From:	"Jeremy \"Bolthy\" Zimmerman" <jeremy@***********.COM>
Subject:	Re: RM Tarot Mage in SR
Date:	Wed, 13 May 1998 07:43:19 -0700

----------
> From: Alfredo B Alves <dghost@****.COM>
> To: SHADOWRN@********.ITRIBE.NET
> Subject: Re: RM Tarot Mage in SR
> Date: Tuesday, May 12, 1998 6:14 PM
>
<Snip neat explanation of uses for tarot-style hermetic magic>
> <SNIP Sig>
>
> Hmmm.... why make the Major Arcana Health? and what about the Minor
> Arcana? How would you reccommend matching suits with elements / spell
> categories? Also, I was thinking of requiring that Tarot Mages have Hard
> Copy Libraries ... do you think that makes sense or should I just leave
> it be?
>

It's been a while since I've studied much about tarot and magic, so feel
free to correct me on this.

The suits in a tarot deck typically have an element associated with each of
them. Buy any tarot deck and it should be in the little crappy book that
comes with it. You could also just buy a book on tarot that would be a bit
more in depth. The suits also correspond to the magical tools in a
hermetic-style magical altar, which also correspond to elements, though the
tools are scaled down a bit where necessary (daggers instead of swords,
wands instead of staves). Pentacles are Earth, Cups are water, and Wands
and Swords correspond to Fire and Air, though which corresponds to which
I've seen explained differently depending on the author. I prefer
Swords=Fire and Wands=Air, but others have different logic on the matter.

As for which elements go with which spell catagories, just look up
Elementals in the BBB. Each one aids with a different type of sorcery.
That's how it breaks down. No elementals are associated with Health spells
though, so it looks like Max associated them with the non-element-specific
cards, the Major Arcana.

Hope that helps.