Deck of the Month Study Group??

2dogs

Hi DragonFae, I think this is a good idea and I enjoyed the General Oracles Study Group, but I'm not sure I'll be able to join in as I've been led more into fact cards which have no structure, system or pre-defined meanings to study. If you don't get many takers due to people not wanting to buy more decks though you might consider allowing other decks with the same general theme for comparative study e.g. for the Medicine Cards you could have the Druid Animal or Messages From Your Animal Spirit Guides or perhaps some Aboriginal decks. Alternatively you could choose decks by a single author or artist. :)
 

Smiling

Perhaps...we will see if there is any other interest between now and January 1st. I just feel like there are a lot of deck studies that fit that format and it seems that they never even seem to stay up and running long enough to get through all the cards in the deck...LOL

The whole idea of the Deck of the Month I think is to get a short crash course in a deck and then move on...since people's interest and focus seem to shift quickly around here...It would definitely not be an in depth study

So we will just see how things unfold...would you rather start with the Medicine cards and then move to the Oracle of Visions when the time seems right? I have the Medicine cards also and I am a BIG fan of Native American decks.

If nothing else I might just work myself through a year of deck studies and see how that goes...I certainly have enough to fill in 12 months!!!

Sure, it makes sense to see what other interest there is...I'd also be interested in checking out your deck studies, if you decide to go in that direction. :)
 

DragonFae

2Dogs that's a GOOD idea...to sort of have a theme....I'm not sure what holds people back is the costs of decks or just that they are so busy. LOL

smiling...I think you are right too but I just wanted to see if a different format might interest people and some might join in one month but not another...I'm not set in any one direction.... was just trying to sound people out as to what might interest them. :)
 

GoldenWolf

I would definitely be interested in doing this and spending some time working more intensively with my oracle decks. i have both of the ones listed so far. Would you be doing a month with the Loteria? All of the standard images are readily available online. I think there's even some program that allow you print off a deck online as I recall.
 

DragonFae

GoldenWolf....I would love to do the loteria cards and yes you can get/print most of the images. I have worked a lot with them and if there is interest will be happy to add them to one of the months....maybe February?

Just and FYI.....obviously we cannot get through every card in a deck in a month. This study is not necessarily set up to do that....it is more of a discussion/topic/card questions/sharing thoughts about the deck of the month. There may be topic questions to focus our discussion and anyone can pose a topic question.

Another deck that is non-oracle (not originally created to be an oracle) is the Alice Playing Cards....you can find them:

http://www.amazon.com/Alice-In-Wonderland-Playing-Cards/dp/0979818222

These are not for the faint of heart....lol.....or in other words they take some intuitive reading and thought. The cards have quotations on them and I read them in a couple different ways.

1. I read the card suit/number like in traditional cartomancy

2. I read the quotations and weave them into the answer.

On my blog I've worked my way up through the fours....but these are just my draft/beginning thoughts about the cards...there is so much more to explore..

http://lenormandquest.blogspot.com/p/alice.html

We posted about these cards a few years back...but I bring them up as a unique and intriguing learning possibility. I'm not set on using them but if someone is interested in exploring outside of the "set" oracle decks this one is a good alternative. If there is interest, just let me know and I can add them to one of the months.
 

DragonFae

I'm slotting the Halloween Oracle for October :)
 

DragonFae

I've been pondering how the oracle deck of the month study might proceed. Here are some very tentative draft thoughts...please feel free to post your thoughts and ideas.

1. The first post of the month would include a link to the Study Group Index for the deck (if one exists) This will be a rich treasure trove of information.

2. Activities to explore the deck will of course be unique to individual decks but might include things such as Deck Interviews, Picking out favorite/least favorite cards, Shuffle and Sorts, Categories and Connections, discussion of the decks theme, discussion of what kinds of questions and/or spreads etc work best with this deck (These are just off the top of my head. I am sure there are many others that will evolve.

3. Anyone that wishes could start posts on individual cards that they are interested in discussing further. Of course these can be added to any existing index. We would most likely not get through all cards but as some of the decks have already been studied we might be able to add to the index for them. :)

4.
 

GoldenWolf

February is fine with me for studying the Loteria unless you would rather do love/romance based oracles with Valentine's Day during that month. Actually, any month is fine. I would just keep track and join in that month.
 

DragonFae

In keeping with 2dogs suggestion of perhaps a "theme" focus so people could join in without having a specific deck .....I think January would be a great month to try that approach as there are lots of animal and/or Native American based decks.

Medicine Cards
Medicine Wheel Deck
Animal Spirit Guides
Druid Animal Oracle
Power Animal Oracle cards
Celtic Animal Oracle
Animal Whispers

(and I'm sure many others) so if you have an animal based deck....come January feel free to join in.

Some months this will be harder to do on a theme basis but I think for January it will work great. I'm actually kind of interested to see which animals are portrayed in certain decks and how their "message is described or interpreted.
 

GoldenWolf

I have the Animal Medicine Cards too. In fact, that is probably one of the oldest oracle decks I have. I also have few other animal oracles if you decide to go that route in January. So I'd be in on that month, for Loteria, and Oracle of Vision at least. Of course, I have plenty of time to get the Halloween Oracle or maybe that could be expanded to any spooky/supernatural decks as a theme? Then I could just use my copy of Les Vampires lol.

Having been in on a few specific Tarot deck study groups, I know people are very enthusiastic at first about going card by card and posting about them and then it typically fizzles out. I think focusing less on that kind of structure and including other activities like optional reading exchanges with the monthly oracle, or sharing spreads created for that deck would actually generate more interest. Just my take and preferences though.