Intensive Deck Study Support Thread ~ Part 2

furiana

... Cactus shaped like a sheep?
 

afrosaxon

punchinella said:
Ummn, er, here I am come busting into this party to ask . . .

What is the "form" that everyone is working so hard to complete for each card? I'm somewhat interested in (very belatedly) doing IDS but having trouble with the link at the top of this thread (that is, the link back to the original thread) . . . it doesn't want to work for me, so I'm basically lost. I mean, I do know that the idea is to work closely with one particular deck for a length of time, and really get to know it, but how exactly are you structuring this work?

Thanks for any guidance you can give me

*punchinella bumbles out again, grumbling & scratching her ears*

Hi punchinella!

You are right in that the idea of an IDS is to work closely with one deck for a particular length of time. BUT...how to work with said deck is completely up to the individual.

From what I gather, most of us do daily draws (1-3 cards) just to get ourselves used to reading with the deck in general (and also to see how the deck "speaks" to us...different decks speak in different ways). Then, we focus on one card a day: colors, imagery, numerology, deck meaning vs. "traditional" [RWS] meaning (if it's a RWS-based deck), or deck meaning and how it does NOT fit with traditional RWS meaning (if it's not an RWS-based deck).

Some people start with the majors in their deck. Some start with the minors. Some start at The Fool and go on through The World cards, some start at the Ace of whatever suit and go on through that suit. Some just shuffle, pick a card, and go from there.

***When I did mine with the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot, I started with the minors (the Petro [Wands] suit), and I worked backwards in each suit: 10 to Ace, then Hounsis [Page] to Houngan [King]. When I finished the minors, I started with the Carnival [World] card and went backwards to World Egg [The Fool]. This time around, with the Daughters of the Moon, I started with the Ace of Cups and worked through that suit, and now I'm in the Flames [Wands] suit (I'm up to the 6 of Flames).***

Some people write stories about their cards. Some people just take notes on what they see/sense. Some people write pages on one card. Some write a few sentences.

Some people handwrite their IDS notes in a journal. Some type them in a Word document. Some blog their IDS.

There are times when I've missed working on a card for a particular day (or a few days) and end up doing a bunch of them in one day. Sometimes I miss my daily 3-card draw. It happens, and life happens. Some days I can write an entire journal page on one card. Some days, I only get a few sentences down.

Some people put all of their other decks away to avoid temptation, so they can focus on their IDS deck. Some still use other tarot decks sometimes during their IDS. Some just read with oracle decks in addition to their IDS.

Some people stick with their originally chosen IDS deck. Some end up switching decks (more than once, too!). Some people end their IDS early, whether due to completion of the deck or unable to sustain the study. Some people are still working with the same deck from the previous IDS.

The point of all this: IT'S UP TO YOU HOW YOU STUDY YOUR DECK. There are no hard-and-fast rules. In the first IDS, since it was being revived in a sense, a lot of us made strict pledges for study (we did it for 3 months, stayed away from other tarot decks for reading purposes, handled the deck every day, etc.). In this, the second round, those of us who completed the first round have relaxed our personal rules now that we know our boundaries with regard to IDS (for me, I didn't put a timeline on my IDS this time around). Those new to IDS are making their own pledges.

I hope this helps. If you want to join, feel free (it's not too late!). Don't feel pressured to excel within the group; we all learn at different paces, and some decks are more difficult than others. The main point is to learn to understand (and hopefully enjoy) your IDS deck.

T.
 

easternsunrise

I have been doing 3 card spreads and journaling daily. The fact that The Wizard and Seeker of Hearts keeps popping up tells me that I maybe need a new way to study this deck to prevent repeat cards. I'm contemplating learning a suit at a time. I so love my daily readings so that I can't give up. I also think I will be spending more than a month with this deck. I think I will start studying the wands tomorrow. :)
 

thorhammer

Hi, punchinella! (Love the name, btw :D)

^^What afrosaxon (the infinitely wise) said^^ If you'd like to join us, to cleave to one deck for a set period of time and forsake all others :D, we welcome you with open arms! It's an incredibly rewarding journey, discipline, whatever, and there are many of us on our second (or ?fourth? in Emily's case) or extended version of the IDS. It helps you to really knuckle down and live up to your own expectations for yourself as a Tarot reader/user.

