Symbolism in Tarot

[kuranes]

I once had the opportunity to trade for the original art for the "King in Yellow" card in the HPL deck, but I decided to keep my original Mahlon Blaine, after some "soul searching", heh.

I have a Tarot deck based on the Tenniel illos from Alice in Wonderland. The Mad Hatter is the Fool. In my Joker collection I have some old Tarot and Tarock Fools also, some pre-dating the Joker ( 1860's USA ) by quite a few years. 52 Plus Joker - Cards of the Month: December 1997

 

[PuddleRiver]

Card of the Day:Four of Wands-Aspiration

The hand, symbolic of upward moving firelight, represents your aspiration to fulfill your noblest ideals and highest potentials. Like the spire, aspire to the heights. Like the hands, spire and monument bursting out of the earth, your Spirit cannot be contained...

 

[NoahFence]

If we draw two Death cards, would they cancel each other out, or would we change twice as fast?

Two Death trumps? I think you got the Pinochle Tarot...

I never really believed in Tarot, but I must say I got a dead-on prediction from it once. It was the shiniest, happiest, OMG reading ever, predicting I would meet the love of my life and live happily ever after, repeating itself several times (two of cups and the lovers filling similar spots, etc). Three months later I met Ivy. Go figure.

 

[Ivy]

Two Death trumps? I think you got the Pinochle Tarot...

I never really believed in Tarot, but I must say I got a dead-on prediction from it once. It was the shiniest, happiest, OMG reading ever, predicting I would meet the love of my life and live happily ever after, repeating itself several times (two of cups and the lovers filling similar spots, etc). Three months later I met Ivy. Go figure.

I still think she stacked the deck because she wanted you for herself.

 

[DuneE]

Right now I only have the Lord of the Rings deck, not the best in terms of symbolism (although its pretty awesome to see Gandalf's duel with the Balrog as the Death card), so I've been wanting to get my hands on the Haindl deck. The Hermetic one looks fun too...

 

[rivercrow]

I never really believed in Tarot, but I must say I got a dead-on prediction from it once. ...

I typically don't use Tarot for divination. It's a symbol language for accessing the subconscious and for reframing questions/attitudes.

If it changes your mind so that you are receptive to something, then...is that prediction?

 

[Kyrielle]

I've always wanted to illustrate a full tarot deck. I don't know why, but just the names of the cards feel powerful for some reason. At any rate, it'd be a long haul doing 78 cards and picking a theme, and not getting tired of it or forgetting about it.

 

[rivercrow]

I've always wanted to illustrate a full tarot deck. I don't know why, but just the names of the cards feel powerful for some reason. At any rate, it'd be a long haul doing 78 cards and picking a theme, and not getting tired of it or forgetting about it.

Start with the Major Arcana, then. 22 cards.

 

[DuneE]

I typically don't use Tarot for divination. It's a symbol language for accessing the subconscious and for reframing questions/attitudes.

If it changes your mind so that you are receptive to something, then...is that prediction?

Agreed. I don't think there are any divinatory or prediction powers in the cards themselves. Its sort of like dream interpretation, brings stuff up or changes perspectives in your mind.

If there's any divination inherent, it might be more like prescience and seeing more paths than one become possible... (but then, does prescience cause some things to come true after all?)

 

[Totenkindly]

Agreed. I don't think there are any divinatory or prediction powers in the cards themselves. Its sort of like dream interpretation, brings stuff up or changes perspectives in your mind.

That's generally how I view horoscopes as well -- almost like mantras or "Thoughts for the Day," providing a lens through which to view the world that day and work on the areas described. Predictive quality is out the window.

 

[raincrow007]

Oh Great

No pressure! Gah!

Go figure the baby grand is getting delivered today, too.

*mumbles something incoherent about rivercrow and the universe*

 

[raincrow007]

Which Major Arcana Are You Quiz

Just for fun, of course.

I got the Magician:

I - Magician

The Magician, represents those aspects of the personality traditionally considered "masculine". He is in control. He knows how things work. He takes action and makes things happen. One that operates through the power of Will rather than brute force. The Magician represents the application of knowledge. The Magician creates his desired reality. When this card appears in a Tarot spread it indicates the attainment of goals through the application of knowledge and Will. If badly aspected in a spread, this card can represent abuse of power. It can indicate manipulation of others, trickery and deception.

Hmm... vurry interestink. Here's another site's take on the Magician:

Meaning of the Magician Tarot Card

Most importantly, the Magician card stands for the "reveal" - as in a magic trick. The handkerchief is draped over an empty box, the Magician waves his wand, *presto!*--now there is a dove in the box. The Magician card does the same for the Querent--only what it reveals is not birds or rabbits but NEW ideas. Emphasis on NEW. When the Magician card appears, the Querent is likely to say: "Now there's an idea! Why didn't I think of that before?" Truth is, the Querent had that idea in his head all along. The Magician merely revealed it to him. But what will the Querent do with this idea?

