Intensive Deck Study (IDS) Support Lounge ~ Part IV

jcwirish

BelovedK,

Try reading through Thirteen's online book. I like the way she explains things. She always gives me ideas that start me thinking about the cards in a new way. I hope that might help a bit.
 

teomat

Kissa said:
After years of wandering, collecting, hoping for MY one and only deck, i just came back to Pixie. I am lucky enough to have an old AGM edition, matte finish, honestly a pure joy to handle. To confuse me even more, I noticed I not only not dislike the tartan backs but i also actually enjoy them. Pervert, ain't it? My only tiny problem is that my deck is in French, which means i don't have Pixie's lovely calligraphy on them.
I can totally relate with you on the Pixie love :)

I picked up the new Chinese printing of the 'Original' RWS yesterday, and I'm smitten. OK purists would argue it's not REALLY the original, but I adore it's antique charm, subdued colours, fantastic cardstock and back design. Its feels so right in my hands. Like I've been waiting for this deck for years.

I've tried and failed several times to get an IDS going (first with the TdM and then the Thoth). I've also considered doing the 'Primary Deck Reflection' thing mentioned in another thread or the 78 week study. However I think I'm finally ready to make an IDS commitment with my new deck.
And since I decided this on Monday (the Solstice), that it's a snowy week here in London and that I slipped on ice yesterday, fell on my backside and felt very Foolish, it feels like 'events have conspired' for me to make this decision.

I'm going to do the 78 week study (starting with the Fool appropriately enough), however I'm going to stick with my blog rather than add to the existing threads. I'm tempted to start my own '78 Week' thread just for my deck (a bit like what Nicky did with the Thoth), but it feels like I'd be snubbing the existing 78 threads.

Anyway, rambling over. Kat, could you please change me to the Original RWS and I promise not to dither over this again. :D
 

Kissa

teomat said:
I'm going to do the 78 week study (starting with the Fool appropriately enough), however I'm going to stick with my blog rather than add to the existing threads. :D

oh i would most gladly read your blog :)

my only concern is the time factor... how much time can i really devote to serious study. oh well, we'll see then.
 

thorhammer

*le sigh* teomat, sorry to see you go over to the dark side :( but there you have it :D You have been updated :)

Kissa - welcome!

And to those using WCS versions - can I highly, most lovingly and awesomely highly recommend the incredible Commemorative deck? It's . . . something else entirely. It will kick all the others out of the water . . . assuming, of course, that you're a mere mortal and not owning (and using) a Pam A, B, C or D :D

BelovedK - sorry to have missed your post. To add my thoughts - while Johanna makes a great suggestion to try if you haven't already, I'm of the school of thought that says if it's not happening just yet, let it marinate a while with what you've done, the progress you've made, then come back to it. Another card - the Queen of Pents, perhaps - will lead you back to the Empress and then you will have fresh eyes and new depths of insight to add to your journalling for Atu III. The thing with the IDS - and any deck study - is that it should not be static. No card discussion or meditation or journal entry should be set in stone - they are there to be added to, augmented, crossed out and marinated in. :heart: Go with the flow . . .

Gods, did I just say that???

\m/ Kat
 

teomat

Kissa said:
oh i would most gladly read your blog :)

my only concern is the time factor... how much time can i really devote to serious study. oh well, we'll see then.
*blush* Thanks Kissa.

As to time, well as they say it's the quality not the quantity. If you consider doing a 78 week study and if you can fit five minutes of your day just pondering the little dog on the Fool on Monday...the red feather on Tuesday...the Fool's bag on Wednesday, and so on, by the end of the week you'll have an essay on the whole card. :)

thorhammer said:
And to those using WCS versions - can I highly, most lovingly and awesomely highly recommend the incredible Commemorative deck? It's . . . something else entirely. It will kick all the others out of the water . . . assuming, of course, that you're a mere mortal and not owning (and using) a Pam A, B, C or D :D
*sticks fingers in ears and clutches shoddy 'original' RWS* LALALALALALA
I'm not listening!
 

