Reviving the One Deck Wonder

I also like the name "Intensive Deck Study".

I have sorted all my decks yesterday and putted them back in their boxes.
(The Margarete Petersen is sooo beautiful!, ok, focus...)

My goals are to learn reading tarot and to work on focusing (need it ;o)).

As you Thorhammer, I am considering letting my faeries in rest until the end of the IDS...
It won't be easy, but in fact, they are always around us, wheter we use the deck or not...

22 March seems a good starting point.

I will stick with the Halloween Tarot.

The question of books will be a hard point for me.
I have bought a few recently, including some related to "how to read tarot cards" like the 21 Ways.
As a beginner, I feel that this kind of books could help me and provide some interesting tools. But they can be seen as distracting...

I agree that we should discuss about the way it's going to work and all the structuring thing.

Marina said:

I wonder if i'm the only person in the whole world for which Thoth tarot (and it's children) was not meant to work!

Click to expand...

Marina and Raya, I promise it really does work for everyone... it just comes to everyone in a different way at a different time.

I'm teaching this year long seminar and we just moved into the Crowley-Harris Thoth after spending a semester on TdM & then Waite-Smith... I was extremely nervous about the transition (which had been merely elegant and theoretical when I planned my syllabus) and let me tell you: I was wrong to be worried and those students have leapt into the Thoth with this fierce abandon that's wonderful to see. They groove on the artwork; they love the symbolism; they all scurried off and read about the Beast's rockstar shenanigans on their own. I think it's because they had been sort of prepared for it, so it didn't seem so mnolithic and scary. One girl called it Goldilocks last week; I asked her to explain and she said, "It's the perfect midpoint between the Waite-Smith and the Marseille: not too hot, not too cold."

I truly believe that Thoth will/can/does work for everyone, but also that everyone has to work to meet it halfway. The mountain will NOT come to Muhammad... and it really is a mountain. It kicks out all your crutches, which is a good thing. Still, anyone who reads with a Golden-Dawn-based deck (i.e. Waite Smith, BOTA, or clones thereof etc) can read with the Thoth: full stop. One of these days you'll be shuffling a pack and a window will open up in your mind and you won't be able to put it down... So maybe not now, but someday.

On the IDS tip, March 22 works perfectly for me. Yay! Very excited.

Scion

I'm glad all the details for this are being hashed out in such a thoughtful way--I also like the idea of calling it an Intensive Deck Study, I think for me that's really what it's about, since I'm also basically just beginning my Tarot study in a serious way, and I think my goal is to really know my chosen deck inside and out, and by doing that becoming a better reader. So maybe there are two groups happening here?--those of us who want to study a particular deck, and the focus of the study being about the deck, and those of us who want to do something more like the original ODW? I've sort of confused myself now
In any case, however people choose to run this, I'm hoping to contribute as much as possible.
And Umbrae, thank you for telling us what the original intention was, and how it was done the first time--clearly it was a valuable experience for a lot of people, and it only helps to know what the thought was behind it. Even if we're doing something different, I think the end result can be the same, if we're serious about our study

Scion said:

I truly believe that Thoth will/can/does work for everyone, but also that everyone has to work to meet it halfway. The mountain will NOT come to Muhammad... and it really is a mountain. It kicks out all your crutches, which is a good thing. Still, anyone who reads with a Golden-Dawn-based deck (i.e. Waite Smith, BOTA, or clones thereof etc) can read with the Thoth: full stop. One of these days you'll be shuffling a pack and a window will open up in your mind and you won't be able to put it down... So maybe not now, but someday.

Click to expand...

I know, maybe i'm lacking something else, an energy...but Thoth was my third deck ever. I had it before i had the RWS, although i had been using RWS based decks so far (Enchanted & Mythic). I tried it, but i don't know...i don't think i can even apreciate the artwork properly. And it's not that i use only pretty fairy decks...actually, most of my favorite decks are rather ugly or weird.

It's so that i have given up Thoth completely and even offered it in Trade Trains. I also have given up Thoth based decks and decided they simply don't work for me.

Everyone is always so excited about it, and so was i...but then i lost it. I don't feel this, i'm not even attracted to the deck anymore.

Maybe because it's the material shape of my incompetence and failure, i ain't sure.

I don't know how to feel the magic again. I think it's gone.

Back on the right computer now and I found the thread I referenced earlier, but I noticed it's called "ODW Study: TdM with Training Wheels-Daily Draws".
It's in the "Your Readings" forum if anyone's interested in looking it over:

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=82738&page=3&pp=10

I'm sure a new thread with a more appropriate title can be started for those who will be using different decks.

For those of us (myself included) going the IDS route, I'd like to start a thread with the official rules and continued disscusion on progress and a seperate thread for daily draws similar to the one in the thread posted above. The reason for two seperate ones is cause according to forum rules, I just don't think they'd be allowed in the same forum. Daily Draws would go in the "Your Readings" forum, but I'm not sure if the IDS Disscussion thread would go here in Talking Tarot or in the Tarot Study Groups forum. I looked over the rules there, and it appears that forum's for a group studying the same deck card by card.

