Cards of The Tarot Discussions - Traveling within the World2024-03-29T10:13:57Zhttp://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/group/cardsofthetarot/forum?feed=yes&xn_auth=noA Tarot Spell to Increase Psychic Visions by Shayne Magistastag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2014-02-12:2185477:Topic:1986052014-02-12T23:38:20.670ZDept of PMM Artists & thingshttp://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/Artistsandthings
<div class="imageStage" id="imagestage"><img alt="" class="fbPhotoImage img" id="fbPhotoImage" src="https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1/1499565_373809959426532_1485100414_n.jpg"></img></div>
<p>You need 3 tarot cards. The Star, The High Priestess, and The Hermit.<br></br>Crystals (corresponding)will enhances this.</p>
<p>"I call upon the Source of All things to send me power.<br></br>I call upon the God to send strength to my spell.<br></br>I call upon the Goddess to give life to my spell.<br></br>I call upon the elemental forces to draw the desire of my spell.<br></br>I call upon the astral forces to receive the image of my spell.<br></br>So mote…</p>
<div id="imagestage" class="imageStage"><img class="fbPhotoImage img" id="fbPhotoImage" src="https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/t1/1499565_373809959426532_1485100414_n.jpg" alt=""/></div>
<p>You need 3 tarot cards. The Star, The High Priestess, and The Hermit.<br/>Crystals (corresponding)will enhances this.</p>
<p>"I call upon the Source of All things to send me power.<br/>I call upon the God to send strength to my spell.<br/>I call upon the Goddess to give life to my spell.<br/>I call upon the elemental forces to draw the desire of my spell.<br/>I call upon the astral forces to receive the image of my spell.<br/>So mote it be!"</p>
<p>(Holding the tarot cards in your hands)<br/>"I bring forth these symbols for my spell to be cast. Here shall be woven, chance, fortune, and fate, so that my wish be quickly attained!"</p>
<p>(Lay out the cards in the following order. Meditate and visualize)<br/>Card 2</p>
<p>Card 1 Card 3</p>
<p>card 1 is The Star for inspiration, guidance, and creativity.<br/>card 2 is The High Priestess for focusing of the mind and intuition.<br/>card 3 is The Hermit for interpreting the knowledge you receive.</p>
<p>(Place a candle just above The High Priestess card)</p>
<p>"I am open and receptive to higher levels of consciousness. Spirits of guidance are here for me and I channel the knowledge they offer. I am open and receptive. My psychic centers are quickened. I open my eyes and ears to all impressions that are coming to me. I spread the veil of being that I may look beyond. I open the windows of 'where' and 'when' and I see beyond."</p>
<p>(Hold your hands over the cards)</p>
<p>"Into these cards I direct the power from within me and the power called upon from the spiritual forces around me. Mark well what I have done here! Bring to me my wish! I place this petition before the God and Goddess. May it be done for the greater good of all! By the power of the God and Goddess and by the forces of the planes...I declare my spell to manifest!"</p>
<p>"I release now the forces of the astral plane. I release all of the elemental forces. I release the God and Goddess. I release the power of the Source of All. Farewell and I bid you thanks!"</p> 21 Ways of Looking at the Tarot by Mary K. Greertag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2014-01-09:2185477:Topic:1937902014-01-09T21:00:31.012ZDept of PMM Artists & thingshttp://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/Artistsandthings
<p>Forget those long, complicated <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/spread" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Spread">spreads</a>; try spending an hour or more with just one <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/tarot" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Tarot">tarot</a> card. With a little diligence you will receive more detailed information with one card than from a large spread read quickly.</p>
<p>You will need a full deck with scenes depicted on all the cards, or…</p>
<p>Forget those long, complicated <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/spread" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Spread">spreads</a>; try spending an hour or more with just one <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/tarot" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Tarot">tarot</a> card. With a little diligence you will receive more detailed information with one card than from a large spread read quickly.</p>
<p>You will need a full deck with scenes depicted on all the cards, or just the twenty-two <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/major+arcana" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Major Arcana">Major Arcana</a> from any deck. Shuffle and draw one card while asking, “What do I most need to look at in my life right now?” Read the card upright using the following steps, trying all of them, in the order given, at least once. After that you can focus on the steps that suit you best. When reading a spread, use these techniques to ignite your own ideas and explore significant cards in greater detail.</p>
<p>While learning, it is ideal to work with a tarot partner who acts as a witness to your own process and insights. Barring this, speak aloud, write in your journal, or tape your responses. Draw one card a day, and go through any selection of the steps below. The next day make notes about what actually happened.</p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>Say the name of the card aloud. Sounds simple, but I’ve seen many people stare at a card without knowing what to say or where to begin.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>What number is on the card? What does this number signify? For instance, twos are about choices and decisions. Research the significance of numbers in several tarot books, and make a list of relevant words and themes. Then lay out all the cards of one number, including the <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/trump+cards" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Trump Cards">Trump</a>, and narrow your list down to several keywords that best fit all those cards. Likewise, develop keywords for each type of <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/court+cards" title="Llewellyn encyclopedia, Court Cards">Court Card</a>, such as, “<a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/knight" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Knight">Knights</a> are about quests and using the skills of their suit.”</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>What suit is the card? Name several characteristics of that suit, such as, “<a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/cups" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Cups">Cups</a> are about feelings and emotions.” Or, “Trumps are principles that help you transform yourself.” Create your own keyword list as in step 2.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>Put step two and three together in a short sentence or a question: “What choices are you making in your emotional life?”</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>Simply describe the card. Be literal. No interpretations or meanings: “Two people hold out cups to each other. The one on the right reaches forward with his right hand . . . above them are. . . .” Speak for two or three minutes or write for five. Repeat your description in the first person, present tense: “I hold out a cup to another. I reach forward with my right hand. . . .”</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>In this and later steps, turn your statements into open-ended questions as needed, such as, “What are you reaching out to?” Respond with your first thought. Also notice images and scenes that arise spontaneously in your mind. Try to capture and describe these mental or memory snapshots.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>Describe what seem to be the emotions, feelings, and attitudes of the figures on the card and the mood and atmosphere of the environment. Repeat this description in the first person, present tense.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>Make up a children’s story or fairy tale about what is happening in the card. Be silly and outlandish. Don’t think, just talk. Begin “Once upon a time . . .” Repeat your story in the first person, present tense.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>Notice any thoughts, beliefs, or opinions that come up while doing the above steps. For instance, “It is good to be emotionally open and giving.” Don’t become attached to any ideas or opinions as being “right” or “wrong.” If reading for another, don’t make judgments about whether something is good or bad for them.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>What expressions, sayings, or clichés are suggested by the image on the card? For instance, “out in the cold” for the Five of <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/pentacles" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Pentacles">Pentacles</a>, or “a friend in need is a friend indeed.” The Ten of <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/swords" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Swords">Swords</a> might be “stabbed in the back,” “overkill,” or “pinned down.”</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>What are the traditional or book interpretations of the card? Pick the ideas that jump out at you. Looking up cards is not “cheating,” it is gaining a wider perspective.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>What is the significance of each image, symbol, and color on the card? Symbol dictionaries will help here.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>How do all of the above relate to your life right now? Just describe the first circumstances that come to mind, and make associations as you go. This step may come at any point and be repeated.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>Imagine the entire range of the card’s meanings stretching along a dial or spectrum from the most problematic to the most beneficial (I prefer these terms to “bad” and “good”). Give a concrete example from each extreme. To help you get out of your head, physically move your hand like a pointer along the dial until you “sense” where you are now. Determine where you want to be. What shade of meaning is suggested by this new point? How can you move from where you are to where you want to be?</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>Physically act out the scene depicted on the card. Be precise. Take your time and really feel yourself in the situation. What are you doing? How does it feel? What do you want or need? Why are you here? Examine, handle, and use objects found in the card.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>Close your eyes, or gaze at the card through narrowed eyes, while breathing deeply and evenly. Imagine the card growing larger and larger until the figures are at least life-sized. Step over the border and into the card. Look around. What do you see? Touch an object and feel its texture. What do you hear? Smell the air. Merge into one of the Beings or <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/archetype">Archetypes</a> in the card and take on its unique energy. How does it move and act? What is its attitude? Speak as the Being. What advice and explanations can it offer? How should objects and symbols in the card be used? Separate from the figure, and thank it. Then step out of the card, seeing it shrink down. Take a deep breath, feeling yourself back in your own body, and open your eyes. Remember that the Being’s advice is not definitive, but merely its own perspective. You may need to hear and evaluate several different perspectives, expressed by other cards, before making up your mind.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>Write out a dialogue with one or more figures on the card—don’t think before you write or worry about spelling and grammar. Each figure (including yourself) has a different voice. Ask questions. You may, for instance, ask each figure in the Five of <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/wands" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Wands">Wands</a> or the Five of Swords to tell their story, including what they want. Make up the answers.<p>18. What does the card (and its figures) have to teach you? If still in doubt, simply ask these figures. Speak the first thing you imagine them saying.</p>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>What are the qualities you see in the card that you would most like to develop in yourself? Every card portrays something of value. Write down words and phrases describing these qualities. Now turn them into an affirmation.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<div style="margin-left: 2em"><ol>
