Hi all - would love some input please

[Guest]

I have always loved tarot cards and having my tarot read, but never practised it myself until recently and wow, I have not been disappointed.  My readings have been so incredibly accurate and I am enjoying every minute of it. 

 

I am creating a guidebook for myself with meanings and keywords.  Another thing I would like to learn is letters that may appear in the shapes on each card.  

 

So for example, on The Fool card, I can see the letter "C" in his right arm and the letter "A" with his legs/the mountain. 

 

I was wondering if anyone has a list or could help me with finding letters in each of the cards so I can progress to spelling words out when I do my readings. 

 

Thank you :)

[JoyousGirl]

Hi Mama

What deck do you have?

 Sitting down with the cards and reflecting on them while you write your guidebook / journal is much better for your reading practice.  

[Guest]

Hi JoyousGirl. I have a Rider Waite deck. I do often just flick through them and see if anything jumps out at me, but wasn't sure if anyone had a few tips for me in the meantime.

[Chariot]

Hi @Mama - That aspect of 'letters' is an interesting one.  I don't think I would do it myself, simply because it's too much like a Ouija board.  The tarot has special powers that the Ouija board doesn't ...namely it offers insight into situations.  (Getting letters from pictures also would stick you with a particular deck of cards, as the designs in other decks vary a lot.)

I think trying to spell meaningful words (or people's initials) with tarot might just make reading the cards overcomplicated?  However, that's just my opinion.  Since you are learning, explore what works for you and what doesn't.  If a letter suggests something to you, go for it!

For example: the Fool.  What do the letters C and A say to you, keeping the Fool's main meanings in context?  If you can get this kind of letter-related thing to work for you, more power to your arm!  Put what you think that means into your book.

However, looking at it as an outsider, I wouldn't spend too much time forcing yourself to identify letters in each card.  Just keep working with the cards and see what happens.  But DO keep writing your book. 🙂  I wrote myself a book I've revised several times over the years, adding in meanings as my experience with each card grows.  You will learn and retain a lot by writing your impressions down.  Just don't be afraid to revise the book as you become more adept.  The cards will become more nuanced as you use them.

[Guest]

Thank you, Chariot for your feedback. You are so right, I think it would overcomplicate it all, for now at least anyway. I have just always been so fascinated that my psychic and also a workmate are able to see letters in the cards and I wanted to be able to do the same. Who knows maybe my own readings are enough without any letters (so far they have been that's for sure!!) and either way, I am loving this new interest. Thanks again 🙂

[DanielJUK]

Welcome to the community @Mama 😃

We usually just use this section to welcome people to the forum as their first posts.

You might want to post this as a discussion in the RWS section (here) and discuss all the letters, it would get more input there 🙂 

[joy]

Hello @Mama welcome to the TT&M Family 

[katrinka]

Hi and welcome.

Just want to quickly mention that the idea of letters in the way the figures on cards are posed has been around forever. I can't put this in the RWS section because I'm talking about a different deck.

TdM type decks have hidden Hebrew letters. The Bateleur (Magician), for instance, is posed like the letter Aleph.
 

 

Later, people started making occult correspondences and there were more Hebrew letters, like you see in the Thoth. (But the figures aren't posed like the letters, obviously.)

The presence of Hebrew letters in the TdM are explained in the "About" section here. They were for religious purposes. Hiding in plain sight, because Jewish people were put in a position where they had to be extremely subtle.

All of this is fascinating to study, but I don't incorporate it into my readings. For me, it adds an extra layer of complication. I agree with @Chariot: I get the best results if I keep my card meanings simple, clean, and sharp - like an X-Acto knife.

And there's no evidence that Pamela Colman Smith did it intentionally. Seeing letters in the RWS is pareidolia (and hopefully not apophenia!)

OK, I'm done. Carry on. ☺️
 

Edited April 26 by katrinka