Replying to non-RWS Readings?

For those on here who only (or mainly) use RWS, do you still reply to posts/readings in which a different, unfamiliar deck was used? I tend to see the RWS cards in my head and go with those meanings, rather than the often quite differently-imaged cards that some others use... If you do the same, have you found that your RWS interpretation still "works" most of the time?

Sometimes, I wonder if I should try harder to stick with the visuals of the querant's own deck, even if they seem really "out there" to me (or maybe just not reply in the first place... )

IndigoWaves said:

For any on here who only (or mainly) use RWS, do you still reply to posts/readings in which a different deck was used? I tend to see the RWS cards in my head and go with those meanings, rather than the often quite differently-imaged cards that some others use... If you do the same, have you found that your RWS interpretation still "works" most of the time?

Sometimes I wonder if I should try harder to stick with the visuals of the querant's own deck, even if they seem really "out there" to me (or maybe just not reply in the first place... ; ) )

Click to expand...

In many cases, I don't own the actual deck used. But if the deck isn't an RWS clone, quite often it's a Thoth clone, and I own both of the parent decks as a touchstone in these cases. The vast majority of decks out there seem to be RWS clones, so we're on reasonably safe ground if we stick with the familiar meanings, as long as we don't start carrying on too strenuously about the images on the RWS cards. I usually preface my comments with "I don't own that deck, but . . ." and then try to keep my observations on the more generic side. But if someone is using a deck that doesn't adhere whatsoever to the Golden Dawn style of symbolism (like Marseille or Etteilla), I usually just pass.

That's good advice, thank you. I must remember that preface for such cases, as well. I've sometimes looked up a querent's own card images, but hadn't always thought to verify their meanings... So maybe some look rather like RWS but actually aren't at all (which would be an additional kink)... I guess that whether or not I reply to non-RWS spreads will boil down to how lazy I'm feeling, heh.