Category: Blog

My top 5 go to TdM styled decks of 2019

Lets jump right in. Most of the decks below have a slightly smaller size to them besides the Trionfi. Which feels really good to shuffle with and make excellent travel companions. Additionally, I appreciate the quality of the card stock on all of these.


1. Tarot de Jean Dodal de Lyon (5th ed.) by Pablo Robledo

Out of all of the classic TdM style tarot decks, this is my absolute favorite. I love the way the art is and the styles of the faces on the characters. It tickles me but also rings true towards capturing the essence of a reading. I cant get enough of this deck and need to find a back up copy as soon as possible. I cannot see myself living without this one.


2. Flamand Vandenborre by Pablo Robledo

Also known as the Flemish Tarot. Bacus also replaces the Pope for Key number 5 in this deck. I happened to find this one by happenstance. It is quirky and fun and the minor arcana pips are not in a standard tdm format there are numbers in the center of some cards. It took a little bit of experimenting to get used to reading with this one, but because I can quite figure it out and because it feels odd enough I keep on coming back to it.


3. Tarot de Marsella by Pablo Robledo

This deck is just a classic Conver based TdM. It is great to teach with and compare my other decks to as a baseline reference. It is essentially a gold standard. I adore this deck and it was awarded the Historical Deck of the year back in 2013 by Tarot Association.


4. The Spanish Tarot by Fournier

This is a Liguria-Piedmontese woodcut deck. Radical color differences in both minors and major arcana alike. The introduction to the color purple is unusual for this style of tarot deck. The cards are naturally ‘weighted’ so you do not have to mark your cards for those of you who like to read reversals. When I want to stray from the typical color palette and shuffle with the intention of reading reversals this is my go to deck of this school.


5. Trionfi della Luna by Patrick Valenza

Trionfi della Luna. Monsters in our mists, a strange dream world where humanoid figures roam the terrain of a pipish land. This modern re-envisioned TdM stlye decks reads like a storybook. The structure of the original art style; tips its hat to the historic land of TdM decks. This deck is really so fun to read with, after all when we are going through struggles and hardships it is not hard to feel like you are some kind of humanoid dream monster navigating on this earth. Here but out of place somehow. This deck has a lot of miles on it, I simply cannot get enough.


If you want here is a video of my go to Tarot de Marseilles style decks of 2019 and a brief audio version of why.

Buying your First Tarot deck and Where to Start?

The age old adage of “use what works for you” and “use what you are attracted to” had been beaten to death. As true as it is, I always feel the underlying basis of this question comes from someone looking for a bit of foundation as in– “Where do I even start”?.

I always like to make the distinction that are are roughly three camps of tarot that is typical as a “foundation” for people. These are your big three camps. Many modern decks are derived or influenced by one of these three:

The oldest, Tarot de Marseilles or TdM for short.
The popular, Rider Waite Smith or RWS for short.
And the infamous esoteric Thoth Tarot.

Now, here is an important distinction to make before you run off and purchase a deck.

Tarot de Lyon de Jean Dodal by Pablo Robeldo



TdM has a long history and purist may not consider all pip decks (pips meaning the minor arcana is non-scenic) as a true TdM. This is because some versions were not created in Marseilles, but in other places like the Noblet 1650 is from Paris, Dodal 1710 is from Lyons, and Conver 1750 is from Marseilles. Conver is the most popular of the TdM decks. There are many out there. Furthermore, there are some books available on the market and do a good job at helping you to get going with readings. If you happen to speak French I believe that opens more avenues for books.

Pam’s Vintage Tarot by GameCrafter

Do you want a lot of written material on the tarot deck you purchase? If so, you would probably want to go with a RWS based deck as this has the most written about it, hence its popularity. There are hundreds of RWS editions and clones available on the market. You cannot go wrong here.

Thoth Tarot by Aleister Crowley

Thoth is Thoth same as with TdM, there is a limited amount of books written for this but the resources available are fantastic to get you going. There are a small amount of Thoth based clones on the market but many of them are lovely. Additionally, the minor arcana are ‘pipish’.

