DECK OF THE MONTH: MAY

merissa_88

Voyager Tarot

The first few weeks with the book were really interesting. This deck is based on the Thoth Tarot so Trump 8 is Balance (Justice). I use decks based on the RWS so Trump 8 is Strength.

I developed a two card spread technique based on James Ricklef's work for my "Strength" layout. And used Wanless' Trump 8 2 card spread for "Balance". Both were fun to try and journal about. And the book has been really helpful.

Now I am working with James Wanless' new book called The Fortune Formula. It's a great read and I've been pairing the Voyager Tarot and Sustain Yourself Cards to work with it. This will be my focus until the end of the month.

Rose Lalonde

Thoth

I've been busy this month, but I did continue to work with the Thoth and gave an exchange reading with it -- my first time reading for someone else with the Thoth.

Hoping I didn't flub that up; we'll see when feedback comes in.

(I'm considering the possibility of taking a Thoth break next month to work with Roots of Asia again. My religious background is Theravada Buddhism, same as the creator, but I've been slowed by the language barrier, despite my years of German back in school and reading through all the study group posts. I've understood enough to know he's talking about things I relate to, like the four foundations of mindfulness and the five aggregates, but I should probably sit down with Google translate and my German dictionary, and translate the LWB, since I can't find a copy in English.)

merissa_88

Rose Lalonde said:
I
(I'm considering the possibility of taking a Thoth break next month to work with Roots of Asia again. My religious background is Theravada Buddhism, same as the creator, but I've been slowed by the language barrier, despite my years of German back in school and reading through all the study group posts. I've understood enough to know he's talking about things I relate to, like the four foundations of mindfulness and the five aggregates, but I should probably sit down with Google translate and my German dictionary, and translate the LWB, since I can't find a copy in English.)

Roots of Asia is so beautiful. unfortunately, it was already out of print (and really expensive) by the time I discovered it. I hope you'll enjoy your month with it if you choose to go ahead. I know Mi-Shell did some blogging about it.

merissa_88

Voyager Tarot

My first few readings with a combination of the Sustain Yourself Cards, the Voyager, and the Fortune Formula. I did a great reading about the inner conflict I feel between my experiences with "co-opetition" and the status quo (competition) in my work life. The answer seemed to revolve around building sustainable approaches that borrow from both.

The interesting thing about combining the two decks is that Wanless suggests tarot for the psychological part of the question and the oracle deck suggesting an action inspired by Gaia. So far, I'm clicking with it.

Rose Lalonde

merissa_88 said:
Roots of Asia is so beautiful. unfortunately, it was already out of print (and really expensive) by the time I discovered it. I hope you'll enjoy your month with it if you choose to go ahead. I know Mi-Shell did some blogging about it.

Yes, Mi-Shell must have spent a good bit of time with the deck and kindly posted in the study group too. Their background in Shamanism and Tibetan Buddhism broadens my horizons, since I admire but know far less about Tibetan than the Theravada of Thailand, Burma and Sri Lanka.

I'm sorry you missed out on it - definitely agree it's a beautiful deck.

merissa_88

Voyager Tarot

Well, the readings are really flowing with The Fortune Formula and these two decks. I've also started using more dreamwork with the readings.

There's an early section of the book where Wanless discusses setbacks as opportunity. I wanted to see how this plays out in my life in the most dramatic way. So I flipped through the deck and looked for the first "negative" card I could find. It was the 5 of Wands/Oppression which is really about giving my power away or letting others define me. This inspired a great reading/journal entry where I was able to explore this idea and implement this insight in my daily life. I was able to see how these instances create (or have created) opportunities to change a pattern and define myself more clearly.

Now I need to decide if I'll continue with these decks or switch to something else.

June's thread is here