Beginning the journey- a second deck

Mi-Shell

When I was little, (in the early 60ties of LAST century! :bugeyed: ) several of my female Manoush Gypsy relatives read Tarot for clients all used a magnificent small deck with pictures from the “times looooong ago” They also taught me, but life takes twists and turns and when I was a young adult I could not find this deck among what was published in the mid 70ties. I was given an old Marseille deck and learned to read with that, but the images did not really “click” with me. Too stiff, too woody, and not really my culture either.....
Then in 1982 US games came out with the Magda and J. Gonzales Native American Tarot and not long after I was given one by a Native friend, so as to “read the future for him” I consider this my “second deck. It also was wood cuts but sadly full of misconceptions and cultural stereotypes and although I learned the RWS system on/ with this one, I was not realllly happy.
Something was still “Off”
So when the Haindle Tarot came out, I got that and learned to deal with its slightly different structure and its key-words – until I trimmed them all off. This one, the Healing Earth Tarot with its 6 suits and several Oracles became my main public reading decks until ~ 2003.
the search for the elusive ooooold card deck my grandmother Eliza owned and the one my cousins read with led me to find Aeclectic Tarot – and a floooood of other decks among them my main reading decks of today.
The elusive deck turned out to be the Soprafino by the way and I wrote more about it on my Tarot blog....
Today I am challenging myself with decks, that I do not really “jive” with, to keep on learning, growing and stretching my boundaries as a professional reader.

I can understand what you are trying to express when you are not quite “clicking” with a deck! I think, to some extend we all have been there.
Use the Morgan Greer as a deck to learn the RWS system on.
Yes, compare these images to the softness and colour pallet of the Linestrider. Remember – the line strider walks a line – between reality and imagination, between what you see and know and what you sens in what your intuition tells you. Its images appeal to your intuitive, emotive brain, to nyances, inclinations and notions, while having to learn and absorb card meanings and the oftentimes similar images you will find on the MG and many other RWS decks will engage the analytical side of your brain.....
Good luck and have fun with it!
 

Trogon

Hi VioletMoon. There is one thing I have learned over the years; if I see a deck which really calls to me, I try to get it right away - especially if it's a single deck on the shelf. There have been two times when I've gone back to a store to pick up a deck I'd decided to get ... and they were gone (one was a new copy of the Röhrig Tarot just after it had gone out of print, the other was a RWS but printed in Cyrillic). But that's just my own "bitten by the Tarot beetle" experience.

Be that as it may, I don't think I purchased a second deck for a couple of years after I had started studying. I think my second deck was the Röhrig Tarot and I fell in love with it right away (hence my going back for that 2nd copy a few days later). Although it is Thoth-based, when it comes right down to it, there are more similarities in the meanings of the cards than there are differences. The actual differences in the imagery used are what lead our intuition off in other directions when the cards are viewed in a reading or are contemplated during meditation or carefully examined during study.

So, for me, my main "study" deck has always been and always will be my old RWS. I can always use it for a reading and when I get a new deck, I invariably compare the new images to the RWS system that I am already so familiar with. So, for example, with one of my newest decks, the Tarot Illuminati, the Chariot shows reins going from the charioteer to the horses, while in the RWS, there are no reins going to the sphinxes. It's a small detail, but with the reins there, it indicates a more physical control of a situation as opposed to a power of will.

Or, in the case of the Linestrider Tarot, on The Hanged Man, the cord binding the tiger's leg is crimson red - which puts me in mind of it being soaked in blood and thus it being a snare - bringing to my mind the idea that this is an involuntary, forced change of perspective, rather than the more voluntary change in the RWS (though that image can be involuntary to my mind as well, depending on the reading).

On the other hand, if it's a system that puts Strength at XI and Justice at VIII, does it really change the basic ideas of the cards? Generally no, not for me. And in fact, when I read about these cards the meanings of each remain essentially unchanged regardless of the number on them. Or, does the deck soften the blow of the 10 of Swords by not having the swords actually piercing the person on the card? If not, does the rest of the deck try to soften the more painful ideas? I'm sure you get the idea.

So, for me, studying a new deck usually means comparing it to my understanding of the images in the RWS system. But it also means that I'm pretty familiar with the imagery and basic ideas portrayed in the RWS.

In your case, you started with the Linestrider, which is also based in the RWS meanings. So is the Morgan Greer, so you've already got a good start on both decks. My advice (since you made the mistake of asking for it ;)) is that you spend a bit more time with your first deck. Make sure that when you look at a card, the basic ideas encompassed in the image come to mind, at least to some extent. When you feel fairly comfortable with that, get out that MG and start doing your comparative study with both decks.

With the last two decks I bought, my collection is now at 40. They are all decks I can use to read with. And yes, I will be buying more decks and I will use them for readings. Some decks I like to use for self-readings, others are great for anything, some are very direct, some deliver their messages a little more softly. They're all different and they all trigger my intuition in different ways. Oh, and if you start looking at some other people's profiles here on AT, you'll find that I actually have a pretty modest collection.

For me, the Tarot does involve magic. The cards themselves are paper and ink ... but the images have been based on systems steeped in mystery and magic. These images work within our minds leading our intuition, bringing in messages from our subconscious minds, and (for me) helping me to interpret messages brought to me by my own spirit guides. This does not mean you have to spend years studying the Kabbalah, or the mysteries of the Order of the Golden Dawn. But you don't have to lock it out either.

