Tarot Excellence, Not Just Imagination
I'm not a fan of the "a card means whatever the reader
feels it means to them" school of thought. Perhaps it's my Taurean nature, or maybe just my old-school training, but I would call myself a bit dogmatic when it comes to tarot card meanings.
I would begin here by first defining what we mean when we use certain words. Specifically, "intuition" or "intuitive." By intuition are we stating some sort of abnormal or unusual gift toward the psychic side of life? I'm not fond of that either. But by intuition I will say that often without obvious cause, understanding of a situation is available. Have you ever seen the movie, "A Beautiful Mind" starring Russel Crowe as the brilliant mathematician John Nash? That movie is a wonderful examination of intuition and if you research intuition from a psychological stand point you will find that the more data available to the intuitive mind, the more readily the flashes will come. Like looking at a complex tarot spread; the more cards on your table, the more likely you will get details in your reading.
I've sort of digressed there.
In order for the language of the tarot to be accurate, it must (like any language) have definitive meanings attached to its parts. Take a card, any card, and if it can happen to mean something one day and something else another day (I am not meaning slight variances in specifics, but generally and completely something different), then my definition of that card is that it is meaningless. And since I don't agree with that on general principles, perhaps it is the reader who is at fault.
Look at the 2 of Wands for instance. Any deck will do. I'll start with the Crowley deck, similar in form to the Marseille tarot, designed with rather broad concepts in mind. Simply put, all you see (at a glance) is Two Wands. Looking closer of course you may also see the symbols for Mars and Aries. You see some interesting ribbons of flame or some sort of energy. You may even know (by erudition) that the wands being depicted are called dorje and that a dorje is a Tibetan symbol of masculine force, sudden inspiration, the ‘cutting’ of ignorance and illusion. You will also see that there is a title given to this card and that title is Dominion.
With all that data you can now let your intuition run amok if you like. :-) More data would be nice though, wouldn't it?
Let's look at Arthur Edward Waite's design as painted by Pamela Coleman Smith.
Here we see two wands (it seems to be mandatory) but actually they are sized and shaped like staves. Between the staves is a scholarly looking gentleman. He wears a cap and cloak famous to professors and explorers who prove their theories. He holds a globe in his hand. He is obviously depicted as high above a coastal town (look at the little building just beyond the wall of where he stands) and he looks contemplatively toward the sea. Waite doesn't give us any hint of the astrology in this card, so we have to intuit from its image and number placement in the suit that this is the initiation of power at its very beginning.
The Rider deck is indeed a highly intuitive deck using the word the way we do to describe computer software as being something that can be used without much instruction being required - you use it intuitively. But of course, operator error is more likely to happen if it isn't studied up on at some point.
Looking at another designer's version of this card, it can be demonstrated a) how though the general meaning of two of wands is the same, b) variances in understanding can lead to problems with readings.
From The Mythic Tarot By Juliet Sharman-Burke & Liz Greene (Illustrated by Tricia Newell)
"The card of the to Two of Wands portrays the young Jason standing before the Centaur Chiron's cave, poised before he sets out on his journey to reclaim his inheritance. Chiron is dimly visible in the darkness of the cave. Jason, clothed in a scarlet tunic, grips two flaming wands firmly in his hand."
Now to the heart of the matter! The two of wands, being the first non-Ace numbered card of the traditional orders of Tarot, has a great deal of significance as "The Initiator." Traditionally this card heralds new ventures and other beginnings. That would be the most general way to read this card. If the reader relates well with the images of his or her cards (speaking to them and from them), other specific words that might come out could be such as "hold the world in the palm of your hand," thus eliciting a sense of courage and confidence (also a traditional meaning of this card). Being named The Lord of Dominion in Crowley's deck, showing the lordly figure of Waite's design, and hearkening us to be aware of the mentor of Jason's myth in Newell's illustration, we might also talk about the "having influence over others" this card can suggest. But as well, considering that I have 41 years of experience on this planet, I might also start talking about various ways I've experienced this card in my own life - talking about how I needed to be ballsy when deciding to start my own business, how when the Sun enters Aries (the first Deacon of Aries called by Crowley and others the deacon of Mars in Aries) the Will of the planet begins to bud and how nature in this way illustrates what we need to know both good and bad about this. Depending on how the card is aspected or influenced in the reading (via spread or other cards nearby, etc), we might instead talk about the obstinacy and brashness suggested by Jason's facial expression. Or we might suggest the loneliness often considered a part of this card. Or, if we knew little about traditional tarot and started only talking from the pictures we see, we could inaccurately start talking about these very same subjects or others not at all related.
My point is, a good reader will never invent entirely unrelated definitions for a card. We wouldn't look at a two of wands and start telling the querrent that we see failure in finances (not unless of course a five or seven of disks is involved or maybe the eight of cups).
Definitely find your own voice when reading tarot, but remember that the cards themselves have something to say and they know exactly how to say it in their language. Some times I just consider myself a translator.
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