Visual Impacts

[Croat]

A question for y'all based on what we know about ancient temples...

 

For context, almost all ancient temples were built with paramount importance placed on the optical play of light and shadow.  This was particularly true when aligned with the movement of sun and/or stars, but regardless temples were almost never oriented arbitrarily or constructed without intentional visual manipulation of pilgrims' subconscious experience.  In short, visual staging was a key part of religious experience vis-à-vis ancient temples. 

 

Fast forward to today and how you interact with Tarot.  Beyond just ritual, do you intentionally manipulate light and shadow when doing a reading?  Set the visual stage, so to speak?  If so, why?  What is your purpose in creating a particular visual experience coupled with your reading?  And perhaps a more weighty question:  do you think visual staging can have an impact on how you read the cards?

[DanielJUK]

I personally haven't tried this but I read once that some people have candles or change the lighting, so maybe only some symbols or parts of the card are seen. Ohh that could be a good exercise to only show some part.

 

I think there was an exercise in ISG a while ago where only part of the card was shown. I can't quite remember but it was a very interesting experience.

 

I might try reading with just candlelight, because I scry that way and it brings fascinating symbols to me.

 

Some decks make new landscapes when you put the cards together. That's in the deck design, like the Majors or Suits can make a bigger picture together. 

 

I think the idea of manipulating is maybe to get a better intuitive, more personalised message perhaps? Like this part or symbol (s) are the most important here. Not sure but that is what I would take from it.

[Mister]

20 hours ago, Croat said:

And perhaps a more weighty question:  do you think visual staging can have an impact on how you read the cards?

 

Certainly, quiet extremely so, even.

Intentionally setting the lightings is something I do not, precisely because of the impact. Not on me, on the sitter.

It would require a predetermined focal point, an emphasis you did decide on before doing your read, which is not in the best interest of the one you're reading for.

The focal point of each read should develop naturally. Of course, that is only possible within limitations, such as a spread.

 

However, I do avoid reading in dark places if there are light places available.

 

Now, imagine the following situation: You read on a cloudy day out in the open. The sun is hidden behind the clouds. Now, a question has been posed and as you are a reader, you'll be shuffling already. You place the second card, and the clouds burst open, there is light and warmth, you place the third and it is dim again, the weather stays the same on the fourth and fifth.

Whatever the question, whatever the cards, that second one where the light came out will draw special attention - if not yours, then your sitters.

 

I am sure that setting the lighting belongs more in the sphere of ritualistic magic in the context of a freemasons, druids or reikian initiation and the like, less in the sphere of everyday reads, where you encounter the hues of life, not neccessarily in a harmonious assembly.

 

Long story short, setting the lights also requires to prep the expectation of the audience.

During a standart read, that expectation is to get an answer, plain and simple. And so, the setup should be plain and simple, too.

According to my idealism, that is.

[Raggydoll]

20 hours ago, DanielJUK said:

I personally haven't tried this but I read once that some people have candles or change the lighting, so maybe only some symbols or parts of the card are seen. Ohh that could be a good exercise to only show some part.

 

I think there was an exercise in ISG a while ago where only part of the card was shown. I can't quite remember but it was a very interesting experience.

 

I might try reading with just candlelight, because I scry that way and it brings fascinating symbols to me.

 

Some decks make new landscapes when you put the cards together. That's in the deck design, like the Majors or Suits can make a bigger picture together. 

 

I think the idea of manipulating is maybe to get a better intuitive, more personalised message perhaps? Like this part or symbol (s) are the most important here. Not sure but that is what I would take from it.

Another method is to look intently at the cards for a minute or two, and then close your eyes and see what comes to you. Sometimes a specific symbol will reappear in my mind - perhaps doing something new or different. 
 

Yet another method is to scry by looking intently at the cards until your gaze becomes hazy and you enter an altered state of mind. No thinking, just experiencing. Then you can have wild visions based on the imagery in the cards! (Banners becoming snakes, colors pulsating like blood etc. 😊)
 

But to answer the original question- I typically do not set the stage with any particular kind of lighting. The atmosphere and the magic is in my mind, no candle light required! 

[Marina]

I don't think visual staging has much of an impact on me, because I have read in the most unlikely places!  Like, zero ambience!

 

THAT SAID… I do think that soft warm light like candle, or the presence of fire (as in a fireplace during winter) can shift my focus and make the reading a more ritualistic and immersive experience, which I really like too.
 

One exercise I have tried is to take off my glasses (I'm short sighted) and try to look at the cards without them… This will

sometimes help me notice colour, light and shadow patterns I wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Edited 7 hours ago by Marina

[Croat]

24 minutes ago, Marina said:

One exercise I have tried is to take off my glasses (I'm short sighted) and try to look at the cards without them… This will

sometimes help me notice colour, light and shadow patterns I wouldn't have seen otherwise.

Taking off your glasses and obscuring vision...  what an interesting approach to a reading!  That is akin to how ancient temples were typically designed as a transition from light to shadow as one entered deeper toward the sacred.  Kind of like your approach, they were designed to progressively obscure visual acuity and shift rational awareness toward subconscious reactions.  Brilliant on you!

[Nemia]

For my tired old eyes, actual daylight is best. I try to read in a well-lighted, well-organised space, and I like it to smell good. I have diffusers all over the house, and I like to light incense before I read the cards or put up my decan, moon phase or weekly cards, just to show some respect and love to my cards. 

 

I have done readings in the most unlikely places, and as long as I'm focused, I feel that the cards themselves create a special space. 

