What's Your Reading Angle...and WHY?

I've been reading several threads (old and new) that have sparked some curiousities.

Some people say they don't care what deck they use nor what the LWB or companion book says when they read. Reading is about being a good reader no matter what they're divining.
Others place the importance on specific decks and the meanings that their books and history have in place for them.

So my question is this: when you read, what is your angle? In other words, in your mind, where do you place the importance? Is it on the deck itself, or the act of reading?

There's a lot more to this question, but I'll leave it at this for now and offer my own "angle" to begin with.

I decided to learn to read tarot because I heard it was one of the quickest ways to develop psychic intuition. I knew nothing of the history, artists, meanings...nothing. I just wanted to learn to communicate with the spirit world and heard that tarot would be a great help. I assumed that all tarot readers were "psychic" and believed the same thing.

That was 6 yrs ago.

Today I'm still reading with and now collecting tarot cards, but for different reasons. I don't care what I read with. I feel you can divine with anything: rocks, clouds, leaves...whatever. But I have definately learned to appreciate the art of cartomancy in itself. The rich history, people, and study related to it. And, there are some interesting, beautiful, quirky (as well as ugly and down right stupid) decks out there. I definately have an attraction to the (and in some cases lack of) artwork on many cards and for that reason choose to collect them. But as someone else on this board so eloquently stated, "I could read the back of my hand". To me it doesn't matter. For me it's about the reading, not about the cards.

And that, folks, is solely my oppinion. Not the right oppinion, not the wrong oppinion, just MY oppinion.

And now I want to know yours.

I read because my intuition doesn't work without a system. It's too faint to pick up on it by it's self.

It's like a smear of DNA. The eye cant even make out what substance it used to be, but run it though the machine... I can read the print out. It might be less accurate, but now it's processed enough that i can pick up on it.

Without my cards, I'm intuitive as a potato. I don't do intuitive-oracles well, either.

sleepingcat said:

I read because my intuition doesn't work without a system. It's too faint to pick up on it by it's self.

It's like a smear of DNA. The eye cant even make out what substance it used to be, but run it though the machine... I can read the print out. It might be less accurate, but now it's processed enough that i can pick up on it.

Without my cards, I'm intuitive as a potato. I don't do intuitive-oracles well, either.

Click to expand...

Uh....I'm sorry.....what??

Here's the original question again:

in your mind, where do you place the importance? Is it on the deck itself, or the act of reading?

Click to expand...

Well, hmmm...how to put my thoughts on this into words???

I have about 55 decks, some Oracles some Tarots. Two more are on the way to me. I don't have a favourite deck, I love them all exactly equally and they are all the same in my eyes, equally useful tools through which the Divine can send me answers.

I guess I have already given you part of my answer right there. Yes, Tarot to me also is a way to develop intuition. And I use that intuition to pick up on what my higher powers (which I personally consider to be my angels) are teling me the asnwers are.

As I read for the most part by analysing imagery, each deck has different ways of answering and giving me the message. That is part of a reading for me. Before I start I take out a list of all my decks (colour-coded: one colour for Angel decks, one for Tarot, one for Oracles). I then decide which kind of deck would make the most sense for that question. And then look through the list of all decks in that category and sense the one that will best give me the right answer today, taking care to try and not use a deck I have used recently.

Just as I sense the answers through the cards, I first need to sense which deck will best give me those answers. I consider all my decks exactly equal, it's, for me, a matter or sensing which deck my angels want to use to communicate with me that day about the question and for that querent. It's just sensing it, gut feeling kind if thing.

SO, the act of reading is an imporant part, but PART of the art of reading for me is sensing which is the best deck for a particular question. Both are of equal importance I guess to me because both are Divinely guided activities. I believe when I sense which deck is best, that is a Divinely guided decision. That gut feeling I get, is to me a Divine communication that I am picking up on. The answers also come through Divine guidance, imo. And, for me, I do believe that since decks have different images each will give the answer differently, the way I read. So the deck selection is very important too and can effect the answers greatly.

EG, once a card came up with an image of a man removing a mask. It said to me that the querent was not showing his true self and trying to hide it from someone, it was time to "take of the mask" and let the other see and know the real him. I was drawn to that deck I know because that was the answer that the querent was meant to have there, and becuase that card in that deck was the only card featuring a mask in any of my decks...and the only way the cards could have given me that message.

So I guess the two: the act of reading and the deck used, are in my eyes of equal importance.


Of course I don't think just any deck would work for anyone. I have had some I traded away because we were not compatible. And some I could not read with for years, then suddenly felt impelled to use and they worked beautifully after years of being in the drawer unused. I think decks are like people. They all have unique personalities, and just like people we tend to get along best with ones that think like we do, otherwise there are just misunderstandings.

Again this is how I work. Just my opinions too. And of course we are just different. And that's as it should be.

