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So, here's a new community. I wonder if anyone'll post things in it. I figure there needs to be a tarot community here, I'm willing to run one, and so, here we go; but I don't want to be the only one participating because that's boring for everyone. So, if you also think there should be a tarot community on Dreamwidth, how about commenting and saying what you think it should involve? I'm going to try adding some postings of my own to seed discussions.
Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could create a tarot-based mood theme, with a different appropriate card image for each mood? Even more than one, since not everyone uses the same deck...
Hey, wouldn't it be cool if we could create a tarot-based mood theme, with a different appropriate card image for each mood? Even more than one, since not everyone uses the same deck...
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From:
Raises hand!
Some things that I think would be cool for this comm:
Maybe an introduction post that talks about how you first became interested in the tarot. For me it was a very big poster of the Rider Waite Magician hanging in the dusty upstairs room of an old bookstore. There was something about the symbols and imagery that really pulled me into the illustration.
And along that line, maybe we could discuss the specific imagery used in our favorite decks (maybe a poll about our favorite decks?). Or dig a little into the whys and wherefores of our choices. Or maybe select a specific card very week to talk about its meaning - personally and historically.
One last suggestion if I may (given how I seem to be running on here), is "other" applications for the tarot deck - specifically (for me anyway) how it may be used for creative writing. I've read a couple of different articles about how the Major Arcana can represent the Hero's Journey - the backbone of almost any well-told tale. I would love to hear about how others might use the deck for their own writing (I understand that it can be a great way to push through writer's block) or any other nontraditional use really.
Okay, I suspect that's enough from me!
From:
Re: Raises hand!
On "other" applications: yes. There's the "put a card under your pillow and dream about it" thing. There's the "pathworking" thing, which merges with some of the Kabbalistic stuff people do. I don't know much about either of those except that they exist; maybe someone who actually does them could be prevailed upon to post about it.
I've used tarot imagery in some of my writing myself. At some point as days go by I'll probably post about that.
A question on my community promo posting reminded me that there's a lot of tarot imagery in anime, with a widely varying level of authentic depiction of how people use it outside anime. Several postings could no doubt come from that alone.
From:
Re: Raises hand!
Oh yes, there are several anime that have used or reference the tarot. Escaflowne comes readily to mind:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Escaflowne
(sorry about the non-clickable link, something else I can't do as an OpenID "member")
It's an older anime but was quite popular at the time.
I look forward to reading your post on the tarot decks. Do you know if you can share images yet in the comm? The tarot is a very visual thing. It would be a shame not to be able to share scans of our cards (if desired of course).
From:
Re: Raises hand!
I have an invitation code but it's kind of spoken for. If the potential recipient doesn't come through or if I get another, I'll probably send it to you. Email me at mskala@ansuz.sooke.bc.ca with the address you'd like it sent to.
Off the top of my head the first anime use of tarot that comes to my mind is in DNAngel - where the sister he wants to get together with (Risa, bad choice, Riku was much more appealing, but since when have anime boys shown good taste in girls?) read cards fairly often and in a more or less authentically-depicted way. There's always Card Captor Sakura, of course. The cards there aren't much like tarot cards in their action, but the way they're mostly titled "The <whatever>" and the graphic design are notable; I think it's clear that somebody in the design department was looking at a Rider-Waiter deck when planning that series. I've heard of some Christian fundamentalists objecting to a fast-food place's giving away CCS cards because they were "tarot" cards and would lead kids into "Satanism" and although that's obviously silly, the fact remains that the cards in the show do look a whole lot like tarot cards, and the way they're actually used in the show (to cast magic spells) may be even more like what those people would object to than real tarot cards would be.
I'm not sure what you mean about being able to share images in the community. People are certainly free to embed images in postings and comments as far as I know. I haven't tried it but expect it to work. But to do that you'll need to host the image somewhere, just like embedding images in any other HTML-based system. I have my own Web hosting account which I can use for things like that but can't easily make available to others. There are free ones on the Web. I think there is some talk of Dreamwidth having its own image-hosting service at some point in the future, but that doesn't exist yet and when it does it'll probably only be usable by people with paid accounts.
From:
Re: Raises hand!
This is the first time that I've heard that the CCS cards being compared to the tarot! At the time, I think that I heard some complaints from the usual sources that the CCS were somehow satanic in nature, etc. But I have watched the series and never felt that there was any basis to these claims. IMO the cards were used as a way to summon elemental magic by the main character all within the fictional world created by the authors of the series. I believe that it was popular with children (and adults ;-) as it allowed them to feel that they might also find a way to achieve control over the (sometimes) scary forces in their lives. This is not what I feel the tarot can do or does. But this should probably be saved for a later discussion. I have a CCS deck of cards and would be happy to post images so that anyway who is curious about what they look like can see for themselves what they are about.
And on that topic, I was referring to DW hosting images (apologies for my clumsy way of asking) and thank you for the information. I have posted images to LJ from a free account or two (not sure what the last one was) and so if DW works the same, I suspect it won't be a problem in the future. I am looking forward to sharing images of some of my favorite tarot decks (assuming that my scanner is feeling cooperative - oh what slaves we be to our technology ;-) at least me anyway!