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virtualmarmalade
@virtualmarmalade

anyone else think it's kinda weird

that the Emperor and the High Priestess give you tarot/planet cards

and the Empress and the Hierophant give you card enhancements?

like surely the pairs should be Emperor & Empress and High Priestess & Hierophant??


amaranth-witch
@amaranth-witch

This is one of those really interesting questions because on the one hand you're right, this is a reasonable assumption and the pairings seem a little bit off

But there ARE some readings of the major arcana which have the Emperor and High Priestess concerned with more holistic, structural, larger-group affairs and interpersonal relationships, while the Empress and Hierophant are aimed at personal improvement and inner focus, which makes sense to tarot/planet cards affecting potentially "the whole tableau" and card enhancements affecting an individual card (or two/three)

but that's also a slant-read and a stretch?


panicattheopticon
@panicattheopticon

medieval monks in 1500s: blinks it’s just a neat card game


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in reply to @amaranth-witch's post:

Actually that is interesting - I don't know that much about tarot reading, only some of the basics, but if it is intentional I kind of like it.
It's cool when little details like this seem off on the surface but there's a secret deeper level to learn about when you ask the question. I never would have thought to make those connections it's neat :)

I'd be willing to bet that it's partially intentional, partially accidental really! Like, I'm reasonably sure that the intent behind the High Priestess giving random planet cards is that many of the popular guidebook readings associate the arcana with intuition and the sacred, and from there it's a simple step to sacred -> astrology -> planet cards and intuition -> random -> but what do you do with them, improve the hand or sell for money or hold on to prevent that one from appearing in random packs
and likewise the Empress is usually associated with nurturing, flourishing and abundance, and the most direct way to express that is "hey what if your card just made the hand worth +4 times as much as base"
But at the same time, those are close to some of the alternate interpretations, and tarot is one of those cartomancy disciplines which actually doesn't have a core orthodox meaning because it was invented as a gambling card game which drew symbolism from multiple traditions and sources, and only looped back into being a primary occult practice much later, after the game itself fell back out of style, and so each card is more-or-less understood similarly, but doesn't have to mean the same thing, and so on and so forth

So there's room for all kinds of legitimately wonderful accidents

Even if it was an accident I totally think that counts as legitemate tho - to me the main engine that drives tarot readings is exactly that freedom of interpretation and the ways the reader can use their intuition and understanding to draw connections... I don't really believe in magic as such but I still think this kind of symbolic interpretation and divination is interesting and fun, and I can appreciate the art and skill in a good reading. I'm getting off topic here but I think my point is to say Thank You for the insight because it's cool to think about!

in reply to @panicattheopticon's post: