Using the Bohemian Gothic

greatdane

Since I have questions about reading with, and the style, of the BG, I thought this would be the best place to ask.

For those of us who will be getting our first BG and do not have a companion book, I thought those who already have a BG, with, or without, a companion book, might be kind enough to share some of their thoughts.

I know we all read differently, some more intuitively, some following a system, some using a combination. The BG is unique though, so was just wondering others thoughts who have been reading with it awhile. RWS system useful? Companion book important? LWB suffice? Or did you personally just feel the images lent themselves best to intuitive reading?

Again, I know there's no right or wrong way to read, BUT the BG is so different from other decks, just wanted to see if anyone was willing to share their thoughts and experiences with reading, and style(s) they employed, with it.

Thanks and blessings,

GD
 

Sulis

What's a BG?
 

Thirteen

If you mean Bohemian Gothic tarot deck, I recommend you go here:

http://www.tarotforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=148

This is the Bohemian Gothic study group, and not only do we discuss each card at length, but we also compare it to traditional RW and Thoth meanings and discuss similarities and differences.
 

Disa

Sulis said:
What's a BG?

Sulis, you didn't even wink when you asked that ;)

greatdane, I didn't use the companion book at all. I barely looked at it. I felt with this deck, just as with the Victorian Romantic I would just go for it intuitively. There may be a time when I read the books more extensively to gain a deeper perspective, but I found that too much reading of books made my intuition disappear. So for these decks, I didn't read the books.

I don't have anything against books at all, but at the time when I first got the BG I felt I had had enough reading of books- sometimes you just have to put them down for a while.
 

Sulis

Disa said:
Sulis, you didn't even wink when you asked that ;)

That's because I honestly didn't know and if I didn't know there will be loads of other people who don't know.
Abbreviations are only good if everyone you're addressing knows what the abbreviations stand for.
Abbreviated titles mean that a thread will not show up in future searches either.
 

gregory

Oops another to add to my dictionary thing. Where did I put it.... :)

ETA it was already in !!! :)
 

irisa

All MRP (Magic Realist Press) decks follow the RWS (Rider Waite Smith) system I believe and I'm sure the LWB (Little White Book) will be just fine.

What I like most about their companion books is the additional information on the theme and the images. The image information won't be so useful with the changed images and there's a fair bit of Gothic info around the web if you felt you wanted to learn more on that front. And for intuititive reading this is a deck that I think lends itself really well I would think the 2nd edition will be just as user friendly :)

irisa :)
 

Disa

Sulis said:
That's because I honestly didn't know and if I didn't know there will be loads of other people who don't know.
Abbreviations are only good if everyone you're addressing knows what the abbreviations stand for.
Abbreviated titles mean that a thread will not show up in future searches either.


I know, I was just messin with ya :)
 

olivia1

greatdane said:
Since I have questions about reading with, and the style, of the BG, I thought this would be the best place to ask.

For those of us who will be getting our first BG and do not have a companion book, I thought those who already have a BG, with, or without, a companion book, might be kind enough to share some of their thoughts.

I know we all read differently, some more intuitively, some following a system, some using a combination. The BG is unique though, so was just wondering others thoughts who have been reading with it awhile. RWS system useful? Companion book important? LWB suffice?

I think the companion book is *very* important because there are little details in the stories behind the cards that really add a whole other layer to the card meanings.For example: reading the story behind the 2 of Wands really gave it a whole new meaning for me (this information was not found in the LWB,though, only in the book and not something I would have picked up by relying on the RWS meanings). But like you said: we all read differently.

Also, different things interest us! So, even though I personally find the companion book to be "a must have" (since I feel it really gives you the ultimate experience with the deck to get to know who the characters "are") others will likely disagree and say its not necessary. In the end, though, companion book or not, if you work with the deck enough then you will probably start to make your own meanings.
 

greatdane

Greetings All

Ah, Sulis, you're right. It should have been spelled out, literally. I see that's been corrected for me, thank you, RW. I guess it's a compliment for Karen and Alex that after months of seeing BG, it was just automatic to think in the abbreviation. But too right, it is difficult enough to find things sometimes because there's so much in here, I certainly didn't want to add to that.

Disa, Irisa, Thirteen and Olivia1, you told me EXACTLY what I wished to know. I tend toward reading intuitively, but also occasionally look at various books for options I may have not thought of. Since I have no idea what's in the companion book, but do see it is quite large, I was curious what I would miss without it. I do hope it becomes available to print online, as I don't think another oublishing is scheduled to take place, althought THAT would be great!

Right now, I'm just looking forward to getting my first Magic Realist deck. After reading about how fabulous their decks are, it will be lovely to experience first hand!

THANKS TO ALL. Again, ATers have given me the information I was looking for.

Blessings,
GD