Intensive Deck Study Support Thread ~ Part 2

Eugenia Madora

Promise said:
Welcome to those still jumping in and joining us!

Instead of being a "normal" person and starting with the Majors, I've decided to begin with a suit study on the Coins. It's definitely going to take me longer than I expected it would, but I'm really having fun with it! Yes, I said it. FUN! I'm learning a lot about the deck, but I'm also really nailing down what my personal reading style is, and what each card and suit really means to me. I love it.

In trying to put into words what the suit represents to me, I was struck by the fact that there are flowers or vines on every single Coin card in this deck. For some reason, that was an "Aha!" moment for me. The suit of Coins isn't just money and physical health and jobs and careers and hobbies and crafts; it's that which we are responsible for nourishing and nurturing, just like a living plant. That's probably an old concept to everyone else, but for some reason, it kinda hit me like a fully loaded truck.

Most of the other pip cards in the Jean Noblet feature the same kinds of vines and floral patterns, but the Coins are the only suit in this deck in which every single pip card features them. Maybe it's just a personal thing, but I find that very significant, and I thought I'd share with you guys.

I can hardly wait for the Traveling Jean Noblet to come now!
Your posts will give me some real insights for the time I spend with the deck.
Thanks for sharing.
EM
 

SolSionnach

Last night I did a 5-card spread with the BBC, and I was overwhelmed! All those pretty female kitties in ball gowns! It was almost more than I could take. ;)
(The spread was 2 pentacle cards + 3 trumps, fwiw.)
It also made its point - I really REALLY need to go a card at a time with this deck, otherwise all the sumptuous colors overwhelm me.

I also 'Umbraed' my DAO, and while it's still difficult to shuffle due to its size, it is easier. I got all enthusiastic, and started Umbraeing my Ukiyoe, as well. I think Umbraeing is a great way to break in a deck! Of course, I'm following the man himself's advice, and not Umbraeing the BBC... though it's tempting, because it's so much fun! :)
 

PolarBear

Promise said:
In trying to put into words what the suit represents to me, I was struck by the fact that there are flowers or vines on every single Coin card in this deck. For some reason, that was an "Aha!" moment for me. The suit of Coins isn't just money and physical health and jobs and careers and hobbies and crafts; it's that which we are responsible for nourishing and nurturing, just like a living plant. That's probably an old concept to everyone else, but for some reason, it kinda hit me like a fully loaded truck.

Hi Promise - if it's new to you, its new! :) . One of my notes to self regarding the Ace of Coins/Pentacles is "The desire to garden!" - and the "!" is there for a reason - it was an "Aha!" moment for me too :)

Now - let's see if my newly edited sig works ...
 

afrosaxon

Struggling...

Okay, I finished the final card in the Cups suit today (YAY!). While there were some cards I liked in that suit (like the Mother of Crones), overall I wasn't digging this suit.

Tomorrow I start the Flames (Wands); they look a bit more interesting. Most of the cards seem to have clothed people, too...perhaps since naked skin isn't really flame-resistant? :D

I am struggling with this deck; I'm not as hyped about it as I was pre-IDS. To that end, I did a draw and asked the deck, "Why am I ambivalent about this deck?" No spread, just freestyle

The cards were interesting not for their suits/numbers, per se, but for the keywords on them:

(er...mods, I hope I'm not breaking any rules by posting the results of my reading here).

SHADOW: 2 of Blades: Analysis (tilted at 2 o'clock)
4 of Cups--Sorrow (tilted at 10 o'clock)
5 of Pentacles--Earthquake (tilted at 2 o'clock)
7 of Cups--Jealousy (tilted at 8 o'clock)

IN this deck, tilts/reversals indicate either a blockage or a going in/coming out of a particular energy of the card. But it was the keywords that got me.

Analysis: maybe I"m overthinking things too much (as the card is beginning a downward tilt to a reversed position)...you know, the political basis of the deck, the overt nudity, etc.

Sorrow and Jealousy: I got that these two cards were connected, since they were cups. Maybe THE DECK is sad that I'm not really excited about it anymore, and perhaps it's jealous because I still have my NOVT to fall back on (and maybe it's jealous because I click so much with the NOVT and dont' click as much anymore about the DOM)

Earthquake: perhaps I'm ambivalent about having my foundations shaken wiht this deck...especially since a lot of the meanings seem to have little association with RWS...which means more intuitive reading and no more RWS base to fall back on.