If any moderator would please jump in and give some direction, I would appreciate it. I would hate to start the thread in the wrong place, only to get PMed and moved somewhere else (I know you guys are just doing your jobs, and what a wonderful job you do! )

In the mean time, March 22nd as a start date works for me too

ETA: I should also have my CH Thoth by then (gratis FantasyWorld), and will be studying that instead of my Aquarian for those who are contemplating delving into the world of Thothism

MariposAzl said:

If any moderator would please jump in and give some direction, I would appreciate it.

Click to expand...

All of the Intensive Deck Study threads (or a single thread) can be here in Talking Tarot to discuss progress, thoughts, roadblocks, issues etc. Everything but actual readings.

For actual readings:

For Daily Draws, post a thread in the Daily Draw sub-forum of Your Readings.

Just start a thread entitled "Intensive Deck Study 2008: Daily Draws" and everyone involved can use it.


If you want to post an entire reading, then Your Readings is the right Forum, but you still have to abide by the Your Reading forum rules. To keep track of each other I suggest including the initials of the group. For example:

IDS: a relationship reading

IDS: my concerns at work

and etc.

I hope I was clear, if not post here or PM me.

Marion
Moderator

thorhammer said:

I've been mulling over this point since you posted, Scion. And I've come to agree with you. I think that the super-supportive "go with the flow" atmosphere of AT has indeed gotten to me, and it's made me a little complacent. I do want to remove my safety net, and to that end *deep breath* I'm going to put the Faeries away as well. (They're screaming at me now. I'm in so much trouble )

And I've been thinking it might be more beneficial to all of us who want to "join in" to have some sort of structure. Again, this is in the thinking-about stage, and as much as some of the comments here have cut me (and not just one, either) I have been influenced by some of them to the point where I find myself now. And that's a good thing.

So let's aim for an official start date, to begin with. I know there are some who've started already or are a month or a year or whatever in, and that's fine, but as a group, it will help our cohesion to have a Grand Opening, or something . I like the idea of a Solstice launch, but if anyone has objections, put them forward and may they be weighed up . So 22 March?

\m/ Kat

Click to expand...

Eeeek! Where have I been?

Kat, this is fabulous! I just stumbled across your thread this morning, and I've just spent the past 45 minutes trying to catch up.

Thank you for the invite -- I really, really want to do this thing, and March 22 would be perfect!

Someone mentioned sticking with it until Halloween, but, personally, I want to go all the way until the winter solstice.

Thanks again!


c.s.

Thank you Marion for your help, it's all clear

Ok folks, I'm starting a new thread here called "Intensive Deck Study 2008: Progress Discussion" (I'll let you know when it's posted) which will include the rules for the IDS. On the 22nd, I'll start a seperate thread in Your Readings called Intensive Deck Study 2008: Daily Draws" for those who would like to also do a daily draw.

While I'm hashing out the details, feel free to keep posting here with suggestions for rules and how to's etc. I will try my best to consider everyone's suggestions but as you all know, not everyone's gonna get exactly what they want, so please bear with.

Scion, master organizer of the infamous Trade Train (that's your new title ) your input would be appreciated considering your vast knowledge and experience on organizing such projects

**geez, I hope no one minds me taking the helm on this one...

lilith_in_tree said:

So maybe there are two groups happening here?--those of us who want to study a particular deck, and the focus of the study being about the deck, and those of us who want to do something more like the original ODW? I've sort of confused myself now

Click to expand...

Hello lilith_in_tree
Hmm - I don't think it's so confusing, since reading with One deck and studying it should or could be two activities supporting not excluding eachother.

In any case, however people choose to run this, I'm hoping to contribute as much as possible.

Click to expand...

Me too.

Gazel

Skimo said:

The question of books will be a hard point for me.
I have bought a few recently, including some related to "how to read tarot cards" like the 21 Ways.
As a beginner, I feel that this kind of books could help me and provide some interesting tools. But they can be seen as distracting...

Click to expand...

Well as I see it, you should avoid books that have the card meanings already written down for you because you have to get a personal relationship with the cards and find out what the cards are telling you.
I think a book like 21 Ways would be very useful as it gives you ways in which you can build that relationship - it is not telling you what the cards mean but let you find out for yourself.
By the way, there is also a Study Group based on this book which you might find interesting. The study group has been going for quite a while but you can still read the threads and add your posts.

I know that for me the biggest distraction will not be tarot books but this forum, I will have to avoid threads that discuss other decks oh my!

And it is not likely I will report every day, some days I am very busy and I don't want to make hasty studies or feel that I am only doing it because I "have to" every day, I'd rather study less time then but give it my full attention.
(I am using the word "study" here very loosely because I did not know what word to pick but it can describe anything I want to do with the cards)