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Author Topic: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards  (Read 7454 times)

SunflowerP

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #15 on: June 11, 2014, 06:53:00 pm »
Quote from: Redfaery;149836
I pick significators based on the meaning of the card. I'm a Page of Cups, not a Queen of Wands. My BFF is a Knight of Wands (she would also be a Queen of Wands, according to standard methodology). My mom is a Queen of Pentacles (how could she be anything else but a friggin' Queen of Pentacles???) not a Queen of Swords. If I did a reading for my sister, there's NO WAY she'd be a Queen of Cups, despite her fair skin, blonde hair, and blue eyes. She's definitely a Swords gal.

 
Well, sure - but that only works when one is picking significators for people they know well.

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #16 on: June 12, 2014, 02:29:25 am »
Quote from: SunflowerP;149854
Well, sure - but that only works when one is picking significators for people they know well.

Sunflower

 
Exactly. If I'm picking for my mom, I'd go Queen of Swords. But I know her, so I know what she'd be. ...although I still don't pick for her, since I figure something important might come up by chance.

Redfaery

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #17 on: June 12, 2014, 03:37:43 pm »
Quote from: SunflowerP;149854
Well, sure - but that only works when one is picking significators for people they know well.

Sunflower

 
That's true; I'm not in a position where I can do readings for people I *don't* know well.
KARMA: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Nyktipolos

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #18 on: June 13, 2014, 03:01:03 pm »
Quote from: SunflowerP;149703
Yeah, 'gender-age-coloring' (the typical trait-set for choosing a significator from the court cards, which is how I originally learned it) is, IMO, hopelessly inadequate. (Also usually sexist, cissexist, binarist, sometimes homophobic, ageist, and racist - but tarot as a whole has issues with those; changing methodology w/r/t significators doesn't fix it. It does help shift it from being centred on kyriarchic assumptions, though.)

I fancy this is why I found a random-significator so much more effective.

Sunflower

 
I was always confused as to why one needed to "pick" one anyways, and I found it more useful for it to be "random" along with the rest of the cards in the spread. I mean, I'd spend more time trying to figure out which card was me than doing the spread itself! Plus, a lot of my own biases would be in play, which would be incredibly distracting for myself.
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Redfaery

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #19 on: June 15, 2014, 09:26:26 am »
Quote from: Nyktipolos;150001
I was always confused as to why one needed to "pick" one anyways, and I found it more useful for it to be "random" along with the rest of the cards in the spread. I mean, I'd spend more time trying to figure out which card was me than doing the spread itself! Plus, a lot of my own biases would be in play, which would be incredibly distracting for myself.

 
Huh...It's interesting to hear that so many people have no use for it! I must be very odd, then. It probably also helps that I fit the interpretations for the Page of Cups just about perfectly. So I don't feel like I'm being shoehorned into any stereotype when I pull that card out.

And I use significators even when I'm not doing a spread that calls for them. It makes me feel like the reading is "anchored." That's probably because I am at least in theory asking for advice from external sources, instead of relying on my intuition. I feel like the significator is a grounding measure for dealing with those energies.
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Emma Eldritch

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #20 on: June 15, 2014, 01:19:49 pm »
Quote from: Redfaery;150148
Huh...It's interesting to hear that so many people have no use for it! I must be very odd, then. It probably also helps that I fit the interpretations for the Page of Cups just about perfectly. So I don't feel like I'm being shoehorned into any stereotype when I pull that card out.

And I use significators even when I'm not doing a spread that calls for them. It makes me feel like the reading is "anchored." That's probably because I am at least in theory asking for advice from external sources, instead of relying on my intuition. I feel like the significator is a grounding measure for dealing with those energies.

 
What you say about anchoring is interesting - based on what you've said about your reading style, I can see why you'd want that. If you ever read for other people, do you think it will work the same way where a grounding force is required?

I dislike picking a significator for myself, mostly because the cards I feel suit my personality are idealized. Having the significator card be random shows me aspects of myself that are relevant to the reading, which I find more useful than confirming 'yup, this is me.'

Redfaery

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #21 on: June 15, 2014, 03:01:09 pm »
Quote from: Mama Fortuna;150151
What you say about anchoring is interesting - based on what you've said about your reading style, I can see why you'd want that. If you ever read for other people, do you think it will work the same way where a grounding force is required?

