2/25 (Wed) Tarot vs. Love (Host：Chantal)

[Chantal]

Dear all,

I want to introduce my most reliable friend “Tarot”. I guess most of you are aware that Tarot is a foretelling tool, and some of you probably think it is not easy to learn about how to do the fortunetelling. Actually, there are some easy ways to approach Tarot. Through this process, you will find that Tarot is full of mystery and imagination.

For this meeting, I designed a game-style way to make you familiar with some of the key cards of Tarot. Due to time limit, the increasing attendance, and material availability, I prepared two sets of questions. One set has cards and questions completely different from those of the other set.

The following paragraphs are for you to get some ideas about the background of Tarot.

What is Tarot?
Consider the history of the tarot cards, for a little bit of background on reading the tarot cards. Tarot cards were first recorded in history at 1332 AD as being outlawed in Europe for political and religious reasons. The very playing cards (trump) used today are based upon the tarot cards of old, by making them into playing games the mediums of tarot cards circumvented the laws of the dark ages. And of course everyone is familiar with the legends and long use of the tarot cards by the Gypsy culture.

The reason the tarot was a popular medium for telling the future was because of the high illiteracy count during the dark ages. Visualization of symbols was a much better method of telling the message of reading the tarot cards, then attempting to memorize the literate symbols.

The study and methods of reading the tarot cards have been noted subject of studies by the psychologist Carl Jung, Arthur Waite noted occultist, and Aleister Crowley noted occultist.

Tarot reading is classified as a method of divination (foretelling the future) as is Runes, Crystal Balls, Palm Reading, etc. But the phenomenon of reading the tarot cards is more widely known thanks to Hollywood's portrayal of the Tarot in many movies.

There are many types of tarot decks and many different styles that still hold the same suits and names as the original. Of the many different tarot cards the Rider/Waite deck is known as the traditional deck. Yet remember find a deck that suits your needs and style, just use the symbolism of the Rider/Waite desk as a guide to learning more about the tarot.

Verification of Tarot History
Many things (true, false, and speculative) have been written about the history of the tarot. This sheet addresses some statements about the tarot that may seem like historical fact, but are actually without basis in the evidence presently available. This is not to say that there is no room for speculative or non-factual stories about the tarot. Myths and lore express the human soul and creativity. These myths tell us much about the significance tarot has on an inspirational growth level. They speak an inner truth that is, at times, more personally true than external facts. However, both history and myth may suffer when the two become confused.

The information given here consists mostly of conclusions that recent tarot historians have drawn from studying the evidence of written documents and cards that have come down to us. Other interpretations might be drawn from the same body of evidence. Although written records are our most reliable contact with centuries past, they do not preserve everything that people thought or did, especially pertaining to an aspect of popular culture, such as the tarot.

The time and place of the origin of the tarot
Inaccurate: The tarot comes from Egypt; India; China; Fez, Morocco; the Sufis; the Cathars; Jewish Kabbalists or Moses; or the origin of the tarot is unknown.
Current Historical Understanding:
The tarot originated in northern Italy early in the 15th century (1420-1440). There is no evidence for it originating in any other time or place. The earliest extant cards are lavish hand-painted decks from the courts of the nobility.

The gypsies and tarot
Inaccurate: The gypsies brought the tarot to Europe and spread its use.
Current Historical Understanding:
This idea was popularized in the 19th century by several writers, notably Valliant and Papus, without any basis in historical fact. There is no evidence that the Rom (gypsies) used tarot cards until the 20th century. Most of their fortune-telling was through palmistry and later through the use of ordinary playing cards.

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The following information is provided to give you some keywords for each major Tarot card. All advanced interpretations are dependent on context and intent of a reading.

Card 0 － The Fool:
beginning, fresh, foolish, naive, adventure, journey, impulsive, folly

Card I － The Magician：
accomplished, talented, focused, skilled, knowledgeable, objective, ready

Card II － The High Priestess:
subservient to natural law, wisdom, receptivity, concealed, passivity

Card III － The Empress：
female power, production, creating, nurturing, beauty, cherish

Card IV － The Emperor：
brain in action, ambitious, controls, supervise, male power, establishing

Card V － The Hierophant：
respective, kindness, compassion, following the (old) laws, senior, religious

Card VI － The Lovers：
young, quicksilver, masculine or feminine, connection, enjoying

Card VII － The Chariot：
move quickly, brave, do more than think, responsive, go out, outdoor

Card VIII － Strength：
strength, courage, controlling power, domestication, sustaining power

Card IX － The Hermit：
wisdom, caution, isolation, guidance, connection to higher-self, refinement

