josephsapha
188 posts
Latest Posts by josephsapha
also i literally have zero coherent thoughts about atsushi rn. i hate you and i want you out of my head, i've wanted that for so long. the softness in the way the headmaster smiles at him and says, i'll be gone. your sort-of-father who was cruel to you and who cared about you (never in ways that justified what he did to you, but never quite the monster you wish he was, either) and who haunts you and who gave you the same things that kept him alive and didn't know how to give you better. you know. the way the headmaster's death and the fact of the headmaster's humanity slices atsushi open in both universes— you hate him, and still. and still.
He lightly dips his hair in bleach every morning and his ability likes to eat rocks and coins off the ground
It is November of 1893. You have just killed a vampire. Exhausted and worn, you close your eyes and rest.
You wake up. It is May of 1893. You are on a train en route to Transylvania. Your diary says you have had queer dreams lately.
You try to believe it.
(An old woman puts a rosary in your hands. You accept it without question.)
You are a guest in a castle you have never been in before (you recognize every hallway and know without trying that every door is locked). Your host is a man you have never met before (you killed him you killed him you killed him he had turned to dust and there was blood on the snow).
One morning you cut yourself while shaving.
There is nobody behind you in the pocket mirror’s reflection.
You turn fast, and the razor is like a Kukri knife in your hand.
Pet shop of horror’s implied romance b story works so well because never have two people so wrong for each other been so obsessed with each other. D is a supernatural pet shop owner who hates humans (does not) and once pushed Leon out of a boat floating in the sky. Leon is a Straight ™️ (is not) detective whose main interest appears to be boobs. They have never gone more than five minutes without screaming at each other. D has pretended Leon is his boyfriend at least once. Leon investigated D for murder so many times he kind of ended up living at D’s residence. Leon’s brother regards D as some sort of parental figure. They go on vacation together. Multiple times one of them has been kidnapped as blackmail for the other. Leon at the end of the series apparently deserted his family and his job in order to travel the universe and find D again. There is no universe in which any of this could have worked out, and not even because they’re in some star crossed lovers situation (though they are in volume 10) but simply because they are both so fundamentally incompatible and deeply unwilling to move on or do anything about this. And THATS my otp.
OK correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like the main 'yin/yang' parallel with Atsushi and Akutagawa is not something like 'this one is bad but secretly has a good side and this one is good but secretly has a bad side'.
I feel like it's more about 'who they are at their core vs who they choose to be'.
At his core Akutagawa is kind and at his core Atsushi is not. But despite this Atsushi tries every day to make the kinder choices and I love him so much for it. He has to work so hard to be good.
He wants to be a bitch SO bad I know he does but he tries his best to help people and be nice (sometimes he fails but that's OK <3)
Atsushi doesn't always WANT to help people, a lot of the time he's selfish and scared, but he does help people anyway. He keeps helping people over and over again. There's still some selfish motivation to it, and his initial motivation for helping people was because the headmaster told him that's all he was worth, but overall he does care about the people he helps and it weighs on him if he fails to save them. And of course, as the series goes on he starts helping people more because he can rather than because he feels like he needs to.
In Akutagawa's case, he's still capable of being kind but his environment led him into being someone who chooses to hurt people. But he's always been a protector at heart. In the start he was bad compared to Atsushi because he was choosing to hurt people and keep the cycle of abuse going. Just like how Atsushi developed in why he saved people, Akutagawa starts to get redeemed when he chooses to not just act on his rage. Not only does he start to spare people, but he speaks more kindly to them (apologising to Higuchi and telling Kyouka he's proud of her). It all culminates into the moment he chooses to help Atsushi and sacrifice himself for him, going back to his core value of being a protector. Even when he's finally revived, he keeps this role in his new position as Aya's Knight.