<li>If the card appears in a spread, then look at how is it modified by other cards or by being reversed. Certain aspects of its meaning will be strengthened, opposed, or brought into focus. Look for repetitions of suit, number, colors, shapes, figures, background or clothing details, or theme. Anomalies can be equally important. Note in which direction the figures are looking or moving.</li>
</ol>
</div>
<p></p>
<ol>
<li>When reading for others look at the cards through their eyes. Simply guide them through these processes. Don’t make judgments about the client or the situation. Let the person experience the cards and speak for the figures. Repeat what they say to help them recognize their own knowledge and to emphasize their own inner wisdom.</li>
</ol>
<p>By using these techniques you can be a competent guide and a clear mirror both for your own inner processes and for that of other people in the process of self-discovery.</p>
<p>From <em>Llewellyn's 2001 Tarot Calendar</em>. For more Llewellyn tarot books and decks, <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/browse_tarot_and_divination.php?utm_source=llewellynjournal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=llewellynjournal" title="Llewellyn's Tarot Books and Decks">click here.</a></p> Goddess Archetype Tarot Spread by Llewellyntag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2014-01-09:2185477:Topic:1936902014-01-09T20:59:46.141ZDept of PMM Artists & thingshttp://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/Artistsandthings
<p>his is a fun way of exploring the feminine archetypes in the Tarot, world mythology, and within yourself—regardless of your gender. I encourage you to do this spread even if you are still shy of interpreting the cards: the sooner you begin to get used to the process of reading, the sooner you will improve. If you have to use a book to give yourself a head start on the meanings feel free, but try your best to interpret the card images intuitively.</p>
<p><img align="right" src="http://www.llewellyn.com/_theme/llewellynjournal/articleimages/goddessarchetypespread.jpg"></img></p>
<ol>
<li>Mother: What…</li>
</ol>
<p>his is a fun way of exploring the feminine archetypes in the Tarot, world mythology, and within yourself—regardless of your gender. I encourage you to do this spread even if you are still shy of interpreting the cards: the sooner you begin to get used to the process of reading, the sooner you will improve. If you have to use a book to give yourself a head start on the meanings feel free, but try your best to interpret the card images intuitively.</p>
<p><img src="http://www.llewellyn.com/_theme/llewellynjournal/articleimages/goddessarchetypespread.jpg" align="right"/></p>
<ol>
<li>Mother: What do you nurture? How do you create?</li>
<li>Virgin: What is a mystery to you? How do you celebrate your image?</li>
<li>Siren: What attracts others to you? How can you celebrate your sexuality?</li>
<li>Sorceress: What do you control and manipulate? How can you change your life?</li>
<li>Wise woman: What do you know deeply? How can you share your knowledge?</li>
<li>Fairy Godmother: What gifts can you give to the world and others? How do others approach you?</li>
<li>Wife: What are you married to? How do you devote yourself to things?</li>
<li>Hag: What in you is ugly and terrifying? How can you redeem this monster?</li>
<li>Amazon: What would you fight for? How can you develop your courage and determination?</li>
</ol>
<p>From <em><a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738719047&utm_source=llewellynjournal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=llewellynjournal">Tarot 101</a></em>, by Kim Huggens</p> Tarot: A Daily Spread by Ciro Marchettitag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2014-01-09:2185477:Topic:1936882014-01-09T20:59:13.543ZDept of PMM Artists & thingshttp://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/Artistsandthings
<p>Draw one to three cards in the morning for guidance for the day. Draw one card for focused guidance. Draw two cards to compare and contrast. Look for differences to see where challenges may arrive. Draw three cards to look at synthesis and flow.</p>
<p>Throughout the day, notice the synchronicity. If you have to make a decision, contemplate the spread to see if it has advice for you. Sketch part of your reading. Write a little in your journal. Consider selecting jewelry, clothing, or…</p>
<p>Draw one to three cards in the morning for guidance for the day. Draw one card for focused guidance. Draw two cards to compare and contrast. Look for differences to see where challenges may arrive. Draw three cards to look at synthesis and flow.</p>
<p>Throughout the day, notice the synchronicity. If you have to make a decision, contemplate the spread to see if it has advice for you. Sketch part of your reading. Write a little in your journal. Consider selecting jewelry, clothing, or wallpaper for your computer based on the spread. At the end of the day, reflect on the synchronicities of the day.</p>
<p><strong><em>Legacy Spread</em></strong><img src="http://www.llewellyn.com/_theme/eblasts/tarot_update/ads/legacy_spread.jpg" align="right" border="0"/><br/><br/>1. What legacy have I inherited?<br/>2. What is my legacy?<br/>3. What do I need to work on right now?</p>
<p>Shuffle the cards between each draw while you think about the position.</p>
<p>Note: It would be a good idea to use only the <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/major+arcana">major arcana</a> for this <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/spread">spread</a>. If you find that you do not like the legacy card, spend time in reflection to consider why you don’t like it as a legacy. Draw additional cards until you find the legacy you wish to leave behind. Consider the disliked cards to represent preliminary work for your legacy. An option for position two is to go through the deck and select what you would like your legacy to be.</p>
<p>From <em>Gateway to the Divine Tarot</em> companion book to the <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738715650&utm_source=llewellynjournal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=llewellynjournal" title="Legacy of the Divine Tarot"><em>Legacy of the Divine Tarot</em></a>, by Ciro Marchetti</p> The Dollhouse Oracle by Janina Renéetag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2014-01-09:2185477:Topic:1937872014-01-09T20:58:36.542ZDept of PMM Artists & thingshttp://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/Artistsandthings
<div align="center"><img alt="dollhouse" border="1" src="http://www.llewellyn.com/_theme/llewellynjournal/articleimages/istock_000026122559xsmall.jpg"></img></div>
<p>Miniature objects play a role in the material culture of <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/magic" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Magic">magic</a> and <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/divination" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Divination">divination</a>, because they can signify material goods as well as other things—including intangible qualities—that we’d like to manifest in our lives. Perhaps the best known…</p>
<div align="center"><img src="http://www.llewellyn.com/_theme/llewellynjournal/articleimages/istock_000026122559xsmall.jpg" alt="dollhouse" border="1"/></div>
<p>Miniature objects play a role in the material culture of <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/magic" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Magic">magic</a> and <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/divination" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Divination">divination</a>, because they can signify material goods as well as other things—including intangible qualities—that we’d like to manifest in our lives. Perhaps the best known miniature is the dollhouse, which intrigues both children and adults. A dollhouse can also be used in magic and divination, because not only does it convey the charm of the miniature, it also shares the symbolism of the house, and the house and its chambers provide metaphors for different states of being. As such a symbolic structure, a dollhouse can serve as the basis of a <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/tarot" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Tarot">tarot</a> layout, in which the cards are inserted into its miniature rooms, and then interpreted in the context of the rooms’ different metaphorical associations. Likewise, tarot cards selected to convey special images can be placed in different rooms as a form of tarot magic.<br/><br/>For my own experiments in dollhouse divination, I acquired some dollhouses that are actually pop-out books: when you open them up, they become three-dimensional, two-story, cardboard dollhouses with eight rooms, richly decorated in different period styles. While any dollhouse can be used for the “Dollhouse Oracle,” the portability of these fold-outs makes it easy for me to take them to entertain friends, and the cardboard tarot cards make themselves right at home in the cardboard rooms. For these purposes, I like decks in which the human figures are emphasized in the illustrations, because then they’re suggestive of the paper dolls that go with the dollhouses. In fact, cards can be propped up on the pop-out sofas, dining room chairs, beds, etc., in keeping with the 3D effects. It’s also a nice touch when you can use tarot cards whose illustrations are in the same (usually 19th century) period styles as the dollhouses, though you can get very good results with other decks, too.<br/><br/>To do a dollhouse reading, shuffle and cut your cards in your preferred manner while posing a request like, “Please show me what is going on in ‘the House of my Life.’” Then, place the first card in the first room of the dollhouse, the second card in the second room, etc., either following a natural path through the house or moving clockwise, until there is a card in each room. For the sake of example, the following illustrates the sequence for two of my pop-out dollhouses, (a Victorian and Edwardian, which have the same floor plan):<br/><br/>Start with the <strong>front entry</strong>.<strong> </strong> This tells you something about your linking to the outside world, and how you invite new energies into your life, so consider whether the imagery in the tarot card you placed here is open and welcoming or closed off and fearful. A <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/reversed" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Reversed">reversed</a> card could indicate an energy blockage, or your being uncomfortable with opening yourself to the outside world. A <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/court+cards" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Court Cards">court card</a> or other personality card in this position can provide insight into your self presentation, the face you show to the world.<br/><br/>The entry hall leads into the <strong>parlor (living room)</strong>, an area of main activity, and the room where we socialize with guests, so it denotes major themes being played out in our lives, and that are visible to our friends. If a court card or other personality card lands here, it can denote a major life-role that you are taking on. A card depicting a group of persons may show more activities, or more facets of your personality, or the possibility that you are a more “connected” sort of person. </p>
