Well, I just got my Bosch Tarot...

...and I'm not quite sure what to make of it.

My first thought as I looked at the cards was "Am I meant to read with this deck?". It almost struck me as art for art's sake. It's very enjoyable to look at, but the images, which I expected weirdness from, vary so wildly from the RWS tradition that I fear that I may be at a loss to interpret them in a reading.

Of course, reading the LWB, it became obvious that the deck is not intended to be interpreted in anything close to the RWS tradition.

I'm not one to be tied to the "book meanings" of the cards, but I've always used the traditional meanings of the cards as jumping-off points for interpreting the cards- if I find myself at a loss, the traditional meanings have always given me something to fall back on.

I like the deck enough to keep it, but I think reading with it is going to be a real challenge. I don't know that I would want to read for others with it, especially people who were already familiar with the Tarot, because it's so far from what would be expected that I wonder if a potential sitter would think I'd either lost my wits or didn't actually know how to read Tarot cards.

Right now, I'm thinking "personal deck".

Later tonight, I'm going to lay back in bed with the deck and the LWB and study on it a bit, get a better feel for how the artist/author intended for the cards to be interpreted and maybe try reading with it tomorrow.

It's going to be interesting.

Why not just try reading from the pictures, and ignoring the card titles altogether? Give it a go - it's a splendid little deck and I'm certain you'll love it if you find a way in (we all have different doors to it).

It is a great deck and a reminder that most LoS decks are quirky even though many get tarred unfairly with the clone paintbrush. Read the pictures. tons of stuff going on

A little weird at first sight maybe, but a great deck for 'intuitive' readings for sure. There has been a great thread on one card readings with the Bosch a while back, but I don´t remember who did the readings.
Edited: ah well, it was cutiecutie, over here:
http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=1094363

Enjoy !

I think this is one of the most beautiful and haunting tarot decks ever created but it's not easy to get to grips with.

Like yourself I'm by and large grounded in the RWS so much as I loved the Bosch, I didn't read with it for ages. My personal way to make sense of the deck was to treat the minors almost like Marseilles pips, albeit highly elaborate ones.

By doing this, I stop looking for coherent meaning in the images, start with a formulaic interpretation of each card but then find myself jumping off intuitively on the various details that stick out for each individual image.

Once you can embrace this deck's unorthodoxy you'll find it has some wonderful surprises.

Chris. xx

Well, I don't actually have a TdM, and when I did, I used the RWS meanings, more or less. I would call up the mental image from the RWS or clone deck and interpret the card based on that imagery.

I think I'd do best by laying back in bed with the deck and the LWB side by side, soak up the art and develop a familiarity with the artist's intended interpretations, and go from there. I certainly won't feel bound to interpret the cards that way, but I do think it would be useful to keep in the back of my mind in case I get stuck. Just use them as a jumping off point, the way I do with RWS-based decks.

I think this deck is going to be a real challenge for me, but I think we'll eventually bond.

I love the imagery -- the pictures are beautiful, if a little creepy.

What turns me off is the black, multi-lingual borders. In fact, I steer clear of most Lo Scarabeo decks because of this.

It is a beautiful deck tho.

Well, I did a side-by-side with the LWB last night. I'll probably be doing it again tonight. I was looking at the cards a little bit ago, trying to form mental impressions based on the images. Some of them, I could get some kind of interpretation based on the imagery, others, not so much. I just don't know what to make of a lot of the imagery in the minors.

I think it's going to be a while before I start reading with this deck. It's definitely not in the RWS tradition. I'm thinking it's most likely a Marseilles-based deck and the interpretations would follow that, but I don't have a Marseilles LWB for comparison. The Majors definitely have a TdM feel to them, though.

I'm really at a loss of how I am going to interpret the cards in this deck.

Well, I did a reading with the Bosch last night. I must say it went rather well. It gave me mostly court cards, though. Maybe it was letting me off easy my first time reading with it.

No real new insight, but that's probably got more to do with the fact that I do a daily reading and have been using the Celtic Cross a lot, so it's all been asked and answered.

Asbestos Mango said:

Well, I did a reading with the Bosch last night. I must say it went rather well. It gave me mostly court cards, though. Maybe it was letting me off easy my first time reading with it.

No real new insight, but that's probably got more to do with the fact that I do a daily reading and have been using the Celtic Cross a lot, so it's all been asked and answered.

Click to expand...

Perhaps it's time for you to look outside the box of your own life and concerns, and read on other stuff?