Inaugural Intensive Deck Study (IDS) Support Thread

Good luck to you arcana- be brave

I'm doing the Hekate Spread in the Tarot of the Crone book. As I laid the cards out and saw the 10 of wands, I could NOT remember for the life of me the traditional image of it. This is a card I know well- the Crone is working her magic on me. I hope she isn't undoing ALL I've learned so far, as it really isn't much. I just had to say that I drew a total blank- now, back to my spread...

So my recent update is more along the lines of my dreams and how they may relate to my focus on the Amano tarot.

Now, I have a history of having some pretty lengthy dreams. People describe their dreams as vivid and are able to recall everything and anything, even down to the scent or how they felt, etc. I've always just had really LOOOOOOOOOONG dreams, not detailed. They felt like a true story that has its twists and turns, but never quite directly related to what's in my life. Whenever I want to tell anyone about it, I end up having to only tell a tiny part of it- truncate it so I don't go on and on about what went on since it's just TOO LONG.

Anyway, I don't have dreams that often, but when I do they're extra-super-long and I remember a lot of it, but not many specific details if any at all.


On the nights when I end up falling asleep looking at my tarot cards, I've had more and more dreams in general. At first I didn't really notice, but now it's starting to make me pay attention. The content of my dreams is starting to be way more realistic instead of abstract- situations coming up, people I dealt with during that SPECIFIC day--- things I'm concerned about and did readings about recently. The dreams aren't nearly as long, but they seem more compact with more real-life details.

For example, I did a single card draw on a work meeting I was to attend with my manager and a supervisor and that same night I dreamed of the trip to that meeting. I can even remember details down to the aroma of the food that was being served to us at the meeting ((lemon-chicken and rice, btw!!)).

Now, being the practical Virgo that I am, I TOTALLY blew it off. Didn't really see a connection AT ALL and didn't think twice on the issue. It wasn't until I was making my bed this morning and the Judgement card popped out of the blankets that I even thought about it. I had meditated on the Judgement card right before sleeping and the dream last night was a mixture of lessons of my relationship with my responsibilities and well, the Judgement card of the Amano Tarot kind of made things click in my head.

http://yoshitaka-amano.kouryu.info/images/tarot/20-17.jpg

arcana17 said:

I'm going to start the IDS today, I was too busy to start earlier.

For the next 6 months, I will use the Thoth, the book of Thoth, Duquette's book and my journal. This is a deck that always attracted me, but I never spent enough time to immerse deeply into. I will need a lot of courage, as I always tend to go back to my Universal Waite.

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Six months?

good for you, arcana17!

I'm having trouble getting through the first month, especially since I have a new deck and rune set (gifts!) that are calling to me.

Then again, perhaps it's the Gemini rising in me...multitasking is second nature.

T.

I've decided that I'm going to be making my own oracle for use with the BGS. Not sure exactly how I'm going to go about that yet, but I can't find one that I like, so I just decided to do it myself. Kinda trying to figure out where the heck to start; I know HOW I want them, I just have to find suitable images somewhere.

Back to journaling! Still got lots to catch up on.

oak_woman said:

Kat, could you tell us a little more about what is meant by "in light of significance of that number or group" in this context, please? I'm a bit confused, but it sounds like a great reading to try. Thanks - only if you have time, though!

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Okay, oak_woman - I'm halfway through this reading, as it's a biggie compared to my usual five or six-card readings . Now, I must say that it's not as . . . effective . . . as I expected it to be, because I keep trying to read the card, rather than the suit in the number-position, as it were . . . I dunno how to explain it. Suffice to say, it will require practice that I probably won't end up doing because I don't like large spreads. But I might try to persevere

Alexandra Genetti said:

Ace: What is just beginning for you or what is the unifying principle in the self at the moment

Two: divisiveness - what is taking your attention and what demands looking at. The Two is sometimes related to partnership issues.

Three: where you are most active, where your energy comes from, and where it is going into

Four: what is reaching completion at this time, perhaps something you have worked hard on and feel ready to let go of.

Five: the outer experiences of life, the realm of the senses and worldy wisdom.

Six: choices you are making and what you are ambivalent about.

Seven: the spiritual realm of union, as well as where you experience a merging with the world and where you are able to see the bigger picture.

Eight: the manifestation of expansion and growth, how you are moving your own energy into the world.

Nine: the integrative factor, the parts of your deeper self that are coming into consciousness and become an active player in the personality.

Ten: areas of completion and culmination.

Court: part of the personality that is active at the moment.

Major: the archetypal process that is at the forefront in your life at the moment.

