List of tarot myths

[Saturn Celeste]

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=85841

by Grizabella

This thread was requested by the original thread starter from AT, Grizabella!  I found it so let's all enjoy it!  Thanks for the request.  :love:

I need a list of common tarot myths. I did a search of this forum and got three threads, but none of them really list myths. They're just complaining about the fact that there are myths, mostly. One of them is just a rant about the "myth" about used decks and wasn't very helpful to me. The other two weren't very extensive either.

 

So I'm coming here to seek the help of all you other AT'ers in listing tarot myths.

[Jewel]

That your first deck has to be given to you ....

[ali3n]

that when you read the cards you open a portal and talk to dark entities  :bugeyed:  ::)

[Morwenna]

LOL! This thread had my all-time favorite reply. I wish I could pull the quote for here but I don't know how. But all those (often contradictory) injunctions I've ignored all along and I'm still here to laugh about them. When I was reading for small renfaires I would disobey almost every Tarot myth in the book, and so would my fellow readers, mainly because even if we wanted to believe those things, following the recommended procedures would have been extremely impractical. Who knows how some of those things started? If we had to wait for someone to give us every deck we wanted, the publishers would go out of business. Readers read on whatever day they wish, or whatever day they're asked to. 

 

And I still love purple clothing and silver jewelry. 😛 

[katrinka]

One that I've never seen online but heard IRL is "You can't read the cards when it's raining."


 

[stephanelli]

4 hours ago, katrinka said:

One that I've never seen online but heard IRL is "You can't read the cards when it's raining."


 

😆 I mean, practical if you're reading outside with no umbrella ☔.  No one wants wet cards.

Quite ridiculous if you're inside...

 

[Libra 58]

That your first deck have to be stolen and then given to you! 😠

 

[zedekiel]

-That non-intuitive reading is more legit than intuitive reading (or vice versa)

[Guest]

I've been told countless times to only draw cards with your left hand 🤔

Edited July 8, 2020 by Remy

[katrinka]

3 hours ago, Remy said:

I've been told countless times to only draw cards with your left hand 🤔

IIRC, that one is based on the same premise as wearing a wedding ring on the third finger of the left hand. Supposedly there's a vein there that runs directly to the heart. Except there isn't. 😁

 

Bu I do cut with my left hand. Not because of any purported magic vein, but because I have less coordination in my left hand, so the cut seems to be more random.

[DanielJUK]

- if you read for yourself, you will die (or something bad will happen)

- someone once told me you should only ever have one reading in your lifetime (chuckle)

- I once had a reading from a gypsy in a caravan and they said if I told anyone what she said it would never come true! I immediately told my best friend, great get out clause from the reader!

- by bringing a deck into your home, you unleash ghosts, the devil, aliens, something living in the deck!

[Guest]

On 7/8/2020 at 10:55 PM, katrinka said:

Bu I do cut with my left hand. Not because of any purported magic vein, but because I have less coordination in my left hand, so the cut seems to be more random.

Precisely why I don't cut with my left hand most times. I'll send the whole deck of cards flying because of my poor coordination 😂

But your reason for doing it makes a lot of sense !

[Kath]

You shouldn't read for yourself

you can't read for someone under 18 years of age

don't let others shuffle your cards

you must wrap your deck in black cloth to protect it from negative energy

 

 

[katrinka]

11 hours ago, Kath said:

you must wrap your deck in black cloth to protect it from negative energy

It's funny how that one's changed over the years. It used to be yellow silk, like the I Ching, or just silk.
I started reading in my early teens and I didn't own any silk. There was nothing in the house that could be verified as actual silk. (My parents apparently did not share my aversion to plastic-fibered synthetics.) So I learned early on that the silk wasn't necessary, since the cards worked. I just kept my cards in the tuck box until it disintegrated.

Edited July 16, 2020 by katrinka

[DanielJUK]

when I first picked up tarot in my teens (in the 90's), all the books and advice said it must be purple silk in a wooden box to protect the deck from energies around 🙂

As a beginner I went to a fabric shop and she cut me some purple silk and then my Mum dealt with the edges to make a nice wrap! This was before the internet and all the wonderful things you can buy that are beautifully made!

 

it's amazing, I think the colour changed every decade! hehe

Edited July 17, 2020 by DanielJUK

[nord_drache]

I think I remember this thread but not the posts . . .

The one I remember was that the box needs to be not only wood but oak . . .

Funny how a member of AT who bought one of my boxes didn't care that it was pine 😁

 

As for the silk I thought it was black . . .

 

Maybe some myth originated out of "common" sense. The "rule" about not reading for a loved one I can see, as there are probably readers who couldn't be impartial if there was too strong of a connection.

