Body language in the cards

AraLuck

Hi - I would like to know whether anyone considers the body language/movements in their cards. For instance, King Wands looks like he's looking back, so is Queen Cups. Knight Pents seems like he's moving forward, while Knights Swords and Wands seem to be regressing. I also see these 'movements' in relation to the juxtaposed cards. King Cups for instance I feel is looking deep into my eyes. Queen Wands is not looking at me straight in the eye and Queen Swords just doesn't care about my existence! Queen Pents is shy or focusing on her 'earthy' things... is how I feel. So I tend to read these cards and their movements too...

Would love to know if anyone does that. Or if there are any experiences and opinions in that regard.
 

Falcor

Yes, body language is very important for me. Since I tend to rely on the images in my readings(developing intuition) I am trying to notice the body language of the person in the card. If there a person. It can be an object too sometimes. Objects can have "body language" too, depends how they are shown and how you understand them.
 

Laurelle

I think body language is important. What deck are you talking about? Because in the RWS I always get the impression the QC is looking at her cup.
 

AraLuck

Laurelle said:
I think body language is important. What deck are you talking about? Because in the RWS I always get the impression the QC is looking at her cup.
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RWS - you're right.. she is looking at it, but also sitting in a position facing backwards as opposed to frontal like Wands or forward like Swords.
 

Grizabella

Sometimes I do. I don't always interpret them the same, though. For instance, let's say in the deck you're using, the Devil is faccing toward the left.That could be interpreted that he's looking to the past. Or he's looking toward person in the next card to the left. That's limiting. If I were only to go by those two clues.

Then the Devil would always mean either looking to the past or looking at the card before, when in reality, there are a multitude of other things that the Devil will mean, depending on the question, the positional meaning, and surrounding cards.

I take note of the position of the body, what the person in the card seems to be looking at, body language of the characters in surrounding cards and in the same card, colors---everything makes a difference and gives me clues to what the cards are saying.
 

AraLuck

Grizabella said:
Sometimes I do. I don't always interpret them the same, though. For instance, let's say in the deck you're using, the Devil is faccing toward the left.That could be interpreted that he's looking to the past. Or he's looking toward person in the next card to the left. That's limiting. If I were only to go by those two clues.

Then the Devil would always mean either looking to the past or looking at the card before, when in reality, there are a multitude of other things that the Devil will mean, depending on the question, the positional meaning, and surrounding cards.

I take note of the position of the body, what the person in the card seems to be looking at, body language of the characters in surrounding cards and in the same card, colors---everything makes a difference and gives me clues to what the cards are saying.
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Yup -I agree and get what you mean. This is what I meant in fact - it's part of a set of all of the details present in the card. I don't relate so well to the symbols in the traditional RWS as yet, but I do like the body language... it speaks more to me, which is why I was asking :) Thank you :thumbsup:
 

AraLuck

Falcor said:
objects can have "body language" too, depends how they are shown and how you understand them.
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Nice perspective - I shall remember that. Could you perhaps give an example with the objects?
 

Falcor

AraLuck said:
Nice perspective - I shall remember that. Could you perhaps give an example with the objects?
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https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/09/4b/33/094b33a65ae2c4a6b820fb07c4abe461.jpg

http://www.tarotbyanisha.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/ace-of-wands-1.jpg

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zywUCMzvUMI/TkNdYWFJ04I/AAAAAAAAAgs/rPYGV5DHQLY/s1600/002.jpg

http://store.isisbooks.com/v/vspfiles/assets/images/UnivGdsAceWands.jpg

All of them is the same card but will you be able to give them the same meaning? I doubt it.
 

rwcarter

AraLuck said:
Hi - I would like to know whether anyone considers the body language/movements in their cards. For instance, King Wands looks like he's looking back, so is Queen Cups. Knight Pents seems like he's moving forward, while Knights Swords and Wands seem to be regressing. I also see these 'movements' in relation to the juxtaposed cards. King Cups for instance I feel is looking deep into my eyes. Queen Wands is not looking at me straight in the eye and Queen Swords just doesn't care about my existence! Queen Pents is shy or focusing on her 'earthy' things... is how I feel. So I tend to read these cards and their movements too...

Would love to know if anyone does that. Or if there are any experiences and opinions in that regard.
Click to expand...
One of the nuances that can be brought into a reading is the direction in which characters (not just the Courts) are facing. And those directions can be deck-specific. I don't always use it in my readings, but sometimes I can't help but seeing things like in this exchange reading I did last month where not only the direction that the characters were facing but also the tilt of their heads and even the fact that there was only one person in each card all played a part in my interpretations. Had I used the Rider Waite, I wouldn't've seen any of those things as one card doesn't have any people in it, the other card you can only see the person from behind and neither person is facing to the right.

Rodney
 

Barleywine

Before I began using the RWS deck (I read with the Thoth exclusively for several decades), I only paid attention to facing when a spread required it. Now I find it (and body language in general) useful when it foms a meaningful link between two adjacent cards, enhancing the flow of the story by creating movement and direction. Since I also use reversals, I apply that to facing as well. In addition, I use gestures and facial expressions to some extent (for example, a figure that is facing straight out of the card may still be doing something with its hands or feet that imparts directed action).
 
6 of swords ^ The World as a Rite of Passage