Now that I am off my soapbox, here is a video I did with my deck and book recommendations for beginners:

In this video I discuss an overview of the three tarot traditions and some resources to help get you get started on your way. All of the decks I showed can be found on Amazon at reasonable prices.

Tarot de Marseille

Deck shown: CAMOIN JODOROWSKY
Books:
->The Way of Tarot: The Spiritual Teacher in the Cards by Alejandro Jodorowsky
->Tarot on Earth by Tom Benjamin
->Tarot – The Open Reading by Yoav Ben-Dov

Rider Waite Smith Tarot

Deck Shown: Smith-Waite Centennial Tarot Deck by U.S. Game Systems Books:
->Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom: A Book of Tarot by Rachel Pollack
->Secrets of the Waite-Smith Tarot: by Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin
->Tarot 101: Mastering the Art of Reading the Cards by Kim Huggens

Thoth Tarot

Deck shown: The Thoth Tarot
Books:
->Understanding Aleister Crowley’s Thoth Tarot by Lon Milo Duquette
->The Book of Thoth by Aleister Crowley
->The Chicken Qabalah by Lon Milo DuQuette
->The Tarot Handbook: Practical Applications of Ancient Visual Symbols by Angeles Arrien (I forgot to mention this one but it is good one if you do not want to get into the ‘esoteric’ stuff but still want to learn)

Website mentioned to browse for decks: www.aeclectic.net

News and Updates: Weekly Skylights

The weekly skylights have been enjoyable to write but I foresee there being an ebb and flow of what the ‘weekly skylights’ will look like moving forward– a shift if you will.

I am currently behind on some natal chart readings so I must play catch up and get those done. Some of my guinea pigs have volunteered to allow me to share chart findings here, and I am so grateful. Names will be kept anonymous for privacy sake. So look forward to some of those hitting the blog in the upcoming weeks.

However, I don’t want to stop the weekly message… Therefore the weekly skylights may need a name change in which I can easily shift focus from tarot or astrology according to what my intuition is calling me to focus on that week. Even better, lets be real, according to life demands. Basically, I am still showing up and getting it done. I want to let this evolve organically.

I will probably just call them ‘Weekly Insights’ in the interim because that is just an easy default.

Any other ideas for a name for the Weekly Tarot and/or Astrology post? How have you been enjoying them so far?

The Houses

The houses are the areas of life and environments in which we find ourselves. Originally called ‘the places’. Environmental experiences. The ‘where’ of what is occurring. The terrain in which you navigate.

An empty house does not mean there is a lack of activity but the absence of a serious problem in that area of life. With no planets in a house there is a potential for more freedom of movement in those areas of life. Where planets land, it is more of a calling as to what needs to be worked on in this lifetime.

The houses are your anchor and your foundation when reading a chart. The planets and zodiac are in constant flux, but the houses are fixed in position. The 1st house will always be roughly at the 9 o’clock position, 7th house at the 3 o’clock position and so forth. The houses help us to navigate an astrological chart. The type of house system you use is a different story, but the foundation is the same across all astrological traditions.

Now, let’s get into what the houses or places are representative of:

1st House – House of Self/Personality

Type: Angular
Area of Life: Personal appearance, mannerisms, and disposition. Persona. The armor worn. The mask you wear. The window through which you view life. Physical body. First Impressions.

2nd House – House of Personal Resources

Type: Succedent
Area of Life: Personal property, resources, money, possessions. Peace of mind. Moral values. Self worth. Earning and spending capacity. Income. Assets.

3rd House – House of Communication

Type: Cadent
Area of Life: Ability to relate to immediate environment. What you think. Commerce. Dexterity. Short journeys. Early education. Siblings cousins, and neighbors. Writing, news, rumors, communication. Memory. Innate skill sets.

