As I have been learning to 'divine' with the Tarot, I am always looking for new ways of reading and interpreting it. Rachel Pollack's book "A Walk Through the Forest of Souls" presents new interesting ways to question the Tarot.
Here is one method that I came up with, and which I tried today. I present this publicly for two reasons: Firstly, to document today's experience for future reference, and second, to present to potential readers what may be a different way to interpret the Tarot, one that is not strictly "spread-based", which would be the "traditional" way of drawing cards.
The "Conversational style" which I tried today was surprisingly effective. It is simple, too. I ask a question, draw a single card, and let the answer prompt a new related question. I then reshuffle the deck briefly (just briefly), and ask the new, follow-up question, and draw a card, while keeping the original card on the table. This way, I can have a sort of "conversation" with the cards, his conversation can go on indefinitely. In my case, I was more or less satisfied after the fourth card.
Always keen on asking "meta" questions, and given the experimental nature of this first attempt, my first question was:
Q. What can I learn about myself through study of Qabalah and the Tarot?
A. XV The Devil
I was immediately impressed by the very straightforward answer I got on the first question. What more is there to say? What can I learn about myself? The base nature, the dark side of my personality, the ugly stuff, the stuff that may be weighing me down, I'll leave it to the reader to elaborate on this. The question that pops to my mind now is, now what? What am I to do with this knowledge about my base nature?
Q. How can I best use the insights provided by the Tarot?
A. IX The Hermit
The idea of a "best use" of that knowledge is quite open ended: best use for my benefit, best use for my personal or spiritual growth, best use according to the 'agenda' of the Tarot. The Answer, again, is way too straightforward. And I must be grateful that it keeps answering with Major Arcana, which are a lot easier to interpret, with this particular deck.
The answer could be simply summarized as 'introspection', looking deep, with the light of the lone Hermit, into the inner world, to discover what lies beyond, or inside, of myself.
But how do I probe into my 'inner world'?
Q. How can I find the right questions to ask?
A. 10 of Swords
Qabalistically, I interpret this as the mental, judging aspect of the personality (the world of Swords), in Malkuth, the physical world. The intellectual mind bearing on matter. However, the label at the bottom of this card on the Thoth deck is: Ruin. The painting on the card also looks quite severe: against a red-orange background, 10 shattered swords. The intellectual mind, by itself, can break down, the powers of the judging mind shatter in the physical world. The card, it seems, serves as an admonition no to rely too much on the intellect to ask questions or interpret the answers.
If I shouldn't rely too much on the mind, then, how can I avoid it?
Q. How can I reach to my Higher Mind to probe the Tarot?
A. XIV Art
In traditional decks, this card is called "Temperance". The change of name seems fitting here: Art. Art is beyond mere intellectual understanding. Of course, the mind does play a part in producing art, in following one or another technique. But in art a different element plays a role, otherwise, it becomes quite undeserving of the name of "art". In the "belles artes", it is usually regarded as more important the emotive personal expression of the artist. One has to open oneself, let the questions and answers be personal, let feelings and intuition guide one's queries and interpretations. Not block oneself with the barrier of rationality.
The image of the card is also quite suggestive: A human figure with two faces is mixing, in a bowl, water from a cup from one hand, and flames from the other hand. The interpretation of this is quite straightforward, while the previous card was air and earth, this one mixes the power of creative fire and intuitive water into the mix that goes to ask and interpret the cards.
Well, that went a lot better than I expected. Honestly, I was unsure whether I would be able to interpret the answers for this one. I am just starting to get to know the Thoth tarot, and the minor arcana are less "suggestive" than in other decks, such as RWS, which paints evocative pictures for each of them featuring people and events. I was fortunate to get trumps for 3 out of 4 cards. After the last card, I thought I had enough to think about, and I couldn't think of a good follow-up question.
I also interpreted them all quite intuitively. I wasn't wrong, either, as the message seemed clear enough that way, and that's precisely what the last card seemed to suggest. I think this conversational style lends itself to this sort of fast interpretive method, that relies mostly on what one sees without stopping too much to interpret the qabalistic meanings behind each card.
I did another spread the other day, a 15-card Thoth spread, and for that one I was better served studying the spread, reading the books I have for each card and putting it all together. But that's a story for a different post. For now, I wanted to record this one experiment, and perhaps, be more open about my tarot studies than I usually am.