Study group -- Celtic Wisdom Tarot

I'd like to start a study group on the Celtic Wisdom Tarot created by Caitlin Matthews. I like the deck, and am becoming more familiar with it each day, but find some of the primitive and/or shamanistic artwork hard to get my head around sometimes.

There are many layers of meaning when you study the Celtic Ogham she references, the Celtic Wheel of the Year, The Seven Candles of Life, The Wisdom Triads, and The Triple Spiral as archetypal patterns that underlie and illuminate the deck, to say nothing of the Majors, Minors, and Court Cards. Having written that, my head is now spinning!

If you have the deck and book set and are interested, please respond to this thread or PM me. Thanks!

-FireRaven

Yes I would be interested. I've had the deck for some time now and I must admit, I tend to ignore all the systems and correspondences laid out in the book - for the very headache-inducing reasons you mention! However, I have found it a powerful deck if you just work with the images...this is fortuitious timing, as I got the deck out only this morning for an airing, after not having looked at it for some time and thought...yes!

Yes I would be interested in a study group !
I have taken the cards with me a few times when I went for a nature walk and I just let myself get lost in the artwork, but so far I have only used them intuitively and not really studied it.
So maybe a study group will help me look at the cards more closely and give me new ways to look at it.

Good...some intrepid souls! ;-)

Yay! We have a couple of "takers." I told Leo62 that I'd let this thread hang out for a week or so to see what kind of response we get. I too have been using these cards intuitively, but am also interested in their "backstory" so to speak....the details that make these cards feel compelling to me.

Add me to your Buddy list and I will do the same as we build our group...easier to keep in touch that way!

- FireRaven

No more takers...but we can still start!

Well, we don't seem to have any new takers interested in working with the Celtic Wisdom Tarot deck, but Leo62 and Wolfspirit, we can still start as a "Company of Three" if you're still interested.

Otherwise, I can request that this thread be closed, and have us try again in the future. Let me know what works best for you, either here, or in a PM.

Blue skies and blessings,
-FireRaven

Hey, hold it! I just ran across this set in a used bookstore yesterday and was absolutely blown away by it. It's one of the very few decks to give me goose bumps when I first went through it; maybe it's my Scots-Welsh ancestry bubbling up in respose to those archetypes. It's the first Celtic-themed deck I've seen that isn't compromised by neo-pagan and Gardnerian Wicca imagery (apologies to any neo-pagans and Wiccans I've offended ) but goes right back to the true source of the Celtic tradition and stays there. I'm not much for study groups, but if you need me as a Mover to keep this thread alive count me in.

FireRaven said:

Well, we don't seem to have any new takers interested in working with the Celtic Wisdom Tarot deck, but Leo62 and Wolfspirit, we can still start as a "Company of Three" if you're still interested.

Otherwise, I can request that this thread be closed, and have us try again in the future. Let me know what works best for you, either here, or in a PM.

Blue skies and blessings,
-FireRaven

Click to expand...

No let's do it! It's quality not quantity that counts...

Yes we can go ahead with the study group !

To be honest I had hoped for more members so I did not feel the need to contribute all the time but maybe it will work really well with a small group, it can also have its advantages.

Small and Low Key

I'm glad you still want to go through with the study group. Small can be good sometimes, and we'll certainly be able to keep things low-key. I mentioned in another thread that my MS is in a bad flare.

I started on a 5 day course of IV steroids (usually it's only 3, so the 5 day thing was a surprise) today in the outpatient chemo department at the hospital, and will go each day around noon my time until Tuesday. While they make me high as a kite and give me a surge of energy, I have to be careful not to overdo while feeling so good. So, we can certainly start up this week, but if you want to wait until next week that's OK too. I come down from the high doses over a two-week tapering period with oral meds...it's easier on my body that way.

We can talk about how we want to arrange things. I don't mind doing the research and posting things for discussion so long as I get replies! At the same time, I prefer a more collaborative working style, and am not going for a power grab here either. Let's look at the book and toss out some ideas.

I do have an excellent reference on the Celtic Tree Ogham, and we could start exploring there, or we can take the introductory material "in order" a small chunk at a time while working our way through the cards.

Let the brainstorming begin!!!

-FireRaven

PS...if some of my posts over the next week sound like I'm a blabbering chatterbox, it's the meds...does it to me every time. Just give me a gentle knock upside the head and say, "Shhh!"

Hi guys

I'll start a thread for all the links to go in, and link it to the main index.

Whenever a new card or thread is started, please PM Sulis or myself and we'll add it.

Good luck with the group. Small is good sometimes, and others may join in as and when.

Moonbow*