Intensive Deck Study Support Thread ~ Part 2

thorhammer

Hey, friends! The old thread was getting very long, and as many of us are coming to an endpoint anyway, it's a good time to begin afresh with a new thread for newcomers and continuing IDSers :). The old thread can be found HERE.

Anyone is welcome to join in at any time, with any deck, for any duration they care to commit to. This thread is where you can post about your difficulties, your triumphs, breakthroughs, and maybe even chat with others using the same deck in their own IDS. The old thread, though long, shows that many of us struggled at one time or another, and we always managed to back each other up and give encouragement to keep with the discipline. So make the most of this little community, introduce yourself!

\m/ Kat

The list of participants is in this post.

afrosaxon's beautiful synopsis of the IDS

Faolainn Storm's card study "form" post
 

shamoness

My IDS

Greeting my fellows! I have been grappling with the concept of the IDS for some time now. I've read many of the posts from the very first IDS and have come to understand the concept and appreciate it. Like most of the folks who have chosen to take the challenge I have been pondering my choice of deck for a few weeks. Again, like everyone else, I am struggling with this choice.

Part of me is saying choose the Rider Waite, in keeping with Umbrae's original suggestion of basically "less is more". Yet its colors are hideous. So I think Universal Waite perhaps. I only own the pocket edition and I believe I would prefer a standard size deck for the IDS. The next choice is Robin Wood. I really don't care much for this deck, but it has become my basic reading deck. I find it easy to read with despite my dislike for many of the images or the backs or the stiffness of the cards. I know, that will work itself out, eventually. Then of course there is the beautiful Victorian Romantic. I certainly don't tire of her images. Finally, the Vision Quest. This is my other reading deck. I know not many here care for this deck but I am at home with her. I see things in these cards that vary each time I look at them. Yet, this deck is very different from all others and that makes me feel that perhaps it might not be a good choice.

So my choices are:
Rider Waite
Universal Waite
Robin Wood
Victorian Romantic
Vision Quest

How to choose? I guess I must ask the decks. Or Umbrae.

In any case, I look forward to this challenge and what I will undoubtedly learn about Tarot and myself. I also look forward to getting to know many of you as we support each other through this next turn of the wheel.
Bright Blessings!
 

Alamaris

I'm a little brainless, since its about 1am where I reside and I've had an absurdly busy day, so I'll wait until later to make a post about my personal expectations for this phase of the IDS. Before I forget, however, I wanted to stick up a post with my potential deck choices. I'm going for "study" rather than "passive observation" this round.

Thoth
Minchiate
Alchemical

I was considering the Hadar Marseilles at first, but I know I just couldn't stick with that one for more than two weeks. The poor dear and I just don't connect as well as I'd hoped!
 

Bloudwedd

There really is no choice for me! Yesterday my LS Pagan Tarot finally arrived and it was as I suspected - love at first sight! It is so wonderful! Some c ards just have so much "Oooompf!" in them that it almost makes me shakey. On the other hand though, other cards are really tricky and it is obvious that you need to get inside the authors mind OR designate an IDS to it! So here I am! Will post my own "rules" for it when I am have some more quiettime!
 

Skimo

Hi,

Finally I think that I will take a week of break after the 21th, when I will have finished with my first IDS.

Then I will IDS for one month with the deck I will choose to bring with me during my larp (live action role playing game) in Elric's world at the beginning of august.
The Archeon, Universal Fantasy and Fantastical are my first choices... will have to go down to one.

Then another break of one week and I will begin my second 3 monthes IDS with the MAAT until Halloween (I can't not read with my halloween tarot the night of halloween).

The Bohemian Gothic can be a good candidate for a winter IDS... don't you think?

During this time, the Illuminated will be my comparison and travel deck, and my oracle will be the Froud Faeries (during winter, I may change for the water crystal oracle...)

I can't commit to anything about deck buying... it's an addiction...

Welcome to all the new IDSers!
 

tarot4fun

For the newcomers who may not be aware of it~
Here is a Daily Draw thread for the IDS that you are welcome to use~

Good luck to everyone~ :)

:heart:
 

Bloudwedd

tarot4fun said:
For the newcomers who may not be aware of it~
Here is a Daily Draw thread for the IDS that you are welcome to use~

Good luck to everyone~ :)

:heart:

Thanks for pointing that out! Now I think I will do this in cronological order starting with the fool and ending with the Elder of Pentacles. But it is still relly good to know where to turn!
 

