I love tarot. I miss my "Goddess" deck and my mom's Native American themed one. I haven't done tarot in years, but when I did I was usually dead on. It freaked me out. Oddly, my great-grandmother had the same talent.

I got my first Tarot deck, the Aquarian deck (http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/aquarian/) ca. 1986.  Since then, I've accumulated a bunch of different Tarot decks and similar oracular decks:
- Tarot of the Cat People (http://www.facade.com/tarot/cat_people/)
- Merlin Tarot (http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/merlin/)
- Chinese Tarot (http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/chinese/)
- Beasts of Albion cards (http://www.wicce.com/beastspix.html)
- Phoenix Cards (http://www.learntarot.com/pxdesc.htm)
- Celtic Tree Oracle (http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/ce … ee-oracle/)

My household also has:
- Daughters of the Moon Tarot (http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/da … -the-moon/)
- Motherpeace (http://www.motherpeace.com/)
- Wise Woman's Tarot (http://www.flashsilvermoon.com/)
- several other woman-oriented Tarot decks

My current deck of choice is the Robin Wood.  I actually own it in both English and Spanish, and I use them as the whim moves me.

I can do a general sort of reading, and if pressed, I can do a fairly detailed reading.  I'm lazy, though, and frequently leave the readings to my wife, who is much better at it.

Sorry for the double post, but all the talk about Tarot sent me over to Aeclectic, probably the Web's definitive Tarot website; I'm a lapsed member of their forum.  I discovered they have a simple quick-reading feature that basically just draws three random cards and lets you sort out the rest.  I figured what the hell, let's give it a try, and focused on whether this whole Lover's Lanes thing is really such a good idea.

My cards were the Sun, the Hierophant, and the Five of Pentacles.

On one level this reading is perfectly useless because it is so clear.  It's an awesome idea, you will learn a lot about a lot of things (or possibly teach others about them), and you will end up with less money than you have now.  But I was so taken aback by the clarity of the reading, when I'm used to having to hunt through symbolism to find meaning, that I just had to share. 

Last edited by satyreyes (02-17-2009 06:23:41 PM)

satyreyes wrote:

I love the Robin Wood, which is basically an attractive version of the classic Rider-Waite.

My only issue with the Robin Wood -- and with many of the mainstream decks -- is that the Lovers is heterosexual.  There ain't no male in my love life, and I think that masculine energy, the balance, all that, doesn't need to be represented that way.  My wife has a deck called The Poet's Deck, which has a great Lovers card: all you see are legs tangled together on a bed, and if you look closely, there's actually THREE sets of legs.   I also like the all-women or mostly-women decks for this.  Daughters of the Moon has two Lovers cards, one with a male/female pair and one with two androgynous figures.

I've been wanting, for years, to finish up the Ohtori Tarot and then get someone to code up a 3-card reading in Flash to put on the website.  Or even just do it with the major arcana.

satyreyes wrote:

This is a pretty kickass idea   The Utena Major Arcana, of course, already exists (I own it, as do a few others here), so I guess if you're happy with a slapped-together Minor Arcana that doesn't preserve the awesome symbolism of Robin Wood and others, this project wouldn't be that hard to complete.  (I suggest replacing Cups with Rings and Pentacles with Roses; Staves and Swords can stay.)

Well, my wife wrote the descriptions for the Ohtori Tarot majors (http://www.broomstick.org/utena/tarot.html) and Arkady did the wonderful card art.  So it's a short step to Flash-ing it!  But someone needs to *know* Flash to do it...

though what you say is entirely valid, Satyr, i think rings as wands is a great idea, too. mostly because of the sense that in the way that a wand can be a fetish-- an object used as the focus for magic/change/whatever you'd like to insert here, and the same can be said of the rings of SKU.

but, yeah, i stumbled upon that page before, i didn't know anyone here was related. heh! i thought it was really cool, though.

I can never use the Rider-Waite deck, and, in fact, rather abhor the thing. I can never understand the symbolism.