 

For anyone interested in the settings of ancient temples, I can recommend Rachel Pollack's book "The Body of the Goddess". It talks about the importance of a spiritual connection between the physical appearance of a place (its similarity to the outlines of a female body) as an ideal place to set up a temple. 

 

I remember when I was a student, a professor of ancient and antique art also mentioned that some places have a special aura. That's one of the reasons why later religions built their temples over older temples. Yes, they wanted to show their victory over an old religion, but they also felt the special meaning of a place. 

 

I have felt such "places of energy", as we call them in German, at different old temples in Greece and Germany. It's a total sensual experience - you hear, see, feel and even smell it. 

[geoxena]

1 hour ago, Croat said:

. . . ancient temples were typically designed as a transition from light to shadow as one entered deeper toward the sacred . . . they were designed to progressively obscure visual acuity and shift rational awareness toward subconscious reactions. 

 

How do you know this?  Is there some written record that tells their intentions, or is this a modern or new age interpretation of what we see in ancient temple ruins?  I'm genuinely curious, especially since you stated it with such certainty.  It's interesting!  What is your source of information?

 

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by geoxena

[Mister]

1 hour ago, Marina said:

because I have read in the most unlikely places!

 

38 minutes ago, Nemia said:

I have done readings in the most unlikely places

 

This is so nice - it is what happens :D!

 

41 minutes ago, Nemia said:

I feel that the cards themselves create a special space.

They do!

The same room has a totally different vibe to it once the cards are on the table.

The "table" here has no need to actually present itself as such, a rucksack, handbag, any box serves the purpose just fine. Cardboard ones are nice.

 

"The longer you read, the more palpable the effect becomes."

Which is not entirely correct, for it does not mainly depend on time spent reading measured in quantity, it is the repeated quality of focus which counts.

 

Focus stacks.

 

5 hours ago, Raggydoll said:

Yet another method is to scry by looking intently at the cards until your gaze becomes hazy and you enter an altered state of mind. No thinking, just experiencing. Then you can have wild visions based on the imagery in the cards!

 

1 hour ago, Marina said:

One exercise I have tried is to take off my glasses (I'm short sighted) and try to look at the cards without them… This will

sometimes help me notice colour, light and shadow patterns I wouldn't have seen otherwise.

These two methods are so close, I couldn't quote the one without the other.

Seems like a shortcut for the short-sighted - no need to look until, the gaze is hazy already - well, wish it'd be that simple, no.

One still has to focus for an ample time before the effect sets in (one of my eyes is short-sighted, too). 

 

Brendan Cathbad Myers, Ph.D once wrote a book called "The Mysteries of Druidry" - there is, along stuff on mounts, neo-druidry, its problems and other treasures, a practice inside called "Peaceful Abiding", which is much the same process as the one used for scrying.

It is done in nature, and a meadow perceived altered is something trippy alright.

I used it when the TdM pips were still a sealed book for me and it did the job, much like "open sesame".

Works on entire layouts, too - it can become quiet a handy knack.

 

1 hour ago, Nemia said:

I have felt such "places of energy", as we call them in German, at different old temples in Greece and Germany. It's a total sensual experience - you hear, see, feel and even smell it. 

To me, there is a certain recurring phenomenon: It feels like breathing through my skin. Does that perchance ring a bell?

It happened at several monasteries and smaller chapels in the woods, as well as at the harrows.

The same thing can happen during meditation, the difference at those places of energy - "Kraftorten" - is that I do not initiate it, it simply occurs.

[Raggydoll]

41 minutes ago, Mister said:

Brendan Cathbad Myers, Ph.D once wrote a book called "The Mysteries of Druidry" - there is, along stuff on mounts, neo-druidry, its problems and other treasures, a practice inside called "Peaceful Abiding", which is much the same process as the one used for scrying.

It is done in nature, and a meadow perceived altered is something trippy alright.

I used it when the TdM pips were still a sealed book for me and it did the job, much like "open sesame".

Works on entire layouts, too - it can become quiet a handy knack.

Here we have a shamanic practice which is a form of alternative seeing. It allows you to see the inner/true form of something. It can be used to increase your knowledge about anything, including tarot cards. I can imagine  your method working in a similar way. 

[Tanga]

On 5/30/2026 at 1:04 AM, Croat said:

...Fast forward to today and how you interact with Tarot.  Beyond just ritual, do you intentionally manipulate light and shadow when doing a reading?  Set the visual stage, so to speak?  If so, why?  What is your purpose in creating a particular visual experience coupled with your reading?  And perhaps a more weighty question:  do you think visual staging can have an impact on how you read the cards?

 

Nope.  Unless I'm reading cards for myself in a ritualistic way, where candle style lighting, projections of the moon or stars on the ceiling (I have a gadget), ritual tools, essential oils/incense, and maybe (sometimes) music all lend a hand in me reaching an altered state.

For the client - I like to look like the professional therapist that has just pulled a little magic out of her hat, within her setting. 

A professional looking Tarot cloth is all I'll have - and I may or may not have some of my favourite "witchy" pieces of jewellery on.

 

@Nemia - aparently alot of old Temple sites are all built on Ley Lines.

[Tanga]

3 hours ago, Mister said:

To me, there is a certain recurring phenomenon: It feels like breathing through my skin. Does that perchance ring a bell?

It happened at several monasteries and smaller chapels in the woods, as well as at the harrows.

The same thing can happen during meditation, the difference at those places of energy - "Kraftorten" - is that I do not initiate it, it simply occurs.

 

"The crystal sphere of silence... is surcharged with DEITY - go out beneath the naked night, and get religion there!"

(~ Sam Walter Foss).

There is a quality of SILENCE that listens...