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