What deck are you thinking of using with us? (We live vicariously through each other, vampires sucking the juices of other decks through each other's posts :D }))

\m/ Kat
 

SolSionnach

Perhaps we could put a link on the first post to afrosaxon's post above, as being a very concise way to explain exactly what we are doing here? It's a very complete explanation!

Punchinella, I found a "form" of sorts in the previous thread (originally by faolinn storm) and edited it for my own use. It's a handful, but I rather like it. If you want to give it a try, or edit it yourself, just copy and paste my post, and edit out what I wrote about the card. Lots of folks around here think it's way more than they would ever want to use, but it seems to work for me - I'm a strong Virgo, and I like routine. That being said, it surprises me how quickly I go through that list!
You might look at the Study Group Forum, and look at the threads for one way to do this: http://www.tarotforum.net/forumdisplay.php?f=136 (Rodney's study of the Ancient Egyptian Tarot), or here http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?p=638323 for afrosaxon's posts on the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot.

I'm posting my BBC study notes in the study group forum, too, but I don't know if anyone else is posting their notes in study groups... Oh - promise is posting hers in her blog (see "website" link on her posts), and others are likely doing the same.

HTH!

:heart:

ETA: I'm changing the focus of my IDS. Originally I was going to use both the BBC and the Druid Animal and Plant Oracles, but I don't have the time (or the inclination, frankly) to work with both. So I'm no longer going to even think about the DA/PO - it's BBC all the way, BayBee! :)
 

SolSionnach

Allure said:
Initially, I skipped the authors intros and stuff because I wanted to get to the meat of the book. Doing so, I missed the part where the author revealed that the Major Arcana (Life Songs)are presented within the framework of the seasons. The authors did this to show that "the journey is not one of striving for perfection, it is an ever-increasing sensitivity towards the cyclical nature of all things." This gives the life songs more layers and makes it more interesting to explore IMO. I flipped to the page detailing this accidentally. I don't know if it's a sign to stop doing the minors and go to the majors or reminder not to miss it when I do get to the majors. I'm just going to relax and try to see where the deck leads me next.
Hey Allure,
that's very interesting! I'd be interested in how they map the Majors on to the seasons - that could be applicable to other decks, rather like the Wheel of Change Tarot Tree is another way to visualize the Majors.
Promise said:
I had a surge of inspiration and got the Five thru Eight of Coins done. I thought I'd be able to get the last two pips done, but my mom and I started talking about stuff, and I decided to just let them sit until tomorrow.
Yep, sravana, I'm from Texas, too! Waaaaay out West, where the closest landmarks are a cactus shaped like a sheep (not kidding!) and a herd of cows. But it's nice, sometimes. Hot, but nice.
Sara, I enjoy your lyrical take on your cards, especially the 7/Coins. That hemmed-in feeling was very obvious to me! I'm amazed that you can get so much out of a pip card. :)
Is there a pic on the internet of that sheep-shaped cactus? (you can tell that I'm not awake yet, because I originally wrote "cactus-shaped sheep" ROFL) I'd love to see that!
I'm in San Antonio, which is becoming a desert as we speak - we're in a pretty severe drought right now. There was the threat of thunderstorms last night, and even though it cooled off, there wasn't any rain. :( :( :(
 

Prism

Hi everyone,

I'm having fun with my Golden, and I've been posting in the Study Group too. It was a little lonely at first, but now some others are jumping in and helping me out with some of the cards, which is great. I should definitely NOT be the final authority on anything having to do with this study!

