Intensive Deck Study (IDS) Support Thread ~ Part 3

Good morning, everybody!

Reporting in after my first full day of IDS. It went very well except for a period in the evening when I started second-guessing my IDS choice (on the very first day! ).

I was reading a thread about aging decks & started thinking, oh man, I could have chosen my trimmed Nigel Jackson and aged it, too! I got through it by distracting myself - watching an absorbing dvd and holding/shuffling my Anna.K until bedtime.

I feel much better this morning and certain of my choice. These cards read like a picture book, and I really like them.


QoS

My IDS Update

I have been reviewing my notes and looking over my journals from the last time I spent devoted time to the Liber T. It seems like I am going to be able to pick up right where I left off. I have a lot still to learn about the deck but I am up for the challenge.

As part of my PDR for the deck I posted to my blog about four cards in the deck that I don't like or have caused me trouble. I think the first step is to face the problem cards and make peace with them. Once I understand those cards, which seems to be shrinking every time I use the deck, then the cards I understand will be smooth sailing.

I have started to post some of my daily draws on the forum but not all. Still I am using the deck every day and drawing a card. So that part is going well.

Onyx.

rwcarter said:

For a lot of people the thought of using one deck for an entire year would seem like a prison sentence. It says a lot about your connection with the deck that you can already tell in January that you'll still be using this deck in December. As much as I love the Transparent, I'm taking it day by day. While I might still be using it exclusively come December, I also might have moved onto some other deck. (Unlike you, I'm not culling my collection down any time soon....)

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Well, let's see how it goes, lol. I love love love the deck I'm using now, but I may decide to branch out at some point. Right now I'm so enjoying it though that I can see myself still using it exclusively in December. The Four Elements is turning out to be (for me anyway) what I had originally hoped the Tarot of the Origins, Rock Art Tarot and Shining Tribe would be.

Last night, I sat down again with the book. I'm trying to be as nonreliant on the book as possible, and so far its working. I read little snippets, but overall I'm just going with what the cards are telling me. This is working for the Majors, but I'm not sure how well it will work with the minors as I think I will need a bit more help with those.

Reporting in!

Am now onto my second week and so far I've only done the fool and the magician. I actually changed my mind before I started and decided to do as many cards as I can rather than the original 78 weeks I originally intended to.

But then, progress has been really slow and I seem to be stuck with the prietess. I can't seem to connect or understand the priestess, wonder if its due to my lack of imagination these days. Perhaps I should try sleeping with it to see how it goes.

And also, I've been following some parts of the IDS worksheet ideas by Faolainn Storm(link is inside IDS part 2, first post) e.g. how it relates to business/career/life/blah and I find myself getting stuck at certain points for the previous two cards. I finally settled down to write about 'what the card is saying' based on what I see and think. And then I got worried (lol) that I might not be able to interpret the meanings if the card turns out in a reading. For instance, if the fool turns out in a relationship reading, am I to use the same interpretation as I would use for a career/spiritual reading? Because right now, all I have are general impressions I get from the cards.

Kissa,

You're welcome to use any deck you'd like for the IDS. We've had at least a couple of people (sravana and Hooked on TdM come immediately to mind) who have IDSd with one or more versions of TdM.

Skimo,

Can you post a pic of your trimmed DM? I bet it's gorgeous.

QoS,

Glad you got over that first bump! It can be so easy to get derailed.

Onyx,

The four cards that are giving you problems probably hold a message for you.

2_J,

Going with what the cards tell you is always the best way to go in my book. After all, you're the one who's using the deck, so the interpretations should come from you, not from what the author says. And the wonderful thing about non-pictorial pips bugeyed: did I just say that? ) is that they can mean whatever you decide they mean. I don't remember the poster or the thread (although it may be in the first IDS), but someone was a passenger on a long card ride at night came up with meanings for herself (I'm pretty sure the poster was female) for what each of the Minor suits represented and then what the progression of the numbers meant. She posted it all and I thought it was absolutely inspired. It made perfect sense at least from the point of reading it. Since I don't use non-pictorial decks (at least not yet), I don't know how useful it would be in practice though.

