Study Hall #1

Kosjitov

Discussion Oct 1-8

(I'll be copying this verbatim to my journal this morning)

Experimenting. For some this word conjures the idea of a scientist in a lab, mixing various chemicals in test tubes and beakers and other amalgamated jars, barrels, boxes. What comes through such imagery is an attempt to discover something new, to push science to further heights. Experimenting with tarot should be no different - pushing yourself and your knowledge of tarot to different new horizons. It means changing how you use or view the tarot deck as a tool to accomplish a new type of goal.

For me this month, it's about my nightlife. Not partying and making friends but returning to the subliminal messages that my sleeping mind puts forth: dreams.

Amitisti had put forth in a thread (located here) a new concept for me regarding "sealing" a deck. Essentially the purpose was to sandwich the deck between two cards at the top and bottom with some sort of purpose to the reader. While its original intent was akin to cleansing the cards I found myself intrigued and opted to warp its purpose to my own ends.

At the tail end of September, I began sealing my decks on and off after I finished reading with them. It struck me to use the process of sealing as, at worst, a subliminal trigger to indicate to my brain that I wanted to dream. Perhaps it would listen to pictures when words don't seem to work. I then proceeded to put my Art Nouveau next to my bed with the High Priestess on top and the Chariot on the bottom. Needless to say, my dreaming life has been significantly more active since. To put my results in perspective, you could count the number of times I dreamed (and remembered it!) in the last four months on one finger. In the last 9 days that this experiment has been going on, I've had 5 dreams, ~50% success rate.

Sealing decks is not directly a divination related process, nor was it intended to do more than keep a deck safe and cleansed, but I believe it has helped unfetter my subconscious like a key. The tarot deck itself has become a multipurpose tool to me making it more useful than it's original role as a daytime agent of the universe. ~Kosji
 

alyna

Hello Everyone

I'm Alyna, I'm quite new to tarot, but my experience with card readings or intuitive readings is quite longer than that. I started having interest in the subject after my best friend passed away a year ago, that was when I started thinking about depths of life and its uncertainities and how everything is so well working as a complete system. That was the time when I started learning Astrology chart reading since I was always mesmerized by Linda Goodman's Sun Signs. That book was SO accurate about so many things between me and a guy I knew. During the same time I met a spiritual person who knew quite a lot about occult and I told him about my weird dreams. I must mention that I'm a very strong dreamer and I normally see 2-3 dreams each night and I'm quite good at retaining data from them too.That guy advised me to explore my subconscious more because he saw I have an ability to see beyond whats known already.

So the journey started with Astrology charts, predictive methods and so and so. After that I started doing intuitive readings, like scrying and simple readings through reading signs.Sometimes a dream will simply explain things, sometimes faces will appear on inside of my eyelids.

After that I came towards oracle cards. They seemed easier, because they just need your intuition. You just trust your gut and follow along. While working with the Lenormand Deck I learnt a lot about what cards readings are about and how they work.
My final destination was Tarot. I was really really amazed by the deck RWS, they say its the easiest one for beginners but I did not buy it so that I can learn tarot, i bought it because I was in love with the pictures, the people in them speak to me!

So this is my journey from there to here. Now I feel like home with the tarot cards. I do use my Lenormand Cards and its a great deck, but the way I feel towards RWS deck I can't feel that way towards anything. Its just hard to explain.
It feels like this is where I was meant to stop. I have no problem reading them and giving others readings with them and I'm quite good because of all the practice with the Lenormand Deck. I do not imply separate methods for both, they both are different but to me they are not so different when it comes to criteria of ease of reading (however I'm a little biased towards RWS :D). I use same shuffling techniques, I use same intuitive ways. But there is something missing. I want to know this deck more. I want to know about the symbolism and everything about a picture in RWS, in other words I need to talk about them.

So this is how i landed in the world of tarot, and among all of you.Hope we will have fun and much to learn on the way!

Thank you for reading it all :D
 

Zechariah13

Initially when I started out, I just used to read the cards with their meanings. However over time I realised that, well the Cojurt card - can it symbolise someone ( this thought started after reading posts out here on AT). Subsequently well I changed my outlook towards the cards a bit, and yes, I started observing that the court cards come quite often when reading for someone and they also represent their particular qualities for the particular question for the querent.

