Intensive Deck Study Support Lounge - Part V

I hear that's when you really know you speak a language well..when you have to stop and think which language you speak

It's such a pretty language, to see it printed... (not english LOL)

~Yira

yirabeth said:

Hey, I would be honored to get you for a reading partner There's a subset of "This person is on my most desired readings to get" list that I have..you're on it buddy! *grin*

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It'd be an honor

I'm glad you've got it all sorted out Zan And I know you've put enough thought into this (and angst, and worry, and stress .... and, and ) to be sure you're doing the right thing. You'll have a ball oh academic one!

And I'll still be clutching Ironwing and babbling about it, confident that one year I'll be able to move to something different too.

And when you have a total comfort deck, that you can turn to and know that you're going to be able to read it clear as a bell, it's wonderful. You can move on to something else and know that any difficulties are only temporary and don't mean that you can't read - just that you're learning to read with this particular deck. You get a nice solid background of self confidence to carry you forward....

Wow, Zan... You have been on quite a journey. Like you, I haven't been studying Tarot that long. I did have the opportunity to do jmd's course on the TdM and found it massively enlightening - although it focused on the triumphs. A book I really enjoyed during that study was O'Neill's "Tarot Symbolism".
Congratulations on having such a successful Part 1...

The Thoth system seems so complex to me. I think the knowledge associated with it is outside of anything I have experienced and seems that much more remote. I know very little about Thelemia. It seems so 'left field' compared to the TdM. I may not be able to resist it in 2011...

I have been studying Blake sources while watching the best Olympics ever ( ) and falling behind in my reflections. I have had a challenging couple of weeks and I find getting into the art more difficult for both decks. That and I am partly moving into the mode of my own work and it is in a mechanical stage at the moment (drawings). I am thinking I might break from Blake and go have a look at the Oak in Greenwood. It will inevitably draw me back!

Wendywu said:

And when you have a total comfort deck, that you can turn to and know that you're going to be able to read it clear as a bell, it's wonderful. You can move on to something else and know that any difficulties are only temporary and don't mean that you can't read - just that you're learning to read with this particular deck. You get a nice solid background of self confidence to carry you forward....

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This is when I'll feel able to learn another deck I believe. I'm not there yet, I have as many "almost but not quite" and "totally wrong, what was I thinking??" readings as I have "so right it's scary!" readings. I know this is more developing my intuition, learning to listen, than knowing a deck, but I think having my "comfort" deck while doing this is a good thing So I have time..I'm not one to rush into things, I like to contemplate and look at it from all angles and when it feels right THEN I strike... *grin*

When I do I'll surely be looking for a way to work it into my IDS because the whole IDS concept/learning has really been good for me

~Yira

Hi Zan - I bowed out of the IDS a few weeks ago, but I'm still too nosey to stop reading this thread .

Just want to say that your enthusiasm and commitment to the Haindl was very inspiring to me and my study of the RWS. Though I didn't build up the same connection with my deck as you did with yours, it did teach me a lot about the direction I want to go with regards to tarot.

Having that alone time with a deck can really make you think about what your goals are and what you want to get out of this hobby.

I've decided to work with the Thoth for a while, as I've come to the somewhat sad conclusion that no other deck is going to satisfy my personal goals. I just have to get used to the artwork first, and that's a BIG hurdle...

I wish you well with the TdM and once again look forward to reading about your journey.

Thanks so much for that, teomat. It means a lot to me to think that Hermann and I could have had any sort of ripple effect in the group. I really enjoyed reading your daily draw thread, too. I thought it was great how personal you managed to make your card studies, relating them so closely to your everyday life. I was always sort of dying to ask you super personal questions about what was going on (I won't, I promise) Good luck with Thoth. Even thought it's going to be a challenge, it's great that you've been able to realize that Thoth is the right direction for you to be taking now.

