Tarot of the Holy Light

[Vesta]

https://noreahbrownfield.com/product/tarot-holy-light-tarot-deck-deluxe-size-edition/

 

Does anyone here own this deck?  I'm very intrigued.  It's beautiful and it seems as though studying it would give you quite an education in esoteric subjects.  I'm betting that it would be necessary to buy the two books that go along with it as well.  

[legendaryelement]

Hello, Vesta!

 

I bought the app from Fool’s Dog to see if I would like to get it in the “real world” in the future. Haven’t had much time to work with it.

Edited June 18, 2021 by legendaryelement

[katrinka]

I purchased the deck back when it came out, and I have the first book. It's intriguing and gorgeous. But I don't use it a lot.
My problem with it isn't the complexity itself, it's Christine Payne-Towler's theories. I don't buy the "unbroken line going back to ancient Egypt" stuff. And getting deeply familiar with this deck would involve an immersion in all that. It's a big investment of work in a single deck and what is most likely, IMHO, a faulty assumption. And the last thing I need is yet another set of different occult correspondences. Crowley's are worth a look because they're like a key that opens not only the Thoth, but the RWS and virtually any other GD based deck. But the workload this deck demands doesn't seem to be worth the payoff. Anyway, a lot of that isn't germane to just laying the cards to see what will happen, which is essentially what I do.

 

But I can find my way around the deck with the aforementioned app. without dedicating several years of my life to trying to internalize that book. The information is stripped down without being dumbed down, and in this case that's a good thing as it's more to the point. You can use the app to penetrate to the core meanings and bypass the other stuff.
http://www.foolsdog.com/HolyLight/

 

The curious alchemical symbols are fun, and they can be researched online. But what you really need is the app. Hope this helps.

Edited June 19, 2021 by katrinka

[Vesta]

20 hours ago, legendaryelement said:

Hello, Vesta!

 

I bought the app from Fool’s Dog to see if I would like to get it in the “real world” in the future. Haven’t had much time to work with it.

Edited 20 hours ago by legendaryelement

Hello @legendaryelement!  Yep, the app sounds like the way to go before making a committment.

 

19 hours ago, katrinka said:

purchased the deck back when it came out, and I have the first book. It's intriguing and gorgeous. But I don't use it a lot.
My problem with it isn't the complexity itself, it's Christine Payne-Towler's theories. I don't buy the "unbroken line going back to ancient Egypt" stuff. And getting deeply familiar with this deck would involve an immersion in all that. It's a big investment of work in a single deck and what is most likely, IMHO, a faulty assumption. And the last thing I need is yet another set of different occult correspondences. Crowley's are worth a look because they're like a key that opens not only the Thoth, but the RWS and virtually any other GD based deck. But the workload this deck demands doesn't seem to be worth the payoff. Anyway, a lot of that isn't germane to just laying the cards to see what will happen, which is essentially what I do.

Thank you @katrinka.  That's a very helpful critique of the deck and books.  I was hoping the books would provide a historical review of alchemical connections to the tarot etc. but it sounds as though CP-T is just riding her own hobbyhorse and I don't want to join her.  I'm glad you brought up the Thoth.  That's a system that has always interested me although I've avoided all Crowley matters after I read the chapter on him in Colin Wilson's The Occult long ago.  Since then, I've found that Wilson's opinions about Crowley and others are one-sided to say the least.  I  think Crowley's correspondences are more what I'm looking for.  

 

I may still buy the Holy Light cards at some point because I love the artwork.  Then again, I might just buy the coloring book for $10 and do it myself lol.

[Moomintroll]

A few words of praise for the Holy Light. It is one of my favourites and my understanding of tarot have increased so much due to it.

I’m no specialist about those historical facts. My liking of it is solely because it just intuitively feels right, its messages are so understandable, at least when you have been patient enough to thoroughly read and thought the content of the text.

It brings the joy to finally perceive, to recognize the complexity of the total meaning.

Among the many insights gained I have enjoyed the way it describes how the number and suit combine, the way how the element gradually shifts the meaning when progressing.

It opens a vast area outside those fixed Waite Smith and Thoth meanings.

I think it has as much value as those and offers a new and enriching way to understand the cards. It is so rich in content that I’m well aware that it has much more to offer than I could possibly ever totally understand.

Maybe my brainy and curious gemini nature is the reason why I enjoy it so much.

It is partly a challege and, at least for me, it forces me to use my brain power and stretch my mind. I have always leaned strongly to the text, there was a time when books were more important for me than images.

I’m well aware that we all have our own way to learn and understand and for many the images come first. But, I think that also the artwork of the deck offers so much for those who dare to think outside the box.

You don’t necessarily have to understand the astrology of the system, I myself have only now beginning to absorb that side more. If you know the planets and signs you could first just take those as hints for further meaning.

I have had it a few years now and my experience is that you have to slowly and patiently absorb and meditate it. I have drawn only one card at a time and read the book meaning. Sometimes I have been frustrated cause my intelligence couldn’t grasp the total meaning, but little by little the large wisdom of it has begun to open and the way the creator has made the conclusions makes total sense.

It is one of my treasures now and I’m ever grateful for Christine Payne Towler, who imo is a genius, for bringing it to life.

 

[Moomintroll]

I’d like to show you an example how I tackled a couple of cards in this deck which puzzled me.

4 of disks. There is an eagle on the flaming nest.

One point according the book is about demanding (home) surroundings where you are expected to excel. In best circumstances, where one, for exemple, has the priviledge of educated, wealthy parents one has many advantages, a secure base from which to grow and develop one’s talents. And grow to person with high self esteem.

But the image is quite harsh.

I see in many cards in this deck a point of view where people can be seen against the background of the current time, society and the way it has molded and programmed us.

I think that one meaning of this card is about the way our culture favours competition, how we are forced to fight for the recources in order to thrive. Where only a few can win and have power. Our society can be hard for minorities, for emphatic and sensitive people or those whose world view differs from the standard.

And as this is the disks card we know that these are the end product of a long process. A long history of patriarchal values.

4 of disks from this point could be seen as a family unit who has inherited this world view where only a few has the experience of the right kind of parenting and support.

Astrology of the card is venus in aries or venus in scorpio. Venus, the feminine principle is here in masculine mars’s domain.

4 of wands in this deck could be seen as a kind of polarity to this. According the book it is culture building card. It is the initial (fire) stage where free, visionary, innovative individuals make a unit and create a base and pattern for some creative endeavour which the future generations can benefit. Clubs, bands, theatres etc.

These are just two examples that show a new way to understand the cards. As a continuum, a situation which has a certain history and background. And still the symbology is about fours and elements.

And of course, one has the freedom to interprete these cards the way one prefers.

We all come from some background which strongly colours our lives, for better or worse.

Could we, for exemple, see in the traditional 4 of pentacles, a person who is forced unconsciously into that position, who is insecure and could not trust. What is behind the greed? He possibly follows certain unconscious dictates. There are many people who suffer from that kind of mind set. It is very difficult to get rid of the burden of the past which couldn’t offer him feeling of being loved and appreciated as a person he really is. There’s hunger behind this man who grasps tightly to those coins.

This is only one possibility, of course. Maybe he doesn’t want to change or can’t change.

Or maybe he is in an environment or in a situation where he has to keep up strong boundaries in order to protect oneself.

I apologize my clumsy wording, I hope I made myself somewhat understood. These were just my musings, not in any way absolute truths about two cards in this innovative deck.

And, stupid me, I pressed that eye icon, I thought I could show those two pictures, but that thing below appeared, I don’t even know what it is🥴

Spoiler

 

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Moomintroll