That’s not a bad thing-in fact, it’s good that the decks serve different purposes, else why have both?-but it is something I take into consideration. I really enjoy the images, and I like doing certain types of readings with this deck, but I don’t dwell on the cards and try to find the secret details that will lead me to new intuitive insights as I do with the Linestrider. I know now that this was an oversimplification, to be sure, but I think there’s still merit in that reading of the deck. To me this was a reminder that I wouldn’t be relying on intuition as much with this deck because the images wouldn’t allow for as much intuitive inspiration (or so I thought at the time) instead, I would need to memorize meanings and think in terms of structured numbers and assigned suit meanings. Having done this reading only hours after the Linestrider interview, I was floored by the literal complementarity of the fourth card: in the Linestrider Tarot, it was the High Priestess, and here she was again but this time in the reversed position. But even without those familiar visual cues, I’ve learned that there is enough to go off of when interpreting even the pips. Sometimes that can be limiting, as in the loss of any idea of responsibility in the Lovers, but sometimes it adds subtle new value, such as the idea of compassion through the sacred heart in the 6 of Cups. As far as limitations go, the Three of Pentacles suggested to me that this modern deck wouldn’t include the well-understood, historical associations of older decks, and indeed it has a very different feel with some of its very different images: the passion of the Lovers without an angelic chaperone and the burning sacred heart of the naïve 6 of Cups are just two examples. ![]() The cold stare and straight sword of the colorful Lady Justice told me that the cards would be quick and decisive as I wanted of the Tarot de Marseille, but she reminded me that the cards don’t care what happens to you: they are pieces of cardstock from which we can read messages, but they aren’t talismans or guarantees, and they won’t hold back just because you’re feeling extra sensitive one day. As the Tower showed, this edgy, modern deck was here to shake things up for me and force me to learn a new way of reading. Seeing four major arcana, and these four major arcana, right away fell completely in line with my assumptions about this deck. Again, I used the Tumblr tarot interviewing spread the page no longer exists, but you can Google it. Here in this spread I have reversals and, not knowing any better, I read them as reversals. ![]() This was another challenge, although one I hadn’t planned on since I find reading reversals as reversals to be incredibly helpful the vast majority of the time. Each card has a range of meanings that often (but not always) incorporates the sort of meaning that you might find in the reversed entry for other decks’ cards. What I didn’t realize at the time, and I still don’t actually always follow, is that Tarot de Marseille decks are not designed to be read with reversals. ![]() To be fair to the artist, the pips really aren’t as unhelpful as in a traditional deck, but I did have to learn where I could find helpful cues and where I might be forced to rely on memorized meanings. In the Tarot de Marseille style, the pips (minor arcana numbered 2–10) are not all that evocative and the reader is forced to just know the meanings based on either rote memorization or knowledge with the numerology behind the cards and the elements and components tied to each of the minor suits. One of the other reasons why I bought this deck with the Linestrider was that it had something new to teach me: how to read a Tarot de Marseille style deck. I don’t think that was a wrong impression, but I do think I underestimated the dark depths of the Linestrider and the strong women of the Tattoo Tarot. I had the sense when I bought them that the two decks would complement each other, one soft and feminine and the other a little harder and more masculine. At the same time that I was buying the soft but surprisingly sharp Linestrider Tarot, I was also buying the stark-edged Tattoo Tarot: Ink & Intuition.
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