Even though I'm not officially switched over until the weekend (because I still have Wendy's reading for the IDS exchange to do), I spent my afternoon office hours today reading the book that accompanies the LoS Universal Marseille. I learned a lot, actually, and it got me really excited to be moving in a new (old) direction. I love the idea of throwing out what I know from studying Waite/Crowley and giving up any astrology or qabalah that I've learned studying Hermann and really getting down to basics. Here are 6 cups and some leaves-- GO! I can barely wait for my package from The Red Queen to arrive with the Heron Conver and the Flornoy Noblet-- both in the running for actual IDS deck of choice.

Only time will tell. I'm sure everyone is right on the edge of their seats.

This whole thing is weird. I had been so sure that something like Greenwood or Ironwing or Blake would be up next. I really don't know where this whole TdM thing came from. I guess that's how this works...

Anyway, I'm tired. Goodnight IDSers. Goodnight moon.

zan_chan said:

I love the idea of throwing out what I know from studying Waite/Crowley and giving up any astrology or qabalah that I've learned studying Hermann and really getting down to basics. Here are 6 cups and some leaves-- GO!

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This freezes me in terror. I *need* my numerology when I work with TdM! Letting go of astro and qblh and all my hard-won understanding of the Thoth in particular is so difficult for me, and never enjoyable. I guess it's why I don't read with TdMs all that often, though I can and have done very successfully. I often wonder if, had I began my Tarot journey with a pip deck, how different would my outlook be now? As most know, I'm very occult in my leanings and how I view the Tarot. If I'd started with TdM, would I still have gravitated toward the Thoth as strongly as I did? Interesting question.

As you were.

\m/ Kat

Oh, throwing out all that I've learned scares me to death too. Just to see what I'm in for, I laid out three cards at random from the universal marseille. Two high numbered swords and a middle numbered wand. I laughed and thought to myself, "I see about 18 long, pointy things in your future..."

I actually know next to nothing about numerology, but really want to learn, so that's one of the major things I plan to accomplish during this study. I'm just really excited to have no reason to fear any sort of deck once I've managed to learn to read with historic decks.

I'm quite surprised, reading the Bursten and beginning my aquaintance with TdM, how sensible so much of it is. Magician as trickster and swindler rather than actual person of magic; I love that.

I'd really like this study to be a bit lighter-hearted than it was with Hermann. So many of the Marseille images are so...I dunno...kooky that it's hard not to smile at them; Le Pendv and his crazy hair, the drunken expression of the Empress.

And, as I'd hoped, I'm already learning more about Hermann, too. Never knew before yesterday that the skirt of the Marseille Temperance is traditionally half red and half blue-- just like Hermann's (and Thoth's, if I remember correctly) Alchemy card. Such an added layer of historical understanding that I'd been entirely unaware of.

Anyway, getting more and more excited about all this. I can't imagine any great love-fest happening again, but a like-and-respect-fest is definitely on the menu

I enjoy numerology but never used to. The book that helped me most was Numerology: Key to the Tarot by Sandor Konraad. It's one of my "keeper" books. Ironwing only uses elemental attribution and numerology - there are no other correspondences whatsoever and like you Kat, I found that a big letting-go of hard-won knowledge. I have to say though, that I do feel Ironwing is a more authentic tarot because of this - not authentic in that the others don't work or aren't tarot, but that because it lacks correspondences it is closer to TdM in some ways.

I like the TdM meanings for cards - Trickster is somehow a very "modern" interpretation of Magician (people don't change ..........) and I must admit that for me Trickster is the reverse/dark meaning that I give to Magician. I don't use specific reversals but do use darker meanings for the cards depending on spread position and context.

I have noticed with Ironwing that my written card studies don't include the shadow interpretations I give the cards, but each card quite naturally has a darker aspect. I wondered why I don't write about them since I am aware of them, and use them in readings. I think it's because for personal study I tend to just meditate on the card and whatever bubbles up is what I write. Another day, another dollar - which seems to indicate that I'm going to have to write on each card several times to try and make sure I capture each aspect of it.

I do love the way I keep getting handed new shedloads of work by Ironwing Heaven forfend that I should have a moment of thinking I might be almost there ...... (not that I was thinking that, but I seem to have just extended my study time by yet another few months)