I kind of see the streaks of white in Akutagawa and the streaks of black in Atsushi not as their 'hidden sides' but as their fundamental selfs. That's who they are at their core, and their main colours (black for Akutagawa and white for Atsushi) are how they're presented to everyone else and how they try to have people see them as.
bsd 123 has some insane moments but i genuinely think this is the craziest.
like, yes, this is about how atsushi helped akutagawa realise that dazai’s word is not something he can rely on, and that dazai’s validation is not a reason to live—but it’s not the only thing to take away.
firstly, this is the first time that akutagawa has realised that somebody believes in him. this person hated him, didn’t get along with him, fought him to the death on more than one occasion, saw the worst of him, yet still believes in him. atsushi believes in him enough to bring back his consciousness, and to try and do it twice. atsushi believes in him enough to reassure him often, even if it doesn’t feel like reassurance all the time. atsushi believes in him enough to protect him, even though akutagawa has been the protector his entire life.
secondly, i don’t believe that atsushi has now become akutagawa’s reason to live from this panel. akutagawa thinks about two things after his epiphany that dazai’s words don’t hold the same weight anymore. the first is his promise to atsushi, and what that means to him. the second is atsushi’s words about true strength—which akutagawa realises he now has. it’s not about a reason to live anymore, but that akutagawa has someone who believes in him and because of that, he feels alive.
this panel isn’t about akutagawa’s mentality shifting. it’s about him finally finding his strength and fighting for something that he, and not anybody else, thinks is right. he’s hoping. he’s caring. he’s understanding. he’s strong. he’s alive.
jolts upright I've just had a realization. how much did atsushi think about when akutagawa died? how much did he replay it in his mind, go over every detail again and again? how much did he mourn it, grieve him? how many times did he recall akutagawa's last words? because for atsushi to be able to, in a split second, as he *dies* and everything around him has already gone to shit, recall what akutagawa said to him, and repeat it back? it must have been constantly.
thinking about this forever btw.
Dior Homme spring 2002 “Boys Don’t Cry” Bloodwound Harness — Inspired by Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers
the fact that this matches their faces exactly
one(ish) sentence summaries of every magnus archive episode PART 3 (111-154)
HELLO FRIENDS In honor of one of my friends starting tma i am posting the rest of what i have for this series
I'm going to be honest, i wrote all of these like a year and a half ago so i don't even remember if all of them are as accurate as i thought they were at the time so tell me what u guys think ( ALSO IM SORRY IT TOOK ME SO LONG TO POST THESE)
if you guys want more i can be convinced to relisten to the series and finish this and also send me asks i love getting asks
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111. god fuck he just wanted his friends to call him gerry
112. guys I have a great idea for a game it’s called murder tag and there are no downsides I promise
113. sweet dreams goodnight don’t let the carbon monoxide poisoning bite
114. cleaning lady takes a trip to mandela effect land
115. ship cook discovers an infinite meat glitch!
116. oh god the unknowing ritual is fnaf security breach
117. alright guys it’s time to prepare for clown time let’s do a roll call
118. martin burns some stuff and gets traumatized while Jon and the homies are sneaking through an interactive wax museum.
119. ah fuck it’s clown time
120. omg! you were in the archivist’s dream last night! so cool!!
121. dude I’d KILL for a good night’s sleep
122. the worst person you know tells you about their "new philosophical theory" for 24 minutes
123. man is scammed into being the helpless mod for murder reddit
124. old man ruins our austrian mountain trip with impromptu skydiving
125. bagpipe music makes an entire town do a The Purge (2013)
126. man is so shit at sculpting that it literally makes four people loose their minds
127. hey guys… eye am not feeling so well…
128. skinwalker delivery man mourns the loss of his skinwalker delivery husband
129. we needed this rain
130. HOT SINGLES IN YOUR AREA WILL FILL YOUR HOLE WITH MEAT
131. I get the guy who turns peoples’ bones to turn my bones and also tell me the story of how he started turning peoples’ bones
132. MAN OPENS COFFIN. WE ARE VERY WORRIED FOR HIM.
133. My son’s weird boyfriend is a little too invested in my treasure hunt.
134. journalist takes a short and awful trip to dystopia land and it gives both her and adelard decker an existential crisis .
135. let me tell you about our lord and savior: shadow jesus.
136. my boss does a reverse pinocchio.
137. I am saved from the real horrors of war by spooky ghost horrors of war.
138. my dear jonah, it seems my years of fucking around have finally caught up to me, and I am nearing the time in which I will find out.
139. Local cult cooks up an antichrist and then deals with the terrible consequence: parenthood.
140. 17th century homoerotic rivalry between an astronomer and shadow jesus
141. our captain got depressed and then made us all steal a camera
142. hey sorry your archivist got addicted to eating trauma. yeah he’s just watching people on the street now. yeah he’s pulling statements from them like teeth. yeah he’s been showing up in my dreams and he is all eyes.
