Beginner confused with minor cards meanings

[TyroneLove]

Hello everyone,
I've started studying the tarot a couple weeks ago, using the Thoth deck and a few books : Tarot Masterclass by Paul Fenton Smith, Learning the Tarot by Joan Bunning, Complete Book of Tarot Reversals by Mary Greer and Understanding Aleister Crowley's Thoth Tarot by Lon Milo Duquette.
I've completed my preliminary study of the Major Arcana, using said sources to extract what I felt were the more important keywords and meanings for each cards and arranged them in a neat excel chart with +/- rows of keywords for each cards. The process was fun and exciting and overall pretty straightforward.
Now that I've started studying the Minor Arcana though, it's a completey different matter, as depending on the source material (and the deck studied) the meanings given can be completely different so I'm really confused as to how to proceed regarding them.

Here's just an example for the 3 of Wands (Virtue). Crowley describes the card as being about "Pride, arrogance, self-assertion, established force, strength, realization of hope. Completion of labour. Sucess after struggle. Pride, nobility, wealth, power, conceit. Rude self-assumption and insolence. Generosity, obstinacy etc."

P.F. Smith tells us the card is about travel, progress with plans and the arrival of goods. Bunning talks about foresight, exploration and leadership. And Greer describes the card as being about trade, negotiation, boldness, dynamism, initiative and travel.
Aeclectic's page for the 3 of Wands tells us about passion and pride, hinting at the possibility of travel as well.

The only common idea here seems to be travel but it appears it's mostly based on the interpretation of Waite's card illustration. No such concept is associated with Crowley's card.

Anyway, I have the same difficulty grasping the identy of the of 2 of Wands as well and am only just starting. I'm sure these are usual difficulties in the early study of the Tarot and maybe some of you can help me alleviate some of that confusion and help me get a better vision and direction in my approach of these cards.

 

[Grizabella]

Welcome to AT! I look forward to knowing you better as you spend time here.

There are Thoth, Rider Waite, and Marseilles style decks, all of them with differences. You may have books that are about the Rider Waite meanings when your deck is Thoth. Maybe that's your difficulty. I don't use the Thoth deck myself, but I don't think there are quite as many books about that one as their are for Rider Waite. The book on Tarot reversals by Mary Greer uses the Rider Waite, I think. The Duquette book is definitely for the Thoth, though. The rest that you mention are Rider Waite.

Thoth meanings differ and I think the books for it are pretty deep. I had one or two, but I couldn't really get into them. Then I bought one that I almost got tarred and feathered for by the Thoth-lovers here, (just kidding) so I don't recommend you get that one. It's called the Tarot Handbook by Angeles Arrien. I like it myself, but I don't use Thoth except for my timing deck.

James Wanless wrote one called New Age Tarot: Guide to the Thoth deck and it's a beginner's book, it seems to me. I have it but haven't had time to do any real Thoth studying. You might see if you can find it on Amazon. It might be out of print. I think I got mine from one of the used sellers on Amazon a couple of years ago.

 

[Nemia]

Reading books is good, and I agree with Grizabella: if you work with the Thoth, RWS books will only confuse you. I recommend DuQuette, Snuffin or Banzhaf to begin with.

But more important than reading books and filling up on background knowledge is getting to know a feeling for the cards themselves. The Thoth minors are abstract so you have to develop a sense of shape and colour. Lay them out in groups: each suit seperately. All Disks are associated with Earth - which aspects of Earth can you recognize? Earth can be blooming or barren, so where do you see your associations in the cards?

Then group the cards according to number. What do the Aces have in common, the Sevens, the Knights? (Court cards are a bit special anyway but they show persons which give you hints about their character, and if there are animals, they serve as attributes that characterize them).

How do the colours of the cards change as they go from Ace to 10, which shapes trigger your associations?

Do you know colour theory? Which cards have cold or warm colouring, which are light or dark? Sort them in rainbow shape according to colour. Take one colour, let's say purple or orange - which atmosphere has each orange card? Which feelings and associations can orange convey?

