A journey with the tarot

[Kate]

Bryn was saying that she likes the tarot so I thought I'd start a thread about the symbols and archetypes. Pictures are great for meditation, deciphering concepts and improving communication skills.

There are loads of different theories about how the tarot came about, one is that tarot it is derived from the Egyptian book of Thoth and it contains all wisdom and all concepts if we learn to understand.

Join in on this thread please, there's not much point in me having a one sided conversation. If nobody shows any interest that's fine, I'll stop after a few cards.









CARD 0
THE FOOL

... Tired and lame he dragged himself along the dusty road, across the deserted plain under the scorching rays of the sun. He glanced sidelong with foolish, staring eyes, a half smile, half leer on his face; he knew not where he went, but was absorbed in his chimerical dreams which ran constantly in the same circle. His fool's cap was put on wrong side front, his garments were torn in the back; a wild lynx with glowing eyes sprang upon him from behind a rock and buried her teeth in his flesh. He stumbled, nearly fell, but continued to drag himself along, all the time holding on his shoulder a bag containing useless things, which he, in his stupidity, carried wherever he went. Before him a crevice crossed the road and a deep precipice awaited the foolish wanderer. Then a huge crocodile with open mouth crawled out of the precipice. ...


"What has he in the bag?" I inquired, not knowing why I asked. And after a long silence the voice replied: "The four magic symbols, the sceptre, the cup, the sword and the pentacle. The fool always carries them, although he has long since forgotten what they mean. Nevertheless they belong to him, even though he does not know their use. The symbols have not lost their power, they retain it in themselves."

AIN

AIN means in Hebrew "No Thing", for Hashem is beyond existence. AIN is neither below nor above; nor is it in movement or stillness. There is nowhere AIN is.

... representing a possibility, any possibility, to be or not to be, sanity and order or insanity and chaos. "The Fool" is the symbolism for this, he can rise or founder, influence or remain passive, he incorporates all the faculties.

[lordmage]

kate tarot is a wide divers aspect of many things and designs i used to read the dragon style but have sience not felt the calling. and there the fool is akin to the second imagine where it could mean both the possibility of being fooled be the fool. or simple in a foolish situation. but keep em coming love to be reminded of my divinatation days (yes i am wiccan) not to be confusssed with witchcraft or demon worship

[Kate]

Thanks for joining me Mage, I love talking about tarot concepts with people who are interested. Wicca is a good philosophy, that's the one that says 'an' harm ye none do as ye will' isn't it? My main deck is the Thoth one but I sometimes look at the Haindl one when I feel like a change.

As you say, there is absolutely nothing bad with the tarot unless you choose to make it that way, no real energy of demons, devils or evil except what you create yourself. If that scares anyone or if you think this is somehow bad then please ignore this thread.

Divination isn't what I do, it confuses me to try to find spiritual messages or to try to see the future, things happen as and when they are ready and mundane forward planning is as much as I can be bothered with the future. I see tarot as a psychological tool that provokes consciousness and recognition of ideas in a sort of Jungian way.

I'm not going to randomly describe cards, I'm going to take them in order (or what's thought to be a correct order) and try to see if a path opens here or if it's not possible in this format. The story part was written by P.D.Ouspensky. I'm not going to post a link to the full story just yet unless anyone asks for a spoiler.

So be The Fool today.

YouTube - Tina Turner - We Don't Need Another Hero

We Don't Need Another Hero - Tina Turner

Out of the ruins
Out from the wreckage
Can’t make the same mistake this time
We are the children
The last generation
We are the ones they left behind
And I wonder when we are ever gonna change it
Living under the fear till nothing else remains

We don’t need another hero
We don’t need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond the thunderdome

Looking for something we can rely on
There’s got to be something better out there
Love and compassion, their day is coming
All else are castles built in the air
And I wonder when we are ever gonna change it
Living under the fear till nothing else remains
All the children say

We don’t need another hero
We don’t need to know the way home
All we want is life beyond the thunderdome

What do we do with our lives
We leave only a mark
Will our story shine like a life
Or end in the dark
Give it all or nothing

Please feel free to add any kind of art to this thread that relates to The Fool for you

[Bryn]

This is so cool, Kate. I wasn't sure if anyone else would be interested. It's been a long while for me...since I moved to Arkansas then having to deal with loss of Shane over a year ago. I'd love to get back to Tarot.

Have you ever look at your favorite cards just to mediate before going to sleep and images come to you in your dreams in positive way?

I have more time at nights. Be back!

[Kate]

Hi Bryn

I have meditated on tarot symbols but my decks have been in a drawer for about four or five years until today. I thought I'd get them out and see if I could remember anything.

This thread might not work out, I'm thinking of a particular sequence of symbols to tell a story but I don't know if I'm going to be any good at it. My hope is that you, Mage and anyone else interested will join in. Even though there are some serious subjects I think we could have a laugh.

[Caesarea]

YouTube - fool on the hill

A younger Paul McCartney doing a kind of Eric Morecambe act, which ties in quite well with the precipice angle.
Some people see the Fool as an archetypal hermit. Mhh, not sure.

C.

