Intensive Deck Study Support Thread ~ Part 2

I'm 1/2 way through Umbrae-ing my Shining Tribe, and have started reading the book. I find myself a bit put off by all the Goddess stuff, for some reason. That being said, the imagery is bringing back good memories of working with Shining Woman in the late 90s... a blast from the past!

(note to self: take a gander at Rodney's AET postings!)

ETA: I'm through with umbrae-ing the ST - and it's practically twice as tall as it was, when stacked up. !

Hard to say if I'm going to need to "tea" it or not.

Hi everyone! Just checking in.

I am having a ball with the Four Elements. After the Sacred Days of Yule reading was done, I've just been playing around with the cards. I feel like I maybe shouldn't have dived right into that reading without getting to know my deck more first, so now I'm not doing readings with it, just playing around and soaking the imagery in. I still haven't cracked open the book, so for now I'm focussing entirely on what the deck is sparking in my intuition. I will eventually see what the book author has to say, but for now its just me and the cards.

I will eventually settle down and do some serious study. I have never used a deck with nonillustrated minors, so this whole thing is a bit of a change. I'm finding that as I work with this deck, my tastes in other decks are changing also. (I'm finding I like decks with very concrete pictures far less than I used to. I want my intuition to be free free free!) I've been going through some old decks with the intention of selling them. After working with the Four Elements, some of my other decks just seemed so...restrictive. (The Buckland Romani comes to mind instantly.) I don't know if its because I'm working with a deck with nonillustrated minors, or because I'm finally settling down to study just one deck, but some of the decks I thought I liked before I just...don't now. Huh.

Anyway, more later. So far I've been having a blast!

By the way sravana, the Shining Tribe is one of my favorite decks, and has been for a long while. I consider it tarot, but of a different and vibrant sort. I'll take the Shining Tribe over the RWS any day.

That said, when I got my deck, those borders needed to come off in a hot minute. They were just so distracting. Ick!

Fortunately I wrote this post in word so I had a copy saved!

Originally Posted: Friday 9th January
Well I’ve finished my first round of IDS interviews. It was not intended to be a multi-round interview, I had hoped that this first round would reveal a clear winner, but it hasn’t. Fortunately it has narrowed the list from ten to four. My results currently stand at:

• Arthurian (Hallowquest): Inconsistent, varies between chatty and sullen. Wants me to fight for it, which I’m not sure I’m willing to do.
• Bright Ideas: very talkative, and bluntly honest. However seems like it may be an exhaustive deck to work with for long periods.
• Cosmic: Again an inconsistent talker. Told me I would be going backwards if I was to IDS with this deck.
• Dreampower/Merlin: Offers much, wants much; very, very much. Probably too much at this time, more than I could handle.
• Druidcraft: Much potential, very talkative and greatly enjoys working with me.
• Faery Wicca: Uncommunicative. Promises much but is reluctant to talk to me about it.
• Greenwood: Great potential here, however it will require much work.
• Legacy of the Divine: Very strong possibilities here. Has much to offer including a great sense of humour (asked “what does the deck bring to the partnership?” answer: The Devil )
• Tarot of Dreams: Again, great potential, a good talker with much to offer.
• Transparent Tarot: Not exactly talkative, gives impressions and feelings rather than words, but a lot of potential.
  

So I definitely feel a connection with Druidcraft, Legacy and Tarot of Dreams, and I’ve decided to give the Transparent a second shot, because I think that with some time and effort the images will start to speak much more clearly. Particularly as I had a flash of insight about this deck last night. It is (to me, at least) when looked at as individual cards, essential a pip deck, which I don’t connect with. When two or more cards are combined it moves from pips to fully illustrated, and then the images begin to really communicate. Although at the moment the communication is still hazy – I kinda get the message, but can’t always express this in words, but I think this will improve with time.

So this weekend will be spent re-interviewing the cards, simplifying it to three questions:

• Strengths
• Limitations
• Most Important Factor

Hopefully this will help me narrow the list down to one. However, if this does not work, I am willing to give Rodney’s (long, detailed but very, very fair ) selection technique a go (see here for full details).

Hopefully by Monday I will be able to confirm which deck will be this years IDS deck.

FS

Update: Tuesday 13th January
Well I completed the four second round interviews. And, frankly, it hasn't really helped. The results now stand as:

• Druidcraft: Great strengths and minimal limitations. Presents a challenge, but a really positive challenge. The only real difficulty would be the few places where it and I have different values/natures, then the challenge will be to integrate these differences.
• Legacy: This deck has much to offer. Not a kind deck when it comes to telling me as it is. Much could be gained from working with the deck and much joy will come from it. No real difficulties.
• Tarot of Dreams: Great potential. Wants to be approached in a new, fresh way, without old habits and ideas. And doesn't want to be shared or share me.
• Transparent Tarot: The potential is here, there are minimal limitations - most of them are on my side. Yet I was still not convinced that this deck and I were meant to work together right now. So I asked why I had doubts, and it gave me a fantastic, clear and concise answer. This is a deck that wants to work with others, to be shared and be used to give. I am not in a place right now to be sharing and giving. I am in a solitary mood. Are needs and wants are very different and therefore we are not suited to each other at this time. (CI: 2 cup, six cups and 4 swords).

