Sept. TdM wrap-up

[Charlie Brown]

I'm posting this thread for a sort of 'post-game' analysis of this month's TdM circle. Were there things that you found especially noteworthy? How did you find the exercises? Do you feel good about your reading? etc.

I really enjoyed doing the five-card line. It seems like something that can give me a much more specific answer than the three-card line. The trick, for me, is not trying to get a bigger answer with it. I'm still looking for one concise thing but can get at it with more specificity.

I was a little disappointed that more readers didn't try and tackle the five-card line. Can I ask what led to that decision? Was it something that you decided after the question had been asked or was it something you had decided from the outset?

As for my reading, the biggest challenge I faced was having to balance the left-to-right reading of the cards against the visual orientation of the line. When doing these kind of lines, I tend to want to emphasize the left-to-right grammatical progression—to read them as a sentence, if you will. That becomes a lot more difficult when you throw a lot of court cards in the mix. Even more so for me in TdM because I'm far less likely to ascribe the kind of reducible-to-a-single-keyword characterizations that one might be more likely to do with an occult deck. With TdM, I'm much more likely to try and interpret the courts according to their physical orientation and, of course, rank and suit.

Looking at my line, the bookended court cards and the Temperance card seemed to call for a more visual mode of analysis. Since I don't do a ton of five or larger size lines, I don't know how common this is, but I imagine that the more cards you have the more that you're going to have big sections where visual analysis will predominate.

I didn't do the math, but it seems like we had a very court card heavy month here.

[Diana]

Charlie Brown, firstly thank you for having hosted this reading circle.

I'm having some difficulties answering some of your questionings, as I'm still not sure what a cartomantic reading is in spite of your valiant efforts to explain it. I don't know if the reading I did corresponds to the guidelines we were given.

Concerning the 5 cards that you were hoping more people would do. Now, I had decided to do a 5 card reading, and at the very moment I drew the cards, I changed my mind. I don't know why. This was a spur of the moment decision.

But I must admit that I prefer less cards than more. I've always felt that with three cards one has a perfect overview. Three is sort of the body/mind/spirit. It's complete in itself. Past and present and future are all present even if we don't specifically name them as such. The cause, the effect and the potentialities. With the reading I did for dodalisque, I was able to not only get some good idea of what the best solution would be, but also I saw in the same reading with the three cards I drew, the issues of the other protagonist. The middle card represented both dodalisque and the Other, but read differently.

I don't recall ever having drawn more than 5 cards though, and when I do draw five, I often feel I have an overload of information. There is a saying I've always liked : "Information is the answer, but what exactly is the question ?".

I've never joined any reading circles before and have never done a reading with guidelines and "rules". I'm not convinced that I'm able to follow rules and instructions properly, because once the cards are drawn, my mind seems to "flip" to another mode - one where the cards speak to me as they wish and I have no control over this. I have also sometimes drawn cards and they seem to not answer the question, but take the opportunity of the question to address perhaps a more pressing issue. In this case, there's nothing to do but just follow the lead of the tarot.

I had loads of fun with the reading I did for dodalisque. And I was not surprised at all when the cat was finally let out of the bag and I was informed that it was a fictitious reading I was doing. The whole thing was odd from beginning to end. It made sense, but there was too much drama in the cards - the picture it painted looked kind of staged. I didn't go as far as saying to myself "this is a sham", but I did sense there was something different. So I'm particularly pleased with myself for having picked up on this especially as the very day before dodalisque gave the feedback, I was berating myself for being a rubbish and miserable tarot reader and was seriously contemplating whether I shouldn't just stick to exploring the symbolism and history of the tarot instead, which was what brought me to the Tarot in the first place.

The reading I received from rachelcat was wonderful. Am so grateful. Although I think I may not obey the wise advice of the Tarot to not take up political activism again.... it seems to be calling me - "come back now, the time is ripe". In spite of the clear warning of the Tarot that this may not be the best for me at this time. But I have been forewarned and will have no-one to blame but myself if I do get burned. And alea jacta est.

[Joan Marie]

I'm gonna jump in here if y'all dont mind because the reading between Marigold and dodalisque, which I only scanned really, did sort of highlight one of the problems with the reading groups and that is, the problem of thinking up of a question every time.