Then I asked it, "What can I do to bring back my excitement about this deck?"

SHADOW: 4 of Cups--Sorrow

Aphrodite--The Lovers (the female/female pair, tilted at 7 o'clock)
***note: DOM has two Lovers cards: one with a naked female/female pair hugging in front of a set of large vaginal lips and clitoris (I'm not joking), and one with a female/male pair swimming underwater. I just keep both of them in the deck and pay attention to which one shows up in a reading***

The Witch [The Magician] (tilted at 9 o'clock)
Yemaya--The Moon (tilted at 10 o'clock)

Well..the 4 of Cups is trying to tell me something, it seems! This card is almost upright...maybe it's telling me that I should stop dwelling on what I don't like about the deck and focus on what I do like (the card shows a woman with 3 overturned cups in front of her and she's crying...so she doesnt' see/pay attention to the upright cup behind her, bathed in the tears of the moon). The Witch tells me that I am building up my energies to make this IDS into what I want and need it to be, while the Lovers tells me that perhaps I need to focus more on my feminine side in order to bond successfully with this deck...this is underscored by Yemaya--The Moon. (Yemaya also rules the oceans...which are affected by the lunar cycle). I'm also looking at the fact that I have THREE majors in this reading...that's significant, and they are all divisible by each other in a sense (1 to 6 to 18).


*sigh* I don't know.

I'm still doing my daily draws (mind/body/spirit) and journaling for a card per day.

Anyone else have any other suggestions to break me out of my DOM doldrums?

Thx!

T.
 

Cat*

Faolainn Storm said:
I was going out to lunch with a friend for her birthday, and to get to where I was meeting her I had to catch a tram then a train. The tram is a route that I often use (I don't drive), but haven't travelled on in a few months. I was looking idlely out the window, watching the shops go past and then I saw it: a new shop, called - of all things - I.D.S.!! :D :D
Today, I saw a white truck with "IDS" in huge blue letters on it, driving past our car on the highway (going into the opposite direction). Not sure if that was supposed to let me know anything specific - but I immediately thought of Faolainn Storm's story, so I thought I'd share it with you. :)
 

thorhammer

sravana said:
Of course, I'm following the man himself's advice, and not Umbraeing the BBC... though it's tempting, because it's so much fun! :)
Fun? FUN??? I'm trying to do the Tarot Nova at the moment, and it's driving me up the wall! Tiny little cards don't help - it's so hard to get a grip on them! And after the Nova, I was going to do my "old" (newer printing) copy of the Hanson Roberts, as I just got a "new" (older printing) copy of it in the mail and LOVE IT!!! I was thinking I might Umbrae it, then do the tea-dunking thing, then give it away on AT in a wee raffle thing or whatever. It's been a while since we saw one of those . . .
PolarBear said:
Now - let's see if my newly edited sig works ...
Sure does! Thanks for doing that :heart:
afrosaxon said:
I am struggling with this deck; I'm not as hyped about it as I was pre-IDS. . . . *sigh* I don't know.

I'm still doing my daily draws (mind/body/spirit) and journaling for a card per day.

Anyone else have any other suggestions to break me out of my DOM doldrums?
(((afrosaxon))) I'm sorry to hear that you're struggling still. I don't have any suggestions per se, but I know that there was a period of about three or four weeks in the first IDS that I struggled with, then resented, then outright HATED my deck. I just put it away for a while. I guess I "broke" a couple of my pledges, including the one about shuffling every day, but it worked for me, because I needed a break. So instead of running to another deck as I would have before, I just put it down for a while. I eventually picked it up again, and loved it! I hope it turns out the same for you, sweetie!
Cat* said:
Today, I saw a white truck with "IDS" in huge blue letters on it, driving past our car on the highway (going into the opposite direction). Not sure if that was supposed to let me know anything specific - but I immediately thought of Faolainn Storm's story, so I thought I'd share it with you. :)
I'm glad you did! How cool are these stories? :D

I'm still going strong with the Wheel of Change. Hopefully I'll get a chance soon to do the Swords Courts, and then I might start on some more of the Tarot Tree. I'm thinking I won't deal with the Majors separately, but in the context of the Tree. So I might end up going back and editing my thoughts on the Third and Sixth Levels of the Tree in the Study Group (which is getting nice and plump now :D).

