Blogs

1. 

   Natural Mystic Guide

   A blog by Natural Mystic Guide in Member Blogs

   • 94
     entries
   • 31
     comments
   • 5122
     views

   Recent Entries

   • Tarot Netivot New Moon - Rosh Chodesh Reading for the month of Tishrei 5785
   • Tarot Netivot Star of the Week Reading Sunday September 29 through Shabbat October 5, 2024
   • Tarot Astrology Libra 2024 Jewish & Western Hermetic Correspondences according to the Tarot Netivot system
   • Tarot Netivot Star of the Week Reading Sunday September 22 through Shabbat September 28, 2024
   • Tarot Netivot New Moon - Rosh Chodesh Reading Elul 5784

   

   Latest Entry
   

   Tarot Netivot New Moon - Rosh Chodesh Reading for the month of Tishrei 5785

   

    

   Feedback, Comments and Questions are welcome.

    

   The Past Month, card No. 1 gives an opportunity to look back over the entire previous month with an eye to what theme(s) played out and what lessons were learned.   Cards 2 through 5 look at the energy for each of the four upcoming lunar weeks. It’s a snapshot look at what to expect and what to look out for.   Developing an awareness of the phases of the moon is a great spiritual practice.  This is the Illuminated Tarot , original colors, hand painted and glittered by Carol Herzer.
    
   Card No. 1:  Mother of Pentacles                                  'Tradition'           
   Card No. 2:  Eight of Wands                                          'Namaste'         
   Card No. 3:  Mother of Cups                                          'Empathy'
   Card No. 4:  Six of Swords                                             'Movement'
   Card No. 5:  XVIII                             Chachamah            'Wise Woman'

    

   • Read more...
   • 0 comments
2. 

   Thoughts about Tarot

   A blog by Deian in Member Blogs

   • 2
     entries
   • 0
     comments
   • 711
     views

   Recent Entries

   • The Center and the diminishing Light
   • Imagination vs Discovery

   

   Latest Entry
   

   The Center and the diminishing Light

    

   In some places before we looked at the idea of a center and domain. Its fun to mention that that idea comes with other ideas as well. The 4 worlds in Kabbalah, and they are very connected to the suits of the cards, can be viewed as a distance from the center. Suggesting the further away one is from the center the less connected they are to how it all arrange itself.

    

   In modern cities we can see it with the capitol and the government buildlings as the center, things there are usually very controlled and luxury(latin lux = light) as Azeluth/Fire, yet if we move further away we have residential areas connected to the other worlds further away and finally we reach the outskirt of the country and in there we will have customs and military or other controling organs and stuff will be much less luxury then it was in the center.

   So that idea of center and things changing their quality as they move further away from that center we may want to see reflected in the concept of the 4 worlds.

    

   That suggests in practice in Tarot we can view the suits as relating to each other in this way. Lets say we have something from pentacles and something from rods/wands. Looking at this in that way we can say that there is one image of "higher class" coming with the rods, of something carrying more "light" on a very surface level. Same way as if we have a high diplomat(Atziluth) in a restaurant in that country sitting with a military soldier(Assiah) from the border, there will be difference between them. Not really real, one of the reason there is the idea we shoudn't talk about the Shells much, yet there is the perception of "more closer to the center" in the diplomat, or often will be.

   In that way each of the suits can relate to the other suits.

    

   And here I do have to say that I personally view cups and swords at the same level. I wanted to build up to explaining that, but doesn't need much explanation, this is just the best fit to compensate for the changes, of course no one has to use it that way, but if one does its closer to the actual structure of the worlds. In that sense Cups is not part of the Shell for Swords, they work on the same level.

   Interesting to mention that that Images doesn't have to end with human "class" ideas of who is closer to the light/lux. We can view them purely physically, Rods/Wands will be lighter in purely physical sense then Pentacles, it may be hotter in physical sense then Pentacles, its more to the Center in direciton/map sense, its more in deciding position in leadership sense etc.

   
   One may wonder how the court cards fit into this. In my humble view, it makes sense to use the court cards based on our physical body. If our  physical body as a Plus polarity(Yang, Male or whatever we want to call it) then it makes sense to go:
   Prince/Princess/King/Queen for the 4 worlds starting from Assiah.
   If we view it as Minus Polarity(Yin, Female or whatever we want to call it) then its reversed:
   Princess/Prince/Queen/King
   Reason for that is that we already know the polarity in Malkuth/Assiah and that is whatever polarity our body is carrying. I get in last few years in parts of the world that has become much more complex, but doesn't need to be "gender" exactly, can call it whatever we want, but there is some polarity in the physical body and that can position the suits.

