So many decks, so little time--how to connect?

[Aura Wolf]

Hi all. I have around 20 tarot decks, and that's after trading away the few I couldn't click with. A few of the ones I have left I am planning to keep mostly as art decks, but most of them I would actually like to read with! But between work, university classes, and everything else I have very little time in which to really connect individually with my decks. There are a few I know better than others (the ones I've had longer) and I'll always pull out and keep certain decks around at different times because I like to feel their presence and look through them, but I have little time and energy for doing too many online readings for others (every time I offer, something else comes up and I feel pressured and at a loss for time). I'm getting better at reading for myself, but I just don't seem to have enough questions to ask! I end up reading about my relationship over and over, which I know is pointless to repeat so often. I always try to keep tarot journals (I've tried paper journals and computer journals with pictures), it's great and I would love to keep one for every deck and focus on each card, but frankly it would drive me nuts! I can never even seem to get through one deck, let alone twenty, because writing what I think about every single card seems like such a chore sometimes. I want to EXPERIENCE the cards through readings and study, not try to force understanding--to me, that's just not the same. I'd participate in more study groups, but my lack of time can make it difficult, and I always fear that it will feel too much like journaling in the end, going through each card one by one. Daily card draws never really did it for me and all these one or two-card readings I'm doing for myself are wonderfully revealing and accurate, but I feel like I'm only getting to know a fraction of each of my decks at a time.

Am I just too impatient? Do I need to compromise? Do I need to find more reasons to read for myself? How do you guys manage to find the time to connect with each of your decks on a personal level (other than keep from buying more )? Do you have any suggestions for exercises that help you to really connect with your cards, rather than just looking through them or journaling? I'm kind of at a loss here. I see my cards sitting beside me, and I have this incredible longing to use them, so I take them out and look through them, can't think of any relevant questions to ask, and put them away because I have to go do something else. I love my cards, but I'm in a rut. Please help! Any suggestions would be appreciated.

 

[Grigori]

I think it would help you to give me some of your decks.... seriously

Something I've started doing recently is carrying one of my newer decks around with me, especially when I know I will want to do a reading. That was I am forced to spend some time with a new deck, rather than relying on an old faithful.

Also I like to hang out in the chat room and do readings there, cause then you get them done on the spot, and they don't hang over your head and make you feel guilty for having been busy/watching re-runs.

I will however PM you my address just in case

 

[Citrin]

First of all, I've always felt like you about writing what each card means to me in the deck. Doesn't it feel like homework that will take forever? So yeah, I just never did it! Instead, if I look at a certain card and something I've never thought of before pops up in my head; I write it down! The rest I have in my head you know. I find that journaling my readings gives me much more than just going through the deck card by card and writing down...

You could decide to use one deck in one week. Always carry it with you, and whenever you find a little time (on the bus, before a bath etc) get it out and look through it or do a one-card-reading. When I have tons of school work I find this so useful. And a week will give you a little extra connection to that deck. Hey, if you really find the deck is connecting well with you, stick with it another week.

Just a few suggestions...

 

[bleuivy]

I think Citrine's suggestion of using one deck for a week is a good one. Take it with you everywhere, and read with it when you get a spare moment, even if it is just one card readings.

Another suggestion I have on how to spend more time with your decks is to do multiple deck readings. I've done this, and it really expanded my knowledge of my decks, because I saw how they worked together.

In the readings, you can use one deck as significator(s), and the other deck for reading. Or, you can use different decks for the different types of positions in a spread. For example, if it were me working with my at-the-moment-meager collection, I'd use the Ancestral Path for positions dealing with the past, and perhaps the Tarot of Prague for positions dealing with the now, and perhaps the Gilded for positions dealing with the future. See if the same card comes up in more than one place.

Also, you can also use the Rosetta Stone method by Jeannette, which can be found here: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=37988. If you don't want to read for others, you can use two different decks for two different sides of the question.

Hope this helps a bit.

 

[Aura Wolf]

Thank you all very much for your input, I really like all your suggestions, and would like to try them. Perhaps I am a bit impatient--though it really would help if I had more time!! It's not that I don't like reading for others--I LOVE it! The problem is I seem to have reached a point (at least right now) where I feel that if I'm going to be pressed for time and energy, I might as well make some money off it! Otherwise I feel I'm giving something of myself for nothing, when there is so much pressure--which can make even tarot readings feel like a chore--which I don't want. This is why I wish my paid readings website would pick up But I knew that business would be very slow to start...

Anyway, thank you guys again, I suppose I'm just going to have to find a way. But if anyone else with a lack of time for tarot has any input, anything at all, I would love to hear it.

 

[Grizabella]

I'm raising grandchildren and have had a lot of turmoil, so it's taken me several years of hit and miss to learn what I've learned, but I do keep on taking time where I can find it. I have much more time now than I did when the kids were younger.

Quoting you here: "The problem is I seem to have reached a point (at least right now) where I feel that if I'm going to be pressed for time and energy, I might as well make some money off it! Otherwise I feel I'm giving something of myself for nothing, when there is so much pressure--which can make even tarot readings feel like a chore--which I don't want."

I think if I were to be at the point to feel this way, I'd just not do readings for awhile. Just put the decks aside and let your intuition rest and revitalise till you have more time.

 

[Aura Wolf]

Thanks for the suggestion Lyric, but things are going to be this way for a long, long time, and I have already put this off for way too long But in a way I think the advice will work for me, as I think me stressing over this is just leaving me with less time Like right now I could be reading cards but I'm on AT...not that I don't love AT....but maybe I should just go rest on the couch with a deck of cards and see what happens

 

[Grizabella]

Spending time on AT is actually where I've learned a whole lot of what I know about the cards, so that's actually a good thing for you to do maybe. I'm glad you're here with us, anyway, and I hope you'll keep coming to post and share with us.

Maybe taking just one deck and concentrating on that one deck for longer periods of time would be more helpful. It was to me. I found that in scattering myself around among decks, I wasn't allowing any one of them to "sink in". I was like a baby with too many toys and I couldn't focus that way.

 

[Aura Wolf]

That is exactly my problem. So I've taken some advice and decided to spend a few days with my New Palladini and get to know it a bit better before I move onto another.... I'm also trying to download as many of my decks as I possibly can into my Orphalese Tarot program so that I can read the physical deck and then arrange the cards on screen to take a picture to include in my computerized readings journal I think seeing the cards when reviewing the readings makes all the difference...plus I can read with them on here if I so desire...

And don't worry, I'll keep posting

 

[Emeraldgirl]

I also use one deck a week. Also I have a long train ride to and from work so providing I can get a seat (no probs in the morning I'm on one of the first stops but at afternoon peak time it's a miracle ) I sit there and look through them on my train rides and make notes on anything that strikes me. it does get a few strange looks at times but most people leave it alone.