To buy or not to buy? - The Tarot, Magic, Alchemy, Hermeticism & Neoplatonism by Robert M Place

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Tea & Tarot

Күн бұрын

Пікірлер: 38

@polishfolkwitch 3 ай бұрын

Thoroughly enjoyed this review, thank you!

@teatarot4557 3 ай бұрын

@@polishfolkwitch A pleasure

@grannyweatherwax8005 3 ай бұрын

I have this book and don't regret buying it however I completely agree it is way too big to comfortably curl up with in bed to read, which is a problem. Nor have I even read it cover to cover. I have used it as a reference for more details on specific cards and it did give me some brand new insights here and there. Plus I like a lot of the history he includes. Like you, part of me feels like it would be nice to know more about alchemy, but then my eyes glaze over while reading about it and I lose all interest. I'm also not planning to do readings with one of his decks, so that part of the book is not for me. Love hearing your insights after doing the work of slogging through the entire thing!

@ryankirkpatrick8062 Ай бұрын

Thank you! I was on the fence with this and I this helped. Like anything we can have the same passion but a different take or different flowers out of the tarot garden

@teatarot4557 Ай бұрын

@@ryankirkpatrick8062 Absolutely 👍

@instytuttarota9838 3 ай бұрын

100% agree. I have both R. Place books. Swallowed the first (smaller) one in a few days. But got chocked with the second one. It doesn't go down smoothly, despite unquestionable amount of knowledge RP presents in it. so I take it in saller pieces. One chapter per month for me. I have the Alchemical tarot deck, and was hoping the book will help to start using it. But it didn't really. I love the art but somehow the deck doesn't resonate. BTW, love your eye makeup! 🤩

@teatarot4557 3 ай бұрын

@@instytuttarota9838 Maybe I should have read it over the course of several months. 👍

@RupertRochester 3 ай бұрын

Hi Robert, a great review! 👍

@teatarot4557 3 ай бұрын

@@RupertRochester Thanks Nick!

@amysbees6686 3 ай бұрын

What a coincidence! I’m reading Place’s “The Fool’s Journey”. While a fascinating history of the Major Arcana, it is clearly a pitch for his own deck.

@teatarot4557 3 ай бұрын

@@amysbees6686 Is it good?

@amysbees6686 3 ай бұрын

@@teatarot4557 It’s absolutely fascinating! Very well illustrated and very informative. As a newbie it gives me historical context to the Major Arcana imagery and symbolism. Definitely a worthwhile read!

@amysbees6686 3 ай бұрын

For example, I had No Idea The Fool from the earlier decks showed his genitalia being attacked by a small animal (dog or something else). I’ve seen it blacked out on Victorian decks!🫣

@cindylee5593 3 ай бұрын

Thank you for the review - KZbin, still not sending notification's BTW~

@teatarot4557 3 ай бұрын

@@cindylee5593 You’re welcome. And yes - notifications are a mystery…

@terriw6116 3 ай бұрын

The first time you posted about this book on Shorts, I defended it quite passionately. Now that I've sat with your criticism, I do agree that it would have worked better as multiple books. I still appreciate it, though.

@rainbowwhisperss 2 ай бұрын

This book was great to me. Didn't like 78 degrees by Rachel Pollack. But I always recommend this book for the content to people who want go deeper. And the book is great because everybody can decide from this book the direction they want to go or they don't want to go (in research). For me it cached fire. But it is not a book to read like a novel. This is a studious books and not for everyone, especially not for beginners. :-)

@Mnemosyne5 3 ай бұрын

When I first got Mark McElroy's Bright Idea Deck, the 9s, 10s & court cards were a big part of why I found myself turning to it more, and the RWS less often to read with. Even now, it's my favorite for daily readings & it dovetails well enough (in its own way) with both numerology & the RWS/GD system, too. But I still appreciate all the other lovely RWS variations! ❤

@thomasnihil4878 3 ай бұрын

My problem with numerology in the minors is that it's always inconsistent throughout the 4 suits. At least with the decks I know of or own. Something even modern and current decks don't seem to "streamline".

@djh3239 3 ай бұрын

This book is actually sitting beside me - along with a pile of other Tarot books - when I saw your video come up! I have never actually managed to read it all the way through because it is just so heavy, in both senses of the word. So well done for getting all the way through it!! Kudos! I dip into it now and then when I want to check some particular aspect of Tarot, as if it was a reference book, hence having it out at the moment with some other books: I’m seeing what different authors say on The Hermit. But I don’t feel inspired to read it all. I have his 7 Fold Mystery Tarot, and I don’t use it to read with. Some of his card interpretations are interesting, but the Elephant on the 4 Cups is, well, just too bizarre. The cups are meant to represent 4 psychological complexes that have become almost fossilised by the elephants weight. It’s not intuitive, and also ignores the idea of that 4th cup being offered by the Cosmic Hand in RWS. Anyhow, I’m glad I’ve got it, I don’t regret buying it, I use it sporadically. But I do so appreciate your honest reviews - you admitting you think it merited a good editor makes me feel so much better for having struggled to read it all! I am not alone in feeling it fails to ignite much Tarot passion, after all. Thank you 🙏 Ps was that a card from Robin Wood tarot I saw peeping out as a bookmark? That is one of my all time favourite decks ☺️