Card X － The Wheel of Fortune：
(good) timing, up-and-down, shift, cycle, whirling, greater fortune, destiny

Card XI － Justice：
balanced, being fair, peacekeeping, sociable, being in middle, coordination

Card XII － The Hanged Man：
Sacrifice, ascetic life, exhausted mental state, suspension of activities

Card XIII － Death：
termination, dead status, go to another world, transformation

Card XIV － Temperance：
balanced mixture, spiritual path, temper or strengthen, nursing care, repeating

Card XV － The Devil：
seduction, be bound (literally or through personal illusion), limitations

Card XVI － The Tower：
tearing down, climbing down, explosion, strike, on fire, in a panic

Card XVII － The Star：
a group of stars, a hope, a sign, revelation, purification

Card XVIII － The Moon：
feel unsafe, suspicious, the subconscious, in the dark, unseen, hidden, pray

Card XIX － The Sun：
energy, playfulness, goal achieved, success, an original existence, be blessed

Card XX － Judgment：
soul, belief, determination, trial, outcome, mission, initiation, perpetual

Card XXI － The World：
reach a satisfied status, culmination of imagination, wide vision

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In this meeting, you don’t need any basic knowledge about reading Tarot cards. All you need is to exercise your imagination and word-association. Just like the concept of “telling the story about the pictures”. All you need to do is trying to translate the meanings you get from the cards into romantic characteristics or happenings. For example, if you see something implying “strong feeling” in the card, that can be explained as “he or she has a strong love feeling on someone”.
See, not hard, right? ^^ Let’s have fun!
By the way, this meeting purpose is for practicing English, not for learning Tarot. *.^

Questions for SET 1：

Session I：

1. Make several keywords (possible meanings) or describe the features that you think belong to or match the image of the figure on each card.

2. Answer the following questions and explain why it should be the one.

- Which one is most likely the playboy or playgirl? Why?
- Which one is most likely the person who enjoys bachelorhood? Why?
- Which one most likely has a runaway marriage? Why?
- Which one is most likely the person who can tolerate long-distance love?
- Which one is most likely the person who will have a match-made marriage（相親)? Why?

Session II：

Notes：
1：The high priestess (card II) and the Empress (card III) must represent a “female”.
2：The Emperor (card IV) and the Hierophant (card V) must represent a “male“.
3：The Fool (card 0), The Magician (card I), the person in Strength (card VIII), the Hermit (card IX) can represent either a “female” or “male“.

1. Match two figures as the best couple, and explain why you think so.

2. Match two figures as the worst couple, and explain why you think so.

3. Think about the key words (possible meanings for love) or features of the three situation cards (which are given in the session II only).

4. Imagine what the best couple will do when they face the three situations, and describe how they will react, and what action they will probably take in each situation.

Questions for SET 2：

Session I：

1. Make several keywords (possible meanings for love) or describe the features that you think belong to or match the image shown on each card.

2. Answer the following questions and explain why it should be the one.

- Which card is most likely the stage of “being friends”? Why?
- Which card is most likely the stage of “being in love”? Why?
- Which card is most likely the stage of “being in a harmonious relationship”? Why?
- Which one is most likely the stage of “being back to each other”? Why?
- Which one is most likely the stage of “being probably separating (leaving each other)”? Why?

Session II：

1. Make several key words (possible meaning for love) or describe the features of the three additional cards (which are given in the session II only)

2. Find out which two cards imply the relationship that is likely going to reach the goal (marriage), and explain why you think so.

3. Find out which card implies that the couple needs more passion to each other?
Which card implies that the couple needs something else to keep their relationship except passion? , and explain why you think so.

4. Find out which two card imply that the couple is about to break up? Explain why you think so.

5. Find which card implies a suggestion of “following your feelings”? Which card implies a suggestion of “action is the key of getting your love”? Explain why you think so.

注意事項：
1. 文章是否需要列印請自行斟酌，但與會者請務必自行列印Questions for discussion。
2. 與會者請先閱讀過文章，並仔細想過所有的問題，謝謝合作！
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6:45 ~ 7:00pm Greetings and free talk among members and guests /taking individual orders/getting newcomers' information
7:00 ~ 7:10pm Opening remarks/ Newcomers self-introduction/ Grouping
(Session I)
7:10 ~ 7:50pm discussion session (40 mins)
7:50 ~ 8:10pm summarization (20 mins)
8:10 ~ 8:15pm Regrouping & instruction giving
(Session II)
8:15 ~ 8:25pm Taking a 10 minutes break (Intermission)
8:25 ~ 9:05pm discussion session (40 mins)
9:05 ~9:25pm summarization (20 mins)
9:25 ~ 9:30pm Concluding remarks/feedback from newcomers/ announcements
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聚會日期：列於該貼文主題內 聚會時間：請準時 6:45 pm 到 ~ 約 9:30 pm 左右結束
聚會地點：丹堤復興長春店 台北市復興北路183號 地圖 (02)8712-9581
捷運南京東路站（木柵線）
走法：出捷運南京東路站後，出捷運南京東路站後，順著復興北路往北走約3分鐘，過了長春路與復興北路交叉口之後即可看到。