<p>From the parlor we move into the <strong>dining room</strong>. In a formal dining room, we carry on celebrational traditions and show off status, so this says something about our linking to social conventions, (whereas a dinette would be more casual, for socializing with family and taking in nutrition). Here—as with all of the rooms and cards—it is interesting to note whether objects or activities portrayed in the card are congruous with the sort of objects and activities that would go with the room. So, <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/Cups" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Cups">Cups</a> cards and other cards with scenes of eating and drinking, falling in the kitchen or dining room may indicate that you’re doing a good job of taking in physical and emotional nutrition, while hardship cards could warn of feeling starved.<br/><br/>Next comes the <strong>Kitchen</strong>, a place of transformation, where raw materials are converted into appealing dishes for consumption. What’s cooking in your life? Can the card you picked tell you something about what sort of “kitchen work” you’re doing?<br/><br/>Having made the full circle downstairs, we go up the front entry staircase to the <strong>upper hallway</strong>. The nature of the card drawn may say something about how well you are able to move through the house of your life. Do you move easily from one room to the next?<br/><br/>The hall opens into the <strong>master bedroom</strong>, a place of rest and refuge—and for couples, a place where the relationship is renewed. How are you able to restore yourself? If partnered, how are you able to refresh your intimate relationship?<br/><br/>Next is the <strong>bathroom</strong>. What, in your life, is undergoing a process of elimination and purification? <br/><br/>We conclude with the <strong>nursery</strong>. How are you expressing your Inner Child? What sort of new life are you nurturing? What are your dreams for the future? <br/><br/>Another popular fold-out dollhouse has an <strong>outdoor patio</strong>. If you use a dollhouse like this, think about your linking to Nature and the world of the outdoors. If you have a dollhouse with an <strong>attic</strong>, the card you place here may indicate goals that are uppermost in your consciouness, (similar to the “crowns you” position in the <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/Celtic+cross" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Celtic Cross">Celtic Cross</a>). Other doll houses may have different rooms or other features, so consider how different symbolism applies.<br/><br/>Here are some other things to consider:<br/><br/></p>
<ul>
<li>A <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/major+arcana" target="_blank" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Major Arcana">Major Arcana</a> card in a given room indicates that things going on in that area of life currently have more bearing on your larger destiny.</li>
<li>A reversed card may indicate you’re uncomfortable dealing with the functions of the room in question.</li>
<li>Take note of any interesting graphic relationships between the imagery in the cards and the furnishings and decorations of the rooms in which they have been placed, and consider how these may apply to your personal issues.</li>
<li>As a narrower, alternative approach, you can just focus on the house as metaphor of the personality. After shuffling and cutting, go through your deck, but instead of placing the first card in the first room, the second card in the second room, and so on, put the first court card or other “people” or personality card (such as the <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/fool" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Fool">Fool</a>, the <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/emperor" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Emperor">Emperor</a>, etc.) in the first room, the second personality card in the second room, etc., ignoring the cards that don’t apply to personality types or personas.</li>
<li>When unfavorable cards fall in different rooms, acknowledge whatever changes you need to make, then alter your reality by replacing them with cards of fulfillment, (especially if you can pick cards which are symbolically appropriate for the rooms), while visualizing yourself taking the actions needed to achieve happiness.</li>
</ul>
<p><br/>Much more information can be gained by exploring our philosophical and psychological associations with rooms and houses, but these guidelines provide a starting point. Furthermore, this technique suggests ideas as to how tarot cards or other types of oracle cards could be used in combination with other types of play-sets, including models and miniatures, pop-out books, board games, etc., that present us with symbolic little worlds. As there are medieval castle sets, princess castles, miniature villages, miniature railroads, pirates’ treasure islands, fairy lands, and so on, that are commercially available, these would work especially nicely with theme decks. (For example, try one of the “King Arthur” themed decks in a medieval castle.) If you are an arts-and-crafts aficionado, you might want to design some miniature settings of your own, to use in combination with your favorite cards.<br/><br/>Naturally, the different play-sets will suggest what sort of questions to ask and what sort of interpretations to apply. To give an idea how one could use the medieval castle, you could pose the request, “Please show me what is going on in the castle of my life.” For a castle like the cardboard pop-up in my possession, (made by the same company as two of the dollhouses, but with a different structure), the first card could be placed behind the portcullis to represent what is going on outside the gates (i.e. energies that are seeking entry into your life), while the second card could be propped in the courtyard to represent your public life. The card that lands in the throne room (propped on the thrones) can denote how you take charge of your life, while a card standing in a passage behind the thrones could denote “the power behind the throne,” (i.e. other factors or persons exerting some influence over you). Next to the throne room is the banquet hall, which can pertain to the quality of your social life and how that ties in with your place in society and social traditions. Then comes the armory, which may also be the men’s quarters, so that could relate to a man’s sense of maleness and a woman’s inner male (the <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/animus" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Animus">animus</a>); above it is what appears to be the women’s quarters (as these were often separate areas in the old castles), so that could say something about a woman’s sense of femininity and a man’s <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/anima" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Anima">anima</a> (inner female). A card placed on the balcony above the courtyard could denote your ability to objectively gaze down on your doings, while the passage above the throne room could denote your ability to move through the compartments of your life. Finally is a bedroom which appears to be the “solar,” (the bedroom belonging to the master and mistress of the castle), so that could denote your ability to restore yourself and your relationship, and your ability to achieve wholeness.<br/><br/>If you don’t want to bother with a dollhouse or other play-set, you can still work with the metaphor of the house, (or castle, or whatever), by applying the same principles to a simple Tarot <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/spread" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Spread">spread</a>. Following is a spread that I call “The House of Life.” It takes the form of a nine-square-plus-one card layout. Again, you can pose a question like “What is going on in the house of my life,” shuffling, etc. as described previously. Some of the positions are similar to the Dollhouse Oracle, but the layout differs in including a row of cards for the basement, to represent the Unconscious and other below-the-surface factors.<br/><br/></p>
<div align="center"><strong>“House of Life” Tarot Spread</strong></div>
<p><br/>First, lay out a row of three cards (from left to right) to signify your cellar foundations. The first card is for your furnace and utility area, denoting your ability to draw energy from deep sources to recharge yourself and get things done. The second is your basement storage area, representing your storehouse of memory, including emotions and experiences that serve as motivating factors. The third is your root cellar, denoting something you have put aside to help preserve your through the winter, (i.e. a resource to fall back upon.)<br/><br/>Next, lay out another row of three cards above the first. These signify 1) your kitchen, 2) your entry hall, and 3) your living room. Next, lay out a third row above these to signify 1) your bathroom, 2) your master bedroom, and 3) your nursery. Finally, add one more card to the spread, above the master bedroom position (making a fourth row), to represent the attic. Refer to the previous paragraphs on the Dollhouse Oracle for interpretation. <br/><br/>One could likewise create Tarot spreads to suggest the layouts of a castle, a fairy forest, an old-fashioned village, a country fair, or what have you. There are no limits, as long as you have the imagination to assign thematic meanings to the different card positions. Of course, some scenarios have the potential to cover broader areas of life than others, which you have to bear in mind if you choose a highly specialized setting.<br/> <br/>Whether using a play-set or a simple card spread to represent your fantasy structure, it’s good to leave it out where you can continue to contemplate it, because once you get inside the metaphor, you’ll experience a continuous sequence of insights into the layout of your life.</p> The Art of Creating and Using Tarot Spreads by James Rickleftag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2014-01-09:2185477:Topic:1938972014-01-09T20:56:57.245ZDept of PMM Artists & thingshttp://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/Artistsandthings
<p>I can still remember doing my first <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/tarot">Tarot</a> reading. I had just bought a Tarot deck, and after carefully studying the little white book that came with it, I figured I was ready to do a reading for myself. But although the question I had in mind was a simple one, that reading took hours to do. You see, the only <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/spread">spread</a> I knew was the…</p>
<p>I can still remember doing my first <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/tarot">Tarot</a> reading. I had just bought a Tarot deck, and after carefully studying the little white book that came with it, I figured I was ready to do a reading for myself. But although the question I had in mind was a simple one, that reading took hours to do. You see, the only <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/spread">spread</a> I knew was the <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/celtic+cross">Celtic Cross</a>, which was briefly described in that little book, and I was overwhelmed by it. The ten-card Celtic Cross is an excellent spread, but it’s complex and it’s not always the best one for a reading, as I soon found out. <br/> <br/>Fortunately, I quickly discovered that there were books filled with other Tarot spreads; ones specifically tailored for a variety of uses. But as I tried my hand at some of those spreads, I hit a wall of frustration. Those books presented a great many spreads, but typically they offered very little explanation of them—generally just a simple diagram and a short phrase for each card position. <br/> <br/>But then I was struck with a bold idea: maybe I could create my own spreads! I don’t know which muse whispered that bit of inspiration in my ear, but it was quite a blessing. First I revised the spreads I had read about, adjusting and redefining them to suit my needs, and then I began to create my own spreads from scratch. As I did so, I discovered that I had a much better understanding of these spreads, and my readings improved as a result. <br/> <br/>Years later when I started teaching Tarot classes, I found that although I had created my own spreads with gleeful abandon, many of my students were reluctant to do so. Some didn’t know how, others lacked confidence, and quite a few had the mistaken impression that Tarot spreads spring fully formed from some arcane or mystical source, like Athena from Zeus’s brow. But the truth is that most spreads have evolved within the Tarot community, changing and developing through the years as they circulate by word-of-mouth. Of course, a new spread can also blossom from within the heart and soul of an individual Tarot reader, and such a spread usually proves quite valuable to the person who created it. <br/> <br/>So this was the path that inspired me to write a book about Tarot spreads that would address two separate, but complementary concerns: to show how to create spreads and to present a thorough explanation of a variety of other valuable spreads. The result is my book, <em>Tarot: Get the Whole Story</em>. It discusses numerous ways to create Tarot spreads that suit your specific needs and fit your unique style of reading, and I think you will find them quite easy-to-use. In addition, this book is a guide to many useful Tarot spreads (which I have described in much greater detail than is typical in books about Tarot spreads) and my intention was to make these explanations entertaining as well as instructive. <br/> <br/>Like my previous book, <em>Tarot Tells the Tale</em>, this new one demonstrates the use of each spread through sample readings for well-known fictional characters and historical figures, which makes it easy to understand the context for each of them. In addition, it discusses the process by which each spread was created (which will further clarify how to design your own spreads), and introduces other spreads that are variations of the ones for which a sample reading is provided. <br/> <br/>My sincere hope is that you will find <em>Tarot: Get the Whole Story</em> to be an enjoyable experience, as well as an informative one.</p> Revitalizing Your Tarot Practice, Part II: Spreads by Barbara Mooretag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2014-01-09:2185477:Topic:1935952014-01-09T20:56:18.708ZDept of PMM Artists & thingshttp://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/Artistsandthings
