Intensive Deck Study (IDS) Support Lounge ~ Part IV

Ah, Alamaris, thank you for letting us know. I think you have the right attitude towards it, though. Don't see it as failing, see it as learning the patterns you tend to fall into.

I know from another thread that you're embarking on an exciting new tarot project, so best of luck with it and I hope we see you back around here when you're ready to give it another go.

-zan

My IDS VIA Lust (Strength) is posted. Onward to The Hanged Man....

Well I haven't actually posted anything about *my* studies in here in a while -- answered others, spoke words of encouragement, etc..but nothing about me and where or what I'm doing. So trying to remedy that now

Well, honestly I'm finding it rough going at the moment. Not that I want to end my IDS! NO WAAAY!! But, if you all don't mind, stop the world a bit, please, and let me off! I'll sit in a back corner somewhere with my cards, and my study books and a notebook..I'll be fine, off by myself..thanks! (hehe) I really find my tarot/spiritual study time to be my only real ME time, and as such I'm clinging to it fiercely - I need this, no matter how busy the rest of my life is.

My spiritual growth has been flung to the forefront of my life most insistently, lately, and it's not willing to be ignored so I have to say I'm doing more searching and learning in that aspect than I'd expected. This is not totally of my choice, I must say -- I think ignoring the signs and learning being THROWN at me would probably be detrimental to me! One sign that this needs addressing is the overwhelming emotions I've been feeling -- I pride myself in being able to step back and deal with things logically, the only things that really GET to me are the things that are deeply tied to my heart and soul, and wrench at my very core and prevent me from being 'logical' at all. This is how it's been for me the last few weeks...

Unfortunately, the Gilded just doesn't seem a very spiritual deck to me -- which I have to say, I knew when I started! To me, the Gilded is like coming home..it's down to earth...wise but kind, all knowing but gentle...but it's not spiritual. Firmly grounded in life and living life the best you can, I think...but not spiritual. I don't really HAVE a spiritual deck, yet. Not sure what I'd qualify as such.

I'm not sure if I'm looking for a spiritual deck or not -- I'm not really quite sure what I'm doing, it seems to be something I don't have much control over -- if the path leads me to a spiritual deck, then I'll rethink my IDS and what my goals are and where I'm going with them.

Currently my goal is to learn tarot the best I can, to learn to trust my intuition, to learn my deck inside and out. I'm a beginner at tarot, so I feel these things are important. Granted my chosen deck doesn't have the depths that others have chosen, but my goal was to learn, and I chose the deck that speaks to me when I read for myself AND others.

I'm going to continue with that goal unless and until I come across a deck that speaks to my soul, at which point I will consider how best to change my IDS, or drop it if it seems not possible to change to what I need most.

~Yira

I'm back Sort of . . . having puter problems now.

Yira ~ please don't ever feel like the deck you have isn't "spiritual" enough. At the heart of things, Tarot is a spiritual pursuit, and the cards you use do not have to have a specifically spiritual overtone or theme or agenda or big stick. In some ways, using a deck that's not so "spiritual" will end up giving you a purer (for want of a better word) understanding of the application of Tarot to your own personal growth. It's free of agendas and waymarkers, allowing you to find your own way.

And I agree, the Gilded will be a good deck to learn to read cards on. I don't have it, don't like it - but that's because of the CG art - but I have seen enough to say that it's a worthy deck in and of itself.

And I totally hear you about the hecticness. My own spiritual time has been plundered utterly, having had houseguests for nearly two weeks. They were a joy to have, but between cleaning constantly to keep the cat hair down (one of my guests had an allergy), making bread three times as often, cooking and being sociable . . . I've done one reading in that whole time, my ritual has dropped off and I can't remember the last time I meditated. No yoga due to an aggravated shoulder injury and I'm feeling . . . shallow. Skittish.

But the houseguests are gone now, my puter is semi-working and I've got a weekend that includes CoFreemasons' Temple coming my way. I'm looking forward to slowing down a bit.

\m/ Kat

Welcome back! I hope the computer issues get ironed out in the best possible way - ie, you get to be on it as much as you want!

Thanks for your words of encouragement - I agree, the Gilded is very good for teaching me the basics. I think it has only one real flaw (I like CG art as long as it's done well, and this is) and that's its lamination..it's just not heavy enough to stand up to constant daily use. My current deck gets NO shuffling of ANY sort,(I swirl them around on a table) and even so the color is chipping off the edges a bit, they don't look "new" and considering they're only a month old, they should! (They DO look better than my other Gilded that I shuffled for a month, ruined by pen and floor dirt, and then got my second deck to work with..hehe)

Plus the amount of time to set up a reading, having to swirl and carefully spread them all out so I can reach each card in my selection process..it can take 20 minutes to set up a reading, and then 10 minutes to read it! hehe I really wish I could somehow relaminate this deck (without ruining it) so it wasn't my sensitive baby I have to protect at all costs. LOL. In any case, either I find a solution for this deck, or I'm looking for another good "learning" deck (that appeals to me - this part is the kicker) that is tough enough to stand up to heavy use.

