Imagine that you'd never heard of Tarot cards - learning from scratch

[Diana]

I was thinking that it would be nice to look at the Tarot cards with fresh eyes, with innocent eyes, with no preconceived ideas or systems. Maybe that's a good way to start out on one's Tarot journey. Making the Tarot yours before adding anything to it.

Imagine you've never heard of the Tarot and don't know therefore that Tarot cards can be used for divination and self-exploration. Someone gives you a pack of cards and tell you "each card has a meaning that can have a significance in your life or someone else's life. You just have to look at the card and interpret it. To answer the question by "reading" the card, as if it were a book". But there are no teachers, no-one to talk to and discuss with, no books and no internet (sounds a bit dystopian). Your task is to take each card one at a time and give some meaning to a question that someone asks you, for instance "What are my prospects in my new job ?"

You're welcome to join in the thread with any card from any deck.

I'll start with Le Bateleur from the Tarot of Marseilles. I am now now longer Marigold/Diana - I'm now... looking for a name.... let's say Anastasia.

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Anastasia begins :

I see a young man who looks like a kind of a conjurer, someone who does magic tricks for a living. He's got lots of little accessories on his wooden table. His attention isn't on what he's doing, he's looking to the side. It looks like he's distracted. He's got a magic wand or something and a little ball in his other hand. This makes me think that his big magic trick, the finale, maybe, will soon take place. Maybe he's looking to the side so that we won't see what he's doing - he's trying to distract US. Like all magicians do - they draw our attention to an action they're performing and all our attention is on it, so we miss how he does the actual trick. While we're looking to the side where he's looking, he does something with that wand and ball.

But as he is in the countryside, it doesn't look like there is anyone watching him. So for whom is he doing the magic trick ? Maybe he's just practicing. It looks a bit like he's in a desert. It looks like a cactus between his legs. The table doesn't look very stable. The legs look a bit wonky and they're painted blue. He's still got some stuff in his bag that he hasn't taken out yet.

He doesn't look poor, in fact he looks more like what in our days we would call someone from the upper middle class. Or else he's dressed up for the occasion but I don't think so. He looks very comfortable in his colourful outfit. He has a strange hat on his head. He looks quite peaceful and happy with himself.

Now my task apparently is to give a meaning to this card that could give some clues to the question : "What are my prospects in my new job?".

So as this guy is a magician of some sort, I would say that he will be able to manage very well in his job. But he will probably hoodwink his boss or superior a bit. He'd sort of pretend to work hard, but behind the scenes, he's doing something else. His concentration will not be on the job. But as he is a person who is adept at distracting people from reality, no-one will really notice. As he painted the work table legs blue, he gives the impression of someone who cares for detail and he has all those little accessories on his table to make people think he's busy and doing important stuff.

Now, I wonder whether I managed the task I was given. It wasn't easy (says Anastasia).

Well done ! Not bad for a start. We'll move on to another card another day.

[Diana]

Okay, now we’ll take another card. This time go into more detail. Don’t neglect any little thing that attracts your attention, however weird it may sound. Free your imagination. You can choose the card this time. Shuffle the deck and choose a card. “But how? Do I take the top card? The bottom card? Do I spread them out and choose one at random?” As there's no-one to inform my fictitious reader, Anastasia, she decides to choose the top card after shuffling.

This time the question you will have to answer is “What’s the situation regarding my health?”

Anastasia shuffles and decides to choose the card top. She turns it over. It’s the Hanged Man from the Grimaud Tarot of Marseilles.

LE PENDU grimaud.png (19.27 KiB) Viewed 705 times

I see a man hanging upside down from a tree with one foot by a rope. His legs are a very strange position for someone that is hanging and also his smock or shirt is not hanging as if it’s upside down. I’m going to turn him the right way round. Maybe I’m supposed to turn the card. But when I turn the card, the trees are all wrong (the branches that are cut off are facing in the wrong direction”). And also the rope has no purpose. So I’ll turn the card around again as it’s probably supposed to be.

The guy has blue hair. He’s quite a character.