<p>In "<a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/1947" title="Revitalizing Your Tarot Practice, Part One">Revitalizing Your Tarot Practice, Part I—Decks</a>," we looked at ways of recovering from <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/tarot" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Tarot">Tarot</a> Reader Burnout. We considered a number of ideas that include using or incorporating another deck. However, what can you do if you only have one deck, do not wish to use another deck, or…</p>
<p>In "<a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/1947" title="Revitalizing Your Tarot Practice, Part One">Revitalizing Your Tarot Practice, Part I—Decks</a>," we looked at ways of recovering from <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/tarot" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Tarot">Tarot</a> Reader Burnout. We considered a number of ideas that include using or incorporating another deck. However, what can you do if you only have one deck, do not wish to use another deck, or want to renew your enjoyment of an old favorite deck? Why, you change the way you use or approach that deck. There are many techniques that can revitalize your practice. In this article, we’ll look at the role of spreads in livening up your relationship with your cards. Next time, we’ll look at other techniques that you can try. <br/><br/><strong>Spreads</strong><br/>The way you lay out the cards, called a <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/spread" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Spread">spread</a>, forms an important framework for the interpretation and synthesis of your reading. Just as looking at the same images can create rote and stale readings, so can using the same spreads or using a spread in the same way. Spreads are a stable foundation—the positions stay the same while the cards falling in them or question asked can change. Spreads seem to me a lot like the 4s in tarot. Generally speaking, I like 4s, including the <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/emperor" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Emperor">Emperor</a>. Having a steady place from which to work is a good thing. However, the downside of the 4s (and perhaps, by extension, spreads) is the danger of stagnation. So let’s get that stagnant energy flowing again.<br/><strong><br/>New Spread</strong><br/>A simple way to break out of a spread rut is to try a new one. There are so many places online to discover new spreads, such as the tarot spreads section of the Aeclectic forum (<a href="http://www.tarotforum.net" target="_blank" title="http://www.tarotforum.net">http://www.tarotforum.net</a>) or check out websites and blogs of your favorite author or artist. Of course, there are books of spreads you can buy. If your deck came with a book, or even just a Little White Booklet, there is likely at least one spread provided. <br/><br/>You can just pick ones that look interesting or that might be well-suited to answer the question at hand. You might gather as many as possible and try them all. While I don’t recommend doing multiple readings on a question, just for the sake of experimenting or playing, try using the new spreads you’ve found to answer the same question. Notice how different spreads reveal different insights. Who knows? You might discover a new favorite. <br/><br/><strong>Necessity is the Mother</strong><br/>Necessity is the mother of invention. If you don’t have access to different spreads or don’t find any of the ones available appealing, then make up your own. I remember the first time I realized that is okay to do this. <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/author.php?author_id=2880" title="Rachel Pollack">Rachel Pollack</a> was in Minneapolis for an event and was booking readings. I was lucky enough to get a spot. We discussed my question and then she said that she usually made up spreads on the spot using the question itself to dictate the design. So, if you have a question, break it down into its most basic elements and determine the exact information you want. Use that data to create a custom spread. Or, invent a new basic spread that could be used for a variety of questions. There are books about this, if you want to delve deeper into the theory of spread design, or check out helpful websites such as <a href="http://www.ehow.com/how_2116442_own-tarot-spread.html" target="_blank" title="http://www.ehow.com/how_2116442_own-tarot-spread.html">http://www.ehow.com/how_2116442_own-tarot-spread.html</a>. <br/><br/>A variation on creating your own spread from scratch is to modify an existing spread. One modified spread that I really like is by <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/author.php?author_id=36" title="Christopher Penczak">Christopher Penczak</a> (found in his book <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738705316" title="The Outer Temple of Witchcraft, by Christopher Penczak"><em>The Outer Temple of Witchcraft</em></a>). He uses the middle of a <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/celtic+cross" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Celtic Cross">Celtic Cross</a>, eliminates the staff, and uses three cards on the left, right, and bottom instead of one, reading each of theses groups of three as past, present, and future.<br/><br/><strong>Reading Without a Net</strong><br/>Spreads, as we said earlier, create a framework for interpreting the cards. One of the ways a spread does this is by assigning meanings to each position, such as “past influences,” “challenges,” or “advice.” What would happen if you removed positional designations? What if you just laid out a number of cards in a row or several rows and read them free form? I’ve had readings done this way and they were amazingly helpful. They also seemed more predictive than most readings I’ve had. What would the cards say if freed from the box of positional meaning? Would they interact differently? <br/><strong><br/>Become an Expert</strong><br/>Pick a spread and become an expert at it. By expert I don’t mean merely memorizing the positions. I mean knowing it intimately…such as knowing how the positions relate to each other, how to read mini-spreads within the main spread, how to find additional information or layers of information. For this I’d suggest a longer, more complex spread such as the Celtic Cross or <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/author.php?author_id=3286" title="Mary K. Greer">Mary K. Greer</a>’s Hidden Influences Spread (<a href="http://marygreer.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/the-hidden-influences-spread/" target="_blank" title="http://marygreer.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/the-hidden-influences-spread/">http://marygreer.wordpress.com/2008/04/05/the-hidden-influences-spread/</a>).<br/><br/><strong>Same Card, Different Position</strong><br/>This idea is based on a workshop taught by James Well at the 2008 Readers Studio. Use any spread and any deck you wish. Ask your question, shuffling your cards, and pull just one card. Read that card in each position. This technique accomplishes a couple of things. First, as James pointed out, it shows how the question asked has a huge impact on what the answer will be. After all, the positions in a spread are all questions themselves. The “past” position asks “what events or influences from the past are affecting this situation?” The “obstacles” position asks “what obstacles I am facing in this situation?” <br/><br/>Second, it encourages you to think about the different possible answers within each card. Say you are doing a three-card reading where the positions are Challenge-Advice-Outcome and you pull <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/sun" title="Llewellyn Encyclopedia, Sun">The Sun</a>. Your interpretation of The Sun card as a challenge would be different than The Sun card as advice, wouldn’t it? This is especially effective if you use a spread that has positions that are polar opposites, such “do this” and “don’t do this” or “benefits” and “dangers.” <br/><br/>Hopefully at least one of these ideas will shake up your world in an exciting way. If not, never fear. In part III of "Revitalizing Your Tarot Practice," you’ll get some more tips and tricks.</p> Personalize Your Tarot Readings Through Spreadcrafting by Tierney Sadlertag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2014-01-09:2185477:Topic:1935932014-01-09T20:55:39.174ZDept of PMM Artists & thingshttp://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/Artistsandthings
<div align="center"><img src="http://www.llewellyn.com/_theme/llewellynjournal/articleimages/istock_000019936894xsmall.jpg"></img></div>
<p>A good <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/tarot">tarot</a> reading is often like a story, reconstructing, constructing, and forecasting relevant pieces of a person's life to bring understanding about a particular topic. While our tarot cards reveal the details of the story, it's the <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/spread">spread</a> that provides the outline and asks all the right questions. You can find spreads in…</p>
<div align="center"><img src="http://www.llewellyn.com/_theme/llewellynjournal/articleimages/istock_000019936894xsmall.jpg"/></div>
<p>A good <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/tarot">tarot</a> reading is often like a story, reconstructing, constructing, and forecasting relevant pieces of a person's life to bring understanding about a particular topic. While our tarot cards reveal the details of the story, it's the <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/spread">spread</a> that provides the outline and asks all the right questions. You can find spreads in books or online, but the best way to make sure you get one to fully address your specific question is to create it yourself.</p>
<p>The spread is the structure or the layout of a tarot reading. Each position in the spread gives you a context for how to read the tarot card that lands in that position. So, say you get the Three of <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/swords">Swords</a>, the traditional card for indicating heartbreak. If it lands in the Past position of the spread, it might indicate that a past heartbreak is influencing the current situation. Get the same card in the Hopes and Fears position and it could suggest that you not only have a fear of heartbreak, but that you might actually have a desire for your current relationship to end, whether consciously or subconsciously.</p>