I dislike picking a significator for myself, mostly because the cards I feel suit my personality are idealized. Having the significator card be random shows me aspects of myself that are relevant to the reading, which I find more useful than confirming 'yup, this is me.'

 
I have read for my mother and my BFF, and so far it seems to work the same way. I just change the significator to signal to the energies/forces floating around "OK, this is someone else we're talking about."

For me it's really a matter of knowing someone well enough that the energies around us can sort of "mesh." I'm simply not comfortable enough around people I don't know well to get that to happen, so it would be like trying to read the cards with a blindfold on.
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SunflowerP

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #22 on: June 15, 2014, 06:46:47 pm »
Quote from: Mama Fortuna;150151
What you say about anchoring is interesting - based on what you've said about your reading style, I can see why you'd want that. If you ever read for other people, do you think it will work the same way where a grounding force is required?

I dislike picking a significator for myself, mostly because the cards I feel suit my personality are idealized. Having the significator card be random shows me aspects of myself that are relevant to the reading, which I find more useful than confirming 'yup, this is me.'

 
Yes, that's exactly why I find the random-significator approach so effective, not just for myself but anyone I'm reading for: it highlights the aspects of that person that are relevant to the reading. Much more powerful a tool than choosing a static significator.

It seems to me that the 'anchoring' function RedFaery speaks of would still be served by a random significator; it'd be not having a significator at all that would eliminate the function. This might be one of those YMMV things that varies from one reader to another, though.

My views on this might well be colored by not feeling like any card was obviously and always my significator card until I'd been studying tarot for something like 18 years - if I was reading for myself, I would go with whichever queen's qualities were most at the intersection of my personal qualities and what was relevant to the purpose of my reading. That changed a bit when I saw the Robin Wood deck (one of the many reasons I immediately connected with it); in that particular deck the Queen of Wands is clearly my card - but only a bit; while there are a very few specific decks in which one card stands out that way (usually QoW, when it happens, but not always), mostly it's still 'which one fits the circumstances?' Random significator not only solves that problem, it adds value of its own.

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Emma Eldritch

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #23 on: June 15, 2014, 09:40:49 pm »
Quote from: Redfaery;150153
I have read for my mother and my BFF, and so far it seems to work the same way. I just change the significator to signal to the energies/forces floating around "OK, this is someone else we're talking about."

For me it's really a matter of knowing someone well enough that the energies around us can sort of "mesh." I'm simply not comfortable enough around people I don't know well to get that to happen, so it would be like trying to read the cards with a blindfold on.

 
Fair enough. Is reading for others something you would want to do?

Emma Eldritch

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #24 on: June 15, 2014, 09:44:05 pm »
Quote from: SunflowerP;150165
Yes, that's exactly why I find the random-significator approach so effective, not just for myself but anyone I'm reading for: it highlights the aspects of that person that are relevant to the reading. Much more powerful a tool than choosing a static significator.

It seems to me that the 'anchoring' function RedFaery speaks of would still be served by a random significator; it'd be not having a significator at all that would eliminate the function. This might be one of those YMMV things that varies from one reader to another, though.

My views on this might well be colored by not feeling like any card was obviously and always my significator card until I'd been studying tarot for something like 18 years - if I was reading for myself, I would go with whichever queen's qualities were most at the intersection of my personal qualities and what was relevant to the purpose of my reading. That changed a bit when I saw the Robin Wood deck (one of the many reasons I immediately connected with it); in that particular deck the Queen of Wands is clearly my card - but only a bit; while there are a very few specific decks in which one card stands out that way (usually QoW, when it happens, but not always), mostly it's still 'which one fits the circumstances?' Random significator not only solves that problem, it adds value of its own.

Sunflower

 
I may be one of the only people I know who doesn't click with the Robin Wood! I've always been kinda sad about that, because it is quite lovely.

Do you do spreads without a signifactor at all? I know a few but they're very specific.

I also realise reading this that you and I have been studying close to the same length of time. Woo!

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #25 on: June 15, 2014, 10:16:20 pm »
Quote from: Mama Fortuna;150176
I may be one of the only people I know who doesn't click with the Robin Wood! I've always been kinda sad about that, because it is quite lovely.