So yeah, my final piece of advice; go buy more decks. })
 

headincloud

Some of the decks are beautiful and I can understand the temptation to amass a collection but I never swap decks and I've been learning for years because my focus is on progression and getting there so to speak, once I feel I'm proficient maybe but there really is so much to learn there's no need of a second deck in my opinion and it serves in my case to add confusion and slow the learning process.

The imagery is the key to the tarot and serves to jolt the memory of all the meanings we've pinned on a particular card, swap the cards and we're looking at a different language, rather like studying mythology for example via a different language every semester, yes the subject is the same but we have have to stop first to learn the language before we can truly start looking at the secrets of mythology. I appreciate not everyone is solely focused on getting there though.
 

Mi-Shell

headincloud;5037806 The imagery is the key to the tarot and serves to jolt the memory of all the meanings we've pinned on a particular card said:
An yet, some of us ARE there, read with different decks including with some we have never even seen, but a sitter brought them in, to get a reading with.....
For many of us the Tarot itself is the language and all the different decks are different dialects speaking that language.
Some of us, me included do public readings in 3-4 different languages........
We all however learn differently! We learn and explore Tarot and its mythology and archetypes at a different pace and we may or may not try out different ways to learn or increase our learning and growing. We ask others here to share their tips and tricks and may try them out for ourselves.
Eventually we all find, what works for us personally :)
 

Barleywine

I'm at the point now where I don't dwell on card imagery when reading, just seeing it enough to recognize what a card is before my knowledge and experience kick in with an interpretive impression. While I may love the art and linger over it on other occasions, during a reading I'm "all business" and just want to get to the meat of the matter. Some aspects of the image are still important, for example facing, orientation, color and mood, but I draw intuitive insights more from the inspired story-telling connections I make than from the visuals.
 

Thoughtful

Some of the decks are beautiful and I can understand the temptation to amass a collection but I never swap decks and there's no need of a second deck in my opinion and it serves in my case to add confusion and slow the learning process. [UNQUOTE]



l am with you here as having bought many different decks l have found one that works beautifully for me. Like you l now find no need for another deck. l did not find confusion with other decks, but they took me off my personal path and began to feel empty. Sometimes they would speak loud an clear, other times they clammed up, there did not appear to be a continuity. The one deck l use now has a connection that is so real, so intuitive, its like l can float into another world of beautiful meanings, beautiful landscapes, and know that it will always give me truth and accurate meaning for whomever l read for. l have been using this deck for a couple of years now and know what it is saying without effort. It continues to read perfectly. It speaks to me spiritually, it is hard to convey what l feel, but l just know l am very happy with this deck. So l do not need to use another deck.
 

headincloud

An yet, some of us ARE there, read with different decks including with some we have never even seen, but a sitter brought them in, to get a reading with.....
For many of us the Tarot itself is the language and all the different decks are different dialects speaking that language.
Some of us, me included do public readings in 3-4 different languages........
We all however learn differently! We learn and explore Tarot and its mythology and archetypes at a different pace and we may or may not try out different ways to learn or increase our learning and growing. We ask others here to share their tips and tricks and may try them out for ourselves.
Eventually we all find, what works for us personally :)

Once you've mastered the tarot there's no need for cards, perhaps we're headed in different directions.
 

Mi-Shell

Once you've mastered the tarot there's no need for cards, perhaps we're headed in different directions.

I do not think anyone could - or even would want to "master" the Tarot.
It is a life-long learning experience, a journey.
And then there are our sitters.
They need us to have some cards in our hands.....
After all it is about them, not us!
:)
 

Thoughtful

I do not think anyone could - or even would want to "master" the Tarot.
It is a life-long learning experience, a journey.
And then there are our sitters.
They need us to have some cards in our hands.....
After all it is about them, not us!
:)

l love the journey the tarot cards provide. If you are a medium who gets messages without the need of cards, then power to you. But like you say Mi-Shell the sitters like the process of seeing and interacting with the cards. l find the tarot a great way to interact, and sometimes l do get other intuitive messages which come to mind and that adds proof and expansion to my readings. For instance l may get an image of a loved one, an image of a pet that has passed, a birth date etc.
 

Trogon

Some of the decks are beautiful and I can understand the temptation to amass a collection but I never swap decks and I've been learning for years because my focus is on progression and getting there so to speak, once I feel I'm proficient maybe but there really is so much to learn there's no need of a second deck in my opinion and it serves in my case to add confusion and slow the learning process.

I understand what you're saying here, and it makes sense. But my experience has been different. For me, I find that delving into different decks, studying them side-by-side with my RWS or the Thoth and seeing how the images and artwork differ ... these things enrich my experience and deepen my understanding of Tarot. I don't think that working with different decks has slowed me down near as much as learning to use reversals right from the start. I will add the caveat that (as I said earlier), I did not start buying new decks till I'd already been studying and gotten a good basic understanding of the Tarot to start with. But I do find that different decks bring different nuances to a reading.

I do not think anyone could - or even would want to "master" the Tarot.
It is a life-long learning experience, a journey.
And then there are our sitters.
They need us to have some cards in our hands.....
After all it is about them, not us!
:)

I sure don't think I will ever "master" it. And yes, when I am at my best and my most "connected" my readings can go beyond just what the cards tell me. But I still study the Tarot and continue to learn.