<p><strong>What really goes into crafting a spread?</strong><br/> Beyond providing the context in which your tarot cards are read, spreads are complex animals. Each position is threaded together to form a snapshot of the <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/querent">querent</a>'s situation—so when you create your own spreads, you'll want to choose positions that tell the story you want to hear about. Then you want to put them in an order that reveals the story in a logical manner. Additionally, you may want to add shape to a spread to focus its energy, like fashioning a love reading in the shape of a heart or a Cupid's arrow.</p>
<p>If you really want to get nerdy about crafting your own spreads, you may also want to consider the interplay between positions—how certain spread positions work together to reveal a third position—and group spread positions together accordingly in the spread's design. We see this type of arrangement in a <a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/encyclopedia/term/celtic+cross">Celtic Cross</a>, where the left side of the spread gives a concise snapshot of the situation and the right side of the spread shows how the attitudes of yourself and others impact that snapshot to cause the outcome. It's also seen in the way all the cards on the left of the Celtic Cross encircle the Situation and Crossing positions, each exerting equal and direct impact on the pair of cards in the center.</p>
<p>So, spreadcrafting can run the spectrum from a simple one-card spread to more complex ones, depending on how deep you want to get into the art and theory of the craft. As I started diving down into its complexities, I realized that trying to craft a spread with pen and paper just wasn't cutting it for me; if I wanted to move the cards around or rename them, I had to scratch things out and it became all too messy and frustrating. Then I lit on a better way—<em><a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738733395&utm_source=llewellynjournal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=llewellynjournal">The Deck of 1000 Spreads</a></em>.</p>
<p><strong>How Can the Task of Spreadcrafting Be Simplified?</strong><br/> <em><a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738733395&utm_source=llewellynjournal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=llewellynjournal">The Deck of 1000 Spreads</a></em> is a deck of oversized cards with spread position names on each card. While you're crafting your spreads, simply sift through the cards and pick out the positions you want in your spread. Once you have your card positions chosen, you can move the cards around into different order, switch positions out with new ones, and move the cards into different spread shapes—without ever putting pen to paper. It's a three-dimensional, visual system of creating spreads faster, more easily, and more enjoyably than ever before.</p>
<p>When you have your spread all laid out, choose tarot cards as you usually do and place them on top of the spread cards. Because the spread cards are taller than most tarot cards, the spread position name peeks out above the top of the tarot card, creating a labeled spread. It's an innovation that makes spreadcrafting easier and more accessible to both beginners and experts alike. The cards are color coded to help you shape the "story" of the spread.</p>
<p><strong>How Can I Start Crafting My Own Spreads Today?</strong><br/> Whether or not you use <em><a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738733395&utm_source=llewellynjournal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=llewellynjournal">The Deck of 1000 Spreads</a></em> to craft your spreads, most good spreads will have a beginning, a middle, and an end, just as a novel would. In tarot terms, that can translate to a topic or situation, some event that impacts the situation or question, and an outcome or answer. Now, not all spreads will have this. Certainly there are many one-, two-, and even three-card spreads that don't follow that pattern. But the more in-depth you get in your spreads, the more they'll reveal information like any good story would.</p>
<p>So, what does that look like? Stories usually contain the following five elements. In <em><a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738733395&utm_source=llewellynjournal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=llewellynjournal">The Deck of 1000 Spreads</a></em>, each element is represented by a different color to help simplify the spreadcrafting process and also to help you execute some of the spreadcrafting tricks described in the accompanying book. The five elements are:</p>
<ul>
<li><strong>Topic, Theme, or Plot:</strong> Every book has one, and so does every reading. In a one-card draw, the one card is the theme of the reading. In a larger spread, it may be a specific topic, like Romance. Or it may be more generic, like Situation.</li>
<li><strong>Influences, Story Elements, or Plot Twists:</strong> In a book, these are the elements that keep the story going. In a spread, these are the cards that influence the reading's topic in a positive or adverse way and give you information on what to look out for, what to do, and how the story will unfold. Positions in this category might include Underlying Influences, the Crossing card, and Conscious Desires.</li>
<li><strong>Characters or People:</strong> Whether it's the hero (querent) or others, every story has characters. In a spread, they're the people and relationships that have an influence on the reading's topic or play a major role in the story of the reading.</li>
<li><strong>Timing:</strong> Books tell a story over time, and so do tarot readings. Outside of the reading's topic, timing cards are the most common in a spread. Everyone wants to know where things are now and how they'll progress in the future.</li>
<li><strong>Outcomes or Endings:</strong> As in books, these cards are how the story of the reading ends. The most common way to tie up a reading is with an Outcome card.</li>
</ul>
<p>These are basic elements that your spread could include; you can choose spread positions and arrange them in a logical storytelling structure and maybe even put them in a shape. All of that is made easier by <em><a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738733395&utm_source=llewellynjournal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=llewellynjournal">The Deck of 1000 Spreads</a></em>, but you can do it all on paper like I used to, too.</p>
<p><strong>How Does <em><a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738733395&utm_source=llewellynjournal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=llewellynjournal"><strong>The Deck of 1000 Spreads</strong></a></em> Make This Easier?</strong><br/> Creating your own spreads is a great way to get exactly what you want out of a reading; <em><a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738733395&utm_source=llewellynjournal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=llewellynjournal">The Deck of 1000 Spreads</a></em> can help make that process easier with its sixty-five color-coded cards, complete with blanks for you to create your own signature spread positions. Each card has a spread position name on it, so you can just sift through the cards to find the positions you want in your spread. Plus, having this capability in card format enables you to do things you can't really do with pen and paper, like turning all the cards face-down and divining a spread in the same way you do with tarot cards.</p>
<p>Another aspect of <em><a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738733395&utm_source=llewellynjournal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=llewellynjournal">The Deck of 1000 Spreads</a></em> is that, in addition to a spread position name, each card also has a description of that position. So once you have your spread all laid out, you'll have all the information you need in front of you—no more flipping through books or consulting printouts in the midst of a reading. Each card is also color coded to align with the five story elements described above. This not only simplifies the creation of a spread with a beginning, a middle, and an end, but it also speeds the spreadcrafting process because you know exactly what color to look for when searching your cards for timing elements, for example.</p>
<p>As you move forward with your spreadcrafting, consider the tips offered up here. The companion book that comes with <em><a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738733395&utm_source=llewellynjournal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=llewellynjournal">The Deck of 1000 Spreads</a></em> has a lot more information on spreadcrafting when you're ready to take spreadcrafting even farther. In fact, just playing with the cards can really help you get the feel for how spreads come together. Sure, spreadcrafting is serious business when it comes to really unearthing the information your querent wants, but with <em><a href="http://www.llewellyn.com/product.php?ean=9780738733395&utm_source=llewellynjournal&utm_medium=article&utm_campaign=llewellynjournal">The Deck of 1000 Spreads</a></em> it goes beyond the studious task of putting pen to paper and becomes just plain fun.</p> Divination: Tarot- by Marti Finiziotag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2014-01-04:2185477:Topic:1932022014-01-04T01:52:07.141ZDept of PMM Artists & thingshttp://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/Artistsandthings
<p>Divination:<br></br> Tarot-<br></br> ~information collected from various sources<br></br> <br></br> Tarot is another tool of divination. The real answer comes from the Tarot reader being able to focus their consciousness beyond the physical meaning of a given card and into the life to the person they are reading. Answers are never on one level.<br></br> <br></br> The History of Tarot<br></br> The origins of Tarot are somewhat obscure, the most common theories go to ancient Egypt and Thoth and the connection to the…</p>
<p>Divination:<br/> Tarot-<br/> ~information collected from various sources<br/> <br/> Tarot is another tool of divination. The real answer comes from the Tarot reader being able to focus their consciousness beyond the physical meaning of a given card and into the life to the person they are reading. Answers are never on one level.<br/> <br/> The History of Tarot<br/> The origins of Tarot are somewhat obscure, the most common theories go to ancient Egypt and Thoth and the connection to the ancient mystery school teachings. There is a common myth that Tarot was brought to Europe by the Gypsies.<br/> Some believe that a form of Tarot goes back to ancient China. I believe that all ancient civilizations developed their own systems of divination based on the same symbolism and archetypes.<br/> Tarot as we know it today is a collection of images and symbols from a wide variety of cultures, from the ancient Greeks and Romans to the prehistoric Norse peoples, from the ancient religions of India and Egypt to the medieval courts of Italy and France.<br/> The first clear reference that we have to Tarot cards is from a sermon that was collected with many others about 1500 in Italy found in the Steele Manuscript. The sermon is thought to date from about 1450 to 1470 and is a diatribe against games of chance. It gives a detailed description of the Tarot trumps, not only numbering them but naming them as well.<br/> As early as 1540, a book entitled The Oracles of Francesco Marcolino da Forli shows a simple method of divining from the coin suit of a regular playing card deck.<br/> Manuscripts from 1735 (The Square of Sevens) and 1750 (Pratesi Cartomancer) show rudimentary divinatory meanings for the cards of the tarot, as well as a system for laying out the cards.<br/> In 1765, Giacomo Casanova wrote in his diary that his Russian mistress frequently used a deck of playing cards for divination.