Ideas for getting to know new decks

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 03 Feb 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Mimers	03 Feb 2003
I was responding to a "welcome to Aeclectic" thread when I got an idea for another thread. When you receive a new deck, what do you do (if anything) to get aquainted with it? For instance, I just recently purchased they World Spirit deck. I wanted to do something that used all the cards and would make me think about them. I did Mary Greer's Turning Point exercise from my favorite book, Tarot for Yourself. It was really great because it had me think of the cards in terms of my life. I am going to try this with some of my other decks also. It will be interesting to see what cards I come up with using a different deck. Please share with me. This beginner is always looking for new ideas! Mimers

lunalafey	03 Feb 2003
Some readers do a spread in regards to the relationship the owner and deck will have. Then there is pulling a card a day. I usually just 'play' with my new decks for a few days before I do a reading with them.

sagitarian	03 Feb 2003
I usually do a daily three card reading. If I have the time, I note the reading in a journal. When I first recieve the deck, I usually ask the deck what will I learn from you, and do a celtic like spread.

lawguy51	03 Feb 2003
I seem to have developed a bit of a routine with a new deck, nothing really out of the ordinary....first, I just slowly go through the deck card by card. Then I divide the deck into three piles (a forum member's suggestion, forget who) and I shuffle and shuffle each of the piles. Then I combine the piles and shuffle them all together. When I feel that I'm through shuffling I might smudge the deck and make some sort of invocation, although I always feel funny doing it :). Then I do a new deck spread. Then I find a place for it on my overcrowded Tarot bookshelf and place a stone or crystal on it. That's all...! Lawguy51

Mimers	03 Feb 2003
Lawguy, I don't know much about crystals, but I do have some. Why do you put a crystal on your deck? I was also wondering, what kind of spread would you do with it? Thanks for sharing Mimers

lawguy51	03 Feb 2003
Hi Mimers; Truthfully, I put crystals on them because it makes me feel good. Makes me feel like I'm protecting the cards and respecting them. I know I read somewhere that crystal energy will 'cleanse' the deck of negative energy but do I believe that? Well, sure, why not. Plus it just looks interesting and somewhat mysterious to see all of these little stones and crystals sitting on my velvet bags on the bookshelf. As for the spread. If you mean the new deck spread, it goes something like this: 3 cards 1. What will the deck teach me? 2. What does the deck require of me? 3. What will our relationship be? If you don't like the reading or don't understand it (you can always post it in the Readings section), it's been suggested to use the deck for a while then try it again. Sort of like a second date when the first didn't work out so well but you thought there was something worth pursuing. Lawguy51

Francesca	03 Feb 2003
I play a few games of solitaire. A lot of people consider this disrespectful, but I play card games with the people for whom I have (or have had) the most respect--my mother and sisters, my friends, my sweetheart, etc. It creates famialiarity between myself and my friend and between myself and my deck. Francesca

WolfSpirit	03 Feb 2003
When I get a new deck I tear the package material off it as quickly as I can ooohh I finally get to see and touch my new presssiousss... But I don't read with it straight away. I of course first admire all the cards, then when I do a spread with one of my old trusted decks I often lay out the same spread with the new deck to see what it looks like, it's a way to get aquainted with a new deck and I can use several decks this way so i keep them all happy :)

Mimers	03 Feb 2003
WolfSpirit I like yours the best! You made me laugh : )

Trogon	04 Feb 2003
Quote: Originally posted by Mimers When you receive a new deck, what do you do (if anything) to get aquainted with it? Hi Mimers! Like several others have already mentioned... one of the first things I do with my new deck is to just go through and look at and admire all the cards. I usually do this several times, the first time is just a quick glance to familiarize myself with each card, get a quick feeling for what I like or don't like about specific cards and the whole deck. Then I go through it again more slowly... studying the cards a little more in-depth look at the imagery on each card. Then do a partial mixing, look through them again with more of a mind to the meanings of the cards. Eventually I do a new-deck reading (as already described by lawguy51). However... a while back Strange2 had mentioned in similar thread, that he likes to open the package then smell the new deck. I've now done this with my last 3 new decks; Victoria Regina, The Goddess Tarot and The Spiral Tarot. It is an interesting excercise and actually, I feel, gives me a different connection to the deck which I wouldn't normally have. By the way... the do each have a different aroma... In anycase... I have found that handling them and studying them with different senses gives me a good connection to each deck. [edited to add;] Oops... almost forgot... here's the link to that earlier thread I mentioned; http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8535&highlight=smell

