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Compatibility, Love, and Astrology - More than just Sun Signs
When it comes to astrology and compatibility there is more to it
than just the compatibility of the sun signs. When it comes to
the relationship between two people there is of course much more
that has to do with the success or the failure of...
Scorpio's Child
Scorpios get a lot of bad press. They're vindictive, mean, and obsessed with sex. That's not really fair. Scorpio rules the house of sharing. They are the stewards of sharing money, resources, love, and yes sharing each other's bodies. It is their...
The Sign That Reveals Your Mind
The sign that your Mercury was in at the time you were born shows how you take in information and how you communicate with others. This is the thinking, logical mind, not the subconscious or super-conscious mind.
Here is an example: At the...
What Is Channeling?
From my earliest memories as a very young child, I have been experiencing various paranormal activities. I had clairvoyant visions and occasionally heard voices, but mostly I "felt" other people's thoughts or feelings. I think my particular niche is...
What Planet is your Relationship on?
If men are from Mars and women are from Venus, what planet is their relationship on? John Gray's bestselling book used a planetary analogy to understand relationships. It proved very popular as a way of understanding and interpreting the...
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Tarot Decks Come in Three Flavors
Interested in learning how to read Tarot cards? If so, one of your first decisions will be "What style of deck should I use".
Although there are now hundreds of brands of Tarot decks, most fall into one of three general styles -- Marseilles, Rider-Waite-Smith (also called Rider-Waite, or just RWS), and Thoth.
There are 78 cards in a Tarot deck -- 13 cards in each of four different suits, plus an extra 22 cards called the "Trump" cards. These 22 trump cards are known as the Major Arcana, the remaining 56 cards are called the Minor Arcana. It's the treatement of the Major and Minor Arcana that determines which general style your deck follows.
The first style -- Marseilles -- follows the traditional, old-school style found in early Tarot decks. The artwork on the Major Arcana tends to be simple and limited to only a few colors. The Minor Arcana looks much like ordinary playing cards -- there are four face cards (King, Queen, Knight, Page) and 10 "pip" cards (Ace through Ten). Again, the artwork on the face cards tends to be simple. The pip cards don't have artwork other than a "pip" count. For instance, a Five of Swords will have five swords depicted on the card.
The Marseilles style looks so much like playing cards because Tarot decks were originally used to play a card game! It wasn't until later that mystics began to use these decks for divinatory purposes.
The second style of deck -- RWS (After Rider, the publisher, Waite, the designer, and Smith, the artist) -- was published in the early 1900's. It was designed from the very beginning for magickal use.
Because of this, the artwork is much more complex and symbolic. The Major Arcana and the face cards are much more colorful, lifelike, and detailed.
It's the Minor Arcana, though, where you'll find the main difference.
Rather than use simple counts, the artist (Pamela Coleman Smith -- who also illustrates childrens adventure stories) decided to draw vignettes of people engaged in some phase of everyday life. Because of this, the pip cards are highly enriched and yield many thoughtful perspectives -- what are the people thinking, what are their motivations, what are their fears, etc -- to enrich Tarot readings.
The final deck style is the Thoth style -- named after a deck designed by Aleister Crowley and painted by Lady Freida Harris. The Thoth deck was intended for magickal use from the very beginning. The paintings are surrealistic and highly symbolic. Thoth adds a new technique to the mix, though. Each non-face card of the Minor Arcana has a subheading describing some motivation or aspect -- things like Happiness, Luxury, Virtue, Oppression, etc. Because of this, some readers find it easy to read with Thoth decks. Thoth decks also make it easy to draw from other esoteric disciplines -- astrology, for example -- in order to create inspired Tarot readings.
Most decks you'll find in a bookstore will follow one of these three basic styles. Marseilles styles will use pip counts, RWS styles will use pip scenes, and Thoth styles tend to be surrealistic but label the Minor Arcana with additional descriptions.
About the Author
Joey Robichaux rides the weekly consultant road warrior circuit. He uses Tarot to find perspectives on business problems and also maintains dozens of web sites, including one of the oldest sheet music websites on the internet -- Free Sheet Music at http://www.freesheetmusic.net -- and also the Woodsong Tarot site at http://www.woodsongtarot.com
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