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Tarot Gate Cards

12:10 / 25.04.03

Any of you Tarot people have an opinion on Gate cards? The certain cards in the minor arcana pips that have a deeper significance than most, and are best suited for meditation on?
I'm a Pollack fan so I follow her assertions (more in pentacles, they each draw you in etc) does anybody else have an opinion?

12:48 / 25.04.03

I use Wands primarily... just more my style. I tend to ruminate on -and consistently draw the Five of Wands. Spooky and foreboding, but I like a challenge. Other cards? hmmmm... I pick out Four of Cups lately. Maybe I don't do it right, but I use King of Wands(Ambition) and VIII:Strength as significators

23:16 / 28.04.03

Hmmm, I'm not familiar with any Tarot standardization of Gate cards in the Minor Arcana. You could certainly say the Aces are important. There are cards that I have a stronger relationship with. Otherwise, I think it's just personal affiliation and preference.

Could you elaborate a bit on your question?

07:16 / 29.04.03

Rachael Pollack asserts there are certain minor arcana that are especially good for meditation- for example the ten of pentacles, with the coins arranged on the card as the tree of life, the gateway in the card, the old man (Odin? Merlin? The Hermit? Hermes?) sitting at the threshold looking at us etc.
Compare to (say) the four of coins. The symbolism is not nearly as rich, the meaning is clearer, the card is simpler.
These specific cards are better to meditate on than your average minor, and more easily draw you through into the archetypal world of the Tarot.
Pollack labels them 'Gate' cards, and I'll get back to you with a list of them (there's one sword, a couple of cups and wands and three pentacles) and a synopsis of her theory (which I agree with).

14:12 / 02.05.03

They are the;

THREE OF WANDS - exploring the unknown, we follow the boats out to sea
EIGHT OF SWORDS
SIX OF SWORDS
FIVE OF CUPS
EIGHT OF CUPS
ACE OF COINS
FIVE OF COINS
SIX OF COINS (this one is tentative)
TEN OF COINS

(Pollack) "Certain cards, taken in the right way, can help produce (an awareness of the deeper nature of the universe). Earlier, we considered the occult view that looking at geometric patterns will produce effects on the brain. In a similar way joining ourselves meditatively to particular cards in the four suits will bring experiences reaching beyond the card's specific meanings.
I call these cards Gates because of the way in which they open a path from the ordinary world to the inner level of archetypal experiences. They all share certain characteristics: complex, often contradictory meanings, and a mythlike Strangeness which no allegorical interpretation can completely penetrate."
She goes on to say that these are not the only cards that do this, but in her experience are the most effective.

Anybody else tried this?

13:44 / 06.05.03

...guess not.

14:00 / 06.05.03

can't say that I have but I will now.

15:33 / 08.05.03

Interesting. The theory given bases itself largely on the skill in the artistic rendering of the individual cards more than the escoteric meanings of them, if I'm reading this correctly. So the first question is then, which deck is this work based upon?

I learned the tarot through the GD style of mapping element to sepheroth, so the 3 of Swords is Air in Binah. With this understanding, each card in the minor arcana is a gate to a particular experience, so its hard for me to swallow that certain ones are particularly better. They might just resonate better with her particular views and needs.