Clow Cards: Exercise #1

Satori

Satori said:
This exercise has a few parts.

Part 1:
How you choose to work with the Clow.

These are supposedly creatures that have card forms, from what I understand. When released from the card their "powers" engage, and they are somewhat animated and able to communicate with the holder of the card.

So how will you communicate with the creatures in your pack?

Do you ask your Clow questions? Will you meditate with the card or just look at the image and free associate with the card.

Please make a conscious choice about how you will do this exercise. Or ask the Clow how they would like to be used. You can change your approach later or with other exercises, but for now, decide on a specific method and let us know what it is and how it worked.

Part 2:
For now let's just look thru the deck and then pick a favorite card and another card that you don't like as much, perhaps your least favorite card. Please post the name of the Clow card and any details about the cards that you either embrace or reject in the body of the post.

Whatever flashes into your mind is what you should write about, even if it doesn't seem to make sense. Some ideas for this might be:

-What calls to you about the card you chose as your favorite?
-What do you dislike about your least favorite card?
-How does the card make you feel? Tearful? Joyous? Angry? Upset? Relieved? Why?
-Do you associate any other senses with the card? Smells or tastes? If the card had a flavor, what would it be? Does it smell good or bad?
-Did the card make you remember anything from your life, your childhood or past lives?

(I ask about scent because there are soapy cards, watery cards, metallic and so forth. They may evoke senses we aren't used to using....how can those senses help us in our readings later?)

Part 3:
Please notice any mood changes you experience when you are doing this exercise. Make note of how you feel before you start the exercise and how you feel after the exercise.

Make note of any information you receive from the Clow as you do this exercise. We are not really asking the Clow for information, but they may have some kind of message about you, or they may even ask you a question or two. If so, what did the Clow card want to know about you?

The idea here is to play and have fun.
No expectations or worries about whether or not you are doing it right. Just pick the cards, and go with the flow.

I will cut and paste the directions found here in the new thread as well.

Post results in the thread named Clow Cards Exercise # 1. Anyone may play, even if you don't have the deck. The cards are pictured in Wikipedia under Clow Cards.

Good luck!

This space is now open for all ATans who either own a Clow Cards deck or who are using images from the Wikipedia site. Please follow these guidelines for our first exercise, but remember, they are only guidelines. If other ideas come up for you please feel free to use them, but also do the exercise outlined here.

I think it helps if all participants use the same exercise each time, however if you get an idea for an exercise please post it in the other thread in Oracle decks. We can use it later in the study!

Have fun!
 

Satori

One More Thing!!!

I know that there are a couple of threads going on right now about the Clow and their meanings. This exercise is an intuitive exercise. This exercise is about all of us finding out our own personal meanings and symbol sets.

The value of this exercise will come with your own investment of time and focus on the cards, and not thru anyone else's meanings.

Please use your own intuition when you have your conversation with your Clow Cards. Please Please Please do not use the definitions that come with the deck, or other definitions from other sources.

Thank you!
 

shemsu sutekh

Agh! I still haven't gotten it yet, but it should be on it's way soon! This looks to be really informative and helpful!
 

Satori

Hi Shemsu!
No worries on the deck arrival. You can use the scans till it comes or you can wait. There is no time limit on these. I plan to post a few exercises and people can work on them as they wish.

I have contacted our moderator valeria to let her know that we have started this group. Valeria has agreed to create an index for our threads. This way we will have access to the entire library of Clow Card information for all time! ;) So finding the threads won't be a painful search process, it will all be in one area along with the indexes for other groups. The only catch is to let her know when we create new threads for the group.

I'm looking forward to reading about your experiences with the Clow! Welcome to AT!
 

Satori

Favorite Card: The Silent

I fully expect this to change as I work with the cards, but for today I chose the Silent as my fave.

Edit:
Method:
I sorted the deck.
As I grouped them I kept thinking, do I like you, do I not like you....and I saw patterns emerging. Some of them I really liked, others I felt nothing, others made me feel very strong feelings of dislike. Interesting. I liked some, felt nothing for some, hated others.

To me she looks like a punk nun.
Let me say from the get-go that I have not seen the cartoon that goes along with the Clow Cards so I have no reference point for these cards. Other than what I've read here on AT, or on-line I know pretty much nothing about these cards. I saw one of Chronata's decks when she visited here a few years back, but other than that, nada.

