What do you do to learn a new deck?

MadeiraDarling

Typically I flip through a new deck, check out the cards, see if there are any that stand out to me as very different from what I'm used to, check the book or booklet for those, and then sort of start doing readings with them and check the book a bit. I don't journal for every new deck because frankly I'm a bit of a collector and so... well yeah.

I do journal a bit on sort of "general" meanings for each card. I feel so much less organized than other readers with my scattershot approach. I can't be the only one though.
 

RiverRunsDeep

I have a lot of decks, and I have been getting to know each deck in my collection by participating in the Deck of the Week thread. Each of us chooses a deck (or decks) for the week, then posts as much or as little as we wish about our experiences with it through the week.

In general, to learn about a deck, I will look at all of the cards in order. Then I shuffle, shuffle, shuffle, and begin pulling out random cards to see what kind of messages and intuitive hits I get from them. Next step is to check out the LWB or companion book to find out if the artist can add any new and unique ideas. Then, I just read with the cards. Reading is the best way to get to know your cards (of course!) I am not particularly organized, and I don't usually journal. Feels too much like homework.
 

rwcarter

If it's a deck I'm just going to read with, I might do FireRaven's "New Deck Interview" Spread. Or I may just start reading with it.

If it's a deck I'm going to study, I'll scan the cards in and create an electronic study guide of sorts in Word. For each card, I'll include highlights from any companion materials along with my own study of symbols within the cards and any idioms suggested by the card or symbols within it. If it's a study deck, I usually don't start reading with it until I've completed my study. The first reading I'll do is the Deck Interview, then I'll start doing daily readings with it at the end of my day so I can look back in retrospect and see how the deck delivers its messages. Once I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the deck, I'll start using it to read for others, usually in an exchange for feedback thread over in the Reading Exchanges forum. Depending on how busy real life is, this whole process could take 3 months to well over a year.

Rodney
 

Tanga

Typically I flip through a new deck, check out the cards, see if there are any that stand out to me as very different from what I'm used to, check the book or booklet for those, and then sort of start doing readings with them and check the book a bit. I don't journal for every new deck because frankly I'm a bit of a collector and so... well yeah.

I do journal a bit on sort of "general" meanings for each card. I feel so much less organized than other readers with my scattershot approach. I can't be the only one though.

I do almost exactly this - and never labeled it "scattershot" - Lol. :)
I will look through the whole deck when I recieve it.

If I LOVE the deck - and I also find it fairly easy to read with (due to it conforming to RWS) - I'll read the Big Little Book it comes with - if it has one... from cover to cover.
I don't really journal. I have two A6 notebooks which are like my personal LWBs.
One is completely full and the other is a new one I'm working on, as I go through Mary K Greer's 'Complete Tarot Reversals' and read some interesting things in my 'Tarot of the Holy Light' App.
 

barefootlife

I usually go through card by card to see what I get from the cards alone, and then again with the LWB to see what the creator's intentions were. Usually at that phase, I add the interesting and new bits of definition to my notebook of meanings, which I'll refer back to when I don't just automatically see how cards fit together. Usually the answer is in there somewhere. My decks are pretty much all RWS-based, but the 'mood' of the interpretations of the cards vary widely.

Barleywine also has a really good deck interview thread somewhere that has a lot of depth to it, and doing that provides a good chunk of insight into what I'm going to get out of a deck and how it's going to challenge me as a reader.
 

Rallwedd

Learning a New Deck

Hello Aeclectics

I always try and look at the cards in the Majors and then when I go to bed, work through them in my imagination to see how many cards I can remember and what detail.

I then look at them in the morning and see if I can do it better the next night. Once I've done the Majors, I do the Suits, and (for some reason) finally the Court Cards.

It takes several weeks, but is a lush way of learning. Sometimes I've even had tarot dreams doing this method.

Hope that helps anyone learning tarot.

Rhosyn
 

lantana

For some decks, especially if they're new or I haven't seen all the cards before, I'll do a little "walkthrough" of the cards to explore the impressions they give me. Sometimes I'll write them down, sometimes I won't. (like OP, I'm not as organized as some!) I love noticing the similarities and differences between cards in my decks, and seeing what new meanings a deck brings to the table.

At this point in my practice, since I use mostly RWS based decks, I don't read every LWB from back to front. If the deck is coming from an interesting perspective or I actually like the writing I will, but otherwise I'll only refrence it when a card's depecition throws me off or if I'm curious as to how a certain creator interprets a card.

After that I'll do an interview spread like the one mentioned above, and start using it in spreads and daily draws for a week or so to get acquainted with it.
 

Sharla

Start using it...thats the only way your going to know how it speaks to you.

If you buy a new car, are you going to have it sat on the driveway whilst doing research on the car and going through the cars manual to get to know it....NO your going to get in it and drive it.

Pull a card a day to start with to see the "energy" for that day.

Say you pull ace cups for tomorrow for instance...well look at the picture, what do you see or feel from the card, write it down without looking in the lwb (if possible)....even though it is good to have a general sense of the meanings. At the end of the day refer back to whats happened in your day.

Did you feel sad because you seen a pigeon fly into a window and die ? Well there you have your ace cups and one of the meanings for it...of sadness. :(
 

vie

The first thing I do is look through all the cards. I do this twice as I'm usually so excited to see the artwork my first flick through is very fast. Then I lay them all out on the floor ( on a cloth!) in various groups. If there are any cards I still don't get I'll then look in the lwb for that particular card. Next I shuffle them and do a deck interview spread. If I like the deck I use it for my daily draw for awhile and I read through the book.
 

AJ

ha ha, I like the term scattershot for my first look at a new deck.
I order it, then with a sheet of paper and a pencil
go through the deck as fast as I can go.
Draw the Fool, write one sentence or even one word about whatever stands out about that card. Fast as I can. Stopping to think dooms the process.
On to magician..

Like RiverRunsDeep I rotate my whole deck collection, one week at a time.
I just crossed my week 500. And I don't buy decks much anymore.