His situation is absurd. He must be either drunk, or having a hallucination. Maybe he’s on drugs. His leg must be getting awfully sore but he looks quite calm and happy as if everything’s normal. I reckon he’s a bit mad.

And why does he have such a thick neck ??? (Marigold tells Anastasia that it’s great that she’s noticed the neck, but that this will be discussed in a separate thread one day on The Hanged Man).

Now I must answer the question which is “What’s the situation regarding my health?”.

Well I would say that maybe there are some mental health problems. The guy seems to have a really strange perception of the world around him. Or maybe he's got a drug addiction. Of course, with his leg being stretched like it is, maybe he’s got problems with his articulations, particularly in the legs. Also those branches that have been cut off, looks like the energy has been cut off. Maybe he’s got some blood deficiencies (the branches are red where they’re cut off).

But which option to choose ? Well, now although I said there's no teacher and no book, I'll give you a little nudge. Anastasia, all these options are possible. To know more, you’ll either have to ask the person who is asking the question for more information or some feedback (we call this person the Querent), or you’ll have to pull another card which will give you more answers. Sometimes one card is not sufficient.

You’re learning well and fast!!

[Diana]

The thread continues for the newbie who has no access to books nor teachers.

This time the card is called La Reyne d’Epée, which in French means Queen of Swords. The question that you are being asked to answer is for a male querent is : “I’m starting a new job next month. I would like to know how it will go.”

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Anastasia, the fictional newbie to Tarot begins. She’s starting to enjoy this.

I see a queen with a crown that’s not too heavy. Sometimes crowns are very heavy, but this one looks wearable. She’s sitting on her throne and it looks like she’s looking very intently at her sword which is red and that’s a bit odd because swords aren’t red normally. She seems to be quite far into pregnancy. She’s wearing an awful lot of clothes. Maybe she’s cold. I can’t really see any other details. Oh yes… she’s got long blond hair not very styled which is also a bit odd for a queen. Queens have hairdressers to look after their hair.

So now I need to answer the question “I’m starting a new job next month. I would like to know how it will go.” I think because the queen is pregnant, that means that the querent has a lot of things like skills to give to his job which he hasn’t yet had the opportunity to use. Also because the queen is looking so intently at her sword, I think this means that the querent is someone who doesn’t get distracted easily and keeps his mind on what he’s doing with purpose. The sword is red - it looks very sort of "active" as if it's just come out of the fire. The queen looks a bit cold with all her layers of clothes – the querent may find the place a bit cold and not so friendly and will feel the need to protect himself, maybe by putting on airs and graces in order to get accepted or to be respected. Oh… I think the job is a sitting one. When one is heavily pregnant, it’s tempting to want to sit all the time because one is a bit tired. The querent should make sure that he gets up sometimes during the day and takes a bit of exercice.

I think the job is quite a high up one with a lot of responsibility, because of the crown which is a symbol of authority. But it looks like the querent is well qualified for the job. The crown is not too heavy or bulky. But maybe he should get a nice haircut before going to look a bit smarter.

That’s all as a beginner I can see in this card relative to the question.

Not bad, Anastasia. These court cards as they are called in the Tarot are sometimes very tricky, even for advanced readers. So for a beginner, you've done a fine job !

[Diana]

So now I'm thinking that if one is exploring the Tarot all by one's little self, there are a few very useful things to do.

1) Look at the name and the number.
2) Is the person on the card male or female and does this have a relevance to the numbers ? (hmmm.. it would seem a crash course in basic number symbolism would also be required - but that's not possible here. No books, no internet you see. But nevertheless, the numbers will have to be approached in some way.)
3) Where are the person/s on the card ? At the top, bottom, right, left ?
4) Are there any animals on the card ? What are they doing there ?
5) Where are the people looking - to the right ? left ? straight ahead ?
6) Are the people static or moving ?
7) What about the clothes ? Anything of interest ?
8) Do you see anything similar on two or more different cards ?

Things like that.

[Diana]

3 OF SWORDS

Now I’m going to continue discovering the Tarot with fresh eyes, with the help of the fictitious Anastasia.