Honestly, i tend to dislike the "this card is a person" aspect that i see attributed, not only to the courts, but also to the Empress, Emperor and Hierophant at times. Of course i acknowledge the fact that when they come up in readings about people, that people is a good interp for them, but i tend to lend towards their qualities. that might just be because i tend to read energies, not events, so whether or not another person is present is rarely important for me
 

pacificwaters

Re: Zechariah

Honestly, i tend to dislike the "this card is a person" aspect that i see attributed, not only to the courts, but also to the Empress, Emperor and Hierophant at times. Of course i acknowledge the fact that when they come up in readings about people, that people is a good interp for them, but i tend to lend towards their qualities. that might just be because i tend to read energies, not events, so whether or not another person is present is rarely important for me

I have always been a bit confused whenever Majors turn up. Somehow I feel that I cant relate to the entire message they want to convey to me.. So Majors.. no, I usually can't relate them to people. But yes the courts aspect often works for me... irrespective of whether the person is physically present before me or not... As regards your take on reading energies, could you just extrapolate a bit by what you exactly meant... I was unable to understand it..
 

pacificwaters

Welcome to the Study Hall alyna....that was "quite" an interesting read...

And yes, I too am a fan of Linda Goodman's Sun Signs. Have observed it going right for me quite some times...

Cheers and looking forward to our interactions :)
 

alyna

Thank you Jes :)

Welcome to the Study Hall alyna....that was "quite" an interesting read...

And yes, I too am a fan of Linda Goodman's Sun Signs. Have observed it going right for me quite some times...

Cheers and looking forward to our interactions :)

yes me too and thank you
 

alyna

For Jes

I looked at the study hall exchanges thread and would like to ask something about the reading you did for your partner.

You mentioned an advice card at the end, so you pulled that card off the deck or was that the bottom/shadow card which you considered as advice card?

Thank you
 

alyna

Card of the week 1-8

Deck: RWS

Card: The Empress

I don't know why I was drawn towards this card. One of the reason could be that I get this card in most of my online readings and it was the first card in my first ever tarot reading done by a fellow tarot reader while I was attending a course.

At that time when she described this card, all the while I was thinking, she is talking about me, this woman in the reading is me. When she starting counting the negative sides of the Empress that she is even manipulative sometimes and she can be too hard just to get what she wants, I got a little puzzled. I thought may be it is me after all, although I'm not manipulative. At the end she said "it can be a motherly figure" and that was when I figured it out.
The Empress basically shows us an archetype of a woman, the other one is High Priestess. It is a FACT that we can be manipulative sometimes, we all can. But the positive aspect, like giving birth and nurture a little part of you can definitely erase off your minds all the negative points I have made of this pretty woman.
She is wearing this white cloak (looks like maternity clothes) sort of dress with a crown on her head. If you look at the seat she is in, it seems she has been given the most comfortable throne to sit which makes me wonder if she is expecting. She is holding something in her hand, I really cant make off what it is. Behind her are trees, and in front are the grains, just like nature (trees and water flowing near her leg) nurtures the wheat and harvest, similarly she nurtures another kind of life,a precious one. near her feet lie a stone shaped as a heart, with a symbol of Venus on it. This very symbol is used for the female gender makes me wonder why are females associated with Venus through this symbol and not Neptune or Uranus. Near the feet of High Priestess lies a Crescent (Moon) which rules Cancer and can be a reason why mother is represented by 4th house?

If you look closely at her posture, the way she is sitting is not a normal feminine posture, may be she is pregnant after all, wow i figured it out or am I just assuming a lot :D

Basically this card represents motherly figures, (motherly instincts in my case) with Venus symbol there, it represents beauty, art and love for nature.This woman is gentle, loving and caring like a mother, and also authoritative, just like a mother,but on the other side she is fiercely protective and absolutely possessive about her child. she might actually hinder the growth of a child's individuality just by being too hard on him, trying to protect him from the world.

When the Empress appears in a reading, that can be a woman from my own life, in most cases my own mother (that is the one I can easily relate to) or it can simply be me, wishing too much for a baby, or something to nurture, something I can watch grow, may be myself, or a job or a project or it can mean now is the time to relax and enjoy the blessings of mother Earth.

I hope i did well and gave you all a good insight in to this card.
 

Zechariah13

I have always been a bit confused whenever Majors turn up. Somehow I feel that I cant relate to the entire message they want to convey to me.. So Majors.. no, I usually can't relate them to people.
The Nature of the Majors is that they represent Universal Forces, and they are far more powerful, or 'louder' than the minors. FOr example, the Ace of wands, 3 of wands and Fool can all refer to new beginnings, but the Fool says it far louder, and usually refers to something out of your control. Likewise the Fortune card represents change, whatever is will no longer be, and the Moon represents fantasy, illusion, or things not being what they seem. Either way, they are all things that are larger than you are, if that makes sense