Card Meanings for Different Decks

[EmpyreanKnight]

We know that almost all decks have their own set of card meanings written in their LWBs or companion books, tho if they follow a specific tradition (like if they're RWS-based for example) they can sometimes be similar. Some decks like the Mary-El, Chrysalis, and Kabbalistic Visions for example, have their own unique systems. Even decks that follow a certain school may exhibit some noticeable differences.

 

If you read with various decks, do you find yourself applying the same personal meanings across most of the decks that you use? Or do you try to follow the set of interpretations created by their creators?

[EmpyreanKnight]

I think that I currently have a competent grounding in the Thoth and RWS systems, but whenever I use a new deck, I still defer to the creator's intended meanings and almost always resort to looking at the deck's book or LWB when I read with it. Maybe it's just me being persnicketty lol. Once I get it tho (which is much easier if the deck sticks to RWS/Thoth) I'm not averse to putting my own spin on the cards tho usually I still follow the author's original vision.

[Canid]

The initial meanings I learned, RWS, are ingrained in my mind forever. Other interpretations are simply enhancements for the images, possibilities, that can give a unique perspective on all the variations of that particular image. But for me, a new deck has to have a common thread with what I’ve learned for the trad meanings. Is that clear as mud?

[EmpyreanKnight]

You gave a clear and succinct answer, Canid. :) Just a question tho - what if you encounter a deck whose art really resonates with you, that you simply adore, but which has very different imagery/symbology from the RWS? The meanings are also quite different - so it is an entirely different system. Would you still use RWS meanings for it?

 

I hope I don't sound as if I'm challenging you or something, I'm just genuinely curious as to how you would proceed in this case. I might even get some ideas. :)

[Canid]

Well, I’m too old to learn an entirely new system, if one exists, so I use what I know & try to combine that with the artist’s renditions, offering different perspectives, that make sense to me. If it doesn’t work for me, then I give the deck to someone. But I’ve learned to research the images before purchase, haha! There was one, though, the Celtic Tarot, that I loved, all but for The Sun. I simply could not wrap my head around that severed head & the bloodied river, no matter how much I tried. The SUN??! Yes, the LWB had an explation but...I traded it.

[EmpyreanKnight]

Thanks Canid. :)

[DanielJUK]

I have learnt meanings in my head from studying but I try to read more intuitively, reading the picture is a layer and reading from a book is a layer and remembering learnt meanings is a layer. People have different methods that work for them. But for me, the intuitive reading really makes the reading more personal, relevant and accurate. I always go with what I see as the top priority! Even if I look at a card from say RWS that everyone knows the "traditional" meanings or idea for, if I see a symbol in the card or my eye is drawn to it, I will go with that and override everything else, it really gives the best readings for me.

 

With different decks, I just read the card image and look to what I am drawn to in the symbols. Sometimes I look in the LWB to see what the author's original intention was or their take on a symbol but I read what I see. But I do remember the "base meaning" of the card from my learning, it's using multiple things to interpret I think.

[Guest]

We know that almost all decks have their own set of card meanings written in their LWBs or companion books, tho if they follow a specific tradition (like if they're RWS-based for example) they can sometimes be similar. Some decks like the Mary-El, Chrysalis, and Kabbalistic Visions for example, have their own unique systems. Even decks that follow a certain school may exhibit some noticeable differences.

 

If you read with various decks, do you find yourself applying the same personal meanings across most of the decks that you use? Or do you try to follow the set of interpretations created by their creators?

I study each deck for what it is. Typically I read the LWB and then go far beyond the LWB, to tap into the heart of the deck. Each card has specific values, I don't see any point in guessing at something with intuition when the actual answer is knowable and available.

 

I guess I don't care what the cards look like, but I do care as to what they do and why.

 

 

 

 

 

Sent from my Moto Z (2) using Tapatalk

 

[Jewel]

Like DanielUK I also use layers.  Early on it was all about the RWS standard meanings to me, I remember them and if they apply to what I see and feel during the reading I use them.  I do reference the book to get the creator vision, but again I use that information as a layer combined with what I already know and what I see.  If I am drawn to something in a card or to an entire image that takes me elsewhere I just go with it as long as it is in the context of the reading.  21 Ways to Read A Tarot card really opened me up to trusting my intuition, so like standard meanings, and artist visions my intuition is a layer ... the layer that puts everything together.  If the deck allows it I use elemental correspondences a lot in my interpretations.

[Flaxen]

I'm comfortable using different systems for different decks. I have a few which are non-standard such as the Greenwood and Waking the Wild Spirit.

 

Decks I use different interpretations for:

Greenwood - creator's system

 

Waking the Wild Spirit - creator's system

 

Thoth - creator's system

 

TdM - my own combo of numerology, classical elements and 'eye rhymes'

 

RWS and clones - standard RWS meanings plus more intuitive ones.