Gazel

I hereby salute you

Since I find it a bit odd to start this new thread by saying goodbye, I hereby salute you, both old and new IDS'ers.
As I mentioned in the old thread, my IDS was slowly dying, now it's certainly dead - just not compatible with an (now) eight week old baby.
I wish you all luck on your tarot journeys.

Love from Gazel
 

PolarBear

Hello all,
just to say "hi" to any newbies on this great IDS adventure, and also to any "oldies" who have migrated to the new thread.

I am continuing with my IDS - using the Llewellyn Tarot. I was running for 3 months - and therefore due to end on July 4th - but think I will extend it as I am only up to the 8s!

Rather than being time oriented, I think this will now be card oriented for me. Once I have worked my way through all the cards, then I will deem myself to have finished.

Cheers

PolarBear
 

rwcarter

Words of Wisdom

Below are the relevant parts of my original IDS pledge that from the flip side that either worked beautifully or should have been modified at the beginning.

rwcarter said:
I WILL:
  • remove all other tarot decks from the room in which I'll be doing my IDS
  • try my best to do a daily three-card Mind/Body/Spirit pull before I go to bed to reflect what will happen for me the NEXT day
  • at least shuffle the cards at some point during the day if I don't/can't do a 3-card reading
  • do my best to journal with the cards at least a couple of times a week
  • read and respond to non-IDS threads only when I'm at work (I do server and desktop support and have lots of time I can fill while I'm waiting for progress bars.... )
  • only check/input to the IDS thread once a night after I get home (I can respond all I like when I'm at work )
  • open the Buckland Romani and Alchemical Tarot reprints, Tarot of the Masters, Deviant Moon Tarot and Faerie Tarot if they arrive during the IDS to verify they are complete and then put them away (I don't think I have any other decks coming before the end of this IDS)
  • buy new deck(s), but only if I run across a bargain in a used bookstore (and I will only check them for completeness and then they get put away until the end of this IDS)
Generally, I did best with pledges that began, "I will try to..." instead of "I will...." Removing other decks from where I did my IDS worked well. I did well with Daily Draws until life exploded and then I never got back into it. Limiting time spent online while I was at home and should've been working on the IDS went pretty well. Opening new decks to check for completeness and then putting them away was a must for me. My deck buying dramatically decreased at the beginning of the IDS, but I must admit that it has picked back up again. (I can't resist a bargain. :D)

rwcarter said:
I WILL NOT:
  • arrange for any trades or purchases through the Trading Forum unless it's of a deck that's on my wishlist or would've been on my wishlist if I had known about it/remembered it
  • not buy any decks off eBay unless it's a deck that's on my wishlist or would've been on my wishlist if I had known about it/remembered it
  • order/pre-order any new decks through any mechanism unless I've wanted them for at least six months and am able to see more than the obligatory 6 cards
  • touch any other tarot deck in my collection except as outlined in the I WILL section (If I happen to visit another tarot person and they allow me to thumb through their collection, you bet your sweet patootie I'm gonna touch decks that aren't in my collection! Also, if I get together with other tarot people, and one of them specifically requests that I bring a certain deck from my collection, I will, but only for the other people to look at.)
  • study any aspect of tarot that's not directly applicable to my IDS deck
  • do any kind of reorganization of the tarot deck shelves or the tarot book shelves
I only did one trade during the IDS and it was with thorhammer for a deck I was interested in but probably never would've gotten around to buying. eBay purchasing also decreased for the IDS. I was pretty successful about the pre-order thing until last week.... In the beginning it was very important not to dilute my focus on my IDS deck by playing with other decks. Somewhere in the latter half of the IDS, I realized that my commitment to my IDS deck was such that it really didn't matter if I touched another deck because I knew I wasn't going to USE the other deck. For me, I was doing like 8 different tarot-related things at the beginning of the IDS and it was important for me to focus in on one thing - studying my IDS deck. I stuck with this one pretty well. I also stuck with the no reorganization pledge cause it would've caused me to dilute my focus on the IDS.

My biggest word of wisdom for people thinking of joining the IDS is this - don't be too hard on yourself if you falter in your pledges!

Rodney