#divination faq

[upyrica]

hello red i was wondering what you thought of the argument that seems to go round and round that the tarot is only good for giving say, spiritual lessons, and cannot tell the future

That it is factually incorrect.

[upyrica]

Hello! Have some deck questions if you feel like answering random anons: What decks do you have? Do you use them all equally? (I find i tend to stick to one for long periods of time and neglect the rest.) Do you have a favourite? How did you get them? How do you chose a new one?

Ah, of course, you may always ask.

I have accumulated about twenty-five or so decks in the six years that I have been actively practicing - I am somewhat of a collector,  with the condition that all tools I keep are usable to me. As such, I am picky with the ones in my possession, and they are occasionally gifted to those friends of mine for whom they would be a better fit. I had a deck list somewhere on my blog, but I am certain it desperately needs updating.

As I said, I do use all of my decks, however, there tend to be about five or so that I prefer at a given time. At the moment they are the Morgan-Greer Tarot, the Golden Tarot, Rana George Lenormand, and, as I am currently actively learning the system, a Tarot de Marseille. It is hardly an unbreakable rule; should I feel drawn to something else, such my choice shall be.

The tricky part of my deck collecting is that I am not allowed, by my own decision, to purchase them myself. It is a matter of personal discipline rather than superstition, and is also the reason I every so often point to my wishlist. I am deeply grateful to all who choose to show their appreciation in that manner. As for what ends up on that list or otherwise on my shelf, it is entirely a matter of aesthetic preference and intuition. I must enjoy the deck and be able to picture myself use it.

[upyrica]

How are lenormand cards different than tarot in terms of the answers they give? Are they suited for different kinds of questions or subjects? And a more general divination (my fingers kept writing dickination for some reason) question: how important do you think phrasing is when posing your question/how careful are you with it?

How different, ah. Lenormand, in my experience, is more straightforward. It is what it is. You can use both for a variety of questions, whether you are exploring deeper matters or your current situation, or telling fortunes, as long as you know how to work with the tool you chose, from what perspective it answers. The tarot often gives you the bones of the situation which you dress in meat, lenormand tends to provide the meat, but you may have to ask for the bones separately. Note the emphasis on the tendency and possibility: it all comes down to how a deck works with you, what you enjoy, what you understand better, what matters to you. It would be unfair to look at them as too different. Both are divination systems built upon a playing card deck, one just got tinkered with by big name occultists a little more.

Now, there is little room for opinion in the matter of wording. The cards will answer exactly what is asked - which is why it is important to be honest, precise, and thoughtful about what you wish to know. Discuss it with your reader; a useful answer starts with asking the right question. You do not have to be careful, - keep that approach for when you are choosing your wording for a spell, - but you do have to know what you want out of the experience.

[upyrica]

Hi! I'm fairly new to tarot but I have a question- what helped you learn the meanings of all the cards? I have to use a book or the internet when I read and I want to move past that but there are so many cards and I can't find a pattern to the meanings that would help me learn them

Well, firstly, there are a few ways to organise the meanings - by element, by established symbolism of items and colours, by numerology, that is looking into both the number and the common themes in the cards of the same number across the suits, by quality where that does not apply - say, what the kings stand for, the pages, and so on. A method I am enjoying on my Marseille journey is the association of the cards from one to ten with the appropriate Major Arcana archetypes. Then, of course, you may and, indeed, should be guided by your intuition.

All that said, what truly helped and still does help me learn is observation. Draw a card, look into your impression, book meanings, and the reasoning behind said meanings, and pay attention to how it applies to the situation or day. The tarot being a reflection of life, such is the only way to gain true divinatory understanding: use your deck.

[upyrica]

Tarot: The Open Reading by Yoav Ben-Dov remains the best book on the tarot, regardless of style, I have encountered to date.

His website dedicated to the subject also includes some free to use downloads, including the full restored Marseille deck with which the book is specifically concerned, and which you may print out yourself as well as purchase.

[upyrica]

Uhm... I tried googling this but came out empty, and since you are taking questions, I'll provide. Which is the difference beyond... Own preference, between lenormand and Marseille tarot cards for divination? I might be saying some awfully wrong things but cards are not my thing exactly.