143. we KILL this evil orb using the power of looking at it too closely
144. math podcast makes man foresee the end of the world
145. gertrude drops the hardest diss track of the century on the desolation / part 2 of local cult’s adventures in parenthood
146. man is stalked by a sneaky door.
147. the archives is stalked by a sneaky spider lady.
148. Security camera guy loves his job so much that he becomes a security camera.
149. weird trash art in the Amazon rainforest bites researcher
150. HOMOPHOBIC SUBURBAN HOUSES
151. have you ever played aquarium tycoon
152. let me introduce you to the world of recreational dirt naps ( I am not asking )
153. evil worm polycule
154. i quit my job and my hot goth wife kills me.
Part 1 | Part 2
William Heath Robinson (1872–1944)
“Exceedingly Odious and Hateful to Thieves and Robbers”
illustration from ‘The Works of Mr. Francis Rabelais’, 1932
source
Linking cards does not mean creating "combo meanings" out of 2 cards. It means drawing a map that shows the roads between 2 cards.
Potentially hot tarot take, but linking tarot cards is not mashing 2 cards together and coming up with "third definition."
I believe that tarot readings are deeply contextual. The question at hand provides context (which is why 'general' readings can be a struggle), and cards link together to create a narrative that is anchored to the question.
"Sun + 8/Cups means wish fulfilled" isn't tarot. That's like, Lenormand.
Tarot is a craft beyond deck structure. Tarot also speaks with its own language (like lenormand or runes) and being able to read tarot requires an understanding of that language beyond memorization of cards.
A major part of the language of tarot is being able to describe how cards relate to each other.
Linking cards together means discovering the flow of information between cards, as they relate to the question at hand.
That flow is not necessarily a combination of meanings.
It is probably better understood as drawing a map that explains how you get from one card to another, and what one card does to another without necessarily transforming the basic nature of either.
"The happiness in the Sun card slows down when it reaches the 8/Cups, which is surrounded by cards that relate to contemplation and meditation. Here, the Sun + 8/Cups link together to show hope shining on ideas that you have not yet decided to carry out."
But that all must be grounded into the context of a question.
Advice spread: "The Sun + 8/Cups show that there is hope, but nothing will happen until you stop contemplating and choose to take action."
Spirit contact spread: "The Sun + 8/Cups show this spirit's strong support for you thinking things through on your own."
Future prediction spread: "The Sun + 8/Cups shows that a joyous event will bring you to a place of contemplation."
If you fail to link the cards, the readings instead might look like:
Advice: "The Sun says to be positive, and the 8/Cups says think about your options."
Spirit contact: "The Sun shows the spirit is happy with your relationship, and the 8/Cups says opportunity is at hand. Maybe it's time for your relationship to grow."
Future prediction: "The Sun shows something really good happening, maybe related to money. After that, you will have a lot of options open up to you."
Even if we examine the future predictions side-by-side, they are not as similar as they seem.
With flow, "the Sun + 8/Cups shows a joyous event will bring you to a place of contemplation." Will bring is the clause that shows how these two cards relate to each other.
Because of how we link the Sun, we have additional knowledge about the 8/Cups.
The Sun card provides context, explanation, or modification of the 8/Cups. Now, we know how the 8/Cups starts, and what events it is related to. The points on a map (Sun, 8/Cups) are now linked together by a road that shows a journey from one to another.
The presence of the 8/Cups provides context, explanation, or modification of the Sun.
Because of the 8/Cups, we are able to predict where the Sun is going. We understand its role in the story (it brings contemplation). The Sun gains lore in the story of the spread; it is not just "a good event," but now also a progenitor and a necessary waypoint in the map of the future.
Without flow, "the Sun shows something really good happening. After that, you will have a lot of options open up to you."
Without flow, neither card modifies the other. The Sun is not understood to be something that causes options to open up. This would be like saying, "first your dishwasher warranty comes through. Then, you get a coupon book with a lot of fast food options." Just because one happens before the other does not mean there is flow between the two things.
Without flow, we do not know where the options described by the 8/Cups come from. We do not know what other events they relate to.
Without flow, we don't know what good things the Sun card relates to. We don't know where things go from there. We don't know if there is any link at all between the Sun and the 8/Cups.
Card linking is more like forging links in a chain that describe how things are related. It is less like melding 2 cards into a 3rd meaning.