注意事項：
1. 文章是否需要列印請自行斟酌，但與會者請務必自行列印Questions for discussion。
2. 與會者請先閱讀過文章，並仔細想過所有的問題，謝謝合作！

給新朋友的話：
1. 請事先準備2~3分鐘的英語自我介紹；會議結束前可能會請你發表1~2分鐘的感想。
2. 請事先閱讀文章以及主持人所提的討論問題，並事先寫下自己所欲發表意見的英文。
3. 全程以英語進行，參加者應具備中等英語會話能力，對任一討論問題，能夠以5到10句英文表達個人見解。
4. 在正式加入之前，可以先來觀摩三次，觀摩者亦須參與討論。正式加入需繳交可退還之保證金NT$1,000。
5. 不論主題是什麼，我們聚會的目的是練習英文。例如，這次的主題雖然是塔羅，但這只是提供給大家一個練習英文討論的材料，並不是塔羅教學。
6. 想要參與會議的新朋友，請先跟會長 Toshi 報名，謝謝！

[toshi]

I like this topic.
It will be a nice training for our imagination.
I can't wait for it!
May I guess it right now?

[Rock]

Wow, here comes an interesting topic that we've never seen before. Good for you, Chantel the Japanese girl. But how would a Japanese girl be interested in a Gypsian thing?

[FRED]

It's a fancy topic. I 'll find a crystal ball to help us!

[SophiaTseng]

I like this topic!
But sorry that I am not able to attend the meeting tonight, sorry lo Chantel.
You guys have a good night!

[Chantal]

To Toshi and Fred,
Thanks your reply. Please enjoy it tonight ^^

To Rock,
Well, That is because I learned how to be a witch in Japan

To Sophia,
That's a pity. I missed you ^^ please take care

[toshi]

Attendance Figures: 30

- Host: Chantal

- Participants: Luis, Fred, Timothy, Chiron, Kooper, Arthur, Sherry Liao, Sharon Cheng, Jackson, Newman, Jessie Hsiao, Claire, Albert, David Wu, Rock, Toshi, Joey, Sun Hsu, Sylina, David Jr., Andrew, Howard, Amizi, Darren Chien, Tammy, Winson

- New Comer: Kevin Cheng, Chi Hsia

- Present : Alex Liu

It my pleasure to announce that we got two new members tonight – Jessie Hsiao and Tammy. Please welcome them with our warm hearts!

Meeting Venues:
(To see more photos, please access to our YOYO photo album http://picasaweb.google.com/yoyo0105/)

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[chiron]

Dear all:
I also used the deck of cards (Osho's zen cards) very often in the past. The following is its on-line version. Hope you like it.
http://www.osho.com/Main.cfm?Area=Magaz ... raditional

[toshi]

Dear all:
I also used the deck of cards (Osho's zen cards) very often in the past. The following is its on-line version. Hope you like it.
http://www.osho.com/Main.cfm?Area=Magaz ... raditional

Dear Chiron,

Last night I mentioned, Osho's e-book...
Chinese version :
http://www.osho.tw/page_004.htm

English Version :
http://www.oshoworld.com/onlinebooks/index.asp?p2=14

I love "When the shoe fits(當鞋子合腳時--莊子的故事)" most!
http://www.osho.tw/ebook/book8_00.htm

http://www.oshoworld.com/onlinebooks/Bo ... 20fits.txt

By the way, didn't you read my signature?
It's from Krishnamurti "從已知中解脫". ^_^

[Wayne]

Words and Expressions 0225 2009

hermit：隱士
reshuffle：重新洗牌
天主教：Catholicism; Roman Catholic Church
天平：balance; scales
星象學：astrology
紫微斗數：Zi Wei Dou Shu (a Chinese book on astrology)
墮落：sink; sink low; degenerate; fall; corrupt
聯想：associate; suggest
勸：urge; persuade; advise; talk sb. into/out of doing sth.

[Chantal]

Thanks for the participants ^^
I hope that you guys had fun.