    

   Now, in the East we have the 4 Images. Basically showing a peak(fire), decrease/completeness(Metal), bottom(Water), rising back up(Wood). Basically showing a spiral movement. That seems connected to tetragrammaton and to all this, but each has their own point of view. As far as I remember tetragrammaton is closer to the 4 worlds, as the main idea there is the last character is happening on another level. That to some degree comes with all others as well, but depending what we look at it has more or less validity. In the court house it doesn't make much sense, all 4 seem on the same level. But in the 4 worlds by definition the closer we are to the border of the country the more influence and interaction we carry for the other country even if they originate closer to the center.

   Anyway, just a view on the worlds, I hope this can be helpful for peoples, I think we have some practical stuff for using the Shells here in more detail and of course, this is just one Image and a superficial one, so its not a game changing thing, yet if one adds that it could provide good amount of more detail in some cases I think.

    

    

    

    

    

   

   • Read more...
   • 0 comments
3. 

   The Queen of Cups

   A blog by Shaira in Member Blogs

   • 6
     entries
   • 13
     comments
   • 479
     views

   Recent Entries

   • Reflections on the Radiant Wise Spirit and Golden Art Nouveau Tarot Decks
   • Book Review: The Esoteric Tarot, by Ronald Decker
   • More Elemental Dignities: The Counsel Spread
   • The Court Cards Conundrum
   • More Elemental Dignities

   

   Latest Entry
   

   Reflections on the Radiant Wise Spirit and Golden Art Nouveau Tarot Decks

   Hi everyone - this isn't really a review, but just some thoughts after receiving the Golden Art Nouveau Tarot Deck. It's a very personal view, and I appreciate not everyone will agree. It's also not an attempt to criticise or blame. Please take it in the spirit of positive critique of two very beautiful contemporary RWS-family decks. 🙂

    

   So, it's been a little less than a week since I received my copy of the Golden Art Nouveau Tarot deck, an impulse buy having seen its gorgeous art online. I almost never buy tarot decks; the Golden Art Nouveau deck is my seventh deck ever, in more than forty years of reading and studying tarot. My working deck for the past 3 years has been the beautiful Radiant Wise Spirit, which I'm still a great fan of, despite certain shortcomings (see below). Before that, I used mostly the Sacred Rose Tarot, with an occasional foray (and back!) into the Thoth. 

    

   My first impressions on receiving the Golden Art Nouveau Tarot were unfortunately a bit disappointing. The artwork is indeed spectacular, gorgeous, very original. It's also a very faithful (to 95%+ fidelity) representation of Pamela's original RWS illustrations in a more three-dimensional, art nouveau style. There's a lot of gold leaf, some beautiful illustration, and the artwork is highly attractive. 

    

   At the same time, I felt the deck was inferior to the Radiant Wise Spirit. My reasons for thinking that shed light on just how well crafted the original RWS is, probably why it's survived so long as the world's favourite tarot deck, and why the modern clones (including the Radiant Wise Spirit) are standing on the shoulders of a real giant. 

    

   But to get into more detail...

    

   My first negative impression with the Golden Art Nouveau was the physical flimsiness of the cards. They're thin. They feel very much like a standard deck of playing cards you might find in a bar or a dime store. The beautiful artwork already has a border of art nouveau tracery (think Moët et Chandon), but the cards have an additional white border around that. This serves to make the actual artwork on the cards smaller. This is a shame, because the GANT deck cards are already quite small in width; they're about the same height as the Radiant Wise Spirit, but about 80% of the width, a good 10% of which is the two borders. My guestimate is therefore that the GANT artwork is about 75% of the size of the Radiant Wise Spirit artwork. As they're trying to fit in the same detail, it feels a little crammed in. The Radiant Wise Spirit is already borderless, and has a larger, heavier, more rigid cardstock, so the whole thing feels bigger and more substantial in comparison. 

    

   The second negative impression was that the GANT cards look pretty similar. There are some attempts to put highlights in the borders to differentiate between the suits in the minor arcana, but by and large all the cards use broadly the same narrow palette; golden hues, whites, browns, yellows, with occasional other colours. It gives the deck an artistic unity, but at the same time actually makes it quite difficult to differentiate between the cards at a glance. With the RWS, and the Radiant Wise Spirit, each card is remarkably distinctive; you can tell at a glance, and at a distance, what card you're looking at, which you can't with the GANT. This makes the Radiant Wise Spirit much easier to read and interpret; I found myself having to really "look at" a GANT card to figure out what it was. For me, it simply wasn't as user-friendly. 

