Cult of Tarot Forum

This is the deck by Caroline Smith. It’s copyright 1988, so an early example of the modern tarot renaissance. I’ve had it on my shelf for years (maybe not since 1988 . . . ), but have never actually tried to read with it.

It’s full of added on symbols. The majors have prominent keywords, astro symbols, and quotes from the Gnostic poem, “Thunder, Perfect Mind” https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontlin ... under.html. The minors have keywords related to their element, “Lightning,” “Ocean,” “Fruits,” and god and goddess names, as well as astro assignments, symbols that represent their numbers, and what looks like Egyptian hieroglyphics. Courts are Daughter, Son, Mother, Father. Whew! I’ll definitely have to look at the (cute small hardback) book for the god and goddesses, I have no clue on those. The astro assignments definitely aren’t GD because they are two planets each.

But most of all, they have Caroline Smith’s wonderful simple but powerful artwork. I look forward to exploring the deck this week.

Lots of shuffling and then on to the interview. The cards are large, and the information is dense, so the short version interview this time.



Deck’s strength: Father of Water
It looks like from the tattwa symbols, fathers are air, and sons are fire, daughters are water, and mothers are earth. So Father of Water is air of water. He’s also Jupiter and north node. As a strength, the combination of air and water is just right for a tarot deck, lots of information, learning, and symbols, along with openings for intuition and feeling. The illustration shows the water of intuition (full of little fishies) flowing from the father’s head, and the descending dove of understanding as his scepter. According to the book, Tarquam is the angel of autumn, Libra as an air sign?

Deck’s weakness: 3 of Fire, Beacon
A beacon is fire put to use as a communication device. Perhaps the weakness is over-communicating, too much symbolism not letting the card speak for itself. Although the planets on the side are Sun and Jupiter, Sun is obviously more important here. I like the three fire triangles highlighting the sexuality of the woman. Her allure shines like a beacon. Shamash is a Mesopotamian sun god.

What can I learn from this deck: 14 Peace
Sorry, but for a tarot studier like me, this card is a hot mess! It’s 14, so Peace is an alternate to Temperance, which might be ok. But the keyword is Justice, and the quote mentions judgment!!! (In this deck card 11 (Justice) is Law, keyword System.) So maybe what I need to learn from the deck is to be open and learn its alternate system; give it a chance. The planets are Venus and Midheaven. It seems to illustrate Peace as divine consolation for tears, perhaps guilt. An eagle-headed white angel with colorful wings comforts two kneeling, weeping grey figures. Their tears water roses; their grief nurtures. I think of guilt because the quote is about judgment and acquittal, and the keyword Justice, so instead of Peace, it could be Mercy. None of which has much to do with Temperance as either moderation or joining of opposites, except the duality and similarity of the male and female figures being comforted. Another thing I’ve learned is people really don’t know what Temperance means!

Outcome of our work together: 9 of Air, Thunder
The title is Thunder, but the illustration is more like rain and rainbow. But with the black cloud beneath, I guess it’s if you want rain and a rainbow, sometimes you have to have thunder first. Or you might be scared of thunder, but in the end there’s nourishing rain and maybe a rainbow. Is that a dead animal below? Or maybe he’s hunkering down in a storm with no shelter. The planets are Uranus and Pluto. Jumala is the Finnish god of thunder. So what I’ll find from working with this deck is that it seems like too much to deal with at first, but it will soften and open my learning and intuition.

Wow, such an interesting deck! I look forward to more. I might end up just doing one card a day so I can really dig in, but we’ll see. Have a happy week ahead!

Monday
Card of the day




14 Peace, 6 of Fire, Torch

Well, I got 14 Peace again, which I talked about some yesterday, so I drew the next card, too.

The verse on 14 Peace is “I am the judgement, and I am the acquittal.” As I said yesterday, it seems like the idea of this card is peace and comfort for guilty or unjustly accused people. The temperance idea could be the happy medium between justice and mercy. But the words really jumped out at me today, and I see, “No justice, no peace.” And today that doesn’t mean mercy, that means appropriate and swift justice against those acting against the peace. I know a little about Venus and not much about Midheaven. Together, they mean ambition and drive tempered (!) by care and concern for people.

6 of Fire, Torch
This obviously is the victory card, with Nike herself. The person sports a winner’s laurel crown. Not sure what the sphynx is doing here. Oh, the book says it’s just a lion for strength and ferocity, king of the beasts. Jupiter and Pluto are for leadership and the darker aspects of power.

The cards together are trying to encourage me that justice, and peace, will triumph. My desire for punishment might not be met perfectly, but the perpetrators will see some kind of justice, and the relative peace of an open society will be restored.

Have a very happy Monday!

Tuesday card of the day



6 of Water, Oasis
An oasis is a place of relief and rest in the midst of struggle. So I hope today is an oasis for me! I’ve started watching the news again, and it was probably a bad decision. Fear is creeping into my dreams again. So I’ll take an oasis instead. Here the moon and the lake reflect and reach out to each other, both beneficial to the palm trees and the people who rest under them. I’m not sure what the circle in between them is. The book says it’s a symbol of the circle of life and death. Book: “Erzulie is the Haitian goddess of love and dreams.” This is one I knew! Moon and Neptune together give us a quite watery card, appropriate for 6 of Water. The moon makes me think of the cool night of the oasis after the uncomfortable heat of the dessert day.

So for today, I will be able to cool my heated fears and worries, at least partially by enjoying the refreshment that nature and life give me today.

I think I'm getting the hang of this deck now! The test will be tomorrow's new moon reading with 6 cards! Have a happy Tuesday!