 

Jim

[Nisaba]

9 hours ago, nord_drache said:

The "rule" about not reading for a loved one I can see, as there are probably readers who couldn't be impartial if there was too strong of a connection.

For me, that is not a rule, just a pragmatic necessity. 

 

For me, intuition is a quiet whisper in the mind.

 

For me, knowing someone's backstory and having opinions of them, their jobs, children and partners, is a loud shouting in the mind.

 

So if you entered a room where one person was whispering and another shouting, which message would you hear? Yep, right. Me, too. That's why I'm simply not as good a reader for people I know as I am for strangers.

[euripides]

On 7/17/2020 at 8:30 AM, katrinka said:

 So I learned early on that the silk wasn't necessary, since the cards worked. I just kept my cards in the tuck box until it disintegrated.

 

I know it's reputed to have magickal insulating properties, but the silk is also about protecting the cards from pests. Paper is a plant fiber, silk is a protein, so pests that eat paper likely won't eat silk. This is how you protect your wool: store it in a cotton or linen bag, as the moths that eat wool don't eat plant fibers.   Silk also repels water droplets. The modern synthetics likely do those jobs adequately.

 

Historically, purple dyes were reserved for royalty, and black was very expensive, so perhaps these colours are in part about honoring the deck's worth.  Meanwhile colour has such a huge range of correspondences and cultural baggage... 

[katrinka]

1 hour ago, euripides said:

 

I know it's reputed to have magickal insulating properties, but the silk is also about protecting the cards from pests.

But what's protecting the silk from pests? It's a very vulnerable textile and requires a bit of vigilance. 😉 

I wouldn't rely on just a cotton bag.

https://www.moth-prevention.com/blogs/the-art-of-prevention/caring-for-silk-clothes

[euripides]

35 minutes ago, katrinka said:

But what's protecting the silk from pests?

 

ahhhhh yes. lol 😊 that should have been an obvious flaw in that plan.... but then I have personal experience with wool but not silk. 🐛🦋

[Nisaba]

On 7/14/2021 at 12:25 PM, katrinka said:

But what's protecting the silk from pests? It's a very vulnerable textile and requires a bit of vigilance. 😉 

I wouldn't rely on just a cotton bag.

https://www.moth-prevention.com/blogs/the-art-of-prevention/caring-for-silk-clothes

I have one of my most precious decks wrapped in the same square of tie-dyed silk that I've had it in since 1992. The silk has deep creases in it that have been there for years <grin>, but absolutely no pest damage even over decades.

[fire cat pickles]

I wonder if silk has natural resilience? 

 

An ex's sister gave me her tarot tarot deck years ago (an RWS). She had removed the Devil card. The family was originally from Costa Rica. She said it was a "tradition" to remove it from the deck. I haven't heard anything like it since. I wonder if she was making that up. Anyone else heard of such as thing?

 

 

Edited July 16, 2021 by fire cat pickles

[katrinka]

An old man told me once that you can hang a silk handkerchief on a clothesline and shoot it, and it will not be damaged. I guess the silk is so slippy that the bullet will lift it, but not penetrate. I'm sure if the handkerchief was anchored at the bottom as well as the top, the bullet would go through it.

 

29 minutes ago, Nisaba said:

I have one of my most precious decks wrapped in the same square of tie-dyed silk that I've had it in since 1992. The silk has deep creases in it that have been there for years <grin>, but absolutely no pest damage even over decades.

 

That sounds awesome.
But I'm guessing the pests just haven't found it. It's kind of like saying you've had a bed since 1992 and no bedbugs. If the bedbugs got in the house, they'd be in everything.

[nord_drache]

19 minutes ago, katrinka said:

An old man told me once that you can hang a silk handkerchief on a clothesline and shoot it, and it will not be damaged. I guess the silk is so slippy that the bullet will lift it, but not penetrate. I'm sure if the handkerchief was anchored at the bottom as well as the top, the bullet would go through it. . .

 

 In the 20's someone was working on a bullet proof vest and produced one made of layered silk - probably even then it would have been too expensive.

Legend also says that when King Richard met Saladin to impress Saladin, Richard cleaved through an iron bar. To demonstrate how sharp his blade was Saladin easily sliced a silk cushion.

 

Silk in an amazing material especially when you realize its cured caterpillar spit . . .

 

Jim

[Raggydoll]

7 hours ago, fire cat pickles said:

An ex's sister gave me her tarot tarot deck years ago (an RWS). She had removed the Devil card. The family was originally from Costa Rica. She said it was a "tradition" to remove it from the deck. I haven't heard anything like it since. I wonder if she was making that up. Anyone else heard of such as thing?

 

 

I do believe I have heard of it, but it was a long time ago. I can't remember where that person was from.