I'm not that surprised; you strike me as much more of a Giger or Thoth type.

Quote
Do you do spreads without a signifactor at all? I know a few but they're very specific.


I pretty much stick to Celtic Cross; it takes time but I find it so very functional. Odd for someone who's been at it for as long as I have, but true.

Quote
I also realise reading this that you and I have been studying close to the same length of time. Woo!

 
You miscalculated; you forgot to add in the amount of time since then. Which would be another 23 years, give or take. Call it - holy cats, really? - 40 years all told.

Sunflower
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Emma Eldritch

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #26 on: June 16, 2014, 12:06:12 am »
Quote from: SunflowerP;150180
I'm not that surprised; you strike me as much more of a Giger or Thoth type.


I totally own the Thoth, yup. My favourite is probably always going to be the Vertigo, though.

Quote
I pretty much stick to Celtic Cross; it takes time but I find it so very functional. Odd for someone who's been at it for as long as I have, but true.


That's actually my go-to, at least for a starting off point.
 
Quote
You miscalculated; you forgot to add in the amount of time since then. Which would be another 23 years, give or take. Call it - holy cats, really? - 40 years all told.


Daaaamn. But now I definitely know who to bug for advice should I ever need it! XD

Redfaery

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #27 on: June 16, 2014, 10:31:13 am »
Quote from: Mama Fortuna;150174
Fair enough. Is reading for others something you would want to do?

 
Yes actually. I've read for my BFF and my mom, and both readings came out very well. The reading for my mom actually came out a little too well. I used my Shadowscapes deck and it told her she needed to keep holding firm with me.:eek: Be careful what you wish for.

I'm just not interested in reading for strangers, though.
KARMA: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

Redfaery

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #28 on: June 16, 2014, 10:40:29 am »
Quote from: SunflowerP;150165
Yes, that's exactly why I find the random-significator approach so effective, not just for myself but anyone I'm reading for: it highlights the aspects of that person that are relevant to the reading. Much more powerful a tool than choosing a static significator.

It seems to me that the 'anchoring' function RedFaery speaks of would still be served by a random significator; it'd be not having a significator at all that would eliminate the function. This might be one of those YMMV things that varies from one reader to another, though.

 
I think we must have very different views on significators. I just can't imagine using a random significator to anchor. It's not supposed to be random!!!! (Well...not to me. Again, like you said, YMMV)

If none of the cards fit the person I was reading for, I'd probably pick the one that suited the situation best, but I just can't wrap my brain around leaving it to chance, because part of the function of the significator, to me, is served by it being deliberately chosen.

I think this again comes down to how I conceive of my divination. I am working with forces that are external to me, usually the energies of the deck itself, though also often the energies of Sarasvati my guardian deity, or one of my familiars. I prefer to start things off in those cases by not just randomly pulling cards, but choosing one and saying "this is what we're talking about. What do you think?"
KARMA: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

SunflowerP

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Re: Peculiarities when you use Tarot/oracle cards
« Reply #29 on: June 16, 2014, 08:44:58 pm »
Quote from: Redfaery;150202
I think we must have very different views on significators. I just can't imagine using a random significator to anchor. It's not supposed to be random!!!! (Well...not to me. Again, like you said, YMMV)

If none of the cards fit the person I was reading for, I'd probably pick the one that suited the situation best, but I just can't wrap my brain around leaving it to chance, because part of the function of the significator, to me, is served by it being deliberately chosen.

I think this again comes down to how I conceive of my divination. I am working with forces that are external to me, usually the energies of the deck itself, though also often the energies of Sarasvati my guardian deity, or one of my familiars. I prefer to start things off in those cases by not just randomly pulling cards, but choosing one and saying "this is what we're talking about. What do you think?"

 
Yep - while there can be a lot of value in experimenting, ultimately divination will come down to what techniques work for you, the individual reader?

Sunflower
I'm the AntiFa genderqueer commie eclectic wiccan Mod your alt-right bros warned you about.
I do so have a life; I just live part of it online!
“Selfishness is not living as one wishes to live, it is asking others to live as one wishes to live.” - Oscar Wilde
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My much-neglected blog "If You Ain't Makin' Waves, You Ain't Kickin' Hard Enough"

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