Can cards be relaminated? I'd pay a bundle to "fix" my Gilded..hehe

Glad you made it through the houseguest phase. That's always a rough thing, for me, I'm so glad to see them -- and glad to see them go! hehe My boyfriend is planning an extended visit probably next month, but then he does tarot too so hopefully he'll not mind when I just hole up and love on my deck..hehe (He's not really a houseguest though)

~Yira

thorhammer said:

I'm back Sort of . . . having puter problems now.

Click to expand...

Yay! We've missed you...(and I'm not cut out for this...haha)

But yes, Yira, what she said! It seems to me that the fact that you are here, in an intensive study group on a tarot forum seems pretty darn spiritual. I think its easy to get caught up in all the talk around here about the Greenwood and the Ironwing and even me and all of my silly bonding projects with the Haindl and think that there's some type of deck that you're supposed to be using, or that a deck can't be good enough if it wasn't rare and expensive enough. But obviously, all of that is just silly.

Especially when you're still a beginner, I think it's really important to be working with a deck that helps you get the basics down and find your flow. I bought my Haindl really early into my interest in tarot and had absolutely no idea what to make of it at the time. Only by working for a long while with my Anna K did I develop enough of a base with the cards to start feeling comfortable enough to consider working with something that presented more of a challenge.

Did I have a point to all this? Right, yes, I think it seems like you're doing just fine so far. Just be careful not to let AT itself make you too crazy. Remember the de-enabling thread a few weeks back? If I'd listened to them, I wouldn't even have a Haindl! Sheesh, some people...

EDT: ooh, crosspost...i think I'm still relevent...

Hehe, I love reading about you and your Haindl While I don't actually like the deck (but what does that matter, I'm not the one using it!) I adore reading your insights and travels with it Glad you didn't read the de-enabling threads!

I hope some day I find a deck that means as much to me (I'll have to buy out the entire lot probably, the way I seem to go through my deck now.../sigh LOL)

~Yira

Thanks, Zan I'll be around for a while, I hope.

Yira ~ It doesn't matter too much, does it, if your deck looks well-loved? My Thoth looks a sight, the colour is wearing (as in, rubbing off) off the fronts I have shuffled it so much, and it's my favourite deck. And you should see my Wheel of Change! It's more like a stack of fabric after the six months it spent accompanying me everywhere!

I'm sitting in a park, on a spectacularly humid and charmingly overcast Perth summer day, with the 78-parrots (yes, that is their name) and magpies chattering around me, tapping away on my laptop. I should be working. Technically, I am . . .sort of

But I came in here to say . . . I'm going to shelve the Blake. I've decided that it's really just not going anywhere, this relationship. I've made the effort a few times in the last couple of weeks to sit and journal a card and it's not getting me anywhere except hating the deck. So I'm running back to Uncle Al and Lady Frieda for a bit (I must be mad - the Thoth? A comfort deck???) but I'll still be around here, just not an actual IDSer. I'll be allowing myself to work with my other decks, too! Woohoo!

I feel like the Blake was pulling me in one direction while everything else I've been trying to do with myself was pulling in another . . . the result has been a state of "frozen in indecision" which I hate. So I'm setting myself free for a while.

As I type this, a completely black cat has wandered across the park in front of me. I think it's telling me I'm doing the right thing.

\m/ Kat

I suppose you're right, it doesn't matter...I'm tempted to start shuffling my cards again! After all, if they can stand up to it, it won't matter..and if they don't, well I am looking anyway! (I still wish I could relaminate them) Maybe I'll do a spread asking my cards if I could read better if I didn't have to spend so long setting up for it..(any ol' excuse for a reading, huh??)

It must be awesome to go to the park and see parrots..a trip to Oz is one of my dream vacations - to see the parrots! Some day, I will do that. I just have to resolve my flying and water issues...hehe!

I'm sorry your Blake isn't working out for you, but glad you can follow your other interests now! It seems every door closing just means a new door is opening

Hmm..my deck is calling, I need to do a reading

~Yira

Welcome back Kat

Got to say that you're experienced enough with the idea behind the IDS to know whether or not its working for you and if its not - life is too short to spend it beating your head against a brick wall. Thoth - why don't you IDS with Thoth? I mean - it's got more traction than your average steam train and you love it. Simples. Work with Thoth - be happy!!

I just looked out the window - the sun came up and the whole world is bathed in a real orange glow. Very unusual and beautiful. I love sunrise - my daily treat.

Yesterday I finally found the time for a daily reading, of sorts. Today I am going to do my IDS Exchange reading and a long, leisurely card study. I have time today! This is because the new offices are sorted but I must go there today because the telephony people are coming - and once they've been I am coming home If they come late in the morning I shall play with Ironwing IN THE OFFICE (cue music "If I Ruled the World")

Kat - you're a Moddie!!!