I designed a spread last night to go with the Third Level. I'll post it soon, and put a link in here. There's something about the Tree that lends itself to designing great introspective spreads. So I think I'll try for a spread for every level (and combine the Fool and Magician, so it's not two One-Card spreads) and link them to the Study Group threads for that level.

\m/ Kat
 

Promise

You will love this deck.

Honestly, I was intimidated by it in the beginning; non-scenic pips were kind of worrying to me. But then I realized that I could apply my cartomancy playing card meanings to the pips with a little bit of alteration! It should have been obvious from the beginning, but it wasn't.

The deeper I delve into the cards, the more I find to look at. They're almost limitless, really.

Enjoy it when it comes to you! Who knows, you might even wind up with a copy of your own.



Eugenia Madora said:
I can hardly wait for the Traveling Jean Noblet to come now!
Your posts will give me some real insights for the time I spend with the deck.
Thanks for sharing.
EM
 

SolSionnach

thorhammer said:
Fun? FUN??? I'm trying to do the Tarot Nova at the moment, and it's driving me up the wall! Tiny little cards don't help - it's so hard to get a grip on them! And after the Nova, I was going to do my "old" (newer printing) copy of the Hanson Roberts, as I just got a "new" (older printing) copy of it in the mail and LOVE IT!!! I was thinking I might Umbrae it, then do the tea-dunking thing, then give it away on AT in a wee raffle thing or whatever. It's been a while since we saw one of those . . .
\m/ Kat

I have an older copy of the H-R, and yes, it's a much better deck! Good luck softening yours up...

FWIW, I cannot IMAGINE trying to Umbrae the Tarot Nova. Perhaps if you used some pliers to get a better grip on those little cards? J/K! The Ukiyoe is pretty small, too, but I'm managing with it.

The Druid Animal and Plant Oracles have huge cards, so getting a grip on them is no problem - shuffling them is. I'm going to cut them down to their borders (I practiced on one of the extra cards, and I really like the look with the rounded corners - my rounder doesn't chop off too much of the border), but then I noticed that the DPO's images are actually a hair longer than the DAO's. Oh BOTHER. That's going to be fun to even out.

I'm also considering chopping away at the BBC - those cards are also too large to be comfortable for me (I have v. small hands). That being said, the images on those cards are so busy that perhaps the borders are necessary! (I have the 2nd edition, thank heavens)

Keep us posted on your tarot nova quest.. ;)
 

Onyx

My IDS Pledge

I thought it was time to get something in the thread that resembled a pledge.

My interesting thing is that I am committed to being intuitive in the use of the cards. I have been a slave to tarot books for years. When I read I do not use them but I know so many systems by memory. Recently I have been feeling strangled by all the conflicting thoughts of correspondences and keywords to the point where I feel I get lost in a reading.

Here is what I pledge:
• I will only use the Revelations Tarot until the end of August,
possibly longer

• I will not purchase any decks that I do not have on preorder. (I am pretty sure the Dark Grimore will be my Fall IDS once it comes arrives. All bets are off when it gets here in early Sept.)

• I will not use any books for personal study. I will use my journal, any past journals and only my journals.

• I will make the only exception is in preparation for the class I am helping to teach in July. The topic I am covering is pretty specific and I will use what I need to do a excellent job and that may mean other decks and books. This will not be for personal readings or the readings I do for clients.

• I will do a weekly spread for each day, and then attempt to act in a manner specific to the card of the day.

• I will do any exercises which do not conflict with any previous pledge that I feel will empower my journey to be a more intuitive reader.

Allan
 

Bloudwedd

I never wrote a contract for what to include and exclude in my IDS and today, boy am I glad I did not! Because I have had the most amazing empowering experiences I have ever had through one of my other decks!!!!

Via pure instinct and inspiration I suggested we go to MSN and I could do an instant reading LIVE for her. Said and done, we did this and since I do not hav all my Pagan Tarot cards scanned yet we choose Gilded Tarot. At first she reacted very badly to the hanged man and I could not really figure out why. At the 3rd card we talked about it really clicked. She started to open up and explore things about herself and I only needed to genly guide her! Wow! What an experience! I really feel like Superwoman today! I have never thought of doing tarot this way but only the diniatroy way. But from now on this will be something I will look deeper into! If I would have stayed with my IDS deck I would never had experienced this so I am glad that I did cheat!

/Anna