@teatarot4557 3 ай бұрын

@@djh3239 Thanks! Yes - might have been the Robin Wood… 👍

@SoniaTheLittleWitch 3 ай бұрын

Snuggling up in bed with a family bible! :-) Oh Robert! BTW, you look gorgeous today! And I realise that, as I said today, it's been 7 days since you posted this video. Alas, I am watching this video with considerable delay, as I've just started another training in Astrology. So I am late for a very important date, one might say. Turning to the video, I must admit that I am not a fan of Alchemy. I am also not interested in Kabbalah all that much and many other disciplines around Tarot. And to be absolutely honest, just handling Astrology, Numerology, and Tarot is plenty, with attempts to add Marseille and Toth later down the line. I also couldn't figure out what those elephants balancing on the cups meant! They certainly drew my attention though, to the point that I forgot the meaning of the original RWS card! :-) I don't think I would appreciate this during the actual reading with the client, when one is already somewhat stressed out.

@krisreutzel170 3 ай бұрын

Really appreciated your review, as always. Just curious…have you ever read any books by Vincent Pitisci? They seem geared toward helping beginners understand how to work with the tarot and he seems to have a devoted following. He passed away earlier this year. I haven’t yet read or purchased any yet myself. I very much enjoy your insight and perspectives on books and decks and regularly look to see if you’ve produced a video before I decide whether to make a purchase as I enjoy reading about tarot very much and your perspectives are quite helpful, open-minded, discriminating, and highly informative. So heartfelt thanks and much gratitude for all the time and thoughtfulness you put into your work!

@Mnemosyne5 3 ай бұрын

He passed away?! 😢

@teatarot4557 3 ай бұрын

@@krisreutzel170 Thank you! Yes I have read a book by Vincent Pitisci. I like him.

@thomasnihil4878 3 ай бұрын

What? Pitisci passed away? I had no idea. Used to binge watch his videos when I got into Tarot. Precise and straight to the point explanations. His books are still on my to read list.

@amysbees6686 3 ай бұрын

@@thomasnihil4878 I’m new to tarot, and just discovered VP. What a loss!😞

@paillette2010 3 ай бұрын

Personally I think RMP’s art is superb. Frankly, it’s hard to compare other decks, even PCS, as my taste leans, but if Isaac Newton spent 20 years of his career on alchemy and found nothing of real merit, that’s good enough for me. I’ve read (ok closely browsed) the Taschen (sp) book on alchemy when I found it at a library. As a chemistry major it just really shows more about the history of science and scientific method in contrast to religious and philosophical beliefs. To me if RMP did decks that were inspired by other creators it would be more interesting. Jmho.

@teatarot4557 3 ай бұрын

@@paillette2010 I agree

@pradeepielts 2 ай бұрын

💓🙏🏻

@marykayryan7891 3 ай бұрын

I'm no expert, but I thought that Jung's idea that alchemy was also a "psychological metaphor" had been roundly repudiated by scholars. What I think I read is that whereas Daoist alchemy is, in fact, about both physical experimentation and transformation and human spiritual transformation, applying this to western alchemy is an incorrect cross-cultural "borrowing" (aka appropriation). (I think my source is from Dr. Justin Sledge on KZbin channel Esoterica. He holds a PhD in the study of western magical esoteric systems and beliefs with a special emphasis on alchemy and hermeticism. Check him out. I find him both highly erudite-he reads a number of ancient languages-but also funny and personable.)

@djh3239 3 ай бұрын

I also follow Dr Sledge at Esoterica. - big fan! He doesn’t seem to rate much western interpretation of alchemy, Kabala, or Tarot! But as a psychotherapist, I find Jungs alchemical interpretations most useful. The alchemical stages can provide helpful metaphors at times, for stages in personal development.

@teatarot4557 3 ай бұрын

@@marykayryan7891 That’s very interesting. I like Jung sometimes but I cannot seem to focus on the idea of alchemy as personal transformation.

@marykayryan7891 3 ай бұрын

@@teatarot4557 In Daoism, which I know a lot more about, the human "transformation" is all taking place through deep meditation and herbal ingestion to effect ones energy to reach higher states of consciousness rather than any personal psychological change. I believe Jung is the one who tried to take that paradigm out of Chinese Daoism and marry it to western alchemy which is why we now think that western alchemy was being done on or for people when it really wasn't. I don't like Jung anyway. Science-izing spirituality annoys me, particularly when the science is dubious and the spirituality is an intellectual system made up by an anti-Semitic Swiss Nazi sympathizer.