 

That said, there are a few decks I don't often use simply because it would be another system to learn and I don't have the time to devote to it at the moment.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[faerybraids]

I mainly read intuitively, so I've only bought decks that resonate with my intuition and have found that I picked up the author's intentions in the art rather easily for doing so. (I honestly wonder if part of the reason I stayed away from tarot so long before picking it up again was the ubiquity of RWS decks and clones--they just really, really don't resonate with me in general, to the point of me being squicked and even triggered by certain cards.) I usually do try to read through the LWBs as well, especially when I get stuck (because it's inevitable it happens at some point, ne?), so I can see where my intuition matches up and where it strays a bit, and those definitions absorb into my subconscious as I continue reading with the cards.

 

I think my decks are similar enough that many of my personal definitions of the cards do cross over a fair amount, but they don't always. Intuition always trumps the book unless I feel that something is way off with my interpretation as a whole--usually it relates to a card's description being so basic it needs to be expanded on in relation to certain spread positions, etc. I'd say finally having a second deck with minors has made it easier to understand the first in many ways because of the extra meanings I've gleaned. If my intuition pulls something out that I'm surprised by (say, from studying a blogger that reads quite differently to me, like Lisa Boswell) then I'll usually trust it, but I'll often end up examining why that particular interpretation came up vs. another one because I'm a scholar like that. :p

 

(edited to clarify a sentence)

[Magickjack]

Yes. I do use different meanings.  It took me a long time to veer off into my own interpretations of different decks and cards.  The most important thing for me is to get to know a deck and make it my own.  Many of us buy lots of decks, including me,  but a deck really speaks to me when I use it, for a while.  My RWS can at times become quite boring and different decks give me different meanings.  Some decks force us to use different meanings when they are not a RWS clone (for lack of a better word).  I think that is a good thing.  I think that is one reason I come across decks I was totally sure I would not like , but in a strange way, they become some of my favorite decks.    After I realized The Golden Dawn is not the only way to use cards,  the more comfortable I am with my intuition and reading the cards . In fact,  I think I do it better. 

[Siavahda]

I'm an intuitive reader, and the card art is a lot more important to me than the traditional meaning of the card - or whatever the creator has written in the guidebook. 99 times out of 100, the traditional meaning is the one I go with, but occasionally in a reading my own interpretation of the card art and symbolism trumps the standard meaning. It doesn't happen often, but there's an unmistakable psychic gut-punch when it does.

 

Other than that... I think every artist/creator working with the standard tarot system gives a given card a slightly different emphasis or perspective. There are some decks where the Death card is presented in a more negative light; in others, the art makes it clear that the change can be either positive or negative. Or - we've all seen Devil cards that don't acknowledge the standard meaning, which is that the querent is stuck in a problem of their own making, and can get themselves out - a Devil figure holding people in chains, for example. But then another deck shows keys to those chains within reach, or something. I recently saw a Wheel of Fortune card that depicted the chamber of a revolver handgun, with some cylinders empty, and others with bullets - Russian roulette. But the bullets had four-leafed clovers etched into them. To me, that's a very different way of approaching the card meaning than the standard zodiac-wheel, and gives the meaning a different slant.

 

Or the Hierophant card - a heavily Christian/Catholic depiction of the Hierophant holds very negative connotations for me, so a Hierophant card done in that style doesn't just represent tradition and convention; it represents dangerously autocratic tradition and the demand to conform. As a teacher figure, a Popish Hierophant appears to me as a teacher who does not allow questions. Whereas a Hierophant depicted in another way represents the value of tradition and heritage, and/or a teacher who helps guide you to wisdom and knowledge rather than declaring X Is So And Not To Be Questioned.

 

So while the core meaning of the card is the same across every deck, the slant on it is unique to each deck. Does that make any sense? That's why different decks have different voices, and why deck x is better for asking y-type questions than z-type questions, for me.

[The Sibyl]

I like to know what the artist or the creator of the deck intended for each card, and quite often it brings new and interesting insights to add to my repertoire! However, I tend to stick to the meanings my experience has given me, although I am always open to incorporating new and useful nuances.

[Cobweb]

Yes, I use different meanings for different decks.

 

I started off reading tarot with a TdM deck, which I love.  I'm now (painstakingly/painfully) teaching myself the Rider-Waite/Golden Dawn system.  I don't use the same meanings or system with TdM decks as with Golden Dawn.  I keep kabbalah and astrology (of which I still have only the tiniest shakiest grasp!  :-[ ) for the later decks.  I'm more intuitive with my TdM and "eye rhymes" work well for me too, as well as my own cobbled together system for the pips.

[sandrang123]

My long-held meanings always apply, but I am totally flexible within a given card/tarot world and imagery, so I adapt, too. I go with what comes through, most strongly, and intuitively to me. I also am always working with the overall spread pattern--connections, associations I see--and build from there.

[Whisper]

I use different meanings and really like to go with the creator's system and ideas, then also let my intuition guide me from there.