I have to admit I am not super-keen on fake questions without informing the reader. And I'll say why, it's because of the huge amount of real energy people who are sincere put into readings only to be told, well, it was a joke.

That said however, I do agree with what dodalisque says about the difficulty of coming up with good questions all the time, especially when one is participating in more than one reading group. I feel exactly the same way.

I would not at all be against doing a reading group just FOR fake questions. I'm not sure how that would work, but I have a couple of ideas and I may introduce one for October.

But, I think it would be great to also try and offer the option to people to ask a real pressing question they may have OR to go with a pre-set designated question that fits the spread. I will give an example of one I did last February:

It's Valentines Month and the tarot-verse is filled with spreads and offers of relationship advice.

I want to try a little twist on the typical relationship spread/questions and turn the focus to the positive things that YOU bring to the relationship. In other words, put the focus on just part of the relationship, the only part you can control: Yourself.

And this can be any relationship, it does not have to be a romantic one. It could be a friend, a parent, a sibling, any relationship you genuinely care about.

I am going to suggest a 3-card reading to answer the following question:
What important quality, that I may not be aware of, do I bring to this relationship?

Hopefully the answer will make you more confident in your relationship by showing you an important strength you have.

I did some others like this. It completely frees the sitter from having to think up a question, yet it does provide the basis of a very thoughtful reading. Obviously it isn't easy to think these up all the time. I'm just making a suggestion.



The other thing I want to comment on is what Marigold said about the rules. I totally get what she is saying about using her own style and being reluctant to conform. I will only say that the way I look at these groups is like an actual exercises. To me the point of following the directions set by the host is to work our "tarot muscles" a little differently and maybe find little doors that open in our practice along the way. I think of it like writing a haiku. It's a lot of stringent rules that maybe a poet would find constraining, yet, something new and beautiful usually results from forcing that economy of expression.

I like the idea of the monthly circles and groups being different from the reading exchanges. Exchanges are really for people with burning issues they'd love a reading for. The circles I see as something else. And there exists the possibility to try all kinds of things with them. And I think it would be wonderful if we could really expand our circles and groups into a real learning experience, or a kind of skill work-out. I'm not crazy about those terms, maybe you can think of something better.

I really would love to hear your thoughts because I think we can make CoT reading circles something really special.

[Charlie Brown]

As far as I'm concerned, I don't see anything wrong with the reading you presented, Marigold. If you looked at the other readings, everyone handled it a little bit differently but everyone also pretty much fulfilled the spirit of the exercise. The big difference, to my way of thinking, about the so-called "cartomantic" line is that it isn't individual spread positions per card, nor is it the kind of "intuitive storytelling" style that you see a lot on facebook. I actually don't recall coming across that kind of reading on this forum though, so perhaps that's partly why the distinction isn't making sense to you. Also, you're already likely doing a lot of the 'cartomantic' things simply by the virtue of being a TdM reader. It was never my intention to belabor the term but, since you seem to be focused on it to some extent, it might also be easier to think about it as a reading style that tries to be relatively free of occult/esoteric correspondences a la the Golden Dawn. Reading the Papess as Taurus is definitely not cartomantic.

[Diana]

Reading the Papess as Taurus is definitely not cartomantic.

That is so funny !! It's not the first time you've made me laugh out loud.

Now I understand !! Thanks a lot. Took some time for it to sink in. It's true I've been out of touch with a lot of tarot stuff for a long time, so I don't know all these distinctions between intuitive readings or other types. I just read.

[qndynes]

Dodalisque's reading for me was wonderful, I loved every bit of it and it was everything I wanted. Precise, clear, and no nonsense. The advice is very much taken to heart as I see that the cards are right, I need to focus on letting things flourish and grow as time moves, instead of forcing them outward. I wanted to know about my blog and if I should add or change things up. The answer was clear, keep going, keep doing, keep things as they are, and let the rest evolve as time moves.

Excellent. I personally love reading circles, especially anything TDM, and most especially cartomancy reading, so this hit all my happy points. I will definitely be on for October. September flew by for me and was so hectic, hoping October mellows out a bit...