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I really like the earliest German and Swiss decks, and I once made my own version based on multiple antique german decks. It was a super fun project, and it makes me smile whenever I use it 😁

Yes! I have a few German suited playing card decks. One card I particularly like attached. The Lo Scarabeo deck has similarly illustrated images. Unfortunately, when I went back to the shop where I had seen it two days ago, the deck had sold.

It’s a German suited deck, so it can be read just like other German playing cards. You should be able to find keywords for German suits if you do an online search.

Does anyone own this deck? It’s actually a playing card deck from the 1880s and not medieval but very pretty. I’d like opinions on card stock quality and if anyone has read with it, maybe as a cartomancy deck? Lo Scarabeo S.r.l.Medieval Fortune Telling CardsUn antico mazzo di carte da gioco e per la divinazione, illustrato con scene di vita medievale. Ogni seme rappresenta un tema diverso – relazioni amorose, caccia, commercio, guerra – per offrire una v

@Rachelcat You might try looking at the animal symbolism another way. With Lenormand, for example, the Snake is in a similar position- falseness etc. and the Fox likewise. If you trace the symbolism back to pre-Christian times, you’ll get different meanings. I have found the deck adjusts its language to these new readings if you are sincere.

Hi there! I saw your other post, desktop and google (chrome, I assume.) Go ahead and try it in an incognito window. You possibly have a plugin that might be conflicting. Please give that a shot and report back for further troubleshooting! :)

I am sorry you are having problems joining us SallyHill Are you using a phone or tablet or desktop browser to join? What browser are you using? Could you try a different browser or device if that one is not getting you through the security check for bots trying to join us We will get you in here 😀

Context of the reading is everything, I think you can get a lot from one card. However it depends on what you are reading on, if it's a really complicated or confusing situation, then you need quite a lot of cards. One card for a really complex situation isn't going to work well but then I see videos online of people doing 40 cards, and then clarifying them over the top, I turn off after the 5th card! I think working out the right spread and the right amount of cards for the reading is a real readers skill and something we get better at with our readings and experience.

I am having the exact same issue from my computer. I am using Google.

I am trying to sign up, but I keep getting an error message about the security question, and i cannot find a way to contact a moderator. Would appreciate some help!

grins Okay, okay, gotcha! 😄 I don't think the fewer and fewer cards is a new trend, back in the day I already thought "way too many cards, we can condense that" (and, anecdote, I once did a 1.5 hour live sessions based on one card - way back when...) Yes, three cards I think is still reasonable, and more if within a specific spread, but I am not one to just put 11, 15 or more cards down just because... that to me relies too much on the key words, but then again, I am an artwork reader rather than LWB...

Happy to remind you! I think it's pretty too. I'm not getting much out of it yet, but then I haven't tried with a really good question, or a question at all. And it has cat slander: The cat card is "Falseness"! So we'll see by the end of the week. I'll let you know.

Nope. Unless you are psychic 🤪.

@Rachelcat I just looked at your images and thought “what a lovely deck”! And then I remembered I have a copy of, which I haven’t looked at in years. Thank you for reminding me of it again. I like your deck interview too. Let us know how you get on with it? For myself, I drew this combo the other day and delight in how literal the deck can be even with its supposedly esoteric undertone. I’m working on a book, which the publisher asked me to revise. My question was “What do I need to consider as I work on the revisions?” I included the base card this time, as I often do in Tarot readings, as the underlying theme and energy of the reading. And lo and behold - it shows a book. The card titled Thoughts/Gedanken is an important image for me. It quotes an almost identically themed image in my book, which shows a fish in the position of the third eye. I read the whole card combo as I need to be committed to my intuition, my way of thinking and writing (my originality), and the way poetic thought/ knowledge works in its own mysterious ways (it cannot be forced). — The cards are a nice way of confirming how synchronicity works.