<br/> In 1781 Antoine Court de Gebelin wrote a speculative history and a detailed system for using the tarot to fortell the future. From Gebelin's time forward, various explanations have been given for the origins of tarot, most of them of doubtful veracity. There is no evidence for any tarot cards prior to the hand-painted ones that were used by Italian nobles, but some esoteric schools believe its origins could be in Ancient Egypt, Ancient India or even the lost continent of Atlantis. Gebelin, a French linguist, cleric, occultist, Mason, member of the Lodge of the Philalethes, and author of the nine-volume work Le Monde Primitif - was convinced of the mystical significance of the Tarot and fond of Egyptian lore. He believed the cards' birth place was ancient Egypt, where they served as tools of initiation into the priesthood. For Gebelin, the Tarot's Major Arcana was the Book of Thoth, a synthesis of all knowledge once held in hieroglyphic form in burned Egyptian temples and libraries. He claimed that it had escaped the destruction of the Library of Alexandria. At the time he was writing this, the skill of reading hieroglyphics had been lost for almost 1200 years and there existed the widely held belief that they were magical symbols concealing the lost knowledge of antiquity. Gebelin saw the Tarot as a contemporarily available pictorial embodiment of this occult wisdom, a tangible link with the past.<br/> A French man, (erroneously believed by some to have been barber, he merely had lodgings above a barbers shop) named Alliette, writing under the pseudonym Etteilla (his name spelled backwards), followed de Gebelin's lead and revised the Tarot to comply with his own idiosyncratic idea of Egyptian mysticism. His Tarot has had less influence upon subsequent designs than have his ideas.<br/> In the mid 1850s a third Frenchman, Alphonse Louis Constant (originally a deacon of the Catholic Church), began to publish occult works. For the purposes of authorship he translated his name into Hebrew and wrote under the name Eliphas Levi (he dropped the final Zahed?. His books contained Tarot references and symbolism and it was he who first established the link between the Tarot and cabala (or Qabalah). He felt that the god Thoth-Hermes made the original deck. His theory contains mathematical ideas similar to those of Pythagoras, whom he admired.<br/> Eliphas Levi (real name: Alphonse Louis Constant, author of 'History of Magic|'), 1810-1875, was a French priest and Rosicruician who thought the Tarot the key to the Bible, the Jewish Qabbalah, and all other ancient spiritual writings. He attempted to link the 22 cards of the Major Arcana to the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. He drew parallels between Tarot suits and the four letters of the Tetragrammaton, YHVH ('Yahweh').<br/> Late nineteenth-century Parisian author Paul Christian (Jean Baptiste Pitois) was a follower of Levi's who believed that Major Arcana cards represent hieroglyphic paintings found on columns in ancient Egyptian galleries. He also sought parallels between the Tarot and Qabbalistic astrology.<br/> Papus (Gerard Encausse, 1865-1916), a French doctor, philosopher, and Theosophist, was another believer in the Tarot's Egyptian sources. Known for the book 'The Tarot of the Bohemians', he believed the Tarot a bearer of ancient designs inscribed in secret chambers below the Pyramids. The designs represented initiation tests. When the temples were at risk, the priests transferred the mystical designs to materials which later became a pack of cards. Papus, too, described a link between Tarot and the Tetragrammaton. He also dealt with numerology and the Tree of Life.<br/> MacGregor (Samuel Liddell) Mathers lead the English Order of the Golden Dawn, which was founded in 1886. He studied Jewish, Egyptian, Christian, and alchemical mysticism and wrote about the Tarot.<br/> A. E. Waite (1857-1942), the English Christian occult philosopher, broke from the Order of the Golden Dawn and founded his own school of mystical thought. Working with the artist Pamela Coleman Smith - who was also a member of The Order of the Golden Dawn - Waite created a "rectified" deck featuring images and scenery on all the cards, Minor as well as Major Arcana. They produced the 78 card deck that we use today.<br/> The tarot has been studied by many adepts and has been shown to be directly relating to the Qabalah. The Order of the Golden Dawn in 1890 made a deck for its members, utilizing the knowledge of the Qabalah in its symbolism. This was not the first deck, but the research done by the golden dawn and its members helped shape the views of the Tarot and the western philosophies of the mysteries. Together, they produced the 78 card deck that we use today. The tarot has been studied by many adepts and has been shown to be directly relating to the Qabalah.<br/> Aleister Crowley, too, founded his own occult school, the Ordo Templi Orientis, which had to do, among other things, sex magic. Working with Freida Harris, he created the colorful Book of Thoth Tarot. He considered identifying with each card more important than trying to guess about origins.<br/> Paul Foster Case, who formed the Builders Adytum, thought the Tarot from Morocco. According to him, 11th century philosophers designed it to both to preserve knowledge after the Alexandrian libraries were burned down and to furnish a universal language. He, too, designed a deck, a black and white one. It strongly resembles Waite's.<br/> <br/> Other theories:<br/> <br/> the cards are allegories of Sufi masters;<br/> Grail legend depictions;<br/> the Indian game Chaturanga, a forerunner of chess;<br/> Indian holy texts;<br/> Gypsy imports;<br/> Hebrew lore;<br/> Greek philosophy;<br/> ancestors of Mesopotamian copper cylinders;<br/> symbols handed down from prehistoric oral stories;<br/> symbols from ancient Central American Indian cultures;<br/> wisdom of prehistoric matriarchal cultures;<br/> teaching aids of the Waldenses, a persecuted Christian sect;<br/> surviving lore of the Order of Knights Templar, founded in 1188 to protect pilgrims and guard the ways to the Holy Land;<br/> creation of the 13th century alchemists, the Tarot containing hidden alchemical imagery <br/> <br/> Speculation aside, we don't know, and perhaps will never know, what the original Tarot cards looked like. Nor do we know where they came from or who created them. We don't even know how many were contained in a deck. It has frustrated Tarot experts and inspired countless origin theories. However they came to be, the images of Tarot, like all true symbols, resound spontaneous self-expressions from the psyche's deepest springs; and for that reason they hold up magic mirrors to whatever reactions we bring them. Like all authentic artistic creations, Tarots are ultimately a mystery and will remain so.<br/> <br/> Tarot Decks<br/> The oldest group of surviving Tarot cards, called Tarocchi in Italian, appears to date from 1420 to 1450.<br/> Tarocchi (Italian, plural form of Tarocco) also known as Tarock (German-Austrian name) and Tarot (French name), is a specific form of playing card deck, which in its history was used for different trick-taking games and also for cartomantic interests and divination (concrete forms appear at least since the article of Court de Gebelin in the year 1781), also as a field for artists to display specific iconographical forms often connected to an ideological system in the background (already a strong factor in the first decks known in 15th century). It is recorded as one of the oldest types of playing card decks known.<br/> The playing material (a deck with usually 4x14 normal Italian suits and court cards, which include in contrast to other forms a cavallo or knight, with additional 21 trumps and a Fool; the suits may differ from other national patterns) is older than the name of the game, which, according current research state, became known in the year 1505 parallel in France (Taraux) and Ferrara (Italy, as Tarocchi) (Tarot press note) (Details). An earlier form of the game had the name Trionfi or triumphs, this name developed later as general term for trick-taking (trumpfen in German, to trump in English) and disappeared in its original function as deck name. This earlier name of the game is first documented in February 1442, Ferrara {document).<br/> Although the objects are relatively clear of Italian origin (28 notes of the term Trionfi from 1442 - 1463 are counted), it seems, that the final name Tarocchi developed from French influence (Italian speakers of today claim that French words with an ending "-ot" had been commonly transformed in endings with "-occo" and "-occhi".) The poet Berni in 1526 still has some mockery for this (still new) word: "Let him look to it, who is pleased with the game of Tarocco, that the only signification of this word Tarocco, is stupid, foolish, simple, fit only to be used by bakers, cobblers, and the vulgar". <br/> Although the oldest cards that we have are hand-painted ones, many scholars believe that printed or wood block cards predate the hand-painted ones. However, as most early printed cards were much-used and of poor quality, the earliest printed cards date from later than the hand-painted ones by twenty to fifty years so that there is no physical evidence to show which type of cards were the first to be created.<br/> The typical 78-card tarot deck is structured into two distinct parts. The first, called the Trump cards, consists of 21 cards without suits, plus a 22nd card, The Fool, which is sometimes given the value of zero (0).<br/> The second consists of 56 cards divided into four suits of 14 cards each. The traditional Italian suits are Swords, Batons, Coins and Cups. In modern tarot decks, the Batons suit is commonly called Wands, Rods or Staves, while the Coins suit is often called Pentacles or Disks.<br/> Among those who use Tarot cards for divination purposes, the trumps are usually called Major Arcana, while the other cards are known as the Minor Arcana. (Arcana is the plural form of the Latin word arcanum, meaning "closed" or "secret".)<br/> The four court cards (or face cards) of the tarot deck traditionally consist of the King, the Queen, the Knight and the Page (or Knave). In bridge or poker decks, the court cards typically consist of the King, the Queen and the Jack. The Jack corresponds to the tarot deck's Page.<br/> In the present-day Anglo-American world, the Tarot is usually seen either as a means of divination, the practice of ascertaining information from supernatural or other sources, or, in a more modern view, as a psychological tool for accessing the unconscious. However, early references such as a sermon refer only to the use of the cards for game-playing and gambling; and in some European countries such as France, Italy, Switzerland, Austria and Germany, as Michael Dummett points out in Twelve Tarot Games (1980), Tarot games are still widely played.<br/> <br/> Early Tarot Decks<br/> The relationship between Tarot cards and playing cards is well documented. Playing cards appeared quite suddenly in Christian Europe during the period 1375-1380, following several decades of use in Islamic Spain: see playing card history for discussion of its origins. Early European sources describe a deck with typically 52 cards, like a modern deck with no jokers. The 78-card Tarot resulted from adding 21 Trumps and the Fool to an early 56-card variant (14 cards per suit). A greater distribution of playing cards in Europe can with some certainty be given for the year 1377 and the following years. Tarot cards only developed some 40 years later, and they are mentioned, possibly for the first time, in the surviving text of Martiano da Tortona (it can be found in translation on the Web). Initially, tarot cards were only known as "trionfi" (triumphs). Only later did the name "tarocchi" appear.<br/> The likely date for da Tortona's text is between 1418 and 1425, since in 1418 the confirmed painter Michelino da Besozzo returned to Milan, and Martiano da Tortona died in 1425. It cannot be proven, of course, that Tarot cards did not exist earlier, but it seems improbable, because the date of the Martiano da Tortona text is at least 15 years earlier than other clear confirming documents. Da Tortona describes a deck similar to Tarot cards in specific points, but in other ways quite different. What he describes is more a predevelopment to Tarot than what we might think of as "real" Tarot cards. For instance, it has only 16 trumps; its motifs are not comparable to common Tarot cards (they are Greek gods); and the suits are not the common Italian suits, but four kinds of birds.<br/> What makes da Tortona's deck similar to Tarot cards is that these 16 cards are obviously regarded as trump cards in a card game, and that, about 25 years later, a nearly contemporary speaker, Jacopo Antonio Marcello, called them a "ludus triumphorum" - a term that is regarded as a relatively certain indicator of Tarot-similar objects when it appears in relation to playing cards.