4th House – House of Home

Type: Angular
Area of Life: Home life, inner world. Hidden depths of the self. The nature of one’s residence. Maternal figures. Unconscious underpinnings of the personality. Early family life. Roots/Lineage. Domestic Life. Private Life.

5th House – House of Children

Type: Succedent
Area of Life: Self-expression. Creativity. Love affairs. Children you create (be it actual children, or art, books you write, etc.) Affections you display, anything that bears your personal stamp. Tendencies coming from the heart. House of hidden karma. Pleasure. Romance. Sex.

6th House – House of Service & Routine

Type: Cadent
Area of Life: House of work and health. Food, clothing, shelter, and domestic pets. Routine. It potrays one’s capacity to serve. Working conditions. Wellness/Illness.

7th House – House of Marriage

Type: Angular
Area of Life: The other. The not-self. Committed relationship. The ‘we’ consciousness. Parternships and marriage. Cooperation. Lower courts and Close friends. Open adversaries. Relationships.

8th House – House of Death

Type: Succedent
Area of Life: Generation, sex, death, other people’s resources, inheritances, occultism, legacies, financial conditions of the other. Debt. Taxes. Shared Resources. Psyche.

9th House – House of Long Journeys

Type: Cadent
Area of Life: Super-consciousness. Religious philosophy. Spiritual visions. Long Journeys. Expansions of horizons. House of Spirit. Worldwide contacts. higher education. In-laws. Study. Faith.

10th House – House of Career

Type: Angular
Area of Life: Prestige, honor, accolades,. Professional career, reputation. Father, Employers. Authority. Fame. Public Life. Profession.

11th House – House of Friends

Type: Succedent
Area of Life: Friends and acquaintances. Groups. Community. Goals and objectives. Social relationships. Hopes and Wishes. Good Spirit. Projects. hopes, wishes.

12th House – House of Ancestors

Type: Cadent
Area of Life: Ancestors. That which is Hidden. Self-Undoing. Initiation. Subconsciousness. Mystical experiences. Service or Suffering a choice must be made. Charity. Karma. Hospitals and institutions. Hidden enemies. Retreat. Escape. Release. Subconsciousness.

Learning Tip:

I find an easy way to learn the houses is by learning them in pairs of opposites.

1st house is the house of self, across the way is the 7th house the house of the other. Relationship with the self versus the Relationship with the other.

2nd house is house of personal resources versus 8th house of shared resources.

3rd house is short journey and rudimentary education versus 9th house long journeys and higher education.

4th house is private/domestic life and mother versus 10th house public/career life and father.

5th house is of children and creativity versus 11th house friends and commitments.

6th house is of work and routine versus 12th house of retreat and escape.

Zodiac Signs

Now we get into familiar territory, the zodiac signs. I feel like these archetypes have been beaten to death. But they are one of the staples of the astrological language. These are the lenses, the descriptors, the filters, the adjectives that describe how the planets are expressing themselves. Some planets do better expressing themselves in certain signs and not as well in others, this is the concept of essential dignities.

The stories and myths have always been with the stars. Zodiac signs are based off the star constellations, more or less, and thus astrologer’s noticed how a planet expresses itself moving through that part of the sky. Think of the planet as a performer on stage, the zodiac sign would then be the backdrop of the stage, providing an ambiance to the performance. For example, Venus is in detriment in the sign of Aries. If Venus is all about love and harmony, you may sense pastel colors, the smell of roses or baked goods when you think of her. But in a sign like Aries, Venus would have a hard time sending her message accordingly, especially if she is dress like Xena the warrior princess and the backdrop looks like the aftermath of a Spartan battle. Venus is still innately Venus, but the demeanor shifts a bit.

Syntax: The planets are always in the sign. Mercury is in Aries. Because we have the function/noun (planet) in expression (sign). For example, Mercury (intellect) in Aries (fiery and forceful). Thus an astrology article may say, “Today, your ideas (Mercury) are firing on all cylinders (Aries), go for it”.