    

   There were other minor quibbles in the illustrations. The GANT has chosen (I assume deliberately) to leave out certain details that are present in the RWS. I found this a little annoying, as for me the RWS decks are all about visual cues, mnemonics, esoteric details, what-have-you, and not to see them in an RWS clone was disconcerting. Here are a few examples:

    

   • in the 10 of Swords, the Lord of Ruin, the prone figure is no longer making the hierophantic gesture with his right hand. 
   • in the 4 of Swords, the Lord of Rest From Strife, the three swords on the wall are no longer positioned over the supine figure's chakras, and the word PAX is no longer visible in the stained glass window.
   • in VI The Lovers, the man is no longer looking at the woman, and the Archangel Raphael now appears female. 
   • in the 4 of Wands, the Lord of Perfected Work, all symmetry of the four wands structure is gone, and indeed the art nouveau border is actually covering most of one of the wands, so that only three of them are easily visible. 
   • in the 6 of Pentacles, the Lord of Material Success, the bandages on the head of one of the beggars are gone. 
   • in the High Priestess, the Priestess's neutral, almost trance-like expression is gone, replaced by something that appears quite like haughty disdain, even condescension. There's also no longer the tiny glimpse of what lies beyond the veil between the two pillars. The High Priestess has always been my favourite card, but here I found it quite cold and unsympathetic.
   • in the Knight of Pentacles, the Knight's horse is no longer stationary, but indeed appears to be in mid-gallop (or at least mid-trot), which runs counter to the general concept of the Knight of Pentacles being the most immobile of the knights. 

    

   The GANT isn't all bad, of course! As well as being artistically gorgeous, I very much appreciate there being no text on the court cards, making it easy to apply one's own titles. I did, however, found the undeniable male-ness of the Pages to be a bit of an untimely decision; it's very hard to imagine those blokes as "princesses". They also don't look terribly youthful; the Page of Wands, indeed, looks downright rough (and a bit dodgy).  

    

   On the whole, I appreciated the artwork in the GANT much more as artwork than as tarot card illustrations. Some of the symbolism choices seemed odd, and didn't give me a whole lot of confidence that the designs were done with a keen occult eye. Finally, I found the card backs a little underwhelming, and surprisingly unsymmetrical; for me, that's not a thing, but I know people for whom it is. It would have taken little to make the card backs indistinguishable for reversals. 

    

   Finally, for balance, I feel I should call out some of the negative things about the Radiant Wise Spirit. For me, it's currently my go-to deck, and the best I've found for my purposes. I love the heavier cardstock, and the fact that it's borderless, as well as its beautiful colours. But there are weaknesses. Here are some of them. 

    

   • first, sometimes the line work is frankly sloppy. In the worst cases, it looks like the originals have been traced over with a way-too-thick felt tip pen, and that obscures Pamela's fine linework and elegant illustrations. A particularly egregious example is the Eight of Cups, Abandoned Success, whose linework should never have made it through proofing. I would happily buy a new version of the Radiant Wise Spirit where this particular deficiency is fixed; it shouldn't be that hard to correct. Another example is the Queen of Cups, who frankly now looks just a bit pissed off.
   • second, some of the colour choices appear to have been made without consideration of esoteric significance. A glaring example is that the "white hands" on the Aces have all gone, and have been replaced by flesh-coloured hands, despite Book T giving clear indications to the contrary. Likewise, all trace of haloes around those hands are gone; given that the actual number of rays in the hand haloes has esoteric significance, I consider this an omission. 

    

   On the whole, though, my quibbles with the Radiant Wise Spirit are minor for me personally, and don't impact the deck's great effectiveness and usability. In contrast, my issues with the Golden Art Nouveau are more significant, and, at this moment, I don't think I'll be using it for readings. However, I must admit I'm considering whether it might be a good deck for pathworking, at least with certain cards (maybe I'll steer clear of the High Priestess...); their three dimensional nature may make them very effective for creative visualisation as long as you can deal with the occasional missing details and idiosyncratic vibes in certain cases. And, the cards really are very pretty, my above comments notwithstanding, and if you want some serious RWS-related eye-candy, I'd still recommend taking a look. For me, though, I would pay good money for a larger, borderless version of the Golden Art Nouveau deck, on heavier cardstock and perhaps (ideally) with a little attention and tweaking to the colour palette. That could well be a game-changer. 

    

    

    

   

   • Read more...
   • 9 comments

Recent Forum Activity