!
How about it Glass Owl, Satori, anyone else?

BITS FROM THE BOOK:

Page 86-87 = Author describes how to develope an image of someone then associate a court card with them.

Page 88 = ".....when a face card in your reading is seen bearing a card which, say, holds a negative intuitive message for you....etc"
And further down the page = "....when a face card is bearing an extremely positive card....etc."
And down near the foot of the page = ....let the cards that face-cards bear tell you what you need to know....etc"

This is barely hinting at LBs postings. At no place in the book prior to these passages, is any 'bearing' mentioned, let alone how the 'bearing' can be recognised.


Page 116 = A 3 card spread explained (within a larger spread): Lady wants to reconcile with her husband.

"...the spread...Home and Matters Pertaining to Home. Jack Spades - King Spades - Ten Hearts.

The King Spades is facing the Ten Hearts and the Jack Spades faces the King. ..........the querent has an opportunity to date other men (these two being dark complected men near her home), but because they are turned away from her.....they are not that interested ....they are focussed on fulfilling their own needs emotionally...."etc.

According to LBs post, if the HOME is the 'querent' here (First card is the querent if it's a Court and the spread relates to the Home. (?)).
It's 'character' is shown by the Jack Spades (? - seeks justice), and it's looking at the King Spades (presumably the errant husband). The King is looking at the 10 Hearts (a deep and true love). Husband doesn't look likely to turn his back on the (new) love of his life.
--
LB, Having a problem here: If the 'querent' isn't a person (relates to something else - non-sentient), is it always off-stage - invisible on the left? That's what the above (book) is suggesting.
.........


Because I've read LBs postings, I can recognise (read between the lines) and spot the places where this 3-card-court-thing has been applied. But it isn't obviously explained in the book, and is further complicated by which way the courts face - which is clearly explained.

If LB hadn't posted I'd still be in the dark - and confused. COME BACK Little Baron!


Bee :)
 

firefrost

celticnoodle said:
If anyone is interested in working on it and posting the lessons and discussing each lesson between us here-let me know. I'd be interested in joining in too!

Me too.

I'm beginning to feel glad I held off buying the book. If our tarot gurus find it confusing, I'd have no chance.
 

Bernice

Firefrost is in - Great!

I'm hoping that LB might let us know how he's developed this 'system' - he seems to understand the authors style of writing. (...and I bet he's got a good 'workable' system out of it :))

Bee :)
 

Welf

Hmmm... I cancelled my order last night because of these last few posts... I can always reorder at a later date if I think it's worthwhile... I've read playing cards in the dim dim past and am in no rush to spend money (it's not cheap), on a book which may just end up being a waste from my point of view. I would only buy this book for the information about the 3 card combination in order to be able to use that method for Tarot. I have Johnathan Dee's Fortune Telling with Playing Cards which I quite like for extra background info about Playing Cards..

Not sure now what extra I'd get from this book that hasn't already been posted here... ??? If you read all the posts by Little Baron in reply to the other posters in the early part of this thread, (I did so at least three times and summerised them), it makes sense to know what to do. But these latest posts which talk and quote from from the actual book now make the whole thing sound somewhat confusing...

Welf
 

Bernice

Bee: ....At no place in the book prior to these passages, is any 'bearing' mentioned, let alone how the 'bearing' can be recognised.

I stand corrected!

On page 92, titled Sexual Attraction. (A tiny chapter of one-&-bit pages of text)

The explanation of 'bearing' is described in text about the 7 Clubs & sexual attraction

"When it appears in the reading before a face card (on immediate left), the 7 indicates your primal instincts of attraction and sexual desire. When it appears after the face card (on immediate right) it indicates the drives of the man or woman represented by that face card."

AND...

"The individual perceived in the cards as bearing the 7 clubs ("bearing" meaning the placement of the 7 is such that it appears after the face card representing that person in the spread) is not infatuated, in love or seeking any kind of lasting emotional fullfillment....etc."
-----

What a strange place to explain the 'bearing' ! I only glanced at this tiny 'chapter' initially. I think this author would benifit from employing a Ghost Writer.

Bee :)

EDIT: Welf, I meant to add = I agree with you - it certainly 'aint cheap, not even 'reasonable'. And IMHO, badly written.
 

rif

Bernice said:
I think this author would benifit from employing a Ghost Writer.

Welf, I meant to add = I agree with you - it certainly 'aint cheap, not even 'reasonable'. And IMHO, badly written.

I kind of thought that the written "with" credit on the cover was the ghost writer, or even the real person who handled the bulk of the writing. :)

I've been silently watching this thread, to see what might develop. I'm not sure I would follow this system except when using the author's spread. However, I do see some benefits to it. I personally think modern court cards are too varied in potential interpretations, and could stand to use some more regimented methods of interpretation. (This is one of the things I like in the Golden Dawn's original system: court cards were given specific functions in a reading.)

I've seen a lot of people discussing the "Personal Prophecy" book on the forums, but I've never seen anyone who has read "The Message," which is the author's most recent book. I have a copy of "The Message" currently on loan from my library. I like the author's system in general, and her approach to learning to read (playing) cards makes sense. I just didn't like the idea of learning a set of non-traditional meanings.

She expects the reader to build up associative feelings for all of the cards, which are blended to together in a reading. And of course location in the spread can factor in. I like the concept of learning this way, although I don't think it will appeal to nor work for everyone: not all people learn through a sense of "feeling." (For anyone with passing familiarity with NLP, I would say she is utilizing a heavily Kinesthetic method of learning.)

In general, I think "The Message" is well-written. It has the tone of a kind and optimistic friend who truly wants to help you. I think it has value in general, with respect to reading cards. I don't mean to claim it's a top-10 book for me, but I do think it gives a lot of useful guidance on the reading process.

As for the question about how courts are described -- I'm at work now, but I'd be happy to check for how the court reading is written up when I'm at home, if anyone would like.