Can I make a suggestion? (discussion on impact of deck used:moved from Your Readings)

[The crowned one]

I read all cards because all cards stem from one initial source, so there are no systems in my universe only cards.

Interesting. I acknowledge four decks as readable and 3 reading styles as usable. I have blended the three styles to suite me.

That said when I interpret cards for others I generally use the imagery of RW , unless it is one of the other three I acknowledge , Marseilles, Visconti, thoth) If the deck being used is completely an "art deck" I may just address the numerology and suite, not the art.

I think listing the deck, per the rules should be followed but my interpretation does not necessarily have to follow the way of the alien or Pirates because I really do not consider many of these new decks as tarot cards. Some are wonderful, many are not.

 

[willowfox]

And that one initial source is widely - one could just about say universally - regarded to be the TdM, not the RWS.


Diversity is a big part of this forum, and the forum's reason for being appears to be Tarot, so one would be forgiven for thinking that acceptance of diversity in the structures of different Tarots would be a virtue. Particularly in the Your Readings forum, frequented as it is by so many "newbies" and those seeking to broaden - not further narrow! - their interpretation toolkit.

I am not saying that the RWS is the original, I am only saying that there was a single source from which all meanings stemmed and PCS did a damn fine job of getting those meanings into pictures.
As for the Thoth, Crowley the showman wanted to be extreme with everything that he did in his life, so his rendition was just that, extreme, bizarre and outlandish.

I am not telling anyone to copy my style of anything but I do think that beginners should be warned against getting some of these weird, and exotic decks because they are nearly impossible to read with, especially for a beginner. First you learn how to walk.

 

[Debra]

That is so true, Willowfox. Some of these decks just don't do a thing for me.

A lot of people ask for advice on newbie decks here and usually get pushed gently the direction of the Rider Waite Smith because it is the easiest to work with, the pictures being so clear.

I think if someone imposes the standard RWS meanings on every deck, it makes sense to say, "I haven't looked at your cards, here's what your spread would mean if you were using the Rider-Waite deck." That way the person knows that you are working from your ideas rather than from their deck specifically.

 

[willowfox]

I think if someone imposes the standard RWS meanings on every deck, it makes sense to say, "I haven't looked at your cards, here's what your spread would mean if you were using the Rider-Waite deck." That way the person knows that you are working from your ideas rather than from their deck specifically.

After a while, one can expand quite easily on the basic RWS meanings, as the meanings don't alter, it is just that one can find a new way to see how the card(s) will fit to the question being asked. One develops a more universal way of looking at the cards, and as I said before all meanings stem from one.
And again, I must say that some of these new decks are incomprehensible as the artists are undoubtedly not tarot readers as their "art" is meaningless.
So, I have no ideas, I just assimilate basic ideas that apply to all and every tarot deck and build from there, intuition helps as well. Therefore, I read what "I" see in the cards and do not feel that it is necessary to tell the querent anything of the source of my inspiration.

 

[gregory]

Goodness. I came back to see what had......

All I would like to say here is that a few months ago someone did a reading without mentioning the deck (and I am not going to go into which and who) - and as soon as the deck was named, the reason the reading that had been done made no sense was very clear - the imagery on the actual cards used did NOT fit the book meanings parrotted out - but DID fit what - shall we say - happened next ! And for the record, the deck used is one that MANY here have said was VERY tarot, even something of an RWS clone, and one which brings out new meanings - and there is nothing wrong with that. I do agree that some decks coming out do not achieve this - many manga ones, to name but one group.

I cannot accept that reinterpreted cards/art are meaningless. There are some wonderful new decks out there that make one look at things in a new way. If you feel that way though - do you need a deck, even ? I do know someone who uses pieces of plain paper with the numbers 1 to 78 on them. Of course she reads TdM, so whether you would get the same results as she does, I don't know.....

The fact remains that it is in the readings "rules" that the deck should be named so even if you don't want to look, it still should be done by the initial poster !

ETA willlowfox, I do seem to recall one thread where you said something that NO-ONE else posting could see in a deck, and when asked, you said it had just come to you, and it wasn't from the cards at all.....