Babs

Somehow, and I can't explain it, it seems to be something that occupies the space between my eyes/brain and the cards. And that is why the actual deck is not a big deal to me.

Is the importance in the deck, or is it in the reading?
I would have to answer...
Both

It just depends on what phase I am going through at the time that creates the angle.

Usually though, it's all about the reading, and the process of reading, and the deck doesn't matter. I can pick up stuff from anywhere, with any deck, and a scattering of pebbles gives me as much information as my favorite Hanson Roberts.

And sometimes...it's ALL about the deck. Especially with new decks that excite me! I went through a long honeymoon where I was enamored with the Lunatic, and all my readings, and views on life were interpreted through the rosy colored opium induced slightly bondagey world of that deck.
that was fun!
I have been through recent phases like this with the Minute deck, and the Universal Fantasy as well...even when I wasn't doing an actual reading, my thoughts would randomly wander to the images from those decks.

These phases fade pretty quick though, like a crush on a guy, or a ride in a new car, and then I go back to a more universal reading mode, and it becomes all about the information, and not about the vehicle.

Well, I only have three decks: rider waite, fey and gnomes. Although I've been into Tarot for 6 years now, there have been lots of gaps without touching the cards. There are times when I prefer the Rider Waite one, others when I prefer the Fey... Usually, I kinda feel "I'm going to use this deck" and just use it.

I don't know many card meanings without looking at the pictures - there may be some cards I interpret differently on each deck, because I give them a different meaning because of the picture. For me, a Tarot reading is like reading poetry on the pictures, where the cards hide all kinds of hidden metaphors, and the way they touch your heart is different on different situations. The most important thing to me is how the cards connect to my heart.

sleepingcat said:

I read because my intuition doesn't work without a system. It's too faint to pick up on it by it's self.

It's like a smear of DNA. The eye cant even make out what substance it used to be, but run it though the machine... I can read the print out. It might be less accurate, but now it's processed enough that i can pick up on it.

Without my cards, I'm intuitive as a potato. I don't do intuitive-oracles well, either.

Click to expand...

MariposAzl said:

Uh....I'm sorry.....what??

Here's the original question again:

in your mind, where do you place the importance? Is it on the deck itself, or the act of reading?

Click to expand...

I'm with sleepingcat actually... I think it's both.
It's not the deck itself: that's just a pack of cards without the diviner. But
it's not the act of reading: I get nothing scrying, and get either overloaded or banally dulled with "signs from the universe, everywhere!!" divinations.
So it has to be systemic for me... tarot cards (and only the rws at present), or dream journaling-- something I can put my hands on, say "psychic now" and turn it off when I'm done and put the things away.

I place the importance in the meeting of the deck and the reader, allowing the logical mind (that has learned the system) to be a bridge (but a tolled bridge, or a flyover with exits-- something with controlled flow) instead of a barrier to the intuitive mind.

Good question...

I read your question yesterday,.. and it gave me a lot of thinking about... my reading angle, Have I any? Am I conscius about how I read?

"in your mind, where do you place the importance? Is it on the deck itself, or the act of reading?"

So I have come to my answer: I dont really know. I have been using 1 deck for 10 years + o -, and Im still learning the deep simbolism of the drawings... and now I'm starting to realize that all I need are them, the book just put me on the walk, on my feet.

That happened because recently I started reading with a second deck, very different one. I have realized that all this time I have been walking with canes, and now Im trying to leave them and walk by my own... giving importance to my intuition. So I think Im in the process of leaving the "deck importance" and allowing my self to put importance in the reading it self, wich is a creation form or manifestation... I agree its divine somehow.

But also, I have come to understand the importance of the deck... when the artist that draw it changed cards. So I would say that there must be some level of importance in both.

I dont know If I am answering your question, MariposAzl, but its having me a good thinkin'...

SunChariot said:

I think decks are like people. They all have unique personalities, and just like people we tend to get along best with ones that think like we do, otherwise there are just misunderstandings.

Click to expand...

Ok, I was totally with you until this part here Now understand where I'm coming from, I'm in no way trying to say you're wrong or anything (as I stated in my original post), I'm just trying to wrap my head around some things.

You're saying you're decks have personality. I do feel by the way some people talk about their decks, for instance, they ask their decks how they feel about being put away for a while, or think their deck going to get mad or something. I know some of these are jokes, but some seem to be rather sincere about how their decks feel and think as if they (the deck) has the capacity to do these things.

From what I gathered from your earlier comments in your post, you stated that the information you recieve is from the divine. So doesn't that mean that the "personalities" you're dealing with are that of your angels, not your decks?

Perhaps it's the system of symbolism within a particular deck that your angels have difficulty using to communicate to you with. Perhaps that's where the disconnect comes from as opposed to it coming from the deck itself.

Again, just some questions for understanding other's ideas and oppinions on this topic. I'd love to know what you think