The Gilded Tarot
The visual aids the mind in forming an opinion, in gaining knowledge and in attaching meaning to symbols. The Gilded Tarot is a superb adition to the fine Tarot decks used for gaining spiritual insight and life guidance. The person performing the reading is as influential as the cards themselves, as the reader must let themselves be an open channel for what Spirit wants to reveal through the symbls of the Tarot.
The Gilded Tarot by author Barbara Moore and artist Ciro Marchetti is an exquisite Tarot set with satiny rich, flowing images! It is accompanied by a book titled “The Gilded Tarot Companion“. The book is not extraordinary in its presentation. There are some notes by the artist which reveal it is based on the classic Ride-Waite. Other than that there are no special insights about the artwork itself and I wish there were! Each card is bordered in gilded gold and set with a jewel. In the Minor Arcana and Court Cards, Wands have red jewels, Swords have blue jewels, Pentacles have green jewels and Cups have yellow jewels.
The book goes on to discuss the numerology and elemental aspects of Tarot. It also explains The Fool's Journey through the Major Arcana, the care and storage of Tarot decks. Tarot spreads, reversals, performing readings for yourself or others, significators and it has some exercises.
In this deck the suits are matched to the elements in this order: Wands represent Fire or Air signs, Cups represent Water signs, Swords represent Air or Fire signs and Pentacles represent Earth signs. Wands correspond to career, projects or inspiration; Pentacles correspond to the physical world, money and resources; Cups correspond to emotions, relationships, and creativity; and finally, Swords correspond to challenges, intellect and ways of thinking.
Moore and Marchetti do not use reversals in their card interpretations. Insted, what you will find at the end of each card interpretation is a explanation of how the energies of the card can be turned to the shadow or an extreme side. Let's take The Fool for example. Moore says that The Fool's message is one of unconvential choices, , taking a leap of faith and preparing to meet challenges with confidence. But the extreme side of this (which cwould be for some a reversal) is the message of carelessness and folly, the need to know the difference between taking a risk and running headfirst into danger, and the unhappiness that results from reckless behavior.
As another example we can examine the Nine of Swords. In it, a woman is sitting awake late at night, agonizing and worrying over some situation. Her mind is consumed with a large and significant problem. Moore states that as she puzzles out the problem, perhpas she will see her way clear to wisdom and truth..... "You are working alone even though there is help nearby. Reach out and allow someone to guide and comfort you." That is the message of guidance. But as the shdow side, Moore goes on to say that by not reaching out he problem is exacerbated and you become isolated as a result of not reaching out. She suggests that your pride may be stopping you from reaching out for the help you need.
A Personal Reading
In early 2005, I did a reading for myself. To demonstrate the effectiveness of this deck and its interpretations as laid out by Moore I did a three-card Past/Present/Future spread using a significator. I laid a significator card representing me to the side. That card was the Queen of Wands.
Next I drew three cards to look at the recent past, present and future potential or opportunity. The cards I drew were The High Priestess, Death, and the Knight of Cups. Moore interprets the High Priestess as a message of the unknown and the contradictory.It is about intuitive knowledge and the attaining of information through means other than the concrete or physical realm. The warning: to not ignore what one knows through intuition and yet not to ignore the rational forms of knowledge or what is in apparent. Do not remain in the clouds. Strike a balance.
The second card, representing the Present, is the Major Arcana trump of Death. This Major Arcana card is about spiritual, not physical death. Despite what sensational news stories say, the card is about the ending of one thing and beginning of another - and the rebirth is a positive thing if taken in context. Its message is that in order to grow spiritually one must pass through some painful experiences. Painful experiences can involved releasing certain people from your life, admitting who is and is not a frined, learning who you can and cannot depend on, learning what physical possessions you must release and sometimes having things taken away from you if you hold onto them too long, leaving your home or making drastic changes in it, changing your mind and doing something you never thought you would do, and many more simialr things. One's ego and its long-held but now useless beliefs must die. There is no way to move forward without going through this painful time. Holding onto the things of the past will only bring more pain and that pain will last longer than the relatively short death of letting go of the old.
To symbolize the potential or opportunity coming, I drew the third card, the Knight of Cups. This is a high-spirited person, ready for celebration, romance and dreams.The sensual and poetic are here. The warning is not to get carried away by daydreaming and and chasing after things that can never be. In short, get REAL.
This reading proved to be accurate as I had, at that time, noticed an imbalance and a repeated call to undertake meditation, tai chi or some sort of grounding spiritual practice these last few months. I have faced very stressful situations which proved the need to honor my intuition but also to take action. In fact I was forced to take action. I was already slowly doing some things but holding onto attitude and physical possessions that I needed to let go. Now I was forced to take a long hard look at things, make a quick assessment, and because I basically already knew what to do, I began doing it. I sold many of my belongings and what did not sell I gave to charity. I got rid of a storage unit I had for many years I released many things I thought I needed or wanted. I paid off all my debts in every form. My lesson was to learn that releasing the past is less painful than having it taken from you and that one does not lose oneself by releasing the past. In fact releasing brought more freedom than I had ever felt in life. I also recognized myself as an architect of change who was born to do great things.
A Celebrity Reading: Martha Stewart
Another time, I also decided to do a reading on Martha Stewart to see how reflective the deck would be of her and her situation at the time. I drew three cards and a significator for the famous homemaking maven. As a signficator I drew the Queen of Pentacles. How fitting for Stewart as a savvy and wealthy businesswoman who created a multi-million dollar fortune for herself by taking homemaking to a stellar height. This queen must be aware of becoming too fixated on end results and losing all joy in the process of creating things. She can worry too much about money. From an outside perspective this reflects Stewarts troubles with the law: insider trading and lying that made her money in the short term but in the long term cost her the chairship of her company and put her in federal prison.
The first card I pulled (Past) was the Page of Wands. Pages are messengers and this one heraled angry, negative news. That would be the announcement that she was guilty of lying about her financial dealings and would be going to prison. The second card, representing the Present was the King of Swords. This card symbolizes mental paranoia, sarcasm, bitter words and being too stuck in one's head. The intellect is too much in force and is not balanced out by the emotions or spirituality. Stewart is thinking alot, trying to plan her next moves. She was incarcerated and making statements from prison, including an announcement about a new live television program she planned to start in September 2005 with celebrity guests and a live audience. The final card pulled, representing the Future and it potential and opportunity was the Four of Swords. This is a clear message that if Stewart wanted to resolve her professional and personal life and be successful she needed to rest and regroup when she was released from prison. She needed to rest, meditate and ground herself. To jump into new tasks when she got out would lead to problems, because the Universe was calling her to recharge her batteries and not ignore the issues and problems that sent her to prison in the first place. By that, it is imeant that she must face herself and what caused her to devise secret deals and to not tell the open, honest truth about her financial dealings. She came from a poor background and there is perhaps some wound that she needs to address. She is known by some as a ruthless person lacking in compassion in her pursuit of money. While it is hard to know the extent to which this is true, it behooved Stewart to take responsibility for her actions.
Incidentially, Stewart has Saturn in Virgo and with Saturn touring Virgo again, she is havig her second Saturn Return. Saturn in Virgo wants details attended to and the truth is in the details. Organization is called for and right actions must be done. Stewart can really blossom under this transit as she is more than competent in domestic organization and her business empire of built upon it.
Conclusion
This beautiful deck designed by Ciro Marchetti and the interpretations written by Barbara Moore work well together. It is a good basic deck for beginner and something Tarot deck collectors will want to own!
Copyright © 2005, 2007 Healing Universe