Can you find similiarites between majors and minors? Try to find "little friends" for the majors. Which cards appear similar to the Empress, the Tower, the Lovers? In which way?

Take a look at symbols and animals. Where do they appear, how do they appear?

To go beyond simple colour and shape associations, you should understand the basics of astrology (I found Astrology for Dummies that I gave to a friend a good first general overview) and recognize the glyphs on the cards.

Take out all the Sun cards, or Jupiter cards, or Venus cards. Again: what do they have in common, where do they differ?

You can also draw a zodiac circle and lay out the cards according to signs: Aries cards, Taurus cards, Gemini cards...

There is an inner logic to all these things that DuQuette and the others explain, but it helps to see it in the cards for yourself.

Don't let the card names limit your ability to react to them (I always think it's a pity they put them on the cards since our brains are so hard wired to respect words above all).

The more you make the cards your own, the easier it will be for you to "anchor" the card meanings from the books in your mind, and you will work more freely with them when combining their meanings in a reading.

I always find that studying the deck on your own is not only fun but leads to nice discoveries.

 

[Calayvie]

Reading books is good, and I agree with Grizabella: if you work with the Thoth, RWS books will only confuse you. I recommend DuQuette, Snuffin or Banzhaf to begin with.

But more important than reading books and filling up on background knowledge is getting to know a feeling for the cards themselves. The Thoth minors are abstract so you have to develop a sense of shape and colour. Lay them out in groups: each suit seperately. All Disks are associated with Earth - which aspects of Earth can you recognize? Earth can be blooming or barren, so where do you see your associations in the cards?

Then group the cards according to number. What do the Aces have in common, the Sevens, the Knights? (Court cards are a bit special anyway but they show persons which give you hints about their character, and if there are animals, they serve as attributes that characterize them).

How do the colours of the cards change as they go from Ace to 10, which shapes trigger your associations?

Do you know colour theory? Which cards have cold or warm colouring, which are light or dark? Sort them in rainbow shape according to colour. Take one colour, let's say purple or orange - which atmosphere has each orange card? Which feelings and associations can orange convey?

Can you find similiarites between majors and minors? Try to find "little friends" for the majors. Which cards appear similar to the Empress, the Tower, the Lovers? In which way?

Take a look at symbols and animals. Where do they appear, how do they appear?

To go beyond simple colour and shape associations, you should understand the basics of astrology (I found Astrology for Dummies that I gave to a friend a good first general overview) and recognize the glyphs on the cards.

Take out all the Sun cards, or Jupiter cards, or Venus cards. Again: what do they have in common, where do they differ?

You can also draw a zodiac circle and lay out the cards according to signs: Aries cards, Taurus cards, Gemini cards...

There is an inner logic to all these things that DuQuette and the others explain, but it helps to see it in the cards for yourself.

Don't let the card names limit your ability to react to them (I always think it's a pity they put them on the cards since our brains are so hard wired to respect words above all).

The more you make the cards your own, the easier it will be for you to "anchor" the card meanings from the books in your mind, and you will work more freely with them when combining their meanings in a reading.

I always find that studying the deck on your own is not only fun but leads to nice discoveries.

This is brilliant! I will save this post to use these activities for the deck when I get it (its on my wishlist).

 

[TyroneLove]

Thanks for the replies Grizabella and Nemia. Thank you for the elaborate answer Nemia but I'm already well aware of all those different ways to read a card.
I too feel it's important to develop my own relationship with the cards using all the devices and approaches you mention but I also feel that each card carries in itself a background, a core personality built in the collective unconscious through consensual usage over time as a tool for divination.

In the way I approach my study of the tarot as a beginner I feel the need to gather that knowledge in a simple way as an introduction to the cards.
I got the symbolic/esoteric/occult part pretty much covered thanks to Duquette and Crowley himself but as for the divinatory meanings and in order to build my little introductory keywords database your advice would be to refer to Crowley's own meanings for now ?