There are tarot exercises, which are very useful, that involve melding 2 cards together into a 3rd meaning. This can help stretch the brain and play with concepts of "picture reading" and creatively brainstorming meaning.
But this does not mean that card linking is card melding.
My current vibe is that the book meaning of tarot cards are the most refined level of a reading, and therefore should be interpreted last, if you even want to use individual card meanings at all.
Reading tarot:
Identify major patterns in the spread (start by looking at groupings of card types, such as element, number, court, majors, general vibe or emotion of the cards; use these concepts as a jumping-off point to form your own pattern. What if a lot of cards have horses on them? etc.).
Use patterns to establish flow (low # cards to high # cards; groups of solitary elements; every court is paired with a major; where is the interplay?). If the patterns are boulders, how does the water of narrative flow through this river?
Use flow to link cards. (This group seems disconnected from that group. This card is an outlier; a break must happen somewhere. Energy slowly builds in this series of cards. There is a sudden shift in pattern, a big change must occur).
Use links between cards to determine which book or picture meanings apply. (This outlier card only links up if it means there was a break in the good event. I will choose meanings that relate to surprise and disappointment, and discard contradictory meanings).
At any point in the process, you can stop and call it a day.
Identify major patterns only: "Well I drew a shit ton of Pentacles cards so I'm going to say that your problem right now is that work is taking up all your time, but also you feel like everything is going super slow. Hope this helps."
Also identify flow: "Well I drew a shit ton of Court cards so I'm going to say that your problem right now is a ton of people all competing to have a say in your life, but at the end you have the Tower and the Sun, so I guess this situation is probably fated towards disaster and then a decent outcome."
Also link cards: "These three court cards face the Tower, but they are also all either Sword or Wand cards. In my practice, Swords and Wand cards are most associated with conflict. These three people, whoever they are, will cause the most conflict."
Also read book and picture meanings: "Out of these three problematic people, this person will try to control how many responsibilities are on your plate. They probably make you feel bad for not being responsible enough."
If you are getting low on energy, or do not have the focus to complete the entire spread, start with broad overview (pattern) and slowly narrow it to flow, then linking. Last of all, if you still have the time/energy, use book and picture meanings to add fine detail to the reading.
No point in adding fine detail to a rough block of wood.
First, shape the reading with broad strokes by finding patterns, and slowly add shape.
Only when you have the smooth, polished shape of your reading should you add the fine detail.
The questions I ask myself, roughly in this order, to interpret any* tarot spread:
How did the cards appear? Because I shuffle for jumpers, it matters whether cards pop from the deck together. They form pairs (or groups) which have stronger connections to each other than other cards in the spread.
What types of cards are on the field? Majors? Minors? All numerical cards? Court cards? What suits? What numbers? This is where I consider the raw, memorized meaning of individual cards and the archetypes they represent.
Are there obvious patterns or cadences in the order? Think like poetry, ABAB or AABB, but with the types of cards. In a hand of five, it's interesting if the order is Major-Minor-Major-Minor-Major. Or maybe the cards are in a descending numerical order, Nine-Eight-Seven-Six-Five. Or, perhaps Nine-Eight-Six-Five-Four -- the jump in the pattern matters.
Are there repeating numbers or suits? Repetition strengthens the significance of a number's or suit's meaning.
Are there repeating motifs in the card art? Again, repetition strengthens the significance. This includes colors, background details, people, animals, and so forth.
Where are figures in the art looking? Are they looking at other cards? At each other? Away from each other? The direction of figures' attention directs where that card's focus might be.
Is there a cohesion or flow in the spread, or is it interrupted and disorganized? Some spreads flow smoothly left to right, while others show disruption and a lack of coherency. This question looks a the spread as a whole again after all other questions have been asked to consider all elements together.
Does it make sense? Do the cards answer the question being asked? How do they apply? Is there something missing? Is there a deeper meaning to delve into? Do I need clarifiers? Do I need to try again with new cards? Can I explain these cards to the querent and have them understand my meaning?
And then I write out my analysis! There's obviously more to it than this, with a ton of nuance at every step, and I could probably write a whole essay about any individual part of this... and I probably still will, honestly. (And I started to, then decided to just write up a little list instead, lmao.)
*May not work for some tarot spreads, depending on the style.
This is kind of a large question so I apologize but I guess I'm curious on how you're able to get such specific or like. unique (i mean this in a good way) answers from tarot? Like your "what magic should i learn next" stuff or how to pick up what a spirit can do through tarot. like idk how to translate these cards into what the spirit is trying to say
Hi!