Now we’re going to go to a different level. This time, the card will seem perhaps at first more enigmatic. The card is one of what is called a Minor. Sometimes people refer to these as pips. And it’s very odd, these pips from the deck you’re using (which is called a Tarot of Marseilles) some people refer to them as “unillustrated” pips, which is incorrect because there are lots of things on these cards. Just not people or animals or landscapes.

The question you will have to answer is the following “What kind of obstacles will I encounter during my final year of university?”

Anastasia shuffles and this time doesn’t take the top card but chooses one randomly from the middle of the deck. It’s the Three of Swords from the Kris Hadar’s Véritable Tarot de Marseille. (Sorry, I can't seem to make it upright in spite of numerous efforts but if you click it it turns upright.)

You’re kidding me, says Anastasia. How can I read THAT ?? As she gets no answer, she sighs and starts observing the card.

So there is one sword in the middle. It’s upright and has a red handle. It’s not a run of the mill sword, it has a handsome red hilt with a fancy knob at the bottom. But it’s not a real fancy sword. A bit above average I’d say.

Then there are two other sword-like weapons on either side. Are they scimitars? No, I don’t think scimitars look like that, but they do remind me of something. I’ll have to google sword-like weapons when I get the internet back. Anyway, I’ll call them scimitars until I find out what they are. They seem black at first glance, or rather the black stands out a lot, but are actually full of colours. On the left are 4 red sort of bands and on the right there are four blue ones. Right at the bottom and the top, green replaces the black and in the middle from it's yellow instead of black. Now these two scimitars are very handsome indeed. The sword is in very elegant company.

And about that sword, its top point is at the same height as the top of the scimitars. It’s a long sword and it reaches up behind the scimitars as if it’s piercing through them. But it only just pierces.

And there are also four flowers, blue, yellow and red in each corner. But they must be dried flowers. They don’t have any stem to attach themselves to anything. They sort of look a bit forlorn.

Now I have to answer that question ““What kind of obstacles will I encounter during the final year of university?”

This is hard. But let’s go. As I saw that the flowers may be dried flowers or anyway on the way to dying this seems to be some kind of obstacle. So it seems that there will be a lack of some kind of “nourishment”. Maybe a lack of communication or just misunderstandings. Yes, rather misunderstandings. Lack of communication would be more serious than just dried out flowers. The card looks on the whole very positive. Strong I would say.

That Sword is almost triumphant because it’s managed to reach higher than the scimitars (but it has had to go BEHIND them to do this), but not fully triumphant because it seems to have to have made quite an effort to do this as if it had to do things sort of behind the scenes to get to where it wanted. It only just reaches through though - it's triumphant but not OVERLY triumphant.

The scimitars in their round shape seem to sort of protect it though, but it’s funny, it almost looks like a protection that is a bit stifling.

I think that your obstacles for your final year of study will be that you will be having some communication difficulties with the people monitoring your final year. You may feel a bit stifled because some of your novel ideas which you really believe in and want to work on will not be accepted as readily as you want to. And you won’t be getting the support you wished for and some of your potential (the flowers) and the research you want to do seem to be in jeopardy.

As there is only a LITTLE bit of the Sword piercing behind the scimitars, I would say that you will have to compromise a bit here. Not too much, but it will be enough to get through. Be a bit devious if necessary (you do pierce through the scimitars behind them, not in front). I don’t think you’ll be able to move that stifling atmosphere that surrounds you due to the shape the scimitars take. Academia can be very unmoving and you alone can’t move that mountain. They're protecting their world and they're mightier than you. Their intentions are not evil or bad though. They do want you to get through.

There that’s all. How did I do ?

Anastasia gets no answer so she draws a card from the Major Arcana as she’s figured now that one can ask the Tarot all sorts of questions : The Hanged Man.

[Diana]

Anastasia wants to know why she got the Hanged Man to show how well she did in the 3 of Swords reading. Not very encouraging she thinks. She gets a hint this time : why did you immediately jump to the conclusion that it was communication problems ? Are you clutching at straws ? But the rest wasn't bad at all.

So Anastasia goes off to ponder and hopes to do better next time.