too much time on my hands

OOOOO Clever girl Fran. I'm no good at that kind of challenge.

LoL!

Hm. Seems like art. Or were they just glued to the black fabric?

Pretty talented.

wow well done Fran:))

this was on the kitchen table of a former flat, walls were "coucnil blue", so I painted them black in Paint Shop, give one even colour and more contrast.

Never done it before, or since; no idea how many goes I had, but i can tell you I was holding my breath for the last couple of layers!

excellent :D

Well done Fran , that did take some patience I'm glad you took a photo as proof :o))

lol knew I had to get a pic, this was a unique occasion

What sort of cards do you play, Fran? I do only tarot readings.

I have tarot cards too, but mostly I use standard sized playing cards with large numbers - bigger cards are to awkwrad to use on a regular basis. I mostly play cards on the pc now, patience etc.

What sort of Tarot do you have? I have several nice collections - Marseille Tarot, Rider Waite set (my favourite), large cards of Tarot of Grail illustrated by Giovanni Caselli.
When I started do tarot readings as hobby many years ago, I used to buy tarot sets according to their pictures, later I found that each tarot set is original as each tarot set differs in meanings of its cards - so a lot of learning and interesting knowledge. Unfortunately, one cannot play tarot with others, right? :)

I can’t remember which Tarot pack I have, Kat – no doubt it says it on the box, and on the book that I got at the same time, but I’ve no idea where either is – I keep my pack wrapped in silk outside the box. All I know is that these are nice designs, with easy-to-read designations, which is about all I need!

I got several books; many gave slightly different interpretations for each card. I had to put the meanings on cards in large print, so I went through all the books and chose the most common for each (leaving out the most negative ones). That’s six possible meanings for each card (three for right way up, three for inverted), which gives 468 meanings to try to memorise! And to try to link in to make a coherent “narrative”

When I first got the cards, I cut them in half, turned one lot round and shuffled them together, so half the cards are upside-down – of course, which half turns out upside-down depends on which way they’re picked up.

I haven’t done any readings for ages: used to do some for friends, but haven’t even thought about it for some time.

I used to preface my readings with what I call my “standard blurb” – “the cards don’t say what WILL happen, they say, This could happen IF, or This might happen UNLESS. You always have a choice; nothing’s written until you write it.” lol I don’t do “fate”.

And I’d tell them not to tell me their question, because that would skew how I looked at the layout; I’d do a “cold” reading, then ask them for their question, and then go through it again, this time able to tailor the reading. I got very close at times; even though I didn’t always understand the layout, the person I was reading for did as soon as I said what the layout said to me.

I got into it by a somewhat roundabout route: I went with a chum to get the book for the cards she already had, and then bought the identical pack and book for myself.

She later got rid of hers, because they were “bad luck” – when on holiday they nearly got caught in a hurricane, and her husband nearly got sunstroke. I said that they only *nearly* got caught, and he only *nearly* go ill, so maybe the cards were good luck, but she wouldn’t have it. How can the cards be good or bad luck? I said; they’re only bits of cardboard with pictures on them, but she wouldn’t have that either. Sigh, why do some people find it easier to believe in curses than in blessings? Or even in “sh*t happens”?

But I think it’s a bit more than coincidence at times: I’ve done some readings for myself, and the same card has come out three times in a row. I give those cards a serious shuffle, I don’t know what the odds are against that, but I’d imagine they’re pretty high.

A book of “Tarot cards through the ages” would be interesting; showing packs from all ages, all round the world. Lol I did sort of think of starting to collect them with that object in mind, but there’s so many packs around these days, it’d be a monumental task.

Hm. So you had no teaching on Tarot, you were self made man from the beginning.
Regarding meaning of cards, it isn´t so diverse as you interprete. Each Tarot card has a complex meaning. You must know its FULL meaning. That´s the basics. Different Tarot sets use to describe just PART of this complex meaning, causing interpretation with bias.
As I said that it is basic, which must be learned like alphabet. Then it is you, your abilities, which work with this complex information in different combinations of cards. I hope you understand.
Nevertheless, the best two Tarotmen I knew, they have worked with their own cards. A man, who is author of the best historical books in Central Europe, he is one of them. He painted them by himself. The other lady is Russian teacher and she is really Interpreteur. When she laid her cards in front of me, I started to laugh, she was slightly offended by that, but then what she spoke to me that would happen to me - was fulfilled in three months!!!! She is absolute top in this.

well, self-made *woman* - apart from reading various books on the subject. I've gone into it as deeply as I care to, at least for now - maybe I'll want to go deeper into it later, but that will be later.