Words:
Day after day alone on the hill
The man with the foolish grin
is keeping perfectly still
But nobody wants to know him
They can see that he's just a fool
And he never gives an answer

But the fool on the hill
sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning round

Well on the way, his head in a cloud
The man of a thousand voices
is talking perfectly loud
But nobody ever hears him
Or the sound he appears to make
And he never seems to notice

But the fool on the hill
sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning round

Oh, round, round, round, round, round
And nobody seems to like him
they can tell what he wants to do
And he never shows his feelings

But the fool on the hill
sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning round

Oh, round, round, round, round, round
And he never listens to them
He knows that they're the fools
But they don't like him

The fool on the hill
sees the sun going down
And the eyes in his head
See the world spinning round

Oh, round, round, round, round, round
oh

[Kate]

Hi C., thanks very much for joining in, great song for this symbol

The Hermit aspect of The Fool is a bit advanced for me, I haven't studied that yet. If you'd like to explain how that works feel free, I'd love to know.

It's the Qabalistic Zero, the equation of the Universe, initial and final balance of opposites. Vacuum.

This is gender neutral in the way a fertilised ovum is neutral initially in development.

Some identities attributed to this symbol are Dionysus/Bacchus, Zeus, Hoor-Pa-Kraat, Percivale, The Egyptian Crocodile god Sebek and The Green Man.

Creative Light.

YouTube - Pet Shop Boys - Absolutely Fabulous

Pet Shop Boys: Absolutely fabulous, We're absolutely fabulous

Patsy: darling?
Edina: Mmm?
P: You are a fabulous wonderful individual!
E: Oh, thank you, darling!
P: And remember, I've known you longer than your daughter.
E: Champer's alright for you, Pats? [champagne]
P: Lovely, sweetie!
E: Shall we finish off the beluga or shall we have some smoked salmon and nibbly things?
P: Oh, whatever, sweetie!
E: Alright, we'll finish off the beluga!

P: Dull, soulless dance music
E: Bip bip bip, bop bop bop
P: Dull, soulless dance music
E: Ride on time, ride on time
P: Techno, techno, bloody techno, darling!

PSB: Absolutely fabulous
E: That's fabulous, darling
PSB: We're absolutely fabulous
P: That's fabulous, good

E: Chanel, Dior, Lagerfield, Givenchy, Gaultier, darling names, names, names
P: Harpers, Tatler, English Vogue, American Vogue, French Vogue, Bloody Aby-bloody-ssinian bloody Vogue, darling!
E: Lacroix, sweetie, Lacroix Lacroix, sweetie, Lacroix
P: Sweetie! Sweetie! Sweetie! Sweetie!

PSB: Absolutely fabulous
E: Pump up the volume
PSB: We're absolutely fabulous
E: Just put the needle on the record
PSB: Absolutely fabulous
E: Pump up the volume
PSB: We're absolutely fabulous
E: You're ready for this, sweetie?

Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Ong plonk kerplinky plong
I'm chanting as we speak, bye bye, darling

Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Sweetie! Sweetie! Sweetie! Sweetie!

Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Ong plonk kerplinky plong
I'm chanting as we speak, bye bye, darling

Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Champer's alright for you, Pats?

P: Oh, he was just a windscreen washer I picked up at the traffic lights.
E: Ah!
P: Bum's so tight he was bouncing off the walls.
E: Bye, Pats! Lacroix, sweetie, Lacroix, sweetie Lacroix, sweetie, La-la-la-lacroix

PSB: Absolutely fabulous
E: Let the music lift you up, darling
PSB: We're absolutely fabulous
P: Dull, soulless dance music
PSB: Absolutely fabulous
E: It's the bloody pet shop boys, sweetie!
PSB: We're absolutely fabulous
E: Are you ready for this sweetie?

Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Ong plonk kerplinky plong
I'm chanting as we speak, bye bye, darling

Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Ong plonk kerplinky plong
Sweetie! Sweetie! Sweetie! Sweetie!

P: It's fabulous!
E: Good. thank you!

[Caesarea]

Fool's Walk - The Fool - Tarot Major Arcana

The superscript underlines what you say.


No, I'm no expert in tarot. You guys and gals can teach me as from the basics.

I guess the Hermit is somehow just as isolated and often on the mountain top and as a Holy Fool there is to me anyway a tie in, though hard to be sure.

http://www.tarotteachings.com/hermit...-meanings.html


C.

[Kate]

Well, unless we get trolled or lose interest I was planning on going through the whole of the major arcana ... not in numerical order but following a path I've read about that I think might be interesting. There might be a twist at the end of the story, I don't know myself how it will turn out apart from the probable sequence of symbols.

The Hermit might become clearer when we get to him/her. I read something about connections with zero/AIN but can't remember at the moment. It's something to do with the secrets s/he keeps and creation of life.

[Caesarea]

Originally Posted by Kate

Well, unless we get trolled or lose interest I was planning on going through the whole of the major arcana ... not in numerical order but following a path I've read about that I think might be interesting. There might be a twist at the end of the story, I don't know myself how it will turn out apart from the probable sequence of symbols.

The Hermit might become clearer when we get to him/her. I read something about connections with zero/AIN but can't remember at the moment. It's something to do with the secrets s/he keeps and creation of life.

Aye, all things in the order you show us...there is no rush at all.

C.