January '19 TdM Reading Circle Sign ups

[Charlie Brown]

Sign-ups for the Jan. 2019 Marseille reading circle are now open. To sign up, please respond to this thread.

Sign up before Monday, Jan. 14th
Readings due by Friday, Jan. 25th
Feedback due by Thursday Jan. 31st


This month, we'll be trying a traditional pyramid spread. This particular version comes courtesy of Caitlin Matthew's Untold Tarot.

This is a good practice spread, I think, because it's friendly to both newer Marseille readers and also those who are actively practicing historical techniques, since it provides the opportunity to read a single card, a card pairing, and a three-card line as well as synthesizing them all together. It's great for in-depth readings, but can also provide quick answers. This spread utilizes the complete deck.

***1***
**2 3**
*4 5 6*

Card 1 - The Issue
Cards 2 & 3 - The factors or dynamics playing out in it
Cards 4, 5, & 6 - How the issue is dealt with.

Cards 1 & 5 will sometimes reveal a hidden factor or hidden dynamic at play.

[jaq]

Count me in!

[Joan Marie]

I just ordered my first Marseille deck last night and they say I should have it by Wednesday. I am very excited to break it (and myself) in with this Reading Circle.

Count me in.

[Charlie Brown]

How exciting! Who's next?

[Joan Marie]

These strange beauties arrived just today and I can wait to use them!

Who else is in for the Tarot de Marseille Reading circle this month?

[Charlie Brown]

Congrats.

[dodalisque]

Please sign me up for January. I would like to post pictures of the cards I pull - since each TdM deck has a different mood and gives different readings - but I don't have a phone with a camera - yes, the last person on earth without a phone. But I have the Dodal and Jodorowsky decks scanned into my computer. Is there a way on the full editor to include them? If not I'll get things figured out for February's readings.

[Charlie Brown]

If I understand what you're saying, why can't you just upload the scans as images? If the orientation of the spread is the problem, then, as far as I know, you would have to assemble that in a photo editing program. I take it you don't have a digital camera that can import directly into your laptop.

[Joan Marie]

I think what dodalisque means is the full editor here (as opposed to the "quick reply" window.) The answer is yes, you can can just drag and drop images in and then place them where you want.

Here is a link to some posts with a short "how-to" video I made about adding images to posts.

[Charlie Brown]

Here are our January reading partners. I'll post threads in the forum.

Charlie Brown reads for Dodalisque
Dodalisque reads for Jaq
Jaq reads for Joan Marie
Joan Marie reads for Charlie Brown

[jaq]

Quick question: How do we define Tarot De Marseilles? Anything without pips? Or does the deck have to look like the TdM's of old?

[Myperception]

Oh my.... so exciting... how i wish i have this deck to read together with you all

[Charlie Brown]

Quick question: How do we define Tarot De Marseilles? Anything without pips? Or does the deck have to look like the TdM's of old?

It might be easier if you gave a specific example of what deck you want to use. I would say that almost any historical deck will do. So, something like the 1JJ or the Ancient Italian, or even that Bolognese deck that's hip right now would be a yes, but the Sola Busca or, probably, an Eteilla would be a no. As far as modern decks go, something that maintains the general structure of the iconography, like the Marshmallow or the Maria Cella, or even the Trifoni della Luna would work, but definitely not something like most of the Fourneir pip decks. Something like the Tarot XII (pictured below) is not appropriate.

[Charlie Brown]

Actually, if someone actually knows how to use an Eteilla deck and wants to play, then that would be pretty cool.

[jaq]

Just out of curiosity: How about Sasha Fenton? http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/sasha-fenton/

[Charlie Brown]

To me, that isn't at all a Marseille. It really doesn't have any of the standard iconography or visual structure of the pips. I don't really like to be restrictive. It isn't like I own the group or am even it's normal coordinator. But, personally, I'd be pretty cheesed off if I signed up for a Marseille circle and someone posted a reading for me with that. Others may feel differently. Perhaps you should see how your querent feels about it.

[Charlie Brown]

To expand upon that, it isn't about the aesthetics of the deck. It's about how the deck's iconography lends itself to a certain set of interpretive relationships. Here, I just shuffled and drew a pyramid and, luckily, what I got is a good illustration of my point. These cards, including the pips, very clearly illustrate a story of an alienated teenager. The visual rhyming between the orderliness of the 6 and the 8 visually and cartomantically show an familial harmony based on a conformity that's driving the youth away in search of something for himself. Even the two of sword there in the middle visually separates him. In the Sasha Fenton cards you linked to, you have a forward facing knight, which destroys the reader's ability to properly use regarding techniques with the courts. There weren't really enough pips for me to get a coherent sense of the deck, but I have to imagine that the "rhyming" schemes are completely disrupted and that you lose the sense of progression between the pips where, for example, one can see the 5 of swords as literally 'breaking the peace' that was symbolized by the 4. etc. etc.

Again, I think it should be up to the two of you whether or not you want to use that deck, but I did want to try and explain why I think there are good reasons to be conservative in a group like this.

[jaq]

Thanks, that was very helpful. I now have a clear idea as to what we're looking for in the decks (it's not as if I don't have enough decks to choose from )

In the Sasha Fenton cards you linked to, you have a forward facing knight, which destroys the reader's ability to properly use regarding techniques with the courts.

Hm, maybe you're talking about very specific reading techniques with traditional TdM cards (where the courts face one direction or another), but I read directions all the time and forward facing is just another direction. But I'm probably missing a nuance here ...?

[Charlie Brown]

Yes, I'm talking about traditional TdM practices with the facings. I don't even know most of those but they're out there, especially when you get into counting and tableaus and stuff that most English language readers tend to associate with Lenormand.

A common one, I think is that two courts are next to each other or perhaps separated by a single card are either working together or against each other depending on if they're facing towards or away. In the picture I posted, we see the king and queen in alliance while the knight opposes them.

[Joan Marie]

To expand upon that, it isn't about the aesthetics of the deck. It's about how the deck's iconography lends itself to a certain set of interpretive relationships.

Thanks for this explanation. For someone like myself who is just learning the TdM it's very helpful indeed to learn to see these nuances that make the deck so special.