Also, from what I've read the Snuffin and Banzhaf books don't add much to the Duquette one.

 

[Thirteen]

One way of getting the minors

Now that I've started studying the Minor Arcana though, it's a completey different matter, as depending on the source material (and the deck studied) the meanings given can be completely different so I'm really confused as to how to proceed regarding them.

I'm going to hope I didn't misunderstand your question here. Also that this isn't too simplistic....

The simplest way to view these discrepancies between meanings is to accept that the card can mean all of those things. So the 3/Wands means: Pride, arrogance, self-assertion, insolence...but also generosity, travel, progress, foresight, exploration, trade, boldness AND travel. Actually, if you look at all of those, they do have a running theme. None of them are about humility, modesty, shyness or standing still. So, maybe they have more in common than you think.

The point is, cards are a little like words. Some words have a real range of definition. Which meaning is right? Well, that usually depends on the sentence and context. So whether the 3/Wands is going to mean "pride" or "trade" or "exploration" depends on who you are reading for (a business man? an artist?), the subject of the reading (Romance? Money? Travel?) and the position of the card in the spread (Past? Future? Hopes & Fears?). That doesn't mean you need to memorize all these meanings. Like the Majors and keywords, it's best to start with a simple trick to get you started. And then once you've got them down, you add in more. One useful trick is to connect keywords from the Majors (Magician to Wheel of Fortune), and suit meaning to create a kind of sentence.

So. The Magician is all about ideas (keyword up to you, but I like Magician = ideas). He's #1, the Aces. Wands are fire, which is all about energy or being passionate; taking action. So. Ace + Wands = New ideas that give you energy, that set you into motion. 2's are the HPS—the HPS is contemplation; which idea is best? 2/Wands, therefore, is focusing that energy. If we go to the 3/Wands, then we have the Empress. Empress, for me, is nurturing. Growing and developing. So, 3 + Wands would be putting your energy into nurturing, growing or developing this thing. Which fits a lot of these terms, right? Boldness, exploration, progress, even self-assertion and pride, as you have to have some of that if you're going to say, "let's make this happen!" Example: Ace/Wands: "Idea = I want to climb mountains!" 2/Wands "Which mountains? Let's go big—Everest!" 3/Wands: "Travel to Nepal." By the end, you'll probably feel all 10/Wands and like getting to the top is a real burden. But at this stage, 3/Wands, you're self-assured and investing your energy in getting this thing underway

Is that anything close to what you were after?

 

[Tanga]

I'm going to hope I didn't misunderstand your question here. Also that this isn't too simplistic....

The simplest way to view these discrepancies between meanings is to accept that the card can mean all of those things. So the 3/Wands means: Pride, arrogance, self-assertion, insolence...but also generosity, travel, progress, foresight, exploration, trade, boldness AND travel. Actually, if you look at all of those, they do have a running theme. None of them are about humility, modesty, shyness or standing still. So, maybe they have more in common than you think.

This.


If there's too much information. Narrow it down to which ones make the most sense to you - and stick with working with those meanings. As you get more practiced, you will just find that you "see" more of the
available meanings depending on the reading situation.

 

[TyroneLove]

Thanks for the replies Thirteen and Tanga, that helps. I've decided I'll try not to overthink and mostly go with Bunning's meanings for now as they're the ones I've felt the most connected with so far. I'll see where it leads me.

 

[Tiggy-cat]

Just my 2 cents, but I'd see the Thoth deck as pretty tricky for a brand new reader, just starting out. I've always found it confusing, with the different hierarchy and titles of the courts than any other deck I've seen, and some of the card names ("Virtue??) have never made much sense to me in relation to any other meanings I've come to associate with each card.

Not meaning to make it all more complicated for you, but Thoth has always struck me as kind of it's own animal in terms of Tarot decks and meanings.

 

[Nemia]

Thanks for the replies Grizabella and Nemia. Thank you for the elaborate answer Nemia but I'm already well aware of all those different ways to read a card.

Within a few WEEKS? A wunderkind.