Intensive Deck Study Support Thread ~ Part 2

Essjay

Three weeks in to my initial decision to spend four weeks with the Radiant. Still doing 2 card draws which I leave out to look at the end of the day. I feel a very close bond with this deck and despite the fact that I have got two new decks since beginning (Halloween and Morgan Greer) I have just checked them and put them away.

In another week I will be altering my IDS to take in a Lenormand Reading Circle but will choose one Lenormand deck and stick with that for the circle. Tarot wise I will be sticking with the Radiant for another four weeks as I feel that with my journalling I have only just started to make some steady progress. My only sticking point appears to be courts, they really do fox me.

I'm wondering if I should get Greer's book on courts. There was once an excellent podcast on The Golden Tarots website on courts but it seems to have gone.
 

firecatpickles

Essjay said:
I'm wondering if I should get Greer's book on courts. There was once an excellent podcast on The Golden Tarots website on courts but it seems to have gone.

I have it and can recommend it. It is Understanding the Tarot Court, by Greer & Little.
 

Alta

Kilted Kat said:
I have it and can recommend it. It is Understanding the Tarot Court, by Greer & Little.
Fully agree. I curled up with this book for quite some time and think that I am a better reader for it. I also recommend Robin Wood's book on her own deck for a helpful guide to court cards.
 

Prism

I just noticed that Kissa is offering that book in the Tarot Trading forum.

I finished going through the cards and their associated stories in the Fairytale Tarot, and today I did my first two-card draw. I hadn't expected much since I haven't spent much time with the deck yet, but it was astonishingly understandable! So now I'm feeling very encouraged about working with this deck. I really enjoyed reading the stories and, just as I was hoping, they are helping to add more to my understanding of the cards, although sometimes (si far at least) I don't really agree with some of the interpretations.

Anyway, onwards and upwards.
 

Essjay

Thank you guys - it's good to hear it recommended. I have had it on my wish list for a long time and every time I get a courts daily draw I look at them and think, "I wish I had that book!"

:)
 

afrosaxon

Kilted Kat said:
I have it and can recommend it. It is Understanding the Tarot Court, by Greer & Little.

Alta said:
Fully agree. I curled up with this book for quite some time and think that I am a better reader for it. .

I have this too. Very thorough breakdown of the courts.

T.
 

Skydancer

Me too, with the book!


Anyway -
Hello!
I'm here to say that I am again going to journey into studying a single deck until I uncover its secrets. It's my newly trimmed, no name or numbers, Voyager. I have the book - but will go through cards first and all without finding the card in the book to know what it was "supposed" to mean.

Wish me luck!
I'm excited about this - and will commit to the month of November for sure.

*S*
 

SolSionnach

Onyx said:
I have been working with it a couple of days and it took me a little while to realize that Swords were water. Hmmmm . . . It is interesting and I think it will be helpful to think outside of the box.
I will take a look at those other decks. Man . . . I hope I don't want to buy any after I am done. : - )
Onyx.
Sorry to be such an enabler... ;) I don't remember which ones I recommended to you just now, so I'll hold off on recommending any more... oh, one more. ;) The Haindl is a pip deck, but it's very *very* heavy on all the esoteric stuff, so I think of it more as a Thoth clone (which is also a pip deck of sorts).
I am working with historical pip decks - which are a lot different than the Haindl or the Eden. One of my fav pip decks - the Balbi - I'm not really using because there is a definite elemental thing going on which doesn't jive with how I see the suit/element correspondence. I hope to use that deck someday... :( But for now it's Vieville, Hadar, etc. :)
vee said:
So after some thought, I've decided I'm going to start an IDS with my DruidCraft. I'm starting on Wednesday, since tomorrow I'm voting, working, and then going to Obamapalooza here in Chicago!
OMG I am soooo jealous!!!! Please yell a bit louder for me, okay? I :heart: Chicago, I :heart: Grant Park and the riverfront... and I REALLY :heart: Obama! :)
vee said:
I'm new to Tarot, and I've been using primarily RWS for the past three months. I just got my DruidCraft in the mail and I'm really excited about the idea of getting to know it. I'm setting up a blog to write in, as I think that will keep me motivated to really articulate how I feel about a certain card.
Welcome to the IDS - have fun with it! :)
Essjay said:
I'm wondering if I should get Greer's book on courts. There was once an excellent podcast on The Golden Tarots website on courts but it seems to have gone.
I'll add my voice to the chorus recommending the Greer/Little book. Definitely an important resource!
Skydancer said:
Hello!
I'm here to say that I am again going to journey into studying a single deck until I uncover its secrets. It's my newly trimmed, no name or numbers, Voyager. I have the book - but will go through cards first and all without finding the card in the book to know what it was "supposed" to mean.

Wish me luck!
I'm excited about this - and will commit to the month of November for sure.

*S*
Good luck! I can't imagine dealing with the suit of Crystals without the book or titles - I look forward to reading how it goes for you. :)
 

Skydancer

Re: trimmed Voyager

I have now separated out the Majors - a few I could tell but the rest I had to go through the book and match up pictures.

But I haven't read much on them yet; I want to write out my own ideas. I've not done this with a deck before. Me and tarot journeling just don't seem to jive. So - a whole new experience all 'round.

SO I'll begin learning the majors -- and then go from there.
This is so exciting - because it's not RWS. It's in there, but so is about everything else you can think of.

later then ~
*S*
 

Onyx

sravana said:
Sorry to be such an enabler... ;) I don't remember which ones I recommended to you just now, so I'll hold off on recommending any more... oh, one more. ;) The Haindl is a pip deck, but it's very *very* heavy on all the esoteric stuff, so I think of it more as a Thoth clone (which is also a pip deck of sorts).
I am working with historical pip decks - which are a lot different than the Haindl or the Eden. One of my fav pip decks - the Balbi - I'm not really using because there is a definite elemental thing going on which doesn't jive with how I see the suit/element correspondence. I hope to use that deck someday... :( But for now it's Vieville, Hadar, etc. :)

It is okay, I can handle a little enabling. The checkbook is a great force to understand the reality of what can and cannot join my every growing collection.

My current ISD "Deck" includes The Crystal, The Hermitic, The Ancient Tarot of Lombardy, 1JJ Swiss, Tarot Classic, The Haindl, and The Fournier Tarot de Marseille.

Each deck though without scenes depicts a sense of the card that is very unique. Journalling has helped me to come to terms with my meanings and thought I continue to develop schemes of different meanings I am learning to look deeper than just the image. Sure I can handle swords as water, Juno as the High Pristess and Wands with a green background. Ultimately I have been able to look at pattern of card combinations, structure of spreads and how they work or don't.

What I love is the variety to change and still keep with the same study. I am able to try out my ideas of what the cards can mean personally. It is all part also of my undertaking "The Process". It has been great and very enlightening. The different decks have a different feel and compel me to consider if I can cut and paste my meanings. Can I? I do it with RWS images all the time. But comparing the Hermitic with the 1JJ Swiss, not normally a deck comparison study, see that cards are different even if I try to fit similar keywords. I fear that either way I will depart this study in time with a startling understanding. It could be at a 2 of Cups in not always the same in one deck as another.

I have a firm belief that the Tarot is a flexible and responsive tool that meets the reader where they are. And as true wisdom is never discovered but rather remembered I am seeing that that magic is not in the cards but in myself, but also it is in the cards. Oh, the wonder and the exquisite mystery of the Tarot!

Onyx.