There's no easy answer to this question, partially because I've now been reading tarot for almost exactly 16 years. This isn't at all to say that it's just the passage of time, but that in that amount of time I've done tons and tons of different things to expand my understanding of, and usage, of tarot.
Tarot didn't come to me very easily, and part of that journey was doing a lot of experimentation in an effort to figure it all out. My reading practice is still very much typified by a huge amount of experimentation and custom reading methods.
It hasn't been a linear process at all. I go through periods of months (or more!) where tarot just doesn't click for me, at all. So just because I picked up my first tarot deck 16 years ago doesn't mean that I've kept a consistent practice (I'm just now getting back into it after just such a fallow period ^-^)
My feelings on experimentation is that it gives me new ways to think about not only the cards, but also spreads, methodologies, and readings as a whole.
In addition, my experiments with other forms of divination (most especially casting lots, energy readings, and playing card readings) have heavily influenced my tarot readings.
Here is a post I wrote that I think expresses my feelings on experimenting within tarot.
Here are some examples of tarot experiments I've performed, and/or methodologies I've explored. It's these sorts of things that have been building blocks in my abilities in tarot. But no single one of them was a "key."
Elemental dignities: The elements of the cards dictates how they interact with each other. Air + fire can mean a supercharged firestorm, but water + fire can mean a controlled fire under a stewpot, or blocked progress of the fire. This experiment helps with understanding how cards can link together, and how energy can flow within a spread.
Elemental landscapes: Spreads are laid down in lines or grids and each card represents one aspect of the landscape. You must brainstorm and choose your own meanings. E.g., 8/wands is an exploding volcano. Queen/Cups is a lake inhabited by mermaids. Read the flow of weather patterns and energies through the spread as an answer to the question. This experiment helps with intuitive reading and working with a spread as a whole, instead of focusing on individual cards.
Elemental portents: Assign an element to your question. Draw a card. If the element on the card agrees with the element of your question, the portent is good; if it disagrees, the portent is bad. This experiment helps with learning how to phrase questions and how the question themselves can influence the balance of the deck.
Astral landscapes: This was an elaborate system I built around the Wooden Tarot. I worked with each card to assign it a mystical association that could occur in an astral landscape. The major arcana were spirits who could travel across the landscape. Each spread was like a playing board of a generated landscape and the spirits that interacted inside of it. This experiment was fun for considering the metaphysical ramifications of the energies of the cards themselves.
Numerical virtues: The number value of the card indicates its power and magnitude in the spread. 2 and 3 value cards are always of smaller power and significance. 10 and court cards are always of higher value. Aces may be high or low. This experiment gave me a new way of thinking about importance of each card, and how to blend magnitudes of significance.
Infinite directional wheel: I wrote a post on this actually, but basically you can keep placing cards forever in the cross-quarter positions. It's a meditation on the concept of elements and directions within witchcraft. Also, an extremely useful spread. This was a vital experiment for me in understanding spreadwork, flow of information, and linking cards.
Card doubling and tripling: Place two (or 3) cards together and determine the meaning as if it's one single card; there is no border, and the images combine with each other. The pictures and meanings of each combine into a single card.
Card doubling and tripling, but in spreads: For each position in the spread, place two cards (or three cards!) in place of one. Read the dyads or triads as if they are a single card. It isn't beginning/middle/end; it's a single triple-complex card! These doubling experiments helped me with the concept of card linking and blending meanings into unique interpretations.
Custom meaning sets: Basically, swap out all the default meanings with your own. Extremely useful IMO in learning how sets of meanings work together, and how to balance sets of meanings. I wrote a post on it here. These experiments have perhaps been the most vital for me in developing new interpretations. I believe that the magical skills readings you referenced were the result of custom meaning sets.
No meaning sets: Instead of using any card meanings, all spreads are resolved using a combination of elemental portents and numerical virtues. I.e., the element and number of a card in relation to other cards in the spread determines the reading. Here, the experimentation is allowing the cards to have strict, defined roles within a spread that can't be overwritten by personal intuition.
As a final note, I highly, highly recommend recording every reading you do and every card you draw. For the first couple years of my practice I recorded all readings, and it was a huge boost to my learning.