 

[Debra]

ETA willlowfox, I do seem to recall one thread where you said something that NO-ONE else posting could see in a deck, and when asked, you said it had just come to you, and it wasn't from the cards at all.....

Ah, I wonder if this is the same recent reading in "Your Readings" when Willowfox explained her unusual interpretation by saying that she'd pulled two extra cards.

Sometimes I wonder if we should have a special forum here devoted to Competition for Head Delphic Oracle.

 

[gregory]

Ah, I wonder if this is the same recent reading in "Your Readings" when Willowfox explained her unusual interpretation by saying that she'd pulled two extra cards.

No it wasn't; it was a while ago. But if one does pull extra cards, one should say so, to avoid confusion - and name the deck there too, IMHO. Pulling more for an already done reading has never occurred to me.

 

[chickeypie]

Card meanings being personal

I use my Renaissance Tarot by Jane Lyle and Helen Jones and it is quite different from the Raider Smith. I believe the cards text book readings are just a guide and that the meanings that you find yourself after building a realtionship with the cards are more important to each indivdual reader. Of course this is a very personal realtionship and will differ if you are a very visual person who likes to find your own meaning in pictures or someone who likes to read and study, or someone who associates the feeling of the card with their own life experiences.

It has taken me a long time to build realtionships with cards. Sometimes I see something I have never noticed before grabbing my attension in the card and that is the key to intreptation.

I have noticed that for me and others in these forums that the court cards meanings can be influenced by the card that you see as representing your self. For example the Page/Queen of Cups has represented me so I see this card as myself or usually as a postive represntation of femininity and emotions and creativity but as the Page/Queen of Pentangles has often represented a woman that is giving problems I tend to read her as unfriendly except if she is representing traits of who I am reading for or if I am drawn to see something in the card jumping out at me, ie a symbol in the background. I often see the expressions change in the same cards from one reading to another. and the same for other cards.

I have noticed that others take different views of the courts. Someone posted a spread where they seen the Queen of Cups as a unfriendly woman and rival a "witch" and Queen of Pentangles as friendly.

I used to see the Tower as disaster and the most negative card in the deck but now I have seen another side to it with applies to my deck and not the WS. I seen a post from a girl about seeing the Sun which she saw as the most positive and then her boyfriend breaking up with her. She now see's a different side to the card.

I do not think anyone can say there is a right or wrong way to read the tarot. Only that there is a right way for you.

I like that this forum allows others to share their views but at the end of the day only the reader knows which ideas to take and which do not work for them.

 

[gregory]

Card meanings may be personal - but that applies to every reader. So - if someone wants MY take on the cards THEY pulled (which is in effect what a reader is asking for when they post a thread saying what do you think) I need to see the cards THEY pulled to give my view. What you see in the cards may easily bear no relation to what I see in those same cards, if you see what I mean.

I don't think this thread is quite the place to go into detailed differences in our views of individual cards or the courts.... it's more about the need for people to stick to the rules when posting requests for the opinions of others.

 

[willowfox]

ETA willlowfox, I do seem to recall one thread where you said something that NO-ONE else posting could see in a deck, and when asked, you said it had just come to you, and it wasn't from the cards at all.....

I can't remember, must have been a while ago but I did include the word intuition in my post, so it not always the cards that give the full answer. Yes, it is also true that I do pull extra cards for the querent sometimes, can be extremely enlightening, to clarify something that I thought was vague in their reading but I usually say when I do that.

And when, I do a reading here, I never look at the cards, I just rely on my brain to dredge up an answer, sometimes I see the answer immediately, and sometimes I have to think about it for a while. Certain questions like past life readings, deck interview readings or "what will my future husband be" I don't bother with anymore as they are just to up in the air.

Lastly, sometimes the new way is not the right way, and seriously, some of the art is absolutely horrible on some of the new tarot cards that have come out over the past 10 years or so. Some look like they have been done by school children, the art is devoid of any meaning and as you well know, a lot of these new age artists know nothing about the tarot's meanings.