There seems to be a trend these days towards using fewer and fewer cards in a 'reading.' When you take a reading down to one card only, you must riff off that one card only. It doesn't matter whether you use traditional meanings or intuitive meanings, unless you are incredibly psychically skilled, you have only that one card to go on. It's fine, in my opinion, to pull one card a day to meditate on, for yourself, but if somebody comes to you for a reading and you only pull one card? What do you say to them, unless you truly do have psychic skills? It can provide a topic, but how can you progress the reading if they aren't in front of you to discuss the card and fit it into their own life situation? I think cards do their best work when they can create a 'conversation' between themselves. If you limit them to only one keyword, yes, they will sometimes hit a mark. But most of the time? If a person comes to you for a reading to help them with a real-life situation, and you pull Death? Okay, Death means something in their life is gone and won't return. But what has gone? That's where you need more cards. Will this ending be beneficial to them? Did they desire this end, or are they upset by it? Is this ending happening now, or is it a future or a past event? Is it something the querent can influence or work with, or is it a done deal? What happens next? And etc. Death is a dramatic card as well. Let's say, instead of Death, you pull the Queen of Wands. What do you say to the querent, if that's the only card you've got, and won't be pulling any more? One card can act as a beginning to a reading, if you establish a conversation with the querent. But if you want the reading to be helpful and not just guesswork, I think you need more cards, and more card positions. One-card readings may seem simple in concept, but I fear they prove to be anything but, in practice.

I think the main thing here is whether or not these readings prove to be relevant and accurate for the client. I’m not saying they aren’t, I’m just saying that I have come across people who are great at storytelling but not great at predicting the future or correctly reading the past/present. I have also come across some experienced tarot readers that are excellent at all those things, but they are not as common imo. Yes and no. If you’re a traditional reader, then you can view the card as the present and make skilled deductions about the past and the future, but unless you have some psychic skills, there would always be an element of speculation. In those cases it makes way more sense to me to just pull two more cards. I don’t think it’s wise to try and answer several different things with one card. When a psychic reader does that, they’re relying on much more than the one card, so it becomes a whole other story.

I just read it as showing the present state of affairs of the matter, that what immediately pertains to it. Say, if the matter inquired about is known to be a troublesome one, I expect a troubling card to appear atop the pre-selected one - which tells me we're on track. So the thing that card gets extra is not weight but attention at the start of the read.

Anything I do with Lenormand is what I learned in Andy B's book and his course years ago. Whether I accurately reflect what I was taught is another question. 😅 So the first 3 cards are a message for the sitter, almost like a daily draw in many cases. Then the corners for important influences or events during the time period. -- It's nice that these things cover our blind spots. I read proximity to a subject card as related to the subject card, so the first 3 and corners can sometimes show other topics that weren't on my radar. I see where knighting would lead you toward the future, as in chess. By the time knighting came up, I had so much to figure out that I left it to the side. I have never been, and don't think I ever will be, as comfortable reading Lenormand symbols as I am tarot. But there are some practical questions I prefer to do with Lenormand. I like that too. With 24 cards, I can do 4 rows of 6. But 25 cards for say, 1 subject and 2 significators, is a problematic layout if you want a centered bottom row. (And I really do. 25 is no good 🙃) I like your neat rows. Speaking of which, where you said that the fourth card on your second row goes on top of the card that represents your issue -- Do you give that card extra weight in the reading? Ok you just made it all sound way cooler. I love that connection. Agreed. I usually add a comment to be clear about that. Early on I was put off by some "best way to do it for all readers" tarot info from a few people out of the many that were on Aeclectic. I don't want anything I say to be taken that way.

So do you treat the croners as a secondary message or weave them together? With mine, I have a curious observation: They tend to have a hang towards the future with this spread, think its due to personal habit/ingrainment (knighting). Guess what? It's true and entirely coincidential - I never even considered the option! Normally, I am an advocate for a fluid approach. However, pre-selecting the theme and rowing over it brought much needed focus and stability to the - Heh, where's that from? Tableau Majeur. Now that sounds great. The reason it stuck is the aesthetics: You have all cards on the table (with MO) and they form a neat lil' box. What I like about your version is that it is super organic and has an alchemistic touch to it: Add a "foreign substance" (minors to majors) and draw a resume based on the reaction, in this case you get an insight into the nature of the foreign substance (minors) by examining what sticks to it. Personally, I think that applies to all reader's ways, at any given point in time.

Continuing on from my last post... Nice. Honestly, I just like reading with proximity, and this was the way I came up with to do it, but your way works just as well, or even better when you want to use the whole deck. (I get a little muddled with so many cards if my Lenormand deck doesn't have clear, uncluttered images, so I thought for tarot the TdM minors would really stand out for me in what's basically a majors-only reading I'm doing. ) Your reading has the benefit of knowing you can place three rows of 7 exactly. With mine, the layout has to change a little depending on the number of pre-selected cards. Yes, definitely. And I like reading the corners for that too.