Cartomancy After 101: Developing your own sets of card meanings that you swap out depending on your needs [concepts & tips]
My hypothesis for this post is that most forms of cartomancy heavily rely on the context of the question or situation being read on.
As context shifts, so do the specific interpretations that readers pluck out of a pool of general meaning.
By leaning into the idea of context and building extremely contextual meaning sets, readers can elevate their skills and more reliably produce very specific readings within contexts they have studied and prepared for.
This is going to be a long one, so I'm making sections for readability.
1. Cartomancy Relies On Context
Most "little white books" that come with tarot and oracle decks, and cartomancy websites and published resources, divide card meanings into the general and contextual.
E.g., a tarot card's general meaning usually includes key words such as heartbreak, betrayal, and backstabbing. Then, contextual meanings might be provided:
Interpersonal relationships: Is a relationship about to end?
Business: Make sure any new business deals won't screw you over.
Spiritual: How can you use your spirituality to help with heartbreak?
While these contextual meanings stem from the base source of the card, they aren't interchangeable. Imagine if a querent asks you about their small business, and you reply, "well, have you tried using your spirituality to deal with interpersonal heartbreak?"
Therefore, a major role of the reader is defining the appropriate context of a question.
In order to practice their skills, many diviners offer to do "blind" readings for others. This means that the reader doesn't want any background information about the question at all - but even so, a reader may still ask for the context of a question.
E.g., a reader may say, "don't even tell me your actual question, but just tell me what kind of question it is - if it's about employment, a relationship, etc. Otherwise I won't know how to frame the answer."
[I don't mean to say that all readers always require context in this manner. Many readers do not, especially very practiced ones. But I don't think that means that context is irrelevant, even to very experienced readers who can obtain context on their own.]
2. Developing Meanings for a Specific Context Results in More Specific Readings
The Complete Lenormand Oracle Handbook by Caitlín Matthews begins by introducing the typical meanings of Lenormand cards. Later, she provides a custom set of meanings she personally developed related to her years spent in live theater.
Because of her time spent performing readings for theater workers, and about theater, she had developed a complex and unique system of meaning for Lenormand which, for the purposes of reading about live theater, was immensely more accurate and specific than the general Lenormand system.
While the general meanings of Lenormand informed her custom system, the custom system was not interchangeable with general meanings and was only applicable to a specific context and its related themes.
I discovered the same phenomenon by accident years ago, when I was frustrated with how general and nonspecific my readings had become.
I wanted to be able to use tarot to read accurately for everyday situations. So, over the course of several months, I worked with my primary divinatory ally to develop my own set of notes for the tarot, specifically for reading everyday, mundane situations.
The meanings given for the cards don't work very well at all for mystical, spiritual, or meditative self-exploratory readings. The meanings are things like, "you're the only one putting energy into this relationship," or, "don't go to the party if you didn't receive an invitation."
I use this set of meanings when I want very plain and straightforward readings on everyday situations, which it's very good at. I got what I wanted: accurate and specific readings on day-to-day questions with the tarot.
The meaning set fails at every other kind of question.
Recently, in my ongoing experiments with a custom oracle mashup of playing cards and tarot, I decided I wanted a meaning set that was useful for troubleshooting creative writing projects.
This deck has general meanings like, air/movement/exchange, water/observation/stagnant, and earth/categories/planning.
I developed contextual meanings like, "the dialogue in this scene is doing what it needs to do," "the character's motivations aren't clearly explained," and "the external goals of the character don't match what's already been explained about them."
By focusing on a specific context, readers can get very good at reading certain types of questions.
3. Exploring Specific Contexts Improves Overall Reading Ability in Any Context
By taking the general meanings of a card and developing them in new, unique ways that are still true to that card's roots, you create a huge learning opportunity to connect more deeply with that card.
Not only can you explore the unique evolutions of each card as it intersects with your interests and life, but your understanding of the deck as a whole can evolve.
When I was working with my original set of "everyday" meanings for the tarot, I discovered that many times I developed card meanings that really overlapped each other, making some cards redundant. When I decided to sort this out, my understanding of - and relationship to - tarot rapidly changed. I'm at a new level of understanding that I hadn't been able to achieve just by using general meanings for the 15 or so years of reading I had been doing before that.
The elements are currently a major part in my practice of witchcraft. As silly or abstract as it may seem, exploring how an oracle card that generally means water/observation/stagnant could apply to a specific type of fiction writing deepened my relationship not only with that experimental deck, but also to my craft as a whole.
