Intensive Deck Study Support Thread ~ Part 2

Onyx

Wow this thread is thriving!

It is amazing how quickly this thread is growing! 90 posts in one week! It seems that this IDS resonates with a lot of people.

I am considering it after wise advice from Disa to step back and consider studying a deck for personal readings. I was kinda floored because I really don't do a lot of personal readings. But I have been looking at adding a couple of other uses of the Tarot to my journey.

I have a tendency to get too cerbral with the studies I have done in that past. My mentor has admonished me on several occastions to just let the cards speak and basically shut up. Boy do I need it at times! I always over think in terms of keywords, associations and correspondences, I need to think in terms of less is more sometimes. What if I used a deck competely unsusual? I could almost in a sense abandon what I normally assume about the cards? New cards, new eyes, no assumptions, Hummm?

If I am going to do this then I am pretty sure that I am going to use either the Dante Tarot, It is time to reread the Divine Comedy, or I will use the Circle of Life and wrap my head around reversals with a round deck. I have read that there are many systems that use the whole rotation of the card to adjust the meaning. That might be fun to work out as well.

Likely too I will keep it a bit shorter than three months. From the 23rd of June to the 31st of August. A little over two months, if I feel I want or need to go longer I might consider that option as well.

Humm . . . I wonder

Allan
 

Disa

Go for it Allan! Then you don't have to wonder anymore. You will KNOW.

Good luck and welcome aboard :)
 

thorhammer

Onyx said:
or I will use the Circle of Life and wrap my head around reversals with a round deck. I have read that there are many systems that use the whole rotation of the card to adjust the meaning. That might be fun to work out as well.
It does sound interesting! afrosaxon gave me a lovely reading utilising this system, as well, and I was intruiged. I must confess to a recent deck-buying splurge, and I sat down the other night when debt's stranglehold on my spending patterns eased a little to figure out what "kinds" of decks I have, and what "kinds" I *need* LOL. I narrowed it down to about ten off my wishlist, and of them all, the round decks, Songs for the Journey Home and more likely the Circle of Life came out on top. So I might be exploring the possibility of getting one of them soon. I'll be interested to note your comments on the round deck issue.

\m/ Kat
 

thorhammer

Tarot Tree

Okay, here’s a rundown of the Tarot Tree, from Alexandra Genetti’s companion book to the Wheel of Change Tarot. I think (from my admittedly now rather skewed perspective :D) that you could work with this layout with any deck. I look forward to hearing about others’ thoughts.

It’s laid out like . . . a tree! I’m going to place the cards using their traditional RWS numbers (Strength as VIII, Justice as XI) using Roman numerals to avoid it looking like a “spread”.

………….………………………………I………………………………………….....

…………………………………….VI…..XIV……………………………………...

.…………………………….XVII…XXI……XVIII………………………………..

………………………..XIX……..IV……XII…….XV…………………………..

……………………XX……VIII…….III……...II….XIII……………………….

………………..XI……IX………VII…….X……..V……XVI…………………..

……………..……………………………0…………………………………………....

As one follows the levels downwards, a progression of increasing applicability to everyday life becomes apparent. Where the upper cards are more archetypal (as we traditionally see the Majors), the lower cards are more obviously effective in teaching us about our everyday life.

The Fool floats about the outside, for, as we all know, he is all and none at once. He is potential, pregnant but meaningless without definition. He is the “shadow” of the Magician.

The first line, comprising the Magician, is the realm of the awakening consciousness. It is the ego and the realisation of individuality, as well as the power of one person to act alone without influence from others. It is the power of the idea and the word. As the numeral 1, it contains all within it.

The Lovers and Temperance reflect the first realisation of Self as opposed to Other. This is where the Self begins to define its relationship to Other, and know its boundaries. Though it looks simple, this line is complex and very very dynamic. Two represents the initial split of the One into two beings.

Three is associated with the Goddess, and so third line is the cosmic Triple Goddess, where the Star is the Maiden goddess, the World the Mother, and the Moon stands for the Crone. As the centre of the line, the World sits right below the Magician, and they represent two distinct ways (male and female) of creating.

Four, as the number of the God, represents the phases of the year and the Horned God dying and rising as his Mother’s consort and his own opponent. The Sun is the newly born God (or twin Gods, Night and Day as depicted in my Sun card), the Emperor is the God at the peak of his power, the Hanged Man represents him waning into the dark of the year, and the Devil represents the death of the old God at the hands of his son who is his brother and himself.

Five represents Genetti’s “five stages of womanhood”, which, with some tweaking, should be able to represent 100% of the population LOL rather than just 50%! Judgment is here represented as the beginning of life, rather than its end, and as rebirth or awakening. Strength shows a young woman at the onset of menses, seizing her birthright and claiming her own personal power. The Empress, closely related to the World which she sits below, represents motherhood and fecundity, the time of life when a person brings forth his or her best work. The High Priestess shows a person in the waning years, when the noontime of their life is behind them and their experience has led to wisdom. Finally, Death claims all to return them across the river in a glorious sunset, to be reborn in the Judgment card again.

