New Orleans Voodoo Tarot

[Grizabella]

I just got the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot from the sale Jeannette was having at Tarot Garden. There's no book with it and I can't afford the book right now, but I had an interesting thought---

Since I've seen a lot of people say they have a lot of trouble reading with the deck when they have the book, is it possible to just read totally intuitively without the book and just by looking at the pictures on the cards? Would that make it easier than trying to learn by the book? This might be a stupid question and I'm going to try anyway, but I thought it would be interesting to have feedback on it.

I have to say a good word about Tarot Garden and Jeanette----the deck came so nicely packaged and she even put it in the prettiest little flowered box since the original box was gone. I can certainly see why there are always rave reviews about Tarot Garden.

 

[prudence]

Hi Lyric,

I agree about TG and their great service. (I just got 2 from that same sale, and am totally pleased)

About the Voodoo deck, yes, I think you can do it that way. It might help just to look up on-line the characters portrayed in the deck, you may find their names spelled differently throughout the internet. Although I did enjoy reading the book that accompanied my deck, I do not often refer to it while using the deck.

Good luck, it is an interesting deck to use.

 

[Grizabella]

Thank you for your reply. I've been reading through the posts on the study threads and found them to be really enlightening and interesting. I just wish there were more. I'm going to get the book as soon as I can.

I've been trying to do internet searches tonight but haven't gotten very far. My big computer is on the fritz so I'm working with my slow old laptop and I think I'm going to call it a night pretty soon.

I do think that knowing about the loas and other things about Voodoo is going to enrich the use of the deck for me.

 

[Little Baron]

Hi Lyric

I really like this deck, but never got into the study as strongly as I would have liked. And the book didn't really help much, to be honest.

It is a big edition, but sparce when it comes to telling you what the card actually could mean in a reading, which can be very frustrating.

If I were you, like you say, I would find my own way of interpreting it. There is info on most of the characters on the web and I think you will find it far more satisfying to seek them out and work out the card meanings themselves. I enjoyed finding out about Yemaya, for example http://www.thaliatook.com/yemaya.html (There are some other goddesses of relevance in that link as well). You will find that there are relationships between many of them and it all becomes quite interesting. The book, in my opinion, hinders study somewhat, even though there was some interesting corelations with the Kabbalah.

But I look forward to you starting up new threads and adding to them. I have been inspired by this deck for a long time, long before I got it, so I will definitely pop in. If you have any real trouble with a character and need a little help, don't hesitate to drop me a message and I will go find the book and let you know what it says.

Take care and enjoy. I really think that that deck is totally underated. But I think it aids intuition and finding your 'own' way, rather than trying to tie it down to any kind of tarot tradition - it just doesn't want to and won't let you make a RWS clone out of it, if you catch my drift. When I met Helvetica, I did a reading for her. We read it together, looking at the faces, the lightness and darkness, the symbols, the colours. There is so much in those brush strokes.

LB

 

[princessofpelaw]

Hi L.B i try not to go by the book, otherwise i would depend on it too much and not trust my own intuition, i would keep looking back to the book

 

[Little Baron]

That is a good idea PoP. The only problem with the New Orleans is that some pictures can look very alike and similar in mood. It is not the easiest to read, intuitively, but not impossible, I am sure.

I think with a bit of elbow-grease, it would make a good reading deck for some. But then, isn't that the same for all decks - what you put in, you get out. I am sure that the Voodoo is no harder to get your head around than the Marseille minors. There is no book to accompany them either but we just accept it and get on with them.

LB

 

[BrightEye]

i agree with LB. google the names, find out about voodoo, and most of all - forget about parallels with traditional tarot. i don't think the deck works well as tarot. i use it more like an oracle deck.

 

[Grizabella]

I really got a lot out of the discussion threads in the NOVT study group. It gave me a lot of understanding about the cards that were covered in those threads. I think an understanding of the culture and history and of the loas and other characters would most likely bring the best understanding of the deck. Like with so many decks, a small accompanying book is way too limiting to cover all the information necessary for a very complete understanding.

I was trying to do searches online last night but didn't find much. I was up too late and too tired to pursue it so I plan to search some more today. I'd love to join the study threads if I can find something relevant.

Oddly enough, I was afraid of this deck for a long time even though I really wanted it. Isn't that silly? But there's nothing to fear. In fact, it's actually as beautiful and charming as New Orleans itself. My ancestral roots are there, but my family isn't proud of it, so I'll never know to what extent. All I know is that somewhere in my genes, there are parts of me that see it as having been home sometime or other. Or maybe it was in a past life? At any rate, I'm excited about finally having the deck. I may never need the book, but I'll probably eventually get a copy just because I've got the books to my other decks that have accompanying books. Most of the books I just scan and put on the shelf, but my kids and grandkids might appreciate them someday.

I think learning more about the loas and characters on the cards is probably all I'll need to make this one of my favorite reading decks. I think when we try to cram a deck into RWS clone status or Thoth like or whatever, we stymie ourselves from learning the deck. We should probably approach it from a totally fresh angle all its own.

 

[Arania]

I had the same issue when I got this deck together with some others. Find out more about Voodoo, I agree, and then remember the cards are really somewhat an oracle decks and don't really follow traditional meanings.

 

[Little Baron]

Oddly enough, I was afraid of this deck for a long time even though I really wanted it. Isn't that silly?

Not at all. I was exactly the same! There is a thread about it somewhere. One member locked it in a box fifteen years ago and hasn't opened it since!

But what I like is that actually holding and viewing the deck dispells a lot of those feelings. It really is quite charming.

And I love some of those characters.

I know little about how to use this deck, but I would say it is one of the decks that I get the most 'feeling' from out of my collection.

LB