I was torn between the Silent and The Sand. I love them both, it was a hard choice, but all of a sudden The Silent stepped up and I knew this was my favorite. Again it happened during the sort. Suddenly I just knew this was my fave.

Maybe because I'm a talker.
Maybe because listening is so hard for me sometimes...I am in a phase, perhaps because I'm a sahm, but I just want to be heard! I have things to say...listen to me! Listen To Me! :)

Plus, I like her hair, I like her outfit and I like the symbol on her chest and head. A sort of a bat. The symbol speaks to me, says, "I may be Silent but my heart soars and flies...my mind is free and engaged. I hold my own counsel."

I think I can hear her breathing, slow steady breaths. Great lungfuls of air that she takes in and out, without moving, and barely can you hear it. Just that she is alive and vibrant. The power of her thoughts seem electric. Can you feel it?
 

Satori

Least Favorite: The Cloud

I have a hard time with some of the Kids.
They sort of bug me.

That sounds so mean to me!!!

Um, I'm breaking the rules of my own exercise. I sort of just looked at the cards and sorted them into groups. ONce I got them sorted I knew who my fave was and who my least fave was.

My first choice for least fave was the Lock. I think the drawing is lame. A Lock with Wings. Uh, boring.

But then the little Cloud girl kept coming up and I knew, Cloud. Annoying. I also don't like the way her legs look. The drawing looks kind of like it was done by a kid...listen to me the critic. Well, uh, yeah. I don't like her legs.

And I don't like her bangs. Too cutesy, the waterfall with the clouds at the ends....sickly sweet for me. So far it is all visual. Plus she sounds squeaky. It is weird because she wants to talk to me, but her voice is so squeaky I don't want to listen right now. It's like she wants to talk to me so badly and I just feel like she is going to be clingy and cloying and annoying.

I think I just made her cry.


edit:
Okay, right now, after the exercise I'm still annoyed that the little Cloud girl is crying. So I have to sort of finish with her because she can't go into her spot on the shelf balling.

My maternal instincts seem to have gone on sabbatical for this exercise.

The Cloud seems very emotional. I get the feeling that if she had a choice she would want to be in the light, but she didn't have that choice. She makes the best of it, and she is usually a happy little thing, she just happens to be a Cloud.

The jester print on her legs is sort of her way of showing me that she has a sense of humor...she likes to be playful. Okay. Now she lightened up a little. Seems wispy and lighter than the dark little raincloud I just saw. So she will thin out a bit, she isn't all grey and thundery. She likes to be big puffy white clouds in blue sky too. Changeable little thing.
 

lilangel09

Part 1:
I close my eyes, clear my head until I get a blank white screen, see what mental image comes to me first, and then I flip over the card. It used to be I could only get 2 clear images at first (1 for each card), but it's getting easier. Then I try to associate that mental image with with the card. (I've been trying this with Tarot.) It's easier for me to see the picture clearly if I close my eyes. I only do this when reading for others.

So far, I've only asked the cards questions. I have not had a full conversation with the deck but I plan to. When I have a conversation, I do not do the above (because it would take to long, honestly), I try to see what comes to me. If I didn't understand what it said the first time, I try to clarify it by asking questions about it that may let me know what the Clow might be taling about.

It did not occur to me to group them, but I will soon, seems interesting.
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Part 2:
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I separated them into piles of likes, neutrals, and don't likes then narrowed from there.

My Favorite(s): The Dream (followed by the Light)
I've always been interested by dreams, and I'm also one that likes things that cover over my eyes. I think it is her posture, of a sorcerous or a sort of mature enchantress that attracts me to her, also. It reminds me of a marduk from a game. She's a seer of dreams, of thoughts, and a bit cold. There is a mysticism that draws me to it, like I know about those dreams she sees all too well. Like her, I do not feel anything, but a familiarity to that unknown dark world, the dream world. As she knows the night, I know the night.

For some reason, I also like the Light card. Compared the the Dark card, oddly enough, I like the Light card much more, which is very much unexpected since I consider myself a night person. The Light has a sort of power about her, a lightness and intensity as well. It may be her hair that makes me like her more than the Dark, and it may be the background too. The Light reminds me of an angel in some ways: gentle, helpful, enlightened, sympathetic. She provides a relief and envokes my interest in being an angel.

I do not have any other senses associated with these cards.