As I've explored custom meaning sets in general, my ability to rapidly link abstract symbols has improved. Even if a specific meaning set doesn't apply, just having explored that makes my readings stronger.
For example, if I draw a card and I don't know how to apply it to a certain situation, having different sets of meaning floating around in my head is a little like having three or four helpful aunties shouting suggestions. None of them may be completely accurate, but it's a far better starting place than having no aunties at all.
By investing in very specific sets of meaning that only apply to certain contexts, readers can gain insight and skills that assist them in all types of readings throughout all contexts.
4. Sundry Suggestions for Those Convinced
Here are a handful of tips and tricks I've collected throughout the years. Take or leave them as you desire.
Choose very specific contexts. The more specific, the better!
Well, I'm sure this one is more down to personal preference, but don't be afraid to choose extremely specific contexts.
In my examples above about the creative fiction meaning set, the context wasn't "literary analysis" or "creative writing." The context was, "troubleshooting commercial fiction manuscripts and outlines to be more in line with modern commercial standards."
That isn't great at brainstorming, coming up with story ideas, dealing with literary fiction, grappling with major artistic themes, etc. It does one thing great: helping you workshop a commercial manuscript that you'd like to send to a publisher.
Put thought into what deck(s) you're using.
Even when using general meanings, many readers identify that certain decks are just better at certain kinds of readings. If you have multiple decks, try swapping them out as you experiment and see which ones work best.
Develop not only individual cards, but the deck as a whole.
Depending on your preferences, you may find value in not only developing individual cards, but also groupings of cards.
By taking entire sections of cards (say, all of the wands cards) and linking them to an important concept within your context (say, the behaviors of all the dogs you train), you can make large leaps of progress.
The same could be done for all the kings cards (your mentors in the dog training world), all the #3 cards (they're all going to relate to, say, small change or progress), and you can end up quickly mashing up new meaning sets:
Today's dog training business reading suggests that a Youtuber who's information you rely on is going to release a video about the importance of small behavioral changes.
Assigning broad meanings to different sections of cards is a good way to start exploring specific contexts.
Let card meanings evolve as you explore.
As you take notes, there's no need to settle one one meaning for the card as it is and then avoid changing it.
If your original idea for a card is "stubborn dogs who are not motivated by treats," and you perform multiple readings on it where the card only really makes sense if it means, "this dog will show up super tired and just want to nap," then it's fine to modify notes as you go.
I find that over time, modifications actually end up being multiple possible interpretations, once again deepening my understanding of the card as a whole (this card refers to difficulty inspiring action and engagement).
Often, card meanings come to me very vaguely and are practically stand-ins until I can figure something out for them.
Be mindful of spreads.
I can apply some meaning sets to literally any spread and it'll come out just fine.
Other meaning sets I have don't play great with tons of spreads, and may only work well with small spreads, using signifiers, and so forth.
There's no need to avoid highly contradictory meanings.
If you've got two ideas for a card (the dog is well-adjusted and friendly, or, he's very reactive and dangerous) and you aren't sure which fits, keep both meanings and use a combination of readings and real-world verification to experiment.
Your unique context sets don't need to be congruent with each other.
While I believe it's a good idea to seek fidelity to the original/general meanings of a card, this doesn't imply that the unique contexts you develop have to coincide with each other.
Maybe you have a meaning set specifically for energy work, and a separate one for religious spirit work.
In your energy working set, the wands cards could always relate to fire energy and only ever refer to a spirit if drawn in conjunction with a court card.
But, in your religious spirit work set, the 4/wands might always refer to the spirit of a home, regardless of elemental alignment.
The meanings you develop for one context don't need to adhere to the rules you create for other contexts.
Playing card decks can really simplify the process.
Tarot cards, with their intrusive little pictures, can often impose their own meanings on a context whether you like it or not. Even if horrendous betrayal makes zero sense for your context, sometimes it's impossible to get those ideas of the 3/Swords out of our heads.
If you're finding tarot to be too confining, try experimenting with playing card decks. They're smaller, draw less attention, and most importantly, do away with the art that can anchor our minds to the wrong concepts.
(Split the difference by working with a tarot deck that just uses suit symbols for the pips, but has full art for the major arcana.)
5. Hey! Thanks for reading.
I hope you're having a good day ^-^