My first deck that I was able to use (as I had a miniature Rider-Waite as my first) was the Mythic Tarot deck. I adore it. Knowing the Grecian mythos as I do, it is absolutely the best deck I have ever used, and I have used a few, some of which I can't even remember. It is lost in my room in Michigan somewhere.

I picked up two decks over this weekend, a manga tarot deck for myself and a Mystic Faerie deck for my boyfriend. They both have gorgeous art. I've not used either of them yet, but I look forward to it.

I also wonder... is there a normal thing that people follow when gifting decks? Am I supposed to use it first? Can it be gifted new? It's going to be his first deck, and I want to make sure I get it right. If there's even a right for this.

satyreyes wrote:

Hmm, I don't know if there's a gifting protocol.  My guess is that it's supposed to be gifted new so that it knows who its owner is?  As I've said, I think it's superstition, but that's what you're asking about, isn't it?    When I first got a Tarot deck, I was told that no one else should give readings with it, and the only time anyone else should touch the cards was when the querent cut them before a reading.

From what I remember, yes, a Tarot deck gifted to somebody must be new so that the owner can bond spiritually with the cards. It's a simple matter of being near the cards; keeping them in your purse or backpack or pocket (if they're small enough, that is) and sleeping with them under your pillow and stuff. The only time you let somebody handle YOUR deck is when the person you're giving a reading to has to touch them (usually just to cut the deck, but for 10-card readings, you usually let them handle the cards while they think of their question, so as to temporarily imbue their essence upon the cards for a valid reading.

Of course, I could be wrong. Lady Lortab is the one in my family who does the readings, not me. But from what I remember, satyr was quite accurate about the protocol.

Yeah, Lady Lortab does that scarf wrap thing too, if I remember correctly. It has been quite some time since I last saw her "working" deck, however. But it should also be noted that she does indeed have Gypsy blood in her veins. Whether that is significant to belief or spirituality is open to your interpretation, but then again I know what kinds of things happen around her.

All I can say is if you ever meet us, beware her Aura of Weird (TM).

It rises from the dead...


I've recently got back into the tarot again. I'm practicing with readings on myself. I know you're not supposed to, but I have no victims to inflict this upon at this present time. My knowledge of the cards is extremely limited so I basically read with at least one manual on hand, with a couple of others on back up. I try to apply context to my overall readings. I also use a modified Celtic cross as it's my favourite layout. I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to do that either. And today, this is the accumulation of about a week's worth of practice. Could some kind person critique me on my interpretations? I tried asking 4chans /x/philes but my thread sank. I have joined the Aeclectic Tarot board and I'll post there as soon as I'm approved. I figure it can't hurt to get more opinions.

Okay. This deck (by far my favourite) is The Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore and Aly Fell. I used only the provided manual this time. The Celtic Cross I use is the standard layout, but I've modified the counting. After shuffling I cut the deck in half and discard the top part. I then count six cards from the remaining stack and discard them. I lay out the first six cards in the standard layout. Then I count another six cards from the remaining deck, discard them, and lay out the final four. Today's reading:


1.    Current situation: King of Pentacles
2.    Factors affecting the situation: Knight of Cups
3.    Wishes of questioner: The Chariot
4.    Possible direction of situation: Two of Pentacles
5.    Past situation: Six of Swords
6.    Future situation: Seven of Pentacles
7.    Current situation of questioner: Three of Wands
8.    Influence of environment on questioner: The Star
9.    Questioner’s ability to solve situation: Eight of Wands
10.  Ultimate outcome: Four of Swords

I am currently driven by the need to acquire wealth, comfort and good things. I do, however, understand that I must plan carefully and realistically to achieve these goals. A complication is that I desire love and romance, and am inclined towards extravagant, dramatic and ultimately unnecessary gestures. My current circumstances are difficult but I do have goals to attain; however I need strength of will and discipline, and the ability to draw together different and seemingly incompatible skills and energies to do so. Hopefully, I can balance time and energy successfully. This will require the aforementioned strength and discipline, and considerable exertion. My emotions will be volatile and difficult to manage and I must examine whether my goals are truly needed as opposed to just wanted. My past is a situation that is recently become unhealthy and untenable, and I am moving swiftly and decisively away from it. I may need help to do so, however.

