Reviving the One Deck Wonder

Oddity

Okay. I've been thinking about this for three days now, weighing the pros and cons, whether I should join in or not. (Thank you sapienza and thorhammer for your kind advice, yes I do listen even though I don't reply right away, it's just that I like to ponder things for a while... :) )

There were a couple of reasons I hesitated, but... having thought about this long and hard, I've finally decided to join, as a challenge to myself, and as an experiment. Because I think it will be really, really worth it in the end if I can just keep it up for three tiny little short months – which is not a very long time really, I keep telling myself!

So please add me to the list also, thorhammer!
I haven't decided what deck I will use yet, but... maybe just get back to the basics, and give a plain old Rider Waite deck a chance. Which would be a real challenge, because it's not my favourite deck at all, in fact I like almost every other deck I have better than the RWS. But I really want to get to know that deck better, and this might be the way to do it.
 

thorhammer

Maxwell and Oddity, you're in :D! Oddity, I've put you down for the RW(S), just let me know if you change your mind about the choice of deck.

\m/ Kat
 

lilith_in_tree

Scion, I think your plan is fantastic! I'm not at all familiar with the Liber-T but from what I understand, you're an authority on it, and people do seem to be clamoring for a book for it. You've taken the study to another level, and I wish you good luck with it :D
Oddity, I think you really can't go wrong studying the good old RWS--if you feel like you should study it, there's no better time than now. I thought about doing the same a few months ago, but my VR owns my heart. In any case it can only help you with other decks as well, in the future.
And I had my first challenge today--I got my Noblet and Vacchetta in the mail, and I was good, all I did was look through them once, make sure all the cards were there, and then I put them away. I'll be giving them the attention they deserve soon enough.
 

Oddity

lilith_in_tree said:
Oddity, I think you really can't go wrong studying the good old RWS--if you feel like you should study it, there's no better time than now. I thought about doing the same a few months ago, but my VR owns my heart. In any case it can only help you with other decks as well, in the future.
Yes, that's exactly how I think too, it will be very useful, and certainly not something to regret in the long run. But there are other decks that would be interesting to study too, and so much prettier... it sounds so silly to say this, I know, but one of the reasons I haven't used the RWS so much is because of the art... :)

I hope that studying the RWS for three months will make me see this deck in a new light, see all the little things I haven't noticed before, maybe even make it one of the favourite decks. I really want the RWS to work for me.
Or maybe you will all hear me bang my head on my desk in a couple of weeks, yelling "why oh why did I ever choose this deck, what did I think? Please give me back the pretty pictures!" :D
 

PeterS

I have choosen. . .

Sign me up for the Liber T as well. The compelling factor that I could not get around is that this is the one deck in my collection that will stretch me the most.

I will also be using it by way of helping me understand the Thoth. I want to understand this system much better but I have used the RWS system for so long it is second nature. I quickly decided against the RWS clones in my collection and landed here. I am going to look at this deck with new eyes and study this system.

In the next couple of months I may find my fit with this deck but the worst that will happen is that I will have worked through what looks on the surface to be a competely different way of looking at the Tarot. It is only three months, right I can do this?

I know that the official start date is next week, I have packed up all my decks and extra books away in a nice comfortable spot in my closet so I am starting now. The sheer fact that I feel anxiety and excitement about this whole adventure leads me to beleive that this is going to be one incredible ride.

It seems like when I just got started with tarot. It's just me, a deck and my journal . . . well and all ya'll who are with me.

Is everyone else as excited as I am?

Peter
 

thorhammer

I certainly am, Peter!!! And you're in illustrious company with that deck, and I'm almost jealous of you guys working with such compelling images. It's on my list of decks to get and work with . . . down the track.

\m/ Kat
 

lilith_in_tree

Oddity, I don't think you're silly at all--of course a "pretty" deck would be more appealing when you look at it's surface, but there are layers to that deck that make it important--it isn't a classic for nothing after all, and I think you can't help but find new and interesting things in it studying it intensely for a few months. I don't know how long you've been studying tarot, but have you read 78 Degrees of Wisdom? In my opinion that book is full of interesting minutiae (I'm a fan of that sort of thing, your mileage may vary of course) and might add something to your study, if you were thinking of using a book. And of course, if you do end up banging your head on a desk, we're here to help :laugh:
Peter, you're in good company--I'm so enjoying myself with the journalling, every day I have an "ah-ha!" moment. I suspect the Liber-T must be chock full of those as well!
 

Promise

I'm totally excited!

It still astounds me that I even GOT the Noblet; imagine how much it blows my mind that I've chosen to do an IDS with it! I always thought of Marseilles decks as unimaginative, uninspiring, plain, and...well...ugly, just plain UGLY! A friend insisted I own at least one Marseilles, and I was hard-headed about it (hey, I'm Irish!) but he told me he was ordering me one and having it shipped to me and to shut up and accept the bloody gift!

After a VERY short amount of time with the cards, I decided that I wanted to do this with them.

Me, who has never read non-scenic pips before, who has only ever read RWS clones, and who has owned the Noblet for just over 24 hours now. Sometimes, I crack myself up. Other times, I want to stab myself in the brain-stem with a blunt and cheesy Taco Bell spork.

But, nevertheless, I'm excited!

I've got all the other decks tucked away, except for the Gummy Bears which are going to Debra in the next few days and must be packed into their mailer soon, and I've already begun my journal.

I figure only one of two things can happen; either this is going to turn me into a tried and tested Marseilles lover and change the way I think about Tarot forever, or it's going to send me bawling back to my pretty RWS clones and have me giving away my Noblet.
 

PeterS

Oddity, I think that you are going to find that the RWS is a great deck and so full of depth that you can study it for years. I just got finished working through the Majors in an intesive way for the last couple of months. Since this deck is practically tarot canon, I believe everyone should have a knowledge of it even if we don't work from it.

Promise, I was about a heart beat away from choosing the 1JJ Swiss deck for this exercise. I kept thinking about what Umbrae said about getting down to the basics and just read my pants off. Getting away from illustrated pips would be a bid leap but I know I would just fall back in to the RWS pattern and I would not grow in the way I am aiming at with this time.

Peter
 

Promise

See, I think that's what really does it for me with the Noblet, and with the prospect of learning the Marseilles system in general. Honestly, as crazy and illogical as it sounds, I never really had to LEARN to read. The day I turned 16, dad bought me a Universal Waite, wrapped it up really pretty in some French newsprint from the 1930s, and left it on my bed for me to find when I came home. I came home, flopped down, unwrapped it, took it out of the box, promptly lost the LWB, and just started reading.

For the most part, I've read completely intuitively, working entirely off of the images and my intuition. I never really had to study or learn or put any conscious thought into what I was doing; I just did it. It was like...I don't know, it was like my brain had been waiting for me to pick up a Tarot deck my entire life, and when it finally happened, it just shouted, "Finally, you give us what we were meant for!" and set to work.

With the Noblet, I have to study. The images resonate, but they don't speak. Their energy vibrates in my hands, but I don't know how to read that energy like I do with all of my other decks. On second thought, it does speak; we just aren't speaking the same language, and I don't understand what it's trying to share with me.

This is going to force me to apply some left-brained aspects to my almost entirely right-brain driven life.