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I might post this in the Spreads forum, as well, so that others can think about using it. It bears some similarities to the one that Gazel kindly put up for us (thankyou!) and it's interesting to see the patterns emerging in spreads people are using!

\m/ Kat

kisou said:

It wasn't until I was making my bed this morning and the Judgement card popped out of the blankets that I even thought about it. I had meditated on the Judgement card right before sleeping and the dream last night was a mixture of lessons of my relationship with my responsibilities and well, the Judgement card of the Amano Tarot kind of made things click in my head.

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Wow, what an epiphany for you! It's so nice to hear of people having these breakthroughs with their decks Thanks so much for sharing, kisou!

\m/ Kat

Eureka moments today

I had a breakthrough of my own today that probably only people here in the IDS would appreciate. In the Magician, Thoth is holding two staffs that have snakes entwined around them. The companion book talks about how he holds the staffs and what that means, but doesn't say anything about what, if anything, the staffs themselves represent. Well, in doing my research on the Lovers, I realized that Tefnut was most likely represented by the lotus-tipped staff. I thought that Shu (the other god depicted in the Lovers) might be represented by the other staff. Well in doing further research on Horus (my avatar for the IDS), who's on the Chariot, I started researching the Eye of Horus, which led me to the goddess Wadjet who originally used the same symbol as the Eye of Horus. And it turns out that she was sometimes depicted as a serpent wound around a papyrus roll. Well, the other staff held by Thoth in the Magician is papyrus-tipped. So I'm pretty sure the staffs are representations of Tefnut and Wadjet. I haven't had time to work out why yet, but that too shall come.

I never would have made those connections were I not part of the IDS. Even better, when I did my 3 Card Draw for a recap of the day (it's posted in the IDS Daily Draws thread), I got the Tower as one of the cards. At first I couldn't fathom how I had any Tower moments today, but then I remembered the connection I made between imagery in three different cards. And that in itself was a reminder to me that Tower moments don't always have to be painful or unwelcomed even if they are of longterm benefit....

Rodney

That's fantastic, Rodney That's just the sort of moment I'd expect if I were doing a deck like the Hermetic or Nigel Jackson, and I'm so glad you've shared it. I had my own moment just now, as well . . . my own Magician stands on a tiled floor, and the tiles are brightly coloured . . . with the colours of the Major Arcana. I laid them out in the same pattern pictured, which is the traditional order of the Majors, 0-7 in the foreground, 8-15 in the middle row, 16-21 at the back. (It did take me some time to work this out, as the tiles are small and some are just details, so I was doing a bit of detective work )

None of the cards have human figures in them. The cards are populated by the Magician, in his capacity of the first and last card in the Major Arcana (if we consider the Fool to be *outside* the circle), and he moves through them accordingly. So here, he stands on the tiles, with the four tools which give him access to his powers, and the tiles become gates, to archetypal powers and energies to which he has access and can enter into at any time. His temple is built of himself, upon the shoulders and processes of each of the Major Arcana.

\m/ Kat

thorhammer said:

Thanks, Gazel I'll be watching for that spread.

Also, I've been fascinated (in a scatterbrained way ) by your mentions of doing readings on a particular card - in your case, the Devil. Would you mind posting the spread/s you use for those readings? I ask because the way my deck works seems to be to saturate me with one card for a week or so until I "get" it and then move onto the next one, and I'd like some other ways of exploring the current card. Thanks!

\m/ Kat

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Hello Kat

The spread is my usual three card reading - three cards in a row, no fixed positions. So there isn't really anything to post.
Off course you can add positional meanings to the three cards or use six or nine cards, but this is simple and (to me) it really works.
I use the Devil (or any other card) as significator (to avoid redundance) If anything new or "interesting" pops up - I do a note to investigate further.

The question could be something like: What can the Devil teach me about controlling/being in control" - one of my "issues" - my husband would surely agree. These question (five in all for the Devil), I've done readings on. I am not finish yet. I will do another one today.

Until now the readings have made max sense, and all though fruitful, it indeed is a very slow process.

It makes the IDS feel really meaningful to me: It makes me bond with the deck, having some kind of flow going on, and learning what tarot is to me personally. Actually I'm not sure that I'll have this finished by the next equinoxe. My goal is to do the majors this way.

Hope this makes sense and that you can use it.

Love, Gazel.

I will, definitely. I'm having a Tarot - I mean, sick - day today, and I finished that big reading with my deck this morning, and laid out one of your Energy spreads (three bloody court cards, which I damn well WILL conquer during this IDS!!!) but now I have to run off to meet someone, and I'm taking the deck, so I'll pull the cards back out later to do the reading properly. Then I might think about getting down with this latest one of yours! Thanks for clarifying for me

\m/ Kat