"Getting to Knooooow Youuuuuuuu...."

As normal, I make an attempt to search the threads to see if I can find a previously posted similar topic. I am positive there is a thread or 2 or 3 out there about this but I could not locate. If there are, I welcome links to direct me to them!

I wanted to know your personal methods for learning your newly acquired decks. I have...a few...coming to me and I just wanted to see what more experienced readers do in general.

Additionally, what do you think of comparative daily draws? Aside from getting to know a single deck in depth for a concentrated period of time prior to reading with them, how about drawing the same roughly equivalent card (if possible) from several decks to do a comparative study: see where they are similar, different, which elements in the picture are more prominent or less prominent, color choices, subject matter, if interpretations are very different or...etc.?

Or any other general advice (like, wtf are you thinking trying to learn multiple decks, girl?!) I would greatly appreciate. I'm feeling very warm and fuzzy and cozy with my current (and only) deck, which I think will be a very solid one for me, but I am interested in exploring other decks too.

Much oblige!

Christine

Here are a couple of spreads that you may like to use with your new decks.

New Deck Interview Spread

A new interview spread for my new deck

New Deck Spread

Thank you, Glass Owl. I love the idea of "interviewing" new decks!
Brilly!

I love doing a daily draw with a new - or any - deck. I also browse through, telling myself what I think each card means.

When I carry a new deck with me, I also carry one that I am very familiar with, so I can pull the same card, if I need help with it. (Somehow I prefer this to looking at the LWB.) I like to compare the cards - see how they are similar, how they are different.

ResilientWench said:

Additionally, what do you think of comparative daily draws? Aside from getting to know a single deck in depth for a concentrated period of time prior to reading with them, how about drawing the same roughly equivalent card (if possible) from several decks to do a comparative study: see where they are similar, different, which elements in the picture are more prominent or less prominent, color choices, subject matter, if interpretations are very different or...etc.? Christine

Click to expand...

People have done this with success. If it helps you, it helps you.

ResilientWench said:

Or any other general advice (like, wtf are you thinking trying to learn multiple decks, girl?!) I would greatly appreciate. I'm feeling very warm and fuzzy and cozy with my current (and only) deck, which I think will be a very solid one for me, but I am interested in exploring other decks too.

Click to expand...

LOL, I suggest, when starting out, sticking to learning with one deck for awhile. As hard as that may be. Especially if you visit AT often. Then branch out. If you ever need help with meanings, AT is a great resource. Just plug that sucker into the search or look in one of the stickied threads. Sometimes learning too many decks at once is counter-productive. If you can do it, handle it, and have the time to devote to it, all the better for you.

Use it. Use it a lot. Use it for everything. Okay, well, not every little decision you make, but everything. Everything silly and benign. Spend time looking through the deck. Online, the 1, 2, 3 card exercises in the Tarot Games & Fun section are very helpful practice. Oh, um, try not to use too many cards when starting out. Try to keep your card count under 5.

Look at the images and see what thoughts, feelings, memories the cards inspire.

Spreads... like I said, try not to use too many cards when starting out. Try not to use too many spreads either. Spreads with positions like "what he feels she feels about him" are pretty much useless imo, and they require you to use like 24 cards. (You'll find a lot of these in the spread section.)

Some people like to do a daily draw at the end of the day to emphasize what lessons were learned for the day. I do this, and I think it helps when learning the cards.

That's all I can think of for now. In fact, nothing has really changed in the way I learn the cards since starting out other than I'm more willing to learn by doing readings. I can't emphasize enough how much doing readings helped me learn the cards more than just looking at them. So, GO READ.

Most excellent, all.

Yes, I noticed that I continue to learn about the cards AS I'M reading, so that advice I shall definitely take to heart, lilangel.

I am having great success with my one simple 9-card spread. I tried branching out to another the other day but that just obfuscated things.

I will continue the daily draws (with the old, eventually with the new) and readings.

I browse through them and look which cards speak to me. Those are the ones which represent the deck to me. So every time when I think of the deck, I see those cards.
Then I train myself to get to know the others, bit by bit.
Oh, and I scent them. I put them in a box with a selection of herbs so them absorb that smell.
Often I also add a drawing, a piece of tekst I like or such inside the box to let them get to know me too.

When I get a new deck I go through the cards one by one, starting with the Fool on through the majors, then the minors till I get to that last King of the last suit. I pass over each one, as if strolling through an art gallery, noticing the details. Noticing the differences in it from the usual Rider-Waite (as most decks are Rider-Waite clones). And introducing me to the cards and them to me. Just a casual introduction.

When I'm done, I get out the book written to go along with the deck--not the little white book, the big one. I go through the deck again. Card by card. And I read what the creator has to say about their deck and each card.

This is my deeper intro to the cards--finding out what was important about each card to the card creator, and why they emphasized that over other aspects of the cards (like, say, why this creator decided to feature a pheonix on the Death card rather than the usual Death figure). I think about the usual meanings I attach to the card, and where such meanings are in this card--if they're in it. And if not, what it has that I can relate to.

After all this, I'll do a reading with the cards. I love getting to know decks, and I like to take my time about it. I like to feel like I'm sitting down to coffee with them and having a good long conversation which starts out: "Tell me everything about yourself..."

Thank you, Thirteen (I am totally honored that you dropped by!).

This sounds like something I would like to do, very methodical. So in addition to the deck itself you also purchase the accompanying big book? I think that makes sense. I am appreciative of the artists' concepts and want to get in their heads as well as develop some of my own feelings for the cards.

ResilientWench said:

This sounds like something I would like to do, very methodical. So in addition to the deck itself you also purchase the accompanying big book?

Click to expand...

If there is one, yes. Luckily, these days a lot of decks come with such books so you end up buying them when you buy the deck. Back in the old days, the little white book was often all you could hope for and it often wasn't any help at all.

The only problem with getting such books is that there are times when you may find yourself disagreeing with the creator That actually doesn't happen very often, but there have been times where I've read what the creator had to say about a card and found myself saying, "Oh, come on--"

Usually, however, I can see the creator's point of view and incorporate it. I find books by deck creators to be a lot like coming here to AT. What the creator has to say about their cards can really open my eyes to new ways of viewing the cards, and give me meanings for them that I hadn't considered before.