Astraea
In Dierdre Bair's recent biography of Carl Jung (Jung: A Biography, c. 2003, ISBN # 0-316-07665-1, published by Little, Brown), she writes the following:
"Both Hanni [Hanni Binder, a patient of Jung's] and Gret [Gret Baumann-Jung, his daughter] used several different sets of cards when they taught him how to consult the tarot before they settled on the Grimaud cards of Antoine Court de Gebelin, the Ancien Tarot de Marseilles. Jung thought it was the only deck that possessed the properties and fulfilled the requirements of metaphor that he gleaned from within the alchemical texts." (p. 549)
This is the first direct reference to Jung's actually learning to read tarot that I've encountered. The statement was made in an interview with Binder, who went on to say that Jung never gave a seminar on tarot, and never wrote anything about it. He learned to read the cards between 1950-1952.
I wonder what he would think about the plethora of decks and imagery available today. My guess is that he would find RWS-style decks with illustrated pips interesting, and that he would be very intrigued by the Thoth deck, but that he would still gravitate toward the TdM.
(Edited to say that I posted this thread in the H&I forum due its historical content and specific reference to the TdM -- but if it would fit better in another forum, my apologies to the moderators and please feel free to move it.)
"Both Hanni [Hanni Binder, a patient of Jung's] and Gret [Gret Baumann-Jung, his daughter] used several different sets of cards when they taught him how to consult the tarot before they settled on the Grimaud cards of Antoine Court de Gebelin, the Ancien Tarot de Marseilles. Jung thought it was the only deck that possessed the properties and fulfilled the requirements of metaphor that he gleaned from within the alchemical texts." (p. 549)
This is the first direct reference to Jung's actually learning to read tarot that I've encountered. The statement was made in an interview with Binder, who went on to say that Jung never gave a seminar on tarot, and never wrote anything about it. He learned to read the cards between 1950-1952.
I wonder what he would think about the plethora of decks and imagery available today. My guess is that he would find RWS-style decks with illustrated pips interesting, and that he would be very intrigued by the Thoth deck, but that he would still gravitate toward the TdM.
(Edited to say that I posted this thread in the H&I forum due its historical content and specific reference to the TdM -- but if it would fit better in another forum, my apologies to the moderators and please feel free to move it.)