I will see the results of my efforts but I must examine them carefully to see if I’m being a perfectionist for the hell of it when perfection is not necessary. During this careful examination I must be careful not to get too caught up in it lest I become paralysed by self reflection. I have already set events in motion for my ultimate goals, but I need to be attentive and on the ball when it’s time to finalise them. Despite all the fuss and drama, I must be calm and reflective and ask for guidance when I need to and follow good examples when given them. I must move quickly and precisely to attain my goals. The results of my long planning are coming to fruition, but I must be swift and decisive to finalise them in order to get the outcome I desire. Ultimately, I will attain what I’m after but it might contain unexpected edges and consequences. I must not dwell too much on these imperfections but instead accept them as they are. Once I learn to do this, I will be serene and calmly satisfied with the results of my efforts.




So how did I do?

EDIT: As an addendum, I've become really weird about storing my cards. I had them wrapped safely and nicely in a velvet bag before I even knew that people did that. It just felt right to me. Yesterday I found an old silk scarf and did my layout on top of it. This also feels right. I work in the sciences, so having the feeling  but not the backing hard data feels kind of...odd.

Last edited by crystalwren (03-10-2014 04:42:01 AM)

Interesting!  I don't hold myself up as an expert, and the Celtic Cross has never been my favorite spread -- too elaborate.  But I like a lot of your interpretation.  You've got the Seven of Pentacles as both the sixth and seventh card in the spread; typo?

The King of Pentacles crossed by the Knight of Cups is a lovely center for a reading: the King, practical and stable, versus the Knight, grandiose and overflowing.  If it were my reading, I would understand the whole thing in the context of that tension.  I like that you've brought perfectionism into it; the Chariot in position three really speaks to a partly unconscious will to get precisely what you want on precisely your own terms.  This is definitely the King of Pentacles' vehicle.  For me it contrasts with the Eight of Wands in position nine, which is the Knight's voice: not everything has to be just so, sometimes you just have to act on impulse or inspiration and damn the consequences.  But I'm having trouble getting a read on what, exactly, the King and Knight are fighting over.  This is partly because I don't know where the 7P belongs, and partly because the Celtic Cross as I know it flips what you've called positions four and five -- position four is more like the past, while position five is more like a possible direction or influence -- and I don't know whether this is a mistake or whether you use the Celtic Cross differently.

Depending on what you say about those things, I might cautiously suggest that the cards are saying that now is not the right time to embrace your inner adventurer.  There are a lot of pentacles here, cards of stability, combined with the two most low-key Swords in the deck.  If you are coming from a place of trauma, from which you are still recovering, and moving towards a place of rest and contentment, it's incongruous to take brash action now; the Knight is a temptation towards action that you might do better to resist, preferring the King's more deliberate progress.  It is possible the Star is to be understood as a caution: your environment is presenting you with some kind of inspiration or idealized image, but that inspiration is coming from the outside, not the inside.  Take your time and make sure you understand your own goals -- not other people's aspirations for you, but your own for yourself -- and make and keep long-term plans towards those goals, rather than going off chasing a star that may not even be your own.

That's only 3 pentacles out of 10 cards, that's not THAT disproportionate.

The 8 of wands generally means speed, efficiency, and being unstoppable, and in the "ability to solve your problems" position, that's a good thing. In fact, that's just about the best card you could ask for in that position.

If your ultimate desire is for peace and security, then 4s is exactly what you want as your ultimate outcome.

I don't think this is about "caution" so much as making your desires more prosaic. It's mostly good omens, but the Major Arcana are all in the places that are out of your control.

And why aren't you supposed to read yourself?

Last edited by zevrem (03-08-2014 11:09:01 PM)

Love me some tarot!  I don't have many decks but of the two I own, I'm in love love LOVE with the Housewives Tarot.  For real for real, it is so clever and so blunt with its responses I can't get over it.  Every reading I've done for myself and for others with this deck has been dead on, too.
I'm definitely gonna be one of those people who amasses a collection of decks, though.