So I have now narrowed it down to three options. It occured to me today that I could study Legacy and Tarot of Dreams together. I asked them what they thought of this and was told: NO! Legacy gave me the 4 Coins (which had been one of the cards that had turned up in Tarot of Dreams 2nd Interview - seems they're both terribly possessive )

So now I guess I'll have to try Rodney's technique of card comparison, and hope that this gives me a definitive answer.

Will report back when I have a final decision. Hopefully soon. Otherwise this is going to turn into a IDS all about choosing a deck to IDS with.

FS

PS: Sorry for such a long post. I need to vent my frustrations with this process, before I take it out on the decks and just throw them all away .

Faolainn Storm said:

Otherwise this is going to turn into a IDS all about choosing a deck to IDS with.

FS

PS: Sorry for such a long post. I need to vent my frustrations with this process, before I take it out on the decks and just throw them all away .

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LOL. I sympathize with this. When I first tried to do the IDS, I spent ages trying to choose a deck...and when I finally did, I got bored within a week. At the time, I thought I would overcome the things that annoyed me about the deck, but within a few days I realised that I couldn't and had to ditch it.

I've now been IDSing for the last 3 weeks with the Halloween tarot. I haven't touched my other decks, and I'm still looking into ways to get rid of them (either sell or giveaway).

I'm quite surprised that I'm not actually missing them. I do struggle with the Halloween sometimes, but I haven't felt the urge to switch. I did however have a dream the other night about the RWS. Now under 'normal' circumstances I would have taken that to mean that I should use it - but not this time. Nope. I refuse to give in.

I did add some new threads to the Halloween study group, but they were lost in the forum crash. I've still got them on my blog, but I'm kinda wavering about posting them again for public scrutiny...I'm a bit shy about these things!

Since the server crashed and it was lost, I'm joining the IDS thread...again. Tarot of the Magical Forest.

Fortunately I had the participant list post open in another window that I hadn't refreshed. So the updated list has been posted again.

Rodney

BTW,

Welcome again hshaffery (and everyone else who joined in the last week). I honestly have no clue who joined when without being able to look back at this group....

Rodney

Allowing the cards to set their own pace

As I've written about before, my IDS is really about making working with the cards less "work," which it had become, and more about fun and play. I'm really focussing on playing with my intuition and creativity, and how the cards can help me form a closer bond with both. Right now I am learning a valuable lesson about allowing myself to take my time with the cards and allowing my study to go at its own pace. Lately, I haven't been reading much with my deck, just playing around, getting to know the language the deck speaks and how it speaks to me. Nothing major, just feeling out the cards.

I usually have this same "getting to know you" phase with a new deck, but it is always rushed, maybe a day or two, because there are other decks that I want to be moving on to. Lots of hopping around from deck to deck meant each got my undivided attention for about a week or two. Now that I'm looking at a vast stretch of time with just the Four Elements, I feel like the pressure is off and I can just take my time and learn the cards. It has been very freeing.

After playing around with the cards for about a month, last night I finally decided to open the book and see what the author had to say about the cards. In my "normal" tarot practice, I would have done this about a month ago, maybe the same day I got the deck. Again, because I've comitted to the Four Elements for the foreseeable future I felt free to just wait until it seemed like the right time. Now that I know my deck pretty well, I know the author's oppinion won't influence mine about a specific card.

Here is one part of the book I found very encouraging:

I encourage you to engage with each image through feeling, imagination, and intuition. Empowering these three senses connects us with our primal truth. Let your ideas and visions inspire free association and spontaneity...Play and enjoy.

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Which is what I have been doing. I didn't need the author's validation, but its good to know she and I are on the same page.

I think I've decided how I'm going to work through the cards (or rather, play through the cards, ). I'm going to move through the majors, focusing on each one in order, and then I'm going to bounce around the minors in a free association sort of way.

Last night I started with the Fool, and decided to journal about the card in a creative way. I decided not to write about what I saw in the card's symbolism and how it spoke to me (my usual form of journalling about a specific card), but rather to write a memoir-ish journal entry about a time in my life that I think really embodied the Fool. I might go back over my journal entry and flesh it out a bit, and then write about what in the card speaks to me about that particular time in my life and the energies of the Fool card.

So far that's what is working for me. I hope everyone else is having as much fun as I am!

I've been journaling, too. I started with The Fool and by this morning I was up to The Chariot. It's been going pretty well. I find that there's more to say than I think there will be when I first start out writing. I'm going to keep on, I hope, until I finish the Majors. I really like 2_Journey's idea:

I decided not to write about what I saw in the card's symbolism and how it spoke to me (my usual form of journalling about a specific card), but rather to write a memoir-ish journal entry about a time in my life that I think really embodied the Fool.

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And I think I'll try some creative journaling too, since it gets pretty dry otherwise.

Then I think what I'll do is try to rearrange my system of understanding them, which has already undergone some changes since I began this round. Then I think I'll work through the Minors, starting with the Aces, then the 2's etc.

I've cut down on the readings I've been doing for myself, but I like Thorhammer's daily spread that she recently posted in the Spreads forum, so I'll give that a try.

I've been doing the Reading Circles, too. I find that really helps me to focus.

Best wishes to you all.