Vertigo Study...Links and Things

A Vertigo Tarot Bag

If you've got a second-edition Vertigo deck, you'll be looking for a bag or box to house it in—the original packaging is useless. I've been using a cloth wine-bottle holder that's very beautiful but impractical—I've got to reach down most of my arm into the narrow sack to retrieve the deck.

A few weeks ago as I was checking out Tarot sites, looking for the right bag to hold the cards, I happened on one that's specifically made for the Vertigo at Tarot Totes. The material is covered in a collection of different sea shells, recalling the backs of the cards, and the fabric echoes their browns and tans and creams:

http://www.tarottotes.com/Item.asp?IID=525

I ordered it ($6 + $1 S&H) and got it in the mail today, and it looks pretty much like the photo at Tartot Totes, perhaps with a bit more turquoise blue on 3 or 4 shells than I expected, but that extra jolt of color rescues it from dowdiness. It's unlined cotton, so it may be too thin for some, but I treat my Vertigo very mildly—and I really love the chance to set this special deck apart with its own designer tote. Thought others might be interested too. etal

lovely bag!

Ooh, etal, thank you for the link to the lovely tote bag! I want one! I keep my Vertigo deck wrapped in a silk scarf, but a bag would be much nicer.

Ditto what Bluediva said! It matches the backs of the 2nd Edition--

Does that mean the 1st Edition has different backs?

The first edition cards have the same backs!

I just think a lot more people have the second edition...brecause there were more of them to go around!

First edition cards were bigger, and w/ slightly different proportions. I think. But if my memory is correct, the 1st edition deck came in a fitted box. Second and "New" edition printings are most common, though.

Just a heads up that Overstock.com has copies of various large paperback graphic novels representing compilations of their original comic book edition Sandman, including Black Orchid; Death the High Cost of Living.

Edited to include link to those items & others:

http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2...rds=Neil+Gaiman&CID=55396&fp=f&GO.x=32&GO.y=9

Vertigo card spreads?

I am just curious what sorts of spreads others use when reading with the Vertigo deck.

I use a 10-card layout of my own fashioning, sort of an expansion of a basic 3-card spread, but with over-and under-currents of the basic 3 positions. In general, I love Rachel Pollack's suggestion that reading the cards is like looking at scattered pages of a comic book and trying to find the thread of story. Maybe it's because this was my first deck, but I find I apply this approach to all my readings, even when I'm reading with my other deck (Celtic Dragon) and it most certainly lends itself to the Vertigo deck.

I would like to explore the Celtic Cross. Does this work well with the Vertigo deck? I would love to hear ideas and suggestions from others.

Our Own Vertigo Spread?

Dear bluediva,

bluediva said:

I am just curious what sorts of spreads others use when reading with the Vertigo deck....I use a 10-card layout of my own fashioning, sort of an expansion of a basic 3-card spread, but with over-and under-currents of the basic 3 positions....I would like to explore the Celtic Cross. Does this work well with the Vertigo deck? I would love to hear ideas and suggestions from others.

Click to expand...

Besides doing meditative one-card pulls, I've used the Vertigo deck in a couple of the variations on the three-card spread suggested by Rachel Pollack on the last few pages of the book she wrote as part of the Vertigo set. It sounds as if you've enriched and deepened those basic layouts with your own ideas: I'd be interested in learning what values you assign to each position and how you interpret each "layer."

I've done the Celtic Cross spread with the Vertigo several times—it always seemed to engender the most amazingly accurate response—mainly because (newbie here!) it's the only complex spread I ever "learned," and I put quotation marks there because the more I read about all the variations on the CC here on AT or in books, the more ambiguous I feel about the spread itself, less certain about what exactly I want each card to stand for when I lay it down—even what sequence to follow when I put the cards down on the table. I guess I'm temporarily stuck at at some middling spot between the rigidity of ignorance (when I thought there was only one way of doing the CC "right") and the suppleness that comes with taking in a lot of knowledge and experience and adapting it all to a particular situation. Just call me Middling, M for short—at least when it comes to my present dealings with the Celtic Cross.

I don't feel drawn to the 3-card "Vertigo Spread" that Pollack suggests: She limits it to the Majors and then only to those that are specifically drawn from the Vertigo comics, of which I was completely ignorant until this Study Group got off to a start—and it's an area where I'm still mostly in the dark.

But you've sparked an idea that I'll just throw out for consideration: Could we develop our own AT Vertigo Spread with a bit of teamwork here in the Study Group? One suggestion I have (newbie!) is that we limit it to, oh, say seven cards at most. More than that and my head starts to hurt. However, clarifying cards allowed.

A possibility: The layout itself could resemble that central vertigo-inducing whorl on the back of the deck—one central card spinning off three cards in a semi-circle up and to the left, and three cards in a semi-circle down and to the right—a bit like a slightly lop-sided reverse S.

The curve on the left would perhaps evoke notions of the subconscious, the instinctive, the motivating, the grounding, the immediate and/or distant past, the emotional basis for the question (if there is one); the curve to the right would be more likely to suggest responses about the near and far future, intellectual processes, conscious intent, plans and desires, ultimate goals.

By the way, feel free to ignore all impulses coming from my direction, whether you think they're coming from the right curve or the left curve.

However, if we do come up with some kind of workable Vertigo spread, at some point we could start doing practice readings for one another (with much correction and expansion from the more experienced hoped for and very appreciated by yours truly). It strikes me that this might be a wonderful way to enhance our growing understanding of each card (particularly in the context of a spread, where you have to take the neighbors into consideration) and improve our grasp of the deck as a united whole as we go along.

It's so great to be with you folks,

etal

BlueDiva: As much as I like the Celtic Cross for the general overview or the in-depth readings, the idea of using it with the Vertigo makes me pause. The Celtic Cross is superb for the afore-mentioned types of readings but can also result in too much information. The spread is intensive & made more so by the number of cards involved (usually 10 without a significator card though I also use an extended version that totals 15 cards). As I see Vertigo to be an intense deck, pairing it with the Celtic Cross seems way too much (though it may also be a good reason to do so).

As I see a single card as capable of offering a lot of information (just refer to the Knight threads), smaller spreads or those with less not more cards appeal. Generally where spreads are concerned, I prefer brevity over length as more (a larger spread) is not necessarily better. Thus, I have opted to use one-card readings with Vertigo & use it mostly for the daily reading. Occasionally I also look at the bottom card in the deck as a counterpoint.


etal: I think I could go for a 3 or 5-card spread design, though I have a favourite 7-card spread if anyone is interested. Perhaps we could try to utilize or develop more than one spread for the sake of versatility.

Re: Our Own Vertigo Spread?

etal said:

ut you've sparked an idea that I'll just throw out for consideration: Could we develop our own AT Vertigo Spread with a bit of teamwork here in the Study Group? One suggestion I have (newbie!) is that we limit it to, oh, say seven cards at most. More than that and my head starts to hurt. However, clarifying cards allowed.

A possibility: The layout itself could resemble that central vertigo-inducing whorl on the back of the deck—one central card spinning off three cards in a semi-circle up and to the left, and three cards in a semi-circle down and to the right—a bit like a slightly lop-sided reverse S

Click to expand...

I will gladly try out the spread you've suggested! It is quite different from how I usually work, and I'm far to cozy with my usualy spread, so this will be very good for me. Thank you!