Noelle,

IMHO, trying to force the same meaning to apply across different situations is much the same trap as trying to use keywords to understand what a card is about. The Fool in a relationship reading may refer to innocence, going into the relationship without expectations or even being a fool for love. In a business/career context, it might mean taking risks that others find foolish but that pay off in the end. In a spiritual context, it might mean opening oneself up to the spiritual journey or beginning the spiritual journey.

Although I wouldn't recommend it for actual interpretations, Tarot Made Easy by Nancy Garen has 34 different meanings for each card. For the Fool, she says it's about ambivalence where romance is concerned, a new enterprise where work is concerned and being acutely aware of the divinity's presence in one's life where blessings are concerned. Again, I wouldn't use those exact meanings, but you can hopefully see how the differences in meanings reflect the particular situation while still staying true to the card.

Rodney

Thanks, NoelleNoey!

I just read your post about the worksheet by Faolainn Storm from IDS Part 2. I too started with the Fool and am in my second week, studying the Magician. What a great crib sheet it is! I'm going to go back to the Fool and use it.

Rodney, I've added back the Thoth to my IDS - and am having a whale of a time with it already. So add Thoth back to my IDS... and remove Liber T. For now. LOL I'm a woman, I can change my mind, right?

I just posted a reading that I did with the Thoth: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=1732855#post1732855

I couldn't believe how easy it was to read this spread, even though it was three court cards! woo.

In a way, I'm actually doing an ODW, not an IDS. I am not going to be studying the cards individually... I did that years ago. I'm also not going to be reading about this deck (except for some of the contentious threads around here!). I'm just going to read, read, read, using small spreads for now... and posting some of them in the "your readings" forum.

I am still buying decks (another BIG thoth! Yay), but god-willing I'm done with that for now. Heaven knows that my pocketbook could stand some relief.

Actually, I'm quite excited about working with Thoth again, after so many years. I'm looking at it through eyes which have seen a lot since the last time I worked with this deck - and I have learned a *lot* hanging around here concerning ways of reading.

sravana said:

Rodney, I've added back the Thoth to my IDS - and am having a whale of a time with it already. So add Thoth back to my IDS... and remove Liber T. For now. LOL I'm a woman, I can change my mind, right?

Click to expand...

Constantly! But we still love you.... IDS choice updated.

Rodney

cherylleebest said:

I just read your post about the worksheet by Faolainn Storm from IDS Part 2. I too started with the Fool and am in my second week, studying the Magician. What a great crib sheet it is! I'm going to go back to the Fool and use it.

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Yay cherylleebest! I'm glad you decided to join us.

I'm officially in week 3, and I'm doing pretty decently at the card-a-day scheme. It's not easy, but it's a great habit-builder...so that I actually do it.

rwcarter said:

Going with what the cards tell you is always the best way to go in my book. After all, you're the one who's using the deck, so the interpretations should come from you, not from what the author says. And the wonderful thing about non-pictorial pips bugeyed: did I just say that? ) is that they can mean whatever you decide they mean. I don't remember the poster or the thread (although it may be in the first IDS), but someone was a passenger on a long card ride at night came up with meanings for herself (I'm pretty sure the poster was female) for what each of the Minor suits represented and then what the progression of the numbers meant. She posted it all and I thought it was absolutely inspired. It made perfect sense at least from the point of reading it. Since I don't use non-pictorial decks (at least not yet), I don't know how useful it would be in practice though.

Click to expand...

I'll look back at the earlier threads for the post you are talking about. I can tell I'm going to have quite a bit of sifting through the 1000's of posts to find it. It's fun looking back at what other people have done with their IDS.

I was suddenly struck by the idea for a poem while looking at my deck earlier today. I'll have to get it all down before it ebbs away. I'm finding the farther I stretch myself outside of the box that I had labled "tarot" in my mind - the mental confines I had created around the meanings for the cards and for what tarot could do in my life - the farther I am able to take my journey with the cards. Lately I have been using them less for reading and more as jumping off points for writing, reading, daydreaming. I am sure that I will cycle back around to readings eventually, but for now I am playing around with how far I can take the cards away from how I was accustomed to using them. So far there is now end in sight; if I eventually hit a wall, I am sure it will be a mental wall on my part rather than a limitation of the cards.