<br/> The next documents that seem to confirm the existence of objects similar to Tarot cards are two playing card decks from Milan (Brera-Brambrilla and Cary-Yale-Tarocchi) - extant, but fragmentary - and three documents, all from the court of Ferrara, Italy. The playing cards are naturally not precisely datable, but it is estimated that they were made circa 1440.<br/> The three documents are from 1 January 1441 to July 1442, with the term "trionfi" first documented in February 1442. The provenance of the document from January 1441, which used the term "Trionfi" not, might be regarded as insecure, however, certain circumstances make it plausible, that it already was a deck of this developing type (same painter: Sagramoro, same commissioner: Leonello d'Este as in the document of February 1442); this is discussed on the site. After 1442, a longer pause (seven years) occurred without any confirming material, which doesn't give any reason to assume a greater distribution of the game in these years.<br/> Till this time all relevant early documents point to an origin of the Trionfi cards (later Tarocchi cards) in the upper class of the society in Italy, and specifically to the courts of Milan and Ferrara. At the time, these were the most exclusive courts of their time in Europe. The number of existing decks might have been quite small. The game seems to gain in importance in the year 1450 - a Jubilee year in Italy, which saw many festivities and traffic of pilgrims.<br/> The following frequent documentary evidence of the decks in the period from 1450 to 1463 is documented on the Web at the same place.<br/> In the given context, it's obvious that the special motifs on the trumps, which were added to normal playing cards with a usual 4x14-structure, were ideologically determined. They have been thought to show a specific system that could transport messages of different content; known early examples show philosophical, social, poetical, astronomical and heraldic ideas, for instance, as well as a group of old Roman/Greek/Babylonian heroes that could serve as content as in the case of the Sola-Busca-Tarocchi and the Boiardo Tarocchi poem.<br/> For example, the above-mentioned earliest-known deck, extant only in its description in Martiano's short book, was produced to show a Greek gods system (an ideological idea at a time when Greek content was taken in Italy with some enthusiasm). Very likely its production accompanied a triumphal festivity of the commissioner Filippo Maria Visconti, which means the deck had the concrete function of expressing and consolidating the political power in Milan (as common for the time also in other productions of art). The 4 suits showed birds, which appeared regularly in common Visconti-heraldic, and the used specific order of the gods gives reason to assume, that the deck partly should focus, that the Visconti identified themselves as descendants from Jupiter and Venus (which were - as in this time usual - seen not as gods, but as heroes, which were deified once).<br/> This first known deck seems to have had the usual 10 number cards, but kings only and only 16 trumps - the later standard (4x14 + 22) wasn't settled and still in 1457 a document is known, which speaks of Trionfi decks with 70 cards only . Till the Boiardo Tarocchi poem (produced at an unknown date between 1461 and 1494) and the Sola Busca Tarocchi (1491) any confirming evidence for the final standard form with all 78 cards is missing.<br/> Individual researchers' opinions formulate cause these facts in the current moment, that the Trionfi decks of the early time had mostly 5x14 cards only and that the row of trumps and fool were simply considered as a 5th suit with predefined trump-function.<br/> The oldest surviving Tarot cards are three early to mid-15th century sets, all made for members of the Visconti family, rulers of Milan. The oldest of these existing Tarot decks was perhaps painted to celebrate a mid-15th century wedding joining the ruling Visconti and Sforza families of Milan, probably painted by Bonifacio Bembo and other miniaturists of the Ferrara school. Of the original cards, 35 are in the Pierpont Morgan Library, 26 cards are at the Accademia Carrara, 13 are at the Casa Colleoni, 4 cards (the Devil, the Tower, the Three of Swords, and the Knight of Coins) being lost or possibly never made. This "Visconti-Sforza" deck, which has been widely reproduced in varying quality, combines the suits of Swords, Staves, Coins and Cups, and face cards King, Queen, Knight and Page with trumps that reflect conventional iconography of the time to a significant degree.<br/> For a long time Tarot cards remained privileged to the upper class of society. The Roman Catholic Church and most civil governments did not routinely condemn tarot cards during tarot's early history. In fact, in some jurisdictions, tarot cards were specifically exempted from laws otherwise prohibiting regular playing cards. However, some sermons inveighing against the evil inherent in cards can be traced to the 14th century.<br/> As the earliest Tarot cards were hand-painted, the number of the produced decks is considered to have been rather small. Only after the invention of the printing press mass production of cards became possible. Decks from this era survive from various cities in France at various times (the best known in this context being the city of Marseille, in southern France) perhaps from the early 16th century, though actual surviving examples are no earlier than the 17th century. At around the same time, the name "Tarocchi" appeared.<br/> A general farspread, now traditional, hypothesis stated that the final form of the Tarot with a (4x14)+22 structure was settled ca. 1450. This opinion is based on the suggestion, that the surviving 68 Bembo cards had in the "6 added trumps" only replacements for earlier "lost cards". An alternative view states that early Tarot decks would usually have 70 cards, and that the deck by Bonifacio Bembo only has two cards missing. Of worth for the situation of the development is the Tarot History Fact Sheet, which was composed on the base of the common ground of various researchers.<br/> <br/> Esoteric Views on the History of Tarot<br/> Since 1781, when Antoine Court de Gebelin published his "Le Monde Primatif", in which he claimed Tarot cards held the "secrets of the Egyptians", without producing any evidence to sustain his claims, Tarot cards have been written about by many esoterians who have advanced speculative views on the history of Tarot cards. From this mystical vantage-point, the origin and history of the Tarot is unclear and often idealized.<br/> Many Hermetic traditions, such as the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, which have made claims that the Tarot system was derived from ancient mystery religions as a visually encoded framework of the archetypal concepts seminal to the journey of enlightenment, have blossomed after the freemasonic writer (Court de Gebelin)- with link to the online text in French) published his text about the Tarot, in which he incorporated some writing of the Comte de Mellet, in the year 1781.<br/> Naturally the playing card research conditions of the year 1781 were not remotely comparable to the much better research situation of today, Gebelin's errors and partly wild speculations, which proved nonetheless of some importance for the development of Western Esotericism, were natural in his time because of missing information. A good and informative timeline of the development short before and after Gebelin is given by the book author Mary Greer.<br/> The Hermetics were quick to point out that in a qabalistic analysis, Tarot is equivalent to Rota (Wheel) or Tora (Law) indicating they were a representation of the 'Wheel of the Law'. (Note that this theory, which tries to explain the name "Tarot", loses its value when one considers that "Tarot" is only the French variant on the original Italian name "tarocchi".)<br/> In less obtuse terms, the Tarot would then be a series of metaphysical 'facts' after the manner of the Zen Ox Paintings. From the first to the last of the Major Arcana ("Big Secrets") they are arranged as a series of lessons, or a parable of the passage of the soul. From the "Fool" 0, the tabula rasa, naive and artless child-mind, a quest is laid out which is meant for the spiritual edification of the student.<br/> A number of scholars of the western Hermetic or Magical traditions have made such claims of the Tarot having ancient roots and lessons. Look to the works of Robert Fludd or Albertus Magnus for deeper inspections. Another school of thought believes that the Roma people, travelling through many cultures, picked up this pictorial wisdom, and being inventive by nature, created a form of divination (and perhaps of card games) from it. The idea is that they understood and kept the knowledge of the mystery-lessons of the picture-cards in private, while in public they used the cards for profit through divination and card games.<br/> <br/> Use of Tarot Cards in Divination<br/> Since the Egyptianizing ruminations in Le Monde primitif by Antoine Court de Gebelin (1781) which soon inspired the occultism of "Etteilla" (Jean-Babtiste Alliette), it has been believed by many that the Tarot is far older than this. Based on purported similarities of imagery and reinforced by the added numbering, some claim that Tarot originated in ancient Egypt, Hebrew mystic tradition of the Kabbalah, or a wide variety of other exotic places and times. Such ideas, however, are speculative.<br/> In fact, although much of Tarot imagery looks mysterious or exotic to modern users, nearly all of it reflects conventional symbolism popular in the late Middle Ages and early Renaissance. Nearly all of it may easily be interpreted as a reflection of the dominant Christian values of the times. Thus, the earliest Tarots may have been depictions of the carnival parades that ushered in the Christian season of Lent or the related motif of hierarchical powers found in Petrarch's poem I Trionfi. These trionfi or triumphs were elaborate productions which layered then-fashionable Graeco-Roman symbolism over a Christian allegory of sin, grace, and redemption. Notably, the earliest versions of the World card show a conventional image known from period religious art to represent St. Augustine's "Heavenly City", and it is not coincidence that it often closely follows the Judgement card.<br/> Several other early Tarot-like sequences of portable art survive to place the Visconti deck in context. Later confusion about the symbolism stems, in part, from the occult decks, which began a process of steadily paganizing and universalizing the symbolism to the point where the underlying Christian allegory has been somewhat obscured (as, for example, when the Rider-Waite deck of the early Twentieth Century changed "The Pope" to "The Hierophant" and "The Popess" to "The High Priestess"). It is notable that between 1450 and 1500 the Tarot was actually recommended for the instruction of the young by Church moralists. Not until fifty years after the Visconti deck did it become associated with gambling, and not until the 18th century and Gebelin and Etteilla with occultism.<br/> The Tarot cards eventually came to be associated with mysticism and magic. This was actually a late rather than early development, as we can tell from period sources on card divination and magic. The Tarot was not widely adopted by mystics, occultists and secret societies until the 18th and 19th century. The tradition began in 1781, when Antoine Court de Gebelin, a Swiss clergyman and Freemason, published Le Monde Primitif, a speculative study which included religious symbolism and its survivals in the modern world.<br/> De Gebelin first asserted that symbolism of the Tarot de Marseille asserted represented the mysteries of Isis and Thoth.<br/> Gebelin further claimed that the name "tarot" came from the Egyptian words tar, meaning "royal", and ro, meaning "road", and that the Tarot therefore represented a "royal road" to wisdom. Gebelin asserted these and similar views dogmatically; he presented no clear factual evidence to substantiate his claims.<br/> In addition, Gebelin wrote before Champollion had deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphs. Later Egyptologists found nothing in the Egyptian language that supports de Gebelin's fanciful etymologies, but these findings came too late; by the time authentic Egyptian texts were available, the identification of the Tarot cards with the Egyptian "Book of Thoth" was already firmly established in occult practice.