Wednesday
New moon in Capricorn, Cold Moon, Hibernation



Well, I’m stymied. This totally looks like a relationship reading, but that wouldn’t apply to me. And there’s a whole lotta water here. Remember in this deck Daughter is water, not earth. I guess I’ll just have to work my way through it with some non-traditional interps!

Me: 6 Choice, Passion
I guess I have a choice as to how I relate to my boundaries and energies. Somehow “Whatever I will happens to me” seems more like a warning than an affirmation. More like be careful what you wish for. On the other hand, I have been trying and being more successful at figuring out what it is I really want in this life. You can’t get what you want unless you know what you want. I think I’m slowly beginning to make the choices of what my passion truly is.

What is my relationship to my boundaries? 15 Devil, Desire
Maybe too attached to my boundaries! I’ve always been very cautious, and I have the added attraction of once bitten, twice shy. I kind of feel like wanting anything out of the ordinary is just a disaster waiting to happen. “I am the slave of him who prepared me.” I’m not going back to being a slave to any “him,” I’ll tell you that much!

What layers need to be added? 10 of Water, Coastal Water
Coastal water makes me think of how the ocean waves come up and go back, and the tides go in and out, but the ocean is always there. And how you get so used to the sound of the ocean that you only notice it when you go away and it’s gone. I think I need to add a trust in constancy that’s there underneath change. Things may seem scary and different, but there’s always a base of reality that doesn’t change. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

What energy am I surrounding myself with? Daughter of Water
Water energy! I’m reading this as a Queen of Cups, so I’m surrounding myself with feelings and intuition. Which is ok as far as it goes, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing, especially for this Cancer sun.

How can I preserve my energy? 6 of Earth, Harvest
I can preserve my energy by giving it away. I have plenty of everything I need, and thus I need to be generous. But also don’t squander it. At the harvest, you store away what you need for the rest of the year.

The message in the stillness: 2 of Water, Spring
This card is saying, yes, this reading is about relationships. Pay attention! The sun and moon symbols are on both Choice and this card to represent the man and woman. The positions are switched; woman on the right is now woman on the left. The message is there are such things as equal, open, caring relationships. Don’t despair of it yet. But I’m thinking maybe they’re only for young people . . .. But then again, older people like me who have experienced what can go wrong are better equipped to avoid that!

Well, definitely something I didn’t expect today. I really like how this deck puts a different spin on, well, everything!

Happy month ahead, everyone!

Thursday
Why the Who is in the What



1 of Water, Fountain; Father of Air; 8 of Air, Cloud; Pope, Belief

In the emotional realm, I need to think it through and talk about it. Father of Air is air of air so kind of a disconnect with emotions. But the pure water of the ace and the pure air of the father combine into a cloud, which can bring either sun or rain. (Grasping at straws here!) Traditional customs and morality can come to the rescue here. If I truly don’t know what to do or how to act, I can do what’s expected, or what’s the right thing to do.

The verse on the Pope is “I am sinless, and the root of all sin derives from me.” This is the Confucian idea that if there were no rules, there would be no rule-breakers. Writing down laws creates criminals. I don’t think I really agree with that. I think some things are wrong, and if people can’t figure that out or follow it, we need to have laws. The pope is separating the sheep from the goats. He decides who is a sinner and who isn’t. He has the power to cause someone to fall into punishment. Especially if you believe in him.

According to the book:
Sin is Babylonian moon god.
Byelbog, Chernobog are Slavic gods of day and night.
Caracasa is the angel of spring.

Well, that was not very productive, but we got to see more interesting cards! Have a happy day!

Friday card of the day



6 of Earth, Harvest
I had this one already in a previous reading, but I’m going to stick with such an auspicious card! The corn, the abundance of the harvest, means there is plenty for everyone. The grain goddess opens her hands and pours forth bounty. The moon is at her heart and the sun is on her hands. Venus and Jupiter, pleasure and good fortune. According to the book, Akka is the Finnish goddess of harvest.

Random cats have been hanging out in my yard for a while now. I had assumed they’re neighbors’ cats just making their rounds. But recently one of them is sleeping through the night (I think) at the foot of a tree in my yard. And they’ve been some pretty cold nights. So I don’t know if it has a home to go to or not. So I started feeding it (I think it’s a her) yesterday. (My cat won’t eat the dry food I have for her anyway!) This morning another of the yard cats was sleeping near the first at the foot of the tree! So I put out a larger portion of food this morning, and they both ate some of it. So now I have 2 outdoor cats! Or at least I’m lady bountiful to 2 cats. Next step is probably putting together a box with some blankets for them to sleep in. I’ll work on that today. So it’s a reading for cats! I guess I’m finally taking responsibility for what’s literally going on in my back yard.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Saturday, last day for Elemental Tarot
Card of the day



10 of Water, Coastal Water
I had this one before, also.
Before I dig into the symbols, I’ll take this as a good sign for today. I’m going to lunch with my friends. Don’t tell my son. He would not approve of breaking quarantine like this. But I think we can be careful enough. And we don’t do it all the time. 10 of water is group happiness. We will really be happy to meet up, and nothing will stand in the way of that.

On the beach under a full moon, a woman with hair like water is reclining like a sphynx with a grimacing snake. Ah, instead of group or community for 10, this deck goes for end of a cycle, implying that hidden emotions are going to or need to burst out. The book says the snake’s poison can both harm and heal. Neptune and Pluto make sense then, very interior and emotional. Njord is the Nordic god of sea and sailing.

I hope my friends and I are able to relieve some suppressed emotions with each other for support, not something that will cause negative feelings between us. My horoscope for today is all about not being too rigid in my ideas, so I think I need to remember to not talk so much and listen more.

I’ll be back with a really different deck tomorrow for next week. Have a happy weekend!