The Kabbalah Cards AGM Muller

Moderator note:

This thread had been moved to the Kabbalah section but has been moved back at crystal dawn's request. Crystal dawn had started a new thread in Oracles, so I have merged the two threads.

Lee, Oracles Moderator

Ah, comfort! Seems a lot better as an oracle deck than a kabbalah deck.

I guess its a case of you say tomato and I say tomato.

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More like tomato or potato, or banana

More oracle than tarot i'd agree.

I like the idea of imagery as illustrating a meaning of the Hebrew letters, though not always the execution of such.

Not keen on the hanged man, its direct relation to tarot iconography makes it stick out in context to the rest, which are more allusive in their tarotic relationships. The sephiroth cards leave me cold. The best cards for me are those which illustrate a meaning of the names of the Hebrew letters in a clear and straightforward fashion, e.g., alef - bull/ox with a bull, and the bull is the central object, gimel-camel, chet - fence/wall, heh-window. In some of them though you have to search for the reference, it is lost in extraneous or scenic detail. If they were all as clear as for example chet-wall I think they would work better as oracle cards.

I appreciate the ideas behind these cards,though I am a little puzzled by the attributions; except for the hanged man and sephiroth cards, I generally like the images and the idea of illustrating the meaning of the letters, but the 'kabbalah' is awfully confusing in it is at odds with any kabbalistic tradtion (Judaic, Christian or Hermetic). Nonetheless I can see they may work as an oracle deck (albeit their symbolism is too loaded, in terms of what I would consider an oracle deck), but as Kabbalistic Cards I think they represent too personal and individual a view for anyone working within a Kabbalistic tradition, and I am not sure the kabbalistic references (traditional or otherwise) would appeal to anyone working with oracle cards...?

I find them a bit of a mess, somewhat in concept but even more so in execution, lacking identity, and thus wouldn't be able to use them in readings, for fear the confusion would be reflected in such. But perhaps the explanations in his book(s) would help clear up my confusion.

Abrac said:

crystal, is there a picture in the book you could scan that shows the paths on the Tree? I'm really interested in how they're arranged.

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Don't have the book or picture therefrom, but from the attributions on the face of the cards they run:

alef : 1 - 2
bet : 2 - 3
gimel : 1 - 3
dalet : 2 - 4
heh : 4 - 5
vav : 3 - 5
zayin : 5 - 6
chet : 1 - 6
tet : 2 - 6
yod : 3 - 6
caph : 4 - 6
lamed : 6 - 7
mem : 4 - 7
nun : 7 - 8
samech : 5 - 8
ayin : 6 - 8
peh : 8 - 9
tsade : 6 - 9
koof : 7 - 9
resh : 9 - 10
shin : 7 - 10
tov : 8 - 10

~Crystal says that in the book he reverses alef and resh, so presumably in the book resh goes between keter and chokmah, and alef between malkuth and yesod (?), but are otherwise 'tradional' (not sure of which tradition however).

Kwaw, I'm completely with you. Painting the sephiroth is not a simple job, I mean how can you visualize the supernal Three? That's a tough challenge and you'd need to meditate years on it, I guess. Haindl who is said to have studied kabbalah quite a bit painted the Tree in quite a schematic manner and just added some associations to the sephiroth.

Figurative illustrations simply can't contain the sephiroth IMO. Only a really great artist like Anselm Kiefer approaches these topics in a way that catches their spiritual content without killing it because he worked his way through them on his knees for decades. (I saw his Shvirat-ha-kelim exhibition in Tel Aviv and was awed.)

Oh I wish Kiefer made a kabbalistic deck of cards!

I have the Kabbalah Cards and I love how they were illustrated. Simple and pleasant, Gainsford used a lovely pallette that while soothing is not at all bland. It has a really warm and comforting feel about it. I like it a lot.

This is the first time that I'm going to be using an oracle deck in these forums, so I'm quite excited. I will be consulting it in the Games and Deck of the Week threads. I hope we'd work out well.

By the way, I think one can use it just like any oracle deck. Roland did state that he envisioned different paths in the Tree of Life to correspond with the 22 Hebrew letters. While the associated path is visible in the upper portion of the minor cards, the small book mostly focuses on the mental attributes, emotional qualities, and form of action of the letter itself, which as far as I can tell is accurate. I also like the psyche archetypes and meditations of the 11 sephiroth in the majors. I just wish the book was thicker and meatier, it seems like there are many interesting avenues that can be explored.

But perhaps I'm a bit biased, and what really called to me were the lovely images in the cards themselves. They actually got me a bit curious about Ms. Gainford's Tarot decks, and it seems like the Old Path is still very much available. I shall be putting it on my wishlist.

But for now, I hope I would be able to work with the cards well.