Now that we have that out the way, let’s get into a quick cookbook-look at some general descriptors for the signs. Negative, neutral, and positive qualities will be provided. This is not an extensive list— just a word drop soup of typical keywords. This is just a jumping off point, a reference. Remember, you are not just your Sun sign, you are so much deeper!

Aries – The Ram

General Descriptors: Thrust of Life. Utilitarian. Libertarian. Honest. Direct. Vigor. Gusto. Ventures. Pioneering. Leader. Functions well in crisis. Enjoys a challenge. Impulsive. Violent. Insensitive. Selfish. Prone to rage. Impatient. Hard-headed. No lack of effort. Ambition. Pantomime. Skeptic.

Keyword: I AM
Body Part: The head
Planetary ruler: Mars
Modality: Cardinal
Element: Fire
Nature: Assertive

Related Tarot Cards: The Emperor, Queen of Wands, 2 of wands, 3 of wands, & 4 of wands.

Taurus – The Bull

General Descriptors: Sensuous. Patient. Steady. Charming, Earnest. Steadfast. Naturalist. Resourceful. Generous. Contemplative. Common sense. Loyalty. Practical. Preserves tradition. Materialist. “Sees red”. Tunnel vision. Rigidity. Procrastination. Dogmatic. Poetic. Feels the Music. Spectator. Fruitfulness.

Keyword: I HAVE
Body Part: Throat
Planetary ruler: Venus
Modality: Fixed
Element: Earth
Nature: Receptive
Related Tarot Cards: Hierophant, King/Prince of Pentacles, 5 of pentacles,6 of pentacles, & 7 of pentacles.

Gemini – The Twins

General Descriptors: Communication. Quick. Witty. Language Lovers. Skills with words. Logical. Duality. Inquisitive. Cunning. Versatile. Intelligent. Multitask. Exchange. Alertness. Quick-sharp thinking. Disorganized. Inconsistent. Chattering. Scatter-brain. Stress. Anxiety. Nervousness. Overthinking. Restlessness. Articulate.

Keyword: I THINK
Body Part: Nervous system, hands, shoulders, lungs
Planetary ruler: Mercury
Modality: Mutable
Element: Air
Nature: Neutral
Related Tarot Cards: Lovers, Knight of Swords, 8 of swords, 9 of swords, & 10 of swords.

Cancer – The Crab

General Descriptors: Protective. Nurturing. Home-loving. Connection. Compassion. Wears heart on sleeve. Empathy. Intuitive. Graspy or Clingy. Eagerness. Suspicious. Caretakers. Apathy. Sense of invisibility. Persuasive. Stays within comfort zone. Cautious. Sympathic. Moody. Emotional.

Keyword: I FEEL
Body Part: Breasts and stomach
Planetary ruler: Moon
Modality: Cardinal
Element: Water
Nature: Receptive
Related Tarot Cards: Chariot, Queen of Cups, 2 of cups, 3 of cups, & 4 of cups.

Leo – The Lion

General Descriptors: Inspiring. Dramatic. Creative. Courageous. Prideful. Cheerful. Out-going. Stage presence. Over-dramatic. Over-bearing. Can put on a show. Benevolent disposition. Warm-hearted. Enthusiastic. Faithful. Pompous. Patronizing. Interfering. Broad-minded. Dynamic.

Keyword: I WILL
Body Part: The Heart
Planetary ruler: Sun
Modality: Fixed
Element: Fire
Nature: Assertive
Related Tarot Cards: Strength, King/Prince of wands, 5 of wands, 6 of wands, & 7 of wands.

Virgo – The Virgin

General Descriptors: Analytical. Discriminating. Capable. Clarity. Reason. Self-discipline. Tunnel-vision. Criticism. Fussy. Detail-oriented. Statisticians. Calculating. Purity motifs. Hygiene consciousness. Modest. Meticulous. Diligent. Over-critical. Conservative. Reliable. Carping.