Least Favorite: The Fight
I actually remember part of the episode where Sakura caught the fight card. I remembered how cold the Fight card was, just throwing punches everywhere with cold eyes. For some reason, I feel like I like this card a little but my dislike of the card overrides it. I don't like arguments that include me in them.
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Part 3:
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Before: Calm
After: I have a headache :p. Maybe I should've done my least favorite first then my favorite.
 

Chronata

I hope this is the right place to post?

I did many sorting exercises with this deck when I first got them a couple of years ago...but it's nice to do it again!

I should also say...that when I first had them, I wasn't playing with a full deck! LOL!
But now I am, and the extra cards do seem to make a difference!

BTW...Never seen the show. And now, with not having TV...probably won't have the opportunity. But that's just as well...I think knowing what the cards represent in the anime, may actually hinder my ability to read them well...because I think it would then put the meanings into a little box, that would be harder to break away from.
I like that I don't know what they are...what they mean...until they come up!

My method of reading them ...is to talk to them, and see if they talk back.
(it helps that my first encounter...I was trapped on vacation with them, and had no other deck with me. So we spent days getting to know each other!)

My favorite card.
It changes often. But right now...it is THE RETURN

I love that it is sort of the female counterpart to THE TIME. At least she seems very feminine to me! Although it does occur to me that it may be the same figure that is on THE TIME, only gone back in time to a younger form..and has now just returned to the present..

I adore the image too. She looks mystical, in the flowing robes. And serene. And knowledgable. She is like Chronata to his Cronus.
Representing moments...and Eternal Now time...Kairos Time...rather than Time that is measured.

I notice that she has no limbs...no hands or feet that can be seen, but that doesn't bother me. I wouldn't be at all surprised if she is a being of etherial spirit under those robes...transposing her physical body into light, at will.

I like the title...THE RETURN conjurs up images of going home. a return to a place you came from...

back to a place you began, which you now know for the first time.

I like the little touch of purple on the hourglass she holds. She looks into it, like she is crystal gazing or scrying...as if the sand or diamond dust...or whatever is falling within, can show images and wonders.
Purple is the color of the crown chakra...the highest enlightenment. soothing.

And I was feeling a bit unfocused befoire I began this...now there is a peace feeling.

now...the least favorite card...
that would be The THROUGH

Her figure looks oddly elongated...emancipated. Her features look pained to me...as if this action of moving through the circle is not easy to do. She just looks and feels trapped to me. and the gesture she makes...is like one of pleading or begging for mercy. and I don't like her hair! LOL!
The hairstyle reminds me of a knot...a symbol of imprisonment as well...so does the collar she wears.

All in all...a card that just makes me feel unhappy looking at her.

Like I want to help...but know there isn't much I can do...she is in two different places...two seperate dimensions at once, and she needs to get out on her own. It makes me feel sad. and agitated.

it doesn't help that it's also a difficult card to read in a spread...not always...as it reminds me enough of the 8 swords int he tarot...to read this meaning into it.
But she is infuriating...and she doesn't talk at all...also not helpful!

So...the feeling of peace I got from the other card...now has become agitation...and I feel the kink in my back from sitting here at the computer!

It's very interesting!
 

Lillie

I have been so busy recently, but finally, today I found time to get out my clow cards and give them a really proper looking at.

And do you know what?

I can't answer the question.

There is no single one I like better than the others, no single one I dislike.

I seperated them this time into things, animals and people.

The things are just things, they don't bother me eitherway. The worst I can say is that some are a bit dull.

The creatures are unfailingly cute. Even the fierce one.

So, people.
I like the beautiful ones. I like the firey, the watery, the earthy.
I like them.
Because they are beautiful.
I also like the sand and the Return, for the same reason. I like how they look.
I like Time as well. I know she is a bit old, but I do like her.

The ones I dislike; well, I don't like the baggy trousers some of the kiddies wear. They look silly.
I don't like the voices open gob.
But this stuff isn't so bad it makes me dislike the card.

I really like the darkness, except for her belly button.

I had a good time looking through them, though.

Oh, Mistys nose.
It's a bit freaky, it reminds me of something awful I saw once.
But that's just the printing and the poor art.
Like a bad photo. I expect in real life her nose would be fairly normal.

I didn't really feel any different after I had looked to how I felt before.

Sorry.
I don't feel that I have contributed much here.

But I can only say what I think, I don't want to make stuff up because it 'would make a better answer to the question'.
 

Chronata

I think this is a wonderful contribution, Lillie!

It really showcases how much you like the cards...and how you feel connected to..well, ALL of them!

That's pretty cool!