Intensive Deck Study Reboot!

zan_chan

[size=+2]Welcome back to the Intensive Deck Study (IDS)! [/size]

This group is a support system for those who want a way, a reason, an opportunity to spend time with the one special deck of your choosing. With so many beautiful decks available, and our collections ever-growing, it becomes at times difficult to choose which deck to actually use. So many decks sit on their shelf, or in their drawer, loved, but unused, unlooked at, and under-appreciated. This study is meant to give the deck of your choosing the chance to shine, to stand-out, and to become the in-depth tool you hoped it would be when your first brought it home.

The basic idea is simple enough: choose one deck that you want to spend some time with, create a list of personal guidelines to post here in this thread, and use this group to share your experience with the deck. Simple as that! But, there are, of course, a few rules meant to give the group a certain cohesion, and to make sure that the IDS experience is one shared by all of its participants.

[size=+1]Rules, Guidelines, and a couple of Quid Pro Quos:[/size]

~Each participant will choose [size=+1]one deck[/size] that will be used as close to exclusively as possible for the period of time chosen by the participant. Of course, exceptions can be made (this isn't school!) for professional readings, or important readings for others. But, all readings done for oneself, and in the AT Reading Exchange forums, are to be done as close to exclusively as possible with one's chosen deck.

~To initially sign-up, please post in this thread with your intention to participate, the reason for choosing your deck, and your personal set of guidelines. HERE you can find a post by the illustrious rwcarter about his own IDS guidelines, which serves as a good example of how it's usually done.

~This thread is your IDS support group - remember that this isn't a competition and there aren't any rules about HOW to study, so please feel free to post about anything at all that is or isn't working for you in your studies, no matter how different your methods may seem from the rest of the group's. No one is an IDS expert and we're all here to support each other, so don't be shy and share your experience!

~Keep in mind that although a major part of our goal is to have fun, the name of this group is, in fact, the Intensive Deck Study - it isn't just a matter of choosing a deck to do all your readings with. There should be some actual study involved. For example, if your chosen deck is, say, the Druidcraft, you might study the animals, the trees, the locations, the time period, etc., etc. Remember something I always (obnoxiously) tell my students: Studying is FUN!

~When the time comes to end your IDS, or you would like to change deck, please just post in this thread and let us know. It is extremely beneficial to the group, however, if you can explain why you've decided to either finish or change your IDS. Learning about other participant's ups and downs is an excellent learning experience for everyone. Thanks!

[size=+3]Please let me know by PM if you join the group, change deck, or leave the group![/size] I may not always catch each post in the thread, so staying in the loop will be important for me to be able to update the list of participants. Thanks!

[size=+1]How to Choose Your Deck[/size]

The most successful IDSers always seem to be the ones who explain that they didn't choose their deck - rather, their deck chose them. In your heart of hearts, you shouldn't have to ask whether or not you've chosen the "right" deck - you should know. If it doesn't feel right, it probably isn't.

As a rule of thumb, however, the best IDS decks are decks that would seem to require studying. Many, the vast majority, perhaps, of modern decks are little more than clones of the RWS. These decks are probably not the best candidates for an IDS. Of course, if you find enough within them to want to study, you're more than welcome to, but in my experience with IDS, those who choose heavily RWS-influenced decks, usually are the first to abandon their study.

[size=+1]Overall:[/size]

Remember, the most important thing is to Have Fun and enjoy your study. It should be serious, it should be intense, but those things should be fun!

If, in the course of your IDS, you aren't having fun, and you aren't enjoying your time with your deck, and you avoid this thread, if not Talking Tarot overall, something is WRONG. Talk about it with the group, work with the group to figure out what's wrong, and learn how to move past it :)

*And of course, a huge thank you to the wonderful thorhammer for starting the IDS originally and for being all-around awesome :thumbsup: We wouldn't be here now without her :)
 

zan_chan

Participant List

alec: Thoth
Bat Chicken: Thoth
Cat*: Ironwing
EarthAngel2911: Tarot of Prague
elvenstar: Druidcraft
Emily: Bright Idea
fairybugg: Ironwing
faunabay: Thoth
Flaxen: Thoth
flyingblackkat: Greenwood
HerzogIsGod: Dodal
keeks: Fairytale Tarot (Lisa Hunt)
kimberlee: Druidcraft
Le Fanu: Dodal
Master_Margarita: MRP FairyTale
Mi-Shell: Tarot of the Trance
Nerys: Classic Tarot
Nickigirl: Tarot of the Old Path
Nina: Victorian Romantic
RatQueen: Druidcraft
teomat: Arthurian
Wendywu: Ironwing
WolfyJames: Tarot of the Vampyres
zan_chan: William Blake Tarot of the Creative Imagination
 

zan_chan

Past and Current IDS Participants

If you were previously, or are currently, an IDS participant, please post to let us know that you're still going strong with your deck, to update us on your progress so far, and to join in the REBOOT spirit :) Thanks!
 

zan_chan

IDS and Zan...