Oh dear, this question may be approached from at least three angles that I can think of immediately. 

First of all,  there is a technical difference between the tarot and lenormand system in general. A tarot deck is one consisting of five suits: Major Arcana, which is the twenty-two archetypes or symbolic characters, and Wands, Coins, Swords, and Cups, originated in Renaissance Italy. A Marseilles tarot deck is one where the pips are not fully illustrated, and instead depict a number of items of the respective suit. Now, despite the association with playing cards, a lenormand pack as such does not have suits. What it does have is thirty-six symbolic images derived from popular a few hundred years ago Game of Hope: as the game went out of fashion, the deck was republished and marketed mostly for divination, which is where, in all likelihood, it takes its association with Mlle. Lenormand. The Primal Lenormand, a deck that is available now and which I have the pleasure to own, is a reprinting of the first known deck of the lenormand type, still at the time, in 1799, generally used for leisurely games - the images contain, alongside the pictures of Flowers, Clover, Mice, Bear, Cross, the Rider, and so forth, two types of playing cards, making it possible to entertain oneself with games that require them.

Second, looking into purely playing card divination, I find that, despite the division into suits, the traditional meanings have little to do with the tarot. It is an oracle in itself, promising long, late night journeys, drinking, and visits to  wealthy homes. Simply put, it is a different system that was - and is, - used mostly for the purposes of old-fashioned fortune telling. If I may be shameless for the purposes of education, I recently created a post providing some of the interpretations in question, noting, for the sake of comparison, the appropriate lenormand cards, which do differ; the list is to be followed by the rest shortly.

Lastly, in my experience, while both may be used for just about anything, lenormand  cards work best with events, thoughts, and actions - the observable surface and worldly happenings. The tarot as presented in the current day rather tends towards deeper motivations and tendencies, as well as their reflections in the world around.

I hope this answers your question.

[upyrica]

How can I get better at tarot? I feel like I never draw cards because I never know what to ask...

The answer is in your very question, then - practice it is. Draw cards daily, be it in the morning or at night, do readings for the week or a month ahead or an event you are to be attending, use your cards as an aid in deep introspection or outfit choice, read for your friends, establishments, places or for, say, YouTube storytimes. My favourite exercises of late are to ask the cards what unexpected event shall happen during the week and exploring true crime through them, the latter being, I understand, not for everyone.

The second element to it is observation: now that you have the answer of your divination tool, you are to see how it is reflected in the world.

[upyrica]

Do you have a particularly favorite way you learned to read lenormand? I know the basic meanings per card, but not as much for the method the cards are pulled. Thank you darling ♥️

The more I am asked questions on the matter of learning divination,  the more I am tempted to say life taught me and naught more. Truthfully, much like with vehicles, as I was put in the driver’s seat, explained how to start the thing, and told to drive; divination is more akin to a conversation, but the same principle - learn the basics, practice, and observe, - tends to apply. After all, divination is there to provide information, nothing more and nothing less.

Now, what you are curious about, I suppose, is the very technicality of it, with which, to avoid any misunderstanding, I shall take the liberty of only mentioning the methods I personally find easiest. The very simplest Lenormand spreads are the two- and three-card one. In the first case, I read the first card as the subject, and the second one as its quality. In the second case, the first card shows the situation and is passive, the background, the second one is the active process, and the last one shows its quality or manner. A five-card spread could be useful, where the cards show the progression of the situation, with particular attention paid to the central and the last one, and additional information provided by mirrored positions: first and last, second and fourth. The Grand Tableau is quite an endeavour in itself, thus I shall only share the following trick: the first square of cards will show what the individual is concerned with at the moment of the reading, and you may use it to see whether the cards are being truthful in general that day, as well as to guide your interpretation in an appropriate direction. And, naturally, to take the cards from the top of the deck or to pull them randomly from the middle is up to you; I prefer the latter.

Then there are some traditional fortune-telling spreads popular in the areas that tend towards playing cards, which are too lengthy to share now. That said, I very much might one day, and, now that I am discovering the wonderful world of the style, I should try with a Sibilla deck.