Keyword: I ANALYZE
Body Part: Intestines
Planetary ruler: Mercury
Modality: Mutable
Element: Earth
Nature: Receptive
Related Tarot Cards: The Hermit, Knight of pentacles, 8 of pentacles ,9 of pentacles , and 10 of pentacles.

Libra – The Scales

General Descriptors: Refined. Persuasive. Diplomatic. Romantic. Charming. Easy-going. Idealistic. Peaceable. Gullible. Flirtatious. Harmoniously. Resentful. Sympathetic. Co-dependency. Insincerity. Indecisiveness. Truce. Fairness.

Keyword: WE BALANCE
Body Part: Kidneys
Planetary ruler: Venus
Modality: Cardinal
Element: Air
Nature: Assertive
Related Tarot Cards: Justice, Queen of swords, 2 of swords, 3 of swords, & 4 of swords.

Scorpio – The Scorpion


General Descriptors: Doers. Realistic. Fearless. Probing, Perceptive. Intense. Hidden Motives. Impatient. Synthesis. Magnetic. Compulsive. Secretive. Obstinate. Passionate. Jealous. Penetrating. Emotional Intelligence. Transformative.

Keyword: I CREATE
Body Part: Reproductive organs
Planetary ruler: Mars (classic), Pluto (modern)
Modality: Fixed
Element: Water
Nature: Receptive
Related Tarot Cards: Death, King/Prince of cups, 5 of cups ,6 of cups ,7 of cups.

Sagittarius – The Archer


General Descriptors: Philosophical. Adventurous. Scholarly. Social Climber. Freedom-loving. Jovial. Honest. Optimistic. Careless. Irresponsible. Tactless. Offhandedly. Exploratory. Travel. Alchemy. Ambitious. Friendly. Tempering. Precision.

Keyword: I PERCEIVE or I SEEK
Body Part: Hips and Thighs
Planetary ruler: Jupiter
Modality: Mutable
Element: Fire
Nature: Assertive
Related Tarot Cards: Temperance/Art, Knight of wands, 8 of wands, 9 of wands, & 10 of wands.

Capricorn – The Goat


General Descriptors: Ambitious. Resourceful. Pragmatic. Blase’. Boldness. Compensatory. Persistent. Prudent. Disciplined. Patient. Careful. Reserved. Humorous. Pessimistic. Fatalistic. Miserly. Grudging. Over-conventional. Rigid. Aspiring. Calculating. Power.

Keyword: I USE
Body Part: Knees and bone structure of the body
Planetary ruler: Saturn
Modality: Cardinal
Element: Earth
Nature: Receptive
Related Tarot Cards: Devil, Queen of Pentacles, 2 of pentacles, 3 of pentacles, & 4 of pentacles.

Aquarius – Airwaves


General Descriptors: Friendly. Unconventional. Humanitarian. Honest. Loyal. Original. Inventive. Intellectual. Contrary. Perverse. Unpredictable. Detached. Independent. Hopeful. Revolutionary.

Keyword: I KNOW
Body Part: Ankles and Circulation in the body
Planetary ruler: Saturn (classic), Uranus (modern)
Modality: Fixed
Element: Air
Nature: Assertive
Related Tarot Cards: Star, King/Prince of swords, 5 of swords, 6 of swords, & 7 of swords.

Pisces – The Fishes

General Descriptors: Artistic. Intuitive. Compassionate. Idealist. Visionaries. Romantics. Dreamers. Empathetic. Sensitive. Imaginative. Kind. Selfless. Unworldly. Sympathetic. Secretive. Vague. Impressionable. Nebulously. Deceitfully. Faith. Mystical.

Keyword: I BELIEVE
Body Part: the Feet
Planetary ruler: Jupiter (classic), Neptune (modern)
Modality: Mutable
Element: Water
Nature: Receptive
Related Tarot Cards: The Moon, Knight of cups, 8 of cups, 9 of cups, & 10 of cups.