<br/> Although tarot cards were used for fortune-telling in Bologna, Italy in the 1700s, they were first widely publicized as a divination method by Alliette, also called "Etteilla", a French occultist who reversed the letters of his name and worked as a seer and card diviner shortly before the French Revolution.<br/> Etteilla designed the first esoteric Tarot deck, adding astrological attributions and "Egyptian" motifs to various cards, altering many of them from the Marseille designs, and adding divinatory meanings in text on the cards. Etteilla decks, although now eclipsed by Smith and Waite's fully-illustrated deck and Aleister Crowley's "Thoth" deck, remain available. Later Marie-Anne Le Normand popularized divination and prophecy during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte. This was due, in part, to the influence she wielded over Josephine de Beauharnais, Napoleon's first wife. However, she did not typically use Tarot.<br/> Interest in Tarot by other occultists came later, during the Hermetic Revival of the 1840s in which (among others) Victor Hugo was involved. The idea of the cards as a mystical key was further developed by Eliphas Levi and passed to the English-speaking world by The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn.<br/> Levi, not Etteilla, is considered by some to be the true founder of most contemporary schools of Tarot; his 1854 Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie (English title: Transcendental Magic) introduced an interpretation of the cards which related them to Kabbalah.<br/> While Levi accepted Court de Gebelin's claims about an Egyptian origin of the deck symbols, he rejected Etteilla's innovations and his altered deck, and devised instead a system which related the Tarot, especially the Tarot de Marseille, to the Kabbalah and the four elements of alchemy. On the other hand, to this day some of Etteilla's divinatory meanings for Tarot are still used by some Tarot practitioners.<br/> Tarot became increasingly popular beginning in 1910, with the publication of the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, which took the step of including symbolic images related to divinatory meanings on the numeric cards. (Arthur Edward Waite had been an early member of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn). In the 20th century, a huge number of different decks were created, some traditional, some vastly different. Thanks, in part, to marketing by the publisher U.S. Games Systems, the Rider-Waite-Smith deck has been extremely popular in the English-speaking world beginning in the 1970s. <br/> <br/> Below are each of the 4 suits - how they correspond to our 'playing cards' - their element - what they symbolize.<br/> <br/> The Suit of Wands - Clubs - Fire - Creative<br/> <br/> The realm of spirit - represents ideas, they are the primary seed or original idea and the primary element of growth. When we see wands in a reading, they point to ideas, ambition and growth. So when this is understood, we apply the number of the card to this understanding in a reading.<br/> <br/> The Suit of Cups - Hearts - Water - Emotions<br/> <br/> The realm of mental - this is the next step towards manifesting the idea. It is the link to the next step in the order of things. When we see the Cups in a reading, they point to desires and feelings, that inner experience that only we are aware of and may not show as outward manifestation.<br/> <br/> The Suit of Swords - Spades - Air - Intellect<br/> <br/> The realm of astral - represents the action. The focused intent to bring forth manifestation. Often times the swords indicate struggles as it is difficult to bring an idea into reality. When we see the suit of swords in a reading, they point to action and struggle before the final outcome.<br/> <br/> The Suit of Pentacles - Diamonds - Earth<br/> <br/> Realm of the physical or material, element of earth) represents the actual outcome of the matter. It is true manifestation into the material plane, the product of ones labors. When we see the suit of pentacles in a reading, they point to realization, and manifestation. <br/> <br/> Symbolism<br/> <br/> The Tarot has a complex and rich symbolism with a long history. Such history is not impenetrable. Contrary to what many popular authors claim, its origins are not lost in the mists of time. In fact, much of the fog around the symbolism can be dispelled if one studies sources other than occultists with a vested interest in the occult interpretation of Tarot. We will do some dispelling further on; in the meantime, the most important thing to note is that modern, occult readings of the cards often have little to do with their meaning in their original context.<br/> <br/> Some people find that modern Tarot decks are more interesting, expressive, and psychologically resonant than their ancestors. Interpretations have evolved together with the cards over the centuries: later decks have "clarified" the pictures in accordance with meanings assigned to the cards by their creators. In turn, the meanings come to be modified by the new pictures. Images and interpretations have been continually reshaped, in part, to help the Tarot live up to its mythic role as a powerful occult instrument and to respond to modern needs.<br/> <br/> We can know more about the symbolic intentions of the designer here, since he conveniently wrote many books on the subject on occultism and symbolism and a handbook specifically for this deck titled The Pictorial Key to the Tarot (1910). As with its Marseille-deck ancestor, the Strength trump shows a woman holding the jaws of a lion, but this picture is far more elaborate. The woman's hat of the Marseille card has frequently been interpreted as a lemniscate: the sideways-figure-eight representing infinity, or, according to Waite, the Spirit of Life. In the newer card, this symbol appears explicitly. Other symbols are included: a chain of roses symbolizing desire or passion, against a white robe symbolizing purity. The mountains in the background demonstrate another kind of strength. Even here there is room for interpretation: the card is sometimes considered as showing intellect triumphing over desire, sometimes as the equal union of intellect and passion, sometimes just as a symbol of mental strength or endurance.<br/> <br/> The twenty-two cards in the major arcana are: Fool, Magician, High Priestess [or La Papessa/Popess], Empress, Emperor, Hierophant [or Pope], Lovers, Chariot, Strength, Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Justice, Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, Devil, Tower, Star, Moon, Sun, Judgement, World. Each card has its own large, complicated and disputed set of meanings. Altogether the major arcana are frequently said to represent the Fool's journey: a symbolic journey through life in which the Fool overcomes obstacles and gains wisdom. This idea was apparently first suggested by tarot author Eden Gray in the mid-20th century.<br/> <br/> There is a vast body of writing on the significance of the Tarot. In many systems of interpretation based on that of the Golden Dawn, the four suits are associated with the four elements: Swords with air, Wands with fire, Cups with water and Pentacles with earth. The numerology is usually thought to be significant. The Tarot is often considered to correspond to various systems such as astrology, Pythagorean numerology, the Kabalah, the I Ching and others.<br/> <br/> Psychology<br/> <br/> Carl Jung was the first psychologist to attach importance to Tarot symbolism. He may have regarded the Tarot cards as representing archetypes: fundamental types of person or situation embedded in the subconscious of all human beings. The Emperor, for instance, represents the ultimate patriarch or father figure.<br/> <br/> The theory of archetypes gives rise to several psychological uses. Some psychologists use Tarot cards to identify how a client views himself or herself, by asking the patient to select a card that he or she identifies with. Some try to get the client to clarify his ideas by imagining his situation or relationship in terms of Tarot images: Is someone rushing in heedlessly like the Knight of Swords perhaps, or blindly keeping the world at bay as in the Rider-Waite-Smith Two of Swords? The Tarot can be seen as a kind of algebra of the subconscious, allowing it to be analysed at the conscious level. Like most "New Age" therapies, however, Tarot cards are not widely used by mainstream psychologists.<br/> <br/> Although Jung and Freud are still seen as important innovators, the majority of psychologists today are quite critical of many aspects of their theories. Moreover, there are no known university programs that teach this practice and there is no empirical evidence of therapeutic benefit. There are also no scientific papers published on their use in any professional journals. More likely, individuals who practice these "techniques" can be seen as being on the fringes of the field.<br/> <br/> Criticism<br/> <br/> Because of the association of Tarot cards with fortune telling, some religious groups oppose the use of Tarot cards. In some societies and religious belief systems, divination is forbidden based on religious or traditional teachings. As with many similar debates regarding lifestyles or religious practices, plenty of people can be found on both sides of the debate, supporting or condemning the reading of Tarot cards.<br/> <br/> Skeptics of the paranormal also express objections to "Tarot card readings" along with objections to psychics, astrology, and other claims of the supernatural, or claim tarot readers commit fraud by cold reading.<br/> <br/> Many enthusiasts of Tarot card games have objected to the widespread promotion of tarot cards primarily for divination or fortune-telling. They maintain that the more genuine purpose of the Tarot is for the playing of card games. To this, the card readers would stress that the benefits they claim to derive from divination are what is genuine regardless of the Tarot's origins or original purpose.</p> Knight of Discs by Countess Prax Tarottag:travelingwithintheworld.ning.com,2014-01-04:2185477:Topic:1931222014-01-04T01:43:22.614ZDept of PMM Artists & thingshttp://travelingwithintheworld.ning.com/profile/Artistsandthings
<div class="imageStage" id="imagestage"><img alt="" class="fbPhotoImage img" id="fbPhotoImage" src="https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/q82/s720x720/1534353_762789063751213_1203191876_n.jpg"></img></div>
<div class="imageStage"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" id="fbPhotoPageCaption"><span class="hasCaption">Knight of Discs, Husbandry. (Sacred Circle) First the definition of Husbandry: careful or thrifty management; frugality, thrift, or conservation/the management of domestic affairs or of resources generally. Usually the Knights mean action or movement, but this guy is different from the others - he is still, and quietly…</span></span></div>
<div id="imagestage" class="imageStage"><img class="fbPhotoImage img" id="fbPhotoImage" src="https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/q82/s720x720/1534353_762789063751213_1203191876_n.jpg" alt=""/></div>
<div class="imageStage"><span class="fbPhotosPhotoCaption" id="fbPhotoPageCaption"><span class="hasCaption">Knight of Discs, Husbandry. (Sacred Circle) First the definition of Husbandry: careful or thrifty management; frugality, thrift, or conservation/the management of domestic affairs or of resources generally. Usually the Knights mean action or movement, but this guy is different from the others - he is still, and quietly contemplating. He teaches us to be calm and gentle, with patie<span class="text_exposed_show">nce and tolerance. He sends a message of kindness to animals and children; and showing our love to all things pertaining to nature. The Knight tells us to pay attention to the mundane and "normal" parts of our lives. Now is not the time to overthrow the usual way of doing things. We could be in for some type of spiritual change, we just need to make sure this change is for the better. We shouldn't try to tackle all of our feelings in one sitting, we can break them down into manageble pieces. We need to come to know the source and meaning of our strength in life, and be prepared to face the unknown!</span></span></span></div>
<div class="imageStage"></div>