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Tarot Cards

Covellite

Active Member
I can tell you only about "Thoth" tarot deck, because I never worked with any other.
Cards were painted by Lady Frieda Harris according to Alister Crowley's instructions. Crowley wrote a book for use with the deck. There's project lasted about 5 years and some cards were painted even 8 times since they were done correctly. Even they finished there's project in 1943, the first (and very small ) edition was in 1969. In late 70's "Thoth" was introduced to publicity in a bigger way.
Cards are full of symbolism and they are fully related to "Tree of Life" and astrology. Without good knowledge and understanding of kabbalah, tree of life, symbolism and astrology it is not possible to use them properly, whatever the reason you have.
The authors bad reputation is one of the reasons that other decks, like Rider-Waite (originally published 1910) are far more spread among tarot readers. The other reason could be the complexity of "Thoth".
I am sure there are plenty of tarot decks with no astrological orientation.
 

ThirtyThree

Well-Known Member
I have eight decks and one oracle. When I use them, I look on the imagery of the card, alter my state of consciousness, write or speak what comes into my subconscious, interpret it immediately and with the first impressions only. I read all cards pulled like this, then complete the reading by putting all the interpretations together and applying it to myself out the person I am reading. Generally though, I read using my subconscious and without cards.
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
Are tarot cards specifically astrology oriented or are there other types of tarots that depend on different methods of interpreting results?

While tarot is an entirely different system of divination than astrology, many contemporary tarot decks are influenced by and make use of astrological symbolism. It's one of the reasons I forced myself to study astrology a while back. As @Covellite mentioned, the Qabalah is also used as a symbolic basis for many decks. Beyond being illustrated on the cards, these systems have also influenced interpretation schemes for the cards. But they don't have to. There are thousands of decks out there, and by no means does one have to hinge it upon any sort of astrology. Even though the main deck I use includes astrological signs on major arcana, I ignore it when reading.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
While tarot is an entirely different system of divination than astrology, many contemporary tarot decks are influenced by and make use of astrological symbolism. It's one of the reasons I forced myself to study astrology a while back. As @Covellite mentioned, the Qabalah is also used as a symbolic basis for many decks. Beyond being illustrated on the cards, these systems have also influenced interpretation schemes for the cards. But they don't have to. There are thousands of decks out there, and by no means does one have to hinge it upon any sort of astrology. Even though the main deck I use includes astrological signs on major arcana, I ignore it when reading.

Wow. How do you interpret the cards you use? They are very extravegant.

I bought oracles that mimic assumped traditions of American Indians. It also have the different full moons names that each different cultures named per month according to the seasonal changes. http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/shaman-wisdom/

Unlike traditional tarot cards, there isnt a way to "look into" what the words mean. There are no pictures. It goes by zodiac signs, gender, and element. I had to look up with the moons and zodiac symbols meant; but, I thought tarots where more intuitive rather than research.

Do you use intuition mostly or if there are specific meanings per card, do you go by their definitions?
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
I have eight decks and one oracle. When I use them, I look on the imagery of the card, alter my state of consciousness, write or speak what comes into my subconscious, interpret it immediately and with the first impressions only. I read all cards pulled like this, then complete the reading by putting all the interpretations together and applying it to myself out the person I am reading. Generally though, I read using my subconscious and without cards.

Nice. Do you have challenges when doing interpretations for yourself since we dont have objective viewpoints on some situations we may use tarots for?
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
You can approach cartomancy (whether tarot or oracles) either intuitively or more analytically. I've done both, and it depends on the deck I'm using. The Dragon deck I always do analytic readings with, because the design of the deck doesn't lend itself to intuitive readings. I don't have card meanings memorized, so I do pop out a book to assist with interpretation. The other tarot deck I have does lend itself to intuitive readings, and it is designed very differently from a standard deck so stock interpretations wouldn't work for it anyway. That deck I only do intuitive readings with. For the oracle decks (I have this one, this one, plus this one and this one combined into a single deck rather than kept separate) , I can read those with either method, since they're set up in a way that allows for both.
 

GoodbyeDave

Well-Known Member
People were using tarot for divination long before anyone thought of associating them with astrological symbolism. This is done using the Cabbala as a link, which makes it rather fishy: the tarot predates Christian cabbalism and Jewish cabbalists wouldn't use images.

There's also a lot of variation. If you take the Emperor, we have
Etteilla: Virgo
Lévi and the French tradition: Jupiter
Maitre Edmond: Mars
Mathers and the English tradition: Aries
lglesias Janeiro and his followers: Aquarius & Uranus

Take your pick!
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
People were using tarot for divination long before anyone thought of associating them with astrological symbolism. This is done using the Cabbala as a link, which makes it rather fishy: the tarot predates Christian cabbalism and Jewish cabbalists wouldn't use images.

There's also a lot of variation. If you take the Emperor, we have
Etteilla: Virgo
Lévi and the French tradition: Jupiter
Maitre Edmond: Mars
Mathers and the English tradition: Aries
lglesias Janeiro and his followers: Aquarius & Uranus

Take your pick!

Youre talkin Chinese. I wouldnt know where and how to start.
 

Unveiled Artist

Veteran Member
You can approach cartomancy (whether tarot or oracles) either intuitively or more analytically. I've done both, and it depends on the deck I'm using. The Dragon deck I always do analytic readings with, because the design of the deck doesn't lend itself to intuitive readings. I don't have card meanings memorized, so I do pop out a book to assist with interpretation. The other tarot deck I have does lend itself to intuitive readings, and it is designed very differently from a standard deck so stock interpretations wouldn't work for it anyway. That deck I only do intuitive readings with. For the oracle decks (I have this one, this one, plus this one and this one combined into a single deck rather than kept separate) , I can read those with either method, since they're set up in a way that allows for both.


Nice. The Mythic, Plant, and Druid Oracles look good. The Mythical Id assume you can look up the roles of each mytholical person and kind of interpret your question by their roles and how they may answer. I have another one I forgot I had (which I forget often), the Lenomand Oracle. http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/lenormand-oracle/

How do you customize your link title, by the way?
 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
The Mythic Oracle I originally picked up because I was developing an interest in the Hellenic gods. The interest is still there, but it's not something I am actively working on. For a time, I was going through each card and reaching out to the respective deity to begin developing a relationship with them. In other words, I was using the deck for religious purposes and for worship rather than for divination. I still have not used that deck for divination.

Customizing links isn't hard if you use the link function. In the bar with the formatting options (where you see the B I U thing), there is an icon after the "A" (for selecting fonts) that looks like a few chain links. You just highlight the text you want to link to, click that button, paste in the link, and done.
 

Erebus

Well-Known Member
I have three tarot sets. Rider-Waite, Druid tarot and gothic tarot. All three came with books providing explanations on what the cards are and how to interpret them. All three have slightly different focuses.

In general, I'll use the Druid tarot if I need to look for a positive perspective on a problem. The artwork is generally calm and soothing and the explanations provided encourage a positive outlook. The Rider-Waite tarot I see as more neutral and I use it if I need to analyse a problem with a level head. The gothic tarot is the one I don't really use. I picked it up because the artwork appealed to me. I'll see if I can find a couple of pictures.

Here we go, the pictures are on the website:
http://monolithgraphics.com/tarot.html
 
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