Path: typhoon.sonic.net!not-for-mail Newsgroups: alt.magick.tyagi,alt.magick,alt.tarot,alt.divination Subject: Re: Tarot and Qabalah (was ...) References: <3C9DA470.DB6@luckymojo.com> <7Whn8.6969$44.54605@typhoon.sonic.net> <3CA0BBF1.C7CAB6FD@texas.net> From: nagasiva Reply-To: spam@yronwode.com User-Agent: nn/6.6.0 Lines: 85 Message-ID: Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 08:13:18 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 208.201.242.18 X-Complaints-To: abuse@sonic.net X-Trace: typhoon.sonic.net 1017216798 208.201.242.18 (Wed, 27 Mar 2002 00:13:18 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 27 Mar 2002 00:13:18 PST Xref: typhoon.sonic.net alt.magick.tyagi:32134 alt.magick:294773 alt.tarot:103158 alt.divination:19024 50020324 VI ahoy Jess. "J. Karlin" : > Occult Tarot is based on a (not necessarily THE) > Kabbalistic myth. so do you consider those decks which barely hold to form, favouring a theme of art or character (Hello Kitty Tarot, Halloween Tarot, etc.), along with those decks that purport to be "occult" or by "occult authors" whose actual content doesn't resemble the work of prominent or even unknown occultists using Kabbalistic myth as their basis, to be 'pseudo-Tarot'? how much can a deck stray before it stops being 'Occult Tarot'? nagasiva: >> what some people call their tarot was based on what they >> called their qabalah. > > You can be less restrained than that. as much as I may wish to defend. I can do so and abide your preferences, I gather, but we are aligned in a great many areas. > While I understand that the idea of accepting certain facts > as irrefutable makes some people automatically start looking > for mind-altering drugs to cope with (or maybe for a lawyer > to get them out of it), the truth is that Tarot WAS a card game, > then it became ALSO a fortune-telling device, then it became > ALSO an occult encyclopedia and Kabbalistic key to the cosmos, > then it became ALSO a product to be mass-marketed to simpletons. well said. > Of course there's a way in which you might say it was always > all these things and, in all these manifestations, Tarot has > also been a tool for swindlers (of numerous stripes and > convictions). perhaps, but I don't think this is as easily supported as your other assertions. > All the while, still a game, and all the while still played > as a game. it is actually quite an enjoyable game. friends and I got together and played Tarocci using a set of rules off a website and the Alice in Wonderland deck. I recommend a deck with visible corner markings, for easier reference when holding a good many cards. tarot cards of an occult type will not always work well for this purpose (it also depends on how well the players know tarotic ennumeration and structure). so I'm imagining a gradation of Tarot: Occult Tarot -- composed to transmit the mysteries with reference to Kabbalistic myth, e.g. Smith-Waite, Harris-Crowley; Playing Tarot Decks (Tarocci) -- sometimes masquerading as Occult Tarot decks or mimicking regular playing cards in form, e.g. Alice in Wonderland Tarot Theme & Celebrity Tarot Decks -- designed to showcase something other than tarotic imagery or serve a purpose other than gaming or mysticism, e.g. Dali Tarot Deck(?). non-Tarot decks that aren't intended to be Fortune-Telling Cards are sometimes quite amusing, some even more popular amongst my elder friends than conventional decks (e.g. the Morgan Deck, and the Gypsy Witch cards, though the latter can be used as player cards also, with some difficulty). n a B g l b a e e s s a i s s v e t a d ! @yronwode.com