Hi Melissa,

Pardon my delayed reply.

delaforge wrote:Paul Foster Case, who like Waite was a one-time member of the Golden Dawn, does as Waite does with the court cards. I don't recall either man explaining why he had not held to GD teaching. Does anyone know their reasons?

The GD system was not the only foundation for the RWS Tarot. Also the 15th century Sola-Busca deck had a strong influence on Waite and Smith. I can only speculate that this may have been the source also for the traditional scheme regarding the court cards they chose to follow.

And Case followed the RWS for the most part - his deck can in fact be regarded as a variation of the former.

Could you please give an example? When using a GD-based deck do you, for instance, take The Hierophant as corresponding to Taurus and when using a traditional French deck do you take The Pope as corresponding to Jupiter (as French writers such as Papus do)?

Melissa

Right. For another example, the Thoth Magus showing up in a reading - being connected to Mercury - could be a reference to quicksilver or to the nervous system etc. But I wouldn't make any such associations if using the Papus deck.