thorhammer

I didn't say shoddy!!!!! Don't put words in my mouth! :D

\m/ Kat
 

teomat

thorhammer said:
I didn't say shoddy!!!!! Don't put words in my mouth! :D

\m/ Kat
:D

Nope you didn't, but unfortunately I'm one of those people who gets easily swayed by deck gushing. I always feel I'm missing out on something when everyone praises a deck I don't have, and it's often frustrating when I just don't like the deck myself (points at the Thoth, Liber T, or any of the Magic Realist decks). The way these decks are described (so eloquently by Scion et al) makes you think that you're an amoeba if you don't use them. :D

Makes it very hard to stay committed to your fluffy bunny IDS deck when everyone else is making out with their Holy Guardian Angels...

But hey, I'm on my honeymoon with the RWS at the moment so NOTHING is going to put a dampner on it. Well, not until she gets sulky when I 'accidently' eye up a younger model...
 

emmsma

BelovedK said:
I think my post got lost and skipped :eek: I am just needing ideas as a springboard, maybe someone can help. Today I am going to write a short story/essay about this woman. I just feel like I could be doing more.

I sometimes like to read what others are saying about the card. I can spark ideas you may not have come up with on your own, but that resonate with you.

Is there a thread dedicated to your deck? Take a peek.
 

SolSionnach

Lots of responses from upthread... I've finally caught up with you guys!
Cat* said:
I had forgotten about this for a while but just remembered that I still hadn't done this. So here's the spread, and now I know my thanks are due to Kilted Kat.
Thanks, Cat*. Very interesting spread - simple but deep, if you know what I mean.
Cat* said:
Who of the Greenwood users was it that mentioned the book series by Jean M. Auel ("The Clan of the Cave Bear," "The Mammoth Hunters," "The Valley of Horses," etc.) a while ago? I've decided to treat myself to some new books, and these are what I bought. If I wasn't such a terrible book completionist, I'd chuck Harry Potter #2 aside (I'm reading that one for the umpteenth time, after all), but as it is, I have another night or two to go before I can start on my new books. I'm curious to see what they add to my understanding of the Greenwood. Which is to say: thanks for the tip!
That might have been me??... Those books, plus the Goddess book I mentioned above, plus the Druid Animal Oracle book = WIN.
Wendywu said:
The Clan of the Cave Bear is a wonderful book - the others didn't live up to the first one's promise but that one book was outstanding and taught me a lot. I never thought of re-reading them in conjunction with a Greenwood study....

Actually I think they'd read very well alongside an Ironwing study, given the shamanic/healer aspects of both. I'll dig 'em out - many thanks for the idea :)
My fav in the series is/was the Mammoth Hunters. Or the last one. I found the ongoing hassle between Ayla and Broud to be quite trying in book 1.
emmsma said:
I think I'm hitting an odd bump in the road, here. The more I am reading, it seems, the less I know my cards...
I'm starting to question everything I thought before. I need to reevaluate just about everything and come to a new understanding for my cards all over again... I'm feeling like I'm starting from scratch. I suppose when I'm done I will have a more solid feel for them now, but its an odd feeling to be so unsettled after so long.
I'm thinking that you've hit a plateau. IOW, you're very close to a total breakthrough, but first you have to scratch your head for a bit.
Promise said:
I really think I've been ramming myself into a brick wall with this whole IDS thing. Every single time I've attempted it, I've jinxed myself; I start off strong and then before I know it, I realize that I've been choosing decks for all the wrong reasons.
That's so tempting - we want to spend time with the ones we love, but whoopsie, that gorgeous dude has a vacuum for a brain!
Promise said:
It's not about what deck is prettiest or what deck visually attracts you, it's about what deck you read the best with, what deck you connect with best, and what deck stretches you the most. With that realization, I'm ready to recommit myself. It's fine to have a deck that you want to get to know someday, or a deck you feel like you could use better if you just had more time with it, but that doesn't always work. My goals for the IDS are probably different than most; I want to get to know my deck intimately so that I can become a better intuitive reader.
There you go!
It's quite easy to just think that an IDS will have you turning into a heck of a reader, but I really like your stated goal. I'm thinking that I need to do a bit of this myself.
Promise said:
By committing to one deck and one deck alone for a while, I feel like I'll be able to zone in on the details and really get comfortable with it. With these realizations, I'm ready to recommit myself to this.