The sixth line is my favourite, so far. Working outwards from the centre, it shows two life paths, reflecting the numerical theme of choice and decision around the Sixes in this deck. The Wheel of Fortune represents a person who reacts to life and believes him or herself to be a victim of circumstance. In this case, the Hierophant represents their externalisation of authority and willingness to blame others and outside influences for misfortune or lack of good fortune. The end result of this life pattern is The Tower, an unfortunate end (many times over, perhaps) where the person does not learn (“build”) anything. The alternative path starts with the Chariot, in this deck representing awareness of connections and effects of one element to another of a person’s life and relationships. The authority figure in this instance is the Hermit, the inner light of knowledge and wisdom. The end result is Justice, here shown as an ideal of balance and awareness of the interconnectedness of the whole world.

\m/ Kat
 

Prism

Thanks, Kat, I'm printing it out right now, so I can look at it with my cards -- my new deck, I think (but I'm still not sure....)
 

Hooked on TdM

I'm writing it out right now. It's very interesting and I like how they interact on numerous levels at the same time.

Thanks so much for this ThorHammer!

Pssst... ThorHammer...on line 3, the Devil. You made a little typo with the Roman Numerals.


For anyone with Non RWS based decks, on line five, second numeral would be XI and line 6, first numeral would be VIIII.

Thanks!

Hooked
 

afrosaxon

Not having fun

Okay, I am not having fun with the DOM right now.

Perhaps it's the suit I'm studying now (Cups); this suit doesn't move me. It's a chore to work with this suit so far, and I can't wait till I'm done with it (six more days!).

Also...the stark female nudity in the deck is starting to get to me. Mind you, I"m not a prude by any means and yes, I'm female too and have the same equipment--but I really don't want to see naked breasts and copious bushes of pubic hair every day (and this deck is obsessed with showing very thick pubes; so thick that they could benefit from hot rollers). Few cards in the deck show people fully clothed, and they are mainly the Crones (hmm...age bias here? Older people like to be naked too!).

This didn't bother me the first time I picked up the deck ten years ago, but now it's just irksome. Then again, I was a different person in a different head space, ten years ago. I was kind of "anti-male", so perhaps that's why I bonded with the deck then. :laugh:

This doesn't seem to be a good deck for relationship readings. I don't get a sense of universal love in this deck, and that's important if one is to recognize love in other forms. The deck is too politically oriented. And you know, I can't even say that this is a "lesbian" deck because it doesn't seem to reflect the personalities of the lesbians that I know...they are a lot nicer and multi-dimensional than the portrayals of the women in this deck. :D

I may put it down after the IDS. I"m not connecting with it like I thought I would. My daily draws tend to leave me in a state of confusion if I think about the images too much, and I am staying away from the accompanying book as much as possible.

Onyx said:
or I will use the Circle of Life and wrap my head around reversals with a round deck. I have read that there are many systems that use the whole rotation of the card to adjust the meaning. That might be fun to work out as well.

Oh yeah...using a round deck and incorporating the rotations into a reading is a whole 'nother level: :D A tilt at 3 o'clock means something different than a tilt at 9 o'clock, and things like that. Good luck with that; I'm still struggling a bit with that aspect. It's to the point where if I get an actual reversal (that is, completely upside down), I take particular note; it doesn't happen often for me.

Okay...rant over. *sigh*


T.
 

Owl Song

afrosaxon said:
A Few cards in the deck show people fully clothed, and they are mainly the Crones (hmm...age bias here? Older people like to be naked too.

I love you, afrosaxon! That is the best statement I've heard all day. :) It's great that you're keeping your sense of humor going even as you're working through the difficult Cups suit. I think it's going to help you get through your IDS very, very successfully.

Onyx, I am so glad you are contemplating using the Dante Tarot. I don't own it but it looks fascinating. There is something so mesmerizing about the art work and if you read the Divine Comedy while you are doing your IDS, I think that will be a huge enhancement to your deck study. What a great idea!

I'm working with the Fairytale, getting more acquainted even though my IDS doesn't officially start until June 21st.

My daily draws from the past two days have been Death and the Tower so I am kind of waiting for the other shoe to drop! Things have been rather still for me the past few days so I am not sure what the universe is trying to tell me.

Disa, for organization, I am thinking about doing all of my cards on Power Point, my notes for each card. You can move slides around easily on PP and it's a ridiculously simple way for me to make my own little personal Fairytale Tarot book.

Kat, your tree is so symmetrical and neat. My tree would never have come out that nicely. Thank you for sharing with us!! :) I, too, shall print out a copy.
 

thorhammer

Hooked on TdM said:
Pssst... ThorHammer...on line 3, the Devil. You made a little typo with the Roman Numerals.
Thanks, ive fixed it up. Sorry for any confusion :( I'm not all that good with Roman numerals - it's been a while since I finished school :D and I keep having to laboriously translate them to Arabic!

\m/ Kat
 

Hooked on TdM

Hehe.. you should see me trying to convert that to the other Roman numerals! The XIV to XIIII. I confused myself a few times.. lol

Hooked