Neither of these, although, you could do either. I shuffle my pre-selected Minor subject card(s) and Court significator(s) in with the Majors only. In other words, almost all of the minors are set aside and never shuffled. My final 'deck' for a reading is between 24 cards (majors, 1 subject, 1 sig) and 26 (majors, 2 subjects, 2 sig) depending on the reading. I don't know in advance where the subject and significator cards will appear. Thanks @Mister , I meant to include that; I'll add it! (Of course, my way is just an option. And after laying the cards, there are plenty of other Lenormand techniques from knighting to houses that I don't use, but others might.)

Hi all, I have come across a series of short videos where a life situation is described, and then "there is a card for that!" (the_eternal_tarot on instagram, if you are here, I LOVE your videos!). This person has an interesting way of looking at her cards, and spins an entire situational story for them. Where is it coming from, what happened BEFORE this snapshot (present), and where will it continue to? This makes me wonder, could one conceivably then do a PPF reading with just one card?

Hi @Rose Lalonde This is cool - One question still: How exactly do you operate the pre-selected cards? Do you place them on the table prior or do you mentally select them and then shuffle the whole pack, looking if they appear or not? Or...? I sometimes use a similar one with the Majors, place one card representing the theme of inquiry straight in the middle of the table then shuffle the rest and deal 3 rows of seven, one at the top of the card placed, the second row so that the fourth card lands on top of the pre-selected one, and the third row below the other two. Mode of reading is the same, look whats near and take it to matter, look what's far to see what doesn't, and the middle distances for a tad more info. The 3-cards dealt first as a message works, too. It's a nice one when matters are confusing or an overview is needed.

The Grand Tarot Tableau Despite the number of cards dealt, it doesn't have to be a long reading unless you'd like it to be. There are several cards that I don't read in this type of spread. The cards are laid in rows as you would Lenormand, after first selecting card(s) that represents the subject(s) you want to focus on. You read the cards surrounding the pre-selected subject matter card and notice which cards are far away. That's the extent of overlap with Lenormand methods. I read the cards as I normally would for tarot. You could do this with a majors only deck if you're happy for a major to represent your focus. I like to use the majors, a minor (or multiple minors) I've chosen to represent the subject matter, and courts that represent myself and/or my husband. An example with 2 areas to look at: Questions and pre-selecting cards to represent them: "What's required to increase my energy level?" -- preselected card is 8 of Wands "What to do about a current situation at work?" -- preselected card 3 of Pents My significator - preselected card (by birthday) is Knight of Swords Husband's significator - preselected card (by birthday) is Queen of Cups Shuffling: I shuffle my pre-selected Minor subject card(s) and Court significator(s) in with the Majors only. In other words, almost all of the minors are set aside and never shuffled. My final 'deck' for a reading is between 24 cards (all majors, 1 subject, 1 sig) and 26 (all majors, 2 subjects, 2 sig) depending on the reading. I don't know in advance where the subject and significator cards will appear. Tower Devil World Priestess Sun Death Chariot Star 8Wands Emperor Lovers Justice Magician Fool Strength Moon Judgement Hierophant Empress QueenC Hermit Wheel Temperance KnightS 3Pents Hanged Reading the Majors: The Tower and Devil are a shakeup above the 8 of Wands; the aspiration of the Star is opposite the organized Emperor, and Strength is required to overcome illusion in the Moon. The Sun is the most energetic major to me, so it not being near the 8 means it won't be an easy transition. My significator is far from the 8 too (I know I'm not as motivated as I could be)... Etc. And I'd do the same for the 3 of Pents for Work. Not doing a full reading here to save us a wall of text. This spread is good for seeing whether two issues are connected. Since the 8 of Wands is far from the 3 of Pents, there's not a connection here. OR you could read on two things you know are connected and focus your reading on the cards that sit between them (like in this case the Emperor, Hierophant, Judgement, and Knight). It's also good for looking at which cards don't have as much influence, for better or worse. Cards that are far. I like to use a (mini) TdM so pips stand out clearly.

Welcome back @BrightEye , @Bodhiseed, and @Rachelcat! Good to see the gang together this week 😀