Today is Friday, December 18th, 2009. Until February 1st, I will read exclusively with the Archeon Tarot. The Graven Images Oracle is allowed, but I will read with nothing else. I will make an honest effort to journal by hand as often as possible, and will take steps to apply Tarot-related breakthroughs to "the real world". I am also committing to doing readings here on AT whenever possible, to stretch my Tarot boundaries farther and to give back to those who have been so generous to me.

After February 1st, I will evaluate and see where I'm at, and will extend my IDS if necessary. I fully expect that this will be the case, but if I start off with small goals, it'll be easier to reach them and gain that forward momentum I need to keep myself motivated.

So Kat, will you please change me over to the Archeon? Thanks!
:thumbsup:
Cat* said:
I'm still considering the Greenwood animals. I've sat down and made a list of all animals in the deck that I could find/identify and the cards they appear on. Deer (and its variations) is appearing most often (on 17 cards). Horse (including the Uffington Horse) is featured on 11 cards. Snake (7), Cow/Aurochs (5), Heron and Bear (4 each), and Lion (3) also appear in noticeable numbers. All other animals (34 of them altogether) show up once or twice. I plan to eventually compare all cards that show the same animal(s) to see if that brings any additional insight.
Did you count the horse on the ace of air? To me that always looks like a bird (fitting with air, no?), but evidently it's also the Uffington Horse.
Cat* said:
I've also started reading "The Clan of the Cave Bear" and find it very helpful in getting an indea of European prehistoric life (although I'm unsure if I should take all gender-related issues as fact or if I should read them as the author's imagination - I may have to do some other research about that...).
One thing that always interests me is species dimorphism. In species where the males are much larger than the females (think gorillas), there is a harem-style thing going on. In our species the males are usually larger than the females, so one could make the argument that there is enough of a sexual dimorphism to account for patriarchal attitudes such as what Auel credits the Neandertals with. As a female (and a 5'1" one!) I have a real problem with that. :eek:

Once you get to the later books where Ayla encounters human societies, Auel credits them with a much more "enlightened" relationship between the sexes. Frankly, I wonder how accurate *that* could be! IOW - it's Auel's invention and it's based on some assumptions.
Cat* said:
I'll also do my first reading for someone else in this week's IDS exchange. I'm curious to see how the deck reads for someone else but me.
I want to read that! :)
rwcarter said:
Knitting took a front seat today, so I didn't get as much done as I'd hoped (like my IDS reading....), but I did manage to post on both the Fool and the Magician to the Study Group. In addition to my study of the deck, I'm also posting my notes and observations from the workbook that I worked on from Aug 91 - Mar 92.

Rodney
I didn't know you were a knitter! Me too. However, I'm really slow, and since I'm not in school anymore I haven't finished a thing... including my best friend's birthday present. Her birthday was Feb 18th. I'm really slow!

I don't know how much time I'll have for AT this week, but it's good to catch up on everyone's IDSes.

re: my IDS: I had a really good reading from Rodney, and I'm taking from it that I should cut back to just one deck. I'm going to stick with the Noblet, but I won't be able to keep from sticking my nose in around here re: the Greenwood, because the conversation is so good!

I'm revising my IDS: Noblet until March 22, 2010, then the Greenwood after the Spring Equinox. Kat, please change me to just the Noblet. Time to doubledown and just do it. :)
 

sapienza

teomat said:
Makes it very hard to stay committed to your fluffy bunny IDS deck when everyone else is making out with their Holy Guardian Angels...
:laugh:

teomat I do know what you mean. I don't have any of the MRP decks as they just aren't my thing. I often feel like there must be something wrong with me as there seems to be nothing but praise for them. Glad to know it's not just me. I guess it's just about the fact that we are all so different, which is a good thing :)