Coming soon...
 

BlueDragonfly

Excellent first post, Zan! :thumbsup: Thanks for restarting this!

Add me to the list with the DruidCraft! I'm going to use the Druid Plant Oracle, the Druid Animal Oracle and possibly the Sacred Circle Tarot(Celtic spirituality and culture reference) as references.

From the first time I saw the DruidCraft, I knew that this would be a personally powerful tarot deck for me to work with. My first reading confirmed that for me. I've used it almost exclusively since then, except for flirting with Froud's fae, and my first daily draws with The Fifth Tarot, which will just be put on hold.

Now that I've committed to it, I'll draft a "rules for study" for myself and post it tomorrow! :D
 

zan_chan

Welcome, BD! Glad to see you :) I'm looking forward to the guidlines you come up with for yourself. I'll add you to the list now...
 

Wendywu

I am really pleased to see this group again. I have missed it!

I intend to continue with my study of Ironwing. This is because I haven't finished yet. Nor anywhere near finished!! When I originally got the deck I was very intimidated by it and was just going to let it sit on the shelf and be a "prestige" deck on my list. Then (and these thing occurred roughly at the same time) I started to get dreams that indicated it was time to try and make a real effort with my spiritual life, which had been very much put on the back-burner for a couple of years. And Ironwing started calling me. Which I know sounds so odd, but it did - every time I was near the deck I was drawn to picking it up and having a look. And the looks got longer. Until eventually I knew, plain as day and loud as a thunderclap going off in my heart, that I had to work with this deck until I truly felt it was time to move on. Not just wanted to move on - but really felt, deep down inside, that I had learned all this deck has to teach me. So I started my IDS with Ironwing on 9th October 2009 and have worked (pretty nearly exclusively) with it ever since.

There is no denying that although it is still my only reading deck, the study aspect has almost disappeared and that makes me sad. So, I am happy to say that I am going to carry on exactly where I left off. For my order of study I have decided to finish the majors, and then for the minors I am going to "dip" rather than follow any particular suit from beginning to end. Part of that study is going to involve finding out as much as I can about the animals, plants and minerals shown in each card - not in vast depth, but enough to understand why that particular animal or plant is in that particular card.

Also, and for no reason whatsoever - I want to find poetry that goes with cards. Not every card, but where it resonates. Not my poems - real poems written by gen-u-ine poets. Also music. Usually for me each card has a song. It will be good to hear the songs of the Ironwing minors :).

My cheat is going to be allowing myself to read the sufi poetry of Rumi as it occurs on the Rumi cards. And this is more because each couplet is a prayer - I shan't regard the tarot aspects - I just want that daily inspirational Sufi prayer.

I don't intend to study tarot books other than possibly the Robert Place and also Paul Huson's book. I will, however, need resources on the flora, fauna and minerals that occur in the cards. And on patterns. Ironwing is quite hot on patterns - labyrinths, mazes, squares, crystalline structure etc... Oh yeah - I want to look into numerology a bit more and I'll allow myself books on that. And also the properties of the elements. And also, shamanic aspects of the flora and fauna, and stones.

I'm going to go back to daily draws and posting in my old thread as well.

And that'll do for starters as study subjects within Ironwing, I think :D

On the fun side, I might look into tying up the Sufi couplet with my Ironwing card of the day.
 

zan_chan

Welcome back, Wendy :) I think its so wonderful that your relationship with Ironwing continues forward in such a meaningful way. I look forward to seeing how your studies go in this next chapter of IDSing...

Adding you back to the list now :thumbsup:
 

fairybugg

New deck New IDS

Hi all,
In the last IDS I was a faithful student to Ironwing. While I still love that deck and intend to continue using it I have become a bit intimidated by it and really need a break.
So my deck I am choosing to study this go-round is the Vision Quest Tarot. Since there are no books on it I figure that it will force me more to use my intuition and cheat less.
My intentions are:
Use Vision Quest for my daily readings and any other reading until the end of the year.
Research as much as I can about the artist.
Continue reading the numberology info I have and really sink my teeth into it.
Happy to be on-board again.
fairybugg
 

Kissa

When I get a Greenwood, I'll join :)