*jogs off to studio, vaguely inspired*

 

[rivercrow]

Which Major Arcana Are You Quiz

Just for fun, of course.

I got the Magician:

I got the Empress, which you probably know by now.

The Empress is a maternal symbol. She is the mother figure who loves, nurtures and protects.

She will protect you, she will always be there when you are in trouble. When you fall over and graze your knee, the Empress will kiss it better.

Yet she is not a weak figure. Her compassion is strength. If her children are threatened she will stop at nothing to protect them. If well aspected in a Tarot spread, the Empress can symbolise security, protection and unconditional love. If badly aspected it can represent over-protectiveness, fear of risk taking and refusal to face the real world.

The Empress is a creator, be it creation of life, of romance, of art or business. While the Magician is the primal spark, the idea made real, and the High Priestess is the one who gives the idea a form, the Empress is the womb where it gestates and grows till it is ready to be born. This is why her symbol is Venus, goddess of beautiful things as well as love. Even so, the Empress is more Demeter, goddess of abundance, then sensual Venus. She is the giver of Earthly gifts, yet at the same time, she can, in anger withhold, as Demeter did when her daughter, Persephone, was kidnapped. In fury and grief, she kept the Earth barren till her child was returned to her.

Hm. I think I'd use the Empress for Kuranes in a reading....

 

[rivercrow]

Out of curiosity, I did a 3 card spread on my career and my plans I have going forward. All major arcana, and oddly appropriate.

Past=Balance, also known as the Chariot
Present=Moon
Future=Lovers

This seems very appropriate. As I learned in a study on the archetype of The Path, I've just moved from a time of balance and security kept in tight reign by will. In the Voyager deck, which I prefer for 3-card readings, Balance features an unsheathed sword balanced on a brilliant crystal. This feels right -- the forces of my life were guided and held in check by the sharpness of my internal logic.

I've moved past that point, and am beginning to listen to my lesser preferred processes, which by nature are subconscious and lead by the gut and heart. At the moment, I am very much choosing to listen to intuition, against the rattle and threat of reason. In the Voyager deck, I have birds (messengers), the scarab, and a calling coyote.

Lovers is also a card of equilibrium between opposites, but not held in balance by force. It's the realization of what Hillman calls "the acorn," that thing each of us is meant to fulfill. Embracing opposites and maintaining self-integrity

 

[raincrow007]

Out of curiosity, I did a 3 card spread on my career and my plans I have going forward. All major arcana, and oddly appropriate.

I found it interesting that my next highest rated cards from the quiz [both tied at 75% or something like that] were The Devil and The High Priestess.

More Bacchanalia for everyone, I say!



As a side note, I tend to pull The Chariot and The Moon often. Oh and swords. Go figure. :rolli:

 

[rivercrow]

Swords make sense for you. Fits well with my impression of you as Warrior.

 

[raincrow007]

Swords make sense for you. Fits well with my impression of you as Warrior.

Funnily enough I was just off in another window digging around for info on archetypes -- Warrior in particular, since you'd mentioned it.

You wouldn't happen to have a spiffy link that's germane, would you?

I'm used to the idea of swords as representing intellect and All Things Mental, but I wonder sometimes how swords and brains were ever connected in the first place, y'know?

 

[rivercrow]

I'm used to the idea of swords as representing intellect and All Things Mental, but I wonder sometimes how swords and brains were ever connected in the first place, y'know?

Well, you see, an overhead swing with a broad sword.....

Also, sharpness of intellect, the piercing mind that cuts through things.... Whatcha think?

 

[rivercrow]

Funnily enough I was just off in another window digging around for info on archetypes -- Warrior in particular, since you'd mentioned it.

You wouldn't happen to have a spiffy link that's germane, would you?

I do.

Pearson's page. Scroll down a little for short descriptions of her archetype system.

This also works well.

Just an element of you. And me, too, fwiw.

 

[raincrow007]

Well, you see, an overhead swing with a broad sword.....

Also, sharpness of intellect, the piercing mind that cuts through things.... Whatcha think?

Oh sure, that's an obvious sort of connection -- I'm wondering more about the context in which that first manifested itself. I think the ubiquity of knives/daggers/swords in the past gave the association a little more oomph than our modern day abstractions -- I just can't quite determine the flavor of the ancient oomph, though.

*chuckles inwardly at all this mental hamster-wheeling and layering of meanings*