Silverlotus	04 Feb 2003
What I do with my new decks depends on whether my boyfriend knows that I spent more money on another decks. :) I've bought so many since I started reading this forum that he's getting a little tired of hearing about my newest deck. What I generally do is go through each card one at a time, looking at the pictures closely, but not to closely. Then they usually sit alone for a while until I am finished the work with the deck I am currently using. I then take them out again and do I new deck spread, pretty much the same a lawguy. When I'm doing the spread, I really look at the cards and try to see everything that is in them. I make notes on what I see and guess the meaning. Then, horror of horrors! :P, I check out the lwb or whatever book it is that comes with them to see what the author intended. And the meaning I choose to record is a blending of those two, usually slanted more in the direction of what I saw. Also, because I have so many new decks right now, I am rotating which ones I use for my daily card draw to learn them better, one each month. For that, I draw a card and make detailed notes on what it looks like and what I think it means. Then I check out the book and make any adjustments to my notes I think are needed based on the author's ideas. Last month I used the Goddess Tarot and it's workbook, so I answered the questions in it. It was pretty easy to learn them because they symbolism is pretty thin IMHO. I do plan on researching the myths of all the Goddesses. A good idea for any myth based deck, I think. This month I'm using the Robin Wood, and rereading the entry for the card in her wonderful book after I take my notes. Both methods have worked really well so far. Next month I plan on using my Osho Zen (if I get around to telling my boyfriend I bought it) and I'm going to try and reading a bit on Zen this month in preparation. Sorry for the long winded response. :)

firemaiden	06 Feb 2003
I do what Wolf Spirit does, with a few variations:D But first I make myself clean up the whole apartment, shop, cook, and make everything perfect to deserve my reward. Then I tear open the wrapping, smell the cards!! yeah! admire them, and then write a silly article on aeclectic about looking at the cards :P After playing, sniffing, admiring, and pondering them for weeks, I put them in order, and compare them card by card to other decks. For example I have been enjoying comparing the Secret Tarot card by card to Marseilles, to RWS and to Spiral and found that many of the images came directly out of Marseilles, not RWS. This was really fun and enlightening. Then I also like to go through the deck and see which cards have repeating imagery one from the other, to see what little clues about relationships between the cards the artist might have imbedded in them.

Marion	06 Feb 2003
For me, it is not always the same. But often I treat a new deck like I do new clothes. They have to hang in the closet for a few eeks before I can wear them. :( dunno why. Same with a new deck. I always open then, look through them once and put them away. Then it seems that a couple of weeks later I seem to find the right time, and I go through them, and yes, if the book looks at all interesting I read that too. Right now I am reading the book with the Fey tarot and it is wonderful. Got the Fey two weeks ago and last night, after having read all but a few pages of the book I finally started to try out the deck.

Logiatrix	06 Feb 2003
first, i hug the deck. then, i look at all the pretty cards, one at a time. third, if i decide that i'm gonna use my new deck regularly, i find a cloth and bag for it. last of all, i put it under my pillow (for as many nights as i can stand it) to see if any of the images come up in my dreams. i rarely find a new deck that i add to my "regulars" anymore, because i'm happy with what i already have. however, that never stops me from making room in my tarot collection... :)

Mimers	09 Feb 2003
Well, I have gotten a lot of good ideas, so of course I had to buy another new deck to practice on ;) I have to thank LawGuy for sharing the new deck spread. I did it for the World Spirit. I also did it for my Fey even though it was not really new. I also got my new Vision Quest yesterday and did one just now for that deck also. I am going to share this in more detail in another thread, but I am not sure if it should be under Talking Tarot or the Shared Reading but basically, in all three spreads I drew the fool. Not only that, but every week I do a CC spread for myself and this weeks had the Fool as card 1. That's four times in one week! hmmmm. By nature, if you were to sum me up I would not be the Fool. Very difficult concept for mel Well, I am off to share my readings! Thanks for sharing! Mimi

little	09 Feb 2003
I sit down on the comfy sofa and light a candle for relaxation. I open it, take out the cards, and first reorganize them to my personal preferred order: cups, wands, swords, pentacles, then majors. Once they're in order, I look through them slowly. Lots of people say they like to do a 'new deck' reading, but I don't always do a reading at all when I first open a deck. Instead, I'll spend the evening just moving them around, idly shuffling them through my hands while I do other things, or resting them under my pillow or next to my heart. I almost never read with them until the next day.

scheherazade	10 Feb 2003
My Sacred Circle deck is designed to be especially effective with meditations. I find that if I meditate with significant cards in the deck then we tend to be rather good friends. :) Of course, this is after I perform some sort of rite that initiates the deck to my mind. A spell, with candles, at night under the moon a dark room. You get the picture.

Shadow Wolf	12 Feb 2003
I've been really lucky, I've connected well with all of my decks except the Ibis deck. I started out right away with very accurated readings with each of my decks. I feel very fortunate because now I can choose from 5 different decks depending on the reading I'm doing !!!!!!!!!

The Ideas for getting to know new decks thread was originally posted on 03 Feb 2003 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.