#tarot studies

[outlaw-witch]

I’ve been reading tarot for years, but The Thoth Tarot has always felt a little bit inaccessible to me, and one of my spring goals is to change that. So I’m diving with DuQuette’s book and really trying to put the work into learning this system.

I followed DuQuette’s way of doing a reading using my existing tarot knowledge and came away with a reading all about what happens when you don’t put the work in and don’t have a clear direction - which I think means I’m on the right track, now. Finally. Even if the reading did kinda make me want to tear my hair out 😂

I’m hoping this book gives me enough base knowledge to graduate to Crowley’s Book of Thoth next!

[zizzywala]

I made my anki deck for studying the hebrew letters in western hermetic qabalah! I included pictures of their path on the tree of life and other stuff too. I studied it tonight and it was tough but I did it. It took me about 2-3 hours to make, but I should be set for now. Just gotta study them.

I realize there are a lot more correspondences so maybe someday I’ll modify the deck to include some important ones.

Now I just gotta make one for qabalah in general. Like the four worlds, four parts of the soul, the sephiroth. That’s at least 18 cards. Maybe next week when I’m off. In the meanwhile, I’ll study this deck.

I also got most of my tarot bags this week. My tyldwick one is a leather case one and it fits perfectly! I had thought it was huge when I saw it but the inside was slim. The only thing is now it’s standing upright in my deck shelf/cabinet thing. I’ll take a picture sometime and add it here. My tarot cabinet is a little clunky looking atm. I still have three bags incoming. One for my deviant moon borderless (arriving tomorrow), one for my medieval scapini, and one for my sakki-sakki I ordered off etsy. The latter doesn’t really fit the deck, but it’s orange, which I wanted. I am worrying my bags for the deviant moon and medieval scapini will be too big, but they’re longer than standard tarot size so I didn’t know what else to do. The sakki-sakki and medieval scapini bags oughta be here the week of november 5th. So close yet so far, lol. And then I should be set on bags.

Started reading Understanding the Thoth yesterday and I’m already confident he’s gonna teach me good, haha. Didn’t read any today though. I was busy.

I work the next 4 days 😫 And I need to get cigarettes tomorrow.

I’ve been curious about my deviant moon tarot lately. I kinda wanna do a reading with it and see how it goes. Hmm….

Alright, off to smoke and then see if I can sleep. I had coffee pretty late but fingers crossed. 🤞🏿

[tiktok-singularity]

The Matrix tells a tarot card story from the fool to the Magician.

Occult/Mysticism studies

[jupiters-grimoire]

Tarot 05.20.23 - The Royal Advisor Spread

Today I tried out The Black Tarot by Victoria Iva in a spread significantly larger than one I've ever done before. I'm still working on interpretations but that might have to wait until I am no longer ill and have regained some energy (this was really draining).

I pulled cards reversed as well but I'm not sure if I'm going to interpret them as such because it seems daunting enough without that.

In the first image, around The Eye you can see my hematoid quartz (for grounding) and my labradorite tower (for inspiration). The paper below The Eye is a talisman I made using my Talisman Oracle deck by Nora Paskaleva, which I'm using to capture the lessons from this reading and keep them with me.

[xcup]

Regarding the Rider–Waite–Smith tarot deck, so much effort went into unifying the meanings of the individual cards and representing those meanings with corresponding symbols. As such, I usually avoid other decks so that I don't unintentionally lose the integrity of the original symbolism.

All decks will have a story to tell. What matters most is if the story resonates meaningfully with you. I've had my fairy deck for nearly as long as I've had my original RWS. Every once in a while, I'll look through the cards, trying to reconcile the images chosen with the symbols I associate with certain Major and Minor Arcana cards. I don't get very far, and I'm realizing I probably won't—perhaps the stories contained within a deck are more meaningful than what can be gleaned from the comparison of the different stories decks tell in general.

For instance, I noticed this time the implied fate of The Lovers in the fairy deck. The Lovers and The Sun become a fairy tale about the sweetness and longevity of love. It's certainly nice. Maybe I'm missing more here. The symbolism of The Sun, in general, has a richness that exceeds mere contentment and is more appropriately paired with The Moon (to more meaningfully illuminate the meanings of both cards), so this story falls a little flat for me. Perhaps a greater story will emerge if I studied the fairy deck alone. I do wonder if the symbolism of The Sun is accounted for elsewhere. Maybe the goal of the two decks is different.

I do find a more interesting and useful tale in the RWS deck. The similarities between the couple in The Lovers and The Devil speak to the power of human Will and choice. You'll find freedom or bondage depending on the strength of your Will. The implication is also that the inner voice which informs the Will determines where the conviction of your Will leads you. And most importantly, you can choose to walk away from The Devil; he doesn't compel you to stay (the chains are large enough to remove, if you want to do that).

Rather than a fairy tale, you come away with an understanding of the power you possess.

I suppose I'll have to give this fairy deck away one day.~

[twisted-tarot]

Pardon the disaster zone on my table lol, but I’ve finally got enough time to start on a tarot study project I’ve been meaning to get to for ages! I’ve always loved the way different decks come at the same cards from such different ways. I picked up a new journal and pulled out a dozen different decks, and I’m planning on going through the cards one by one by looking at them all together as a set to explore how different decks interpret the themes or illustrate the concepts they’re trying to convey. It’ll be a handy refresher if nothing else lol

[saltwatergoblin]

Tarot studies.

How come my deck is always forecasting change? It appears to be a good change, again, but come on! Give me some stability!