I'm very happy with my deck so far. I thought I would miss the Prague since I had been so devoted, but, hey, out of sight, out of mind.

Prism
 

quiet0ne

hi all,

off to a bit of a shaky start here. i'm doing my daily draws, but i can't get myself to actually "study" any particular card yet. i'm still so intimidated! i read very intuitively, and i think i'm afraid if i do too much study, i'll hamper that. or something. any suggestions..? i was thinking of picking up the "21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card," but i'm not sure if that's the book for me.

big props to all of you who are doing so well!
 

afrosaxon

quiet0ne said:
hi all,

off to a bit of a shaky start here. i'm doing my daily draws, but i can't get myself to actually "study" any particular card yet. i'm still so intimidated! i read very intuitively, and i think i'm afraid if i do too much study, i'll hamper that. or something. any suggestions..? i was thinking of picking up the "21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card," but i'm not sure if that's the book for me.

big props to all of you who are doing so well!

Hi quiet0ne,

Welcome to IDS!

I read intuitively as well, but I've found that studying each card helps me to read even more intuitively. IDS is more like unlocking a door, than closing it. Understanding the card just expands your personal, intuitive understanding more.

I've heard good things about 21 Ways To Read A Tarot Card. I think that there was a 21 Ways group study in the Tarot Study Groups section...maybe you can check it out and see if it helps in general.


Anyway, do what feels best for you. :) Just keep on plugging!

T.
 

rwcarter

Prism said:
I'm having fun with my Golden, and I've been posting in the Study Group too. It was a little lonely at first, but now some others are jumping in and helping me out with some of the cards, which is great. I should definitely NOT be the final authority on anything having to do with this study!
What was that old movie line? Build it and they will come. (Re)Activate a study group and eventually people will come, even if only to look. I'm the only (so far!) authority :rolleyes: on a number of cards for my deck. And I've reconciled myself to the fact that that may be the case for a number of years. But eventually someone else will come along and something that I've said may be of use to them. Or they'll come along and say something that will make me go AHA! That's the piece I've been missing.

On a related note, I got the gift of all gifts from a fellow ATer yesterday. For show and tell, I'd brought over boxes that I've made for various tarot decks. Then the ATer brought out boxes and boxes of stuff she didn't want/need any longer and my partner and I went through it all. We ended up with 2 full Xerox boxes worth of decks, books (tarot and non-tarot), blank journals and even book covers. All for free. And she even gave me more decorative papers I can use in making boxes.

Then we did this group reading thing where we each chose a deck and shuffled it. Then in kinda round robin fashion we chose 3 cards from another person's deck. (I chose from her, she chose from my partner Rich's deck, and Rich chose from my deck.) I don't know what I was thinking, but I didn't bring my IDS deck with me! (Obviously I wasn't thinking, but in my defense, I'd already shown her the box I'd made for that deck, so I didn't bring it.) Well, I was going to use my Lo Scarabeo (I didn't restrict myself from using other decks) when she got up, went into a room and brought out a pristine copy of the Element Books edition of my deck that includes the deck, a journal and the companion book. AND SHE GAVE IT TO ME!!!!!

The last copy of that I saw on eBay went for like $120+. I was more excited about that than I was about both boxes of other stuff she gave us. AND she had a number of books (including one on decoding hieroglyphs) that will help with my study of my IDS deck.

Back to the reading though, she was using the new Buckland Romani, I was using the AET that she gave me and Rich was using the Robin Wood. Each of us got a lot out of the cards we'd picked from the other person's deck.

My partner mentioned how after getting to know this deck so intimately that I would be great at using it to read for other people. I told him, nope, after all the work I have and will continue to put into this deck, that it would become a personal reading deck. I seriously doubt that I will read for others with it. I may do reading exchanges here at AT with it, but I can't see myself doing a face-to-face reading with someone else with it. He didn't quite understand that, but he doesn't have to either. ;)

Rodney