Inaugural Intensive Deck Study (IDS) Support Thread

Scion said:

I'm SO psyched to see all the Liber T love. Who woulda thunk? :snip:
Scion

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Oh noes!!!!!

Just after I sold my Liber T, you guys have convinced me to buy another one. Can someone please post a thread when Llewellyn has another sale?

Thx, bai!

A month into my IDS with the Thoth, and I find that I still often look at the small cards and picture the RWS equivalent in order to get an immediate sense of meaning. Perhaps I'll never be able to escape that way of looking at any tarot. But I know that study of the Thoth is deepening my understanding of the RWS images, and that will always be a triumph.

Anyone else having trouble truly *seeing* their deck? Even if you aren't using other decks, do you find that their images still play in your mind?

Mosaica

mosaica said:

Anyone else having trouble truly *seeing* their deck? Even if you aren't using other decks, do you find that their images still play in your mind?

Mosaica

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Yep! I'm still trying to make the images of the Tarot of the Crone fit the standard tradition. The more I focus on the Tarot of the Crone, the more I wonder if I'm losing what I've learned before?

I'm having the same problem as you mosaica. Essentially, although I will probably almost always incorporate the RWS meanings into my lists of meanings (darn!), I've been trying to be more flexible in my interpretations. I think introducing a different system is good.

I'm working with a Marseilles and an IIT. So far, it's not bad. Sometimes there are connections between the RWS meaning and the Marseilles card, sometimes there aren't. Also, sometimes I see RWS meaning in a Marseilles, but I wouldn't count on it always being the case.

Also, I have some personal meanings that may seemingly have to do nothing with a card, but work for some reason.

mosaica said:

Anyone else having trouble truly *seeing* their deck? Even if you aren't using other decks, do you find that their images still play in your mind?

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I think this IDS has come at a great time for me. I was so frustrated with where I was before starting. I think I'd really got into a RWS rut and all decks were measured on how they 'fit' in with the RWS symbolism etc. I was really so over it all. Then I got the Alchemical and to be honest it's the first time I've been able to really open up to totally different interpretations, particularly in the minors. I do still automatically 'see' my other RWS style decks at times, but I'm working hard to just go with what I see in front of me and it's been great to try and detach from all those traditional meanings. Otherwise I was finding that when I did a reading I was just jumping straight to the meaning rather than actually LOOKING at what I saw in the images.

Still absolutely loving the Alchemical.

mosaica said:

A month into my IDS with the Thoth, and I find that I still often look at the small cards and picture the RWS equivalent in order to get an immediate sense of meaning. Perhaps I'll never be able to escape that way of looking at any tarot. But I know that study of the Thoth is deepening my understanding of the RWS images, and that will always be a triumph.

Anyone else having trouble truly *seeing* their deck? Even if you aren't using other decks, do you find that their images still play in your mind?

Mosaica

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I'm right there with you Mosaica. It's interesting though. The Mythic Tarot was my first deck, but whenever I picture a card it's usually some form of Rider Waite image that comes to mind. I can think of images from my IDS deck if I'm in IDS mode, but if I'm reading another thread where someone's asking about a card or the interaction between cards, the images that pop into my head are those RWS ones.

Rodney

I think I'm going to have to leave the formal IDS behind.

When I first got the Bohemian Gothic, I felt such a bond with it, an electric spark. I knew this deck was something special, and I jumped at the chance to deepen that connection. But I feel like it's something I'm trying to force, and I'm afraid that if I push too hard, I'm going to shatter it. For a while, it went so well and I was learning so much, but lately I'm really feeling confined, and that's not the point of this exercise.

I'm still going to work with the BG, but I just can't handle working with it on it's own right now. I've got enough darkness and seriousness in my life as it is, I don't need to be reminded of it by something I truly have passion for.

At some point, maybe I'll be able to handle an IDS with the BG, but for now, it's just not reasonable for me.

One month in.

I think it's been around a month since I started and its definately been an up-and-down road. Very rewarding in many ways but temptation has been great!

Positives
I find that I have a deeper understanding of the cards. I don't keep thinking of the URW in my mind with each card but look at the VR and have started to *feel* the mood from that picture.

I feel that I am getting more from my readings from sticking to this deck. I didn't really understand what people meant by garnering more depth from a deck the longer you used it. I got the principle behind it but didn't feel it. From time to time now I do feel it, briefly.

Knowing the VR better has given me the confidence to start larger spreads and I'm starting to pull together a story from the cards rather than looking at separate meanings.

I'm not really looking at any books apart from the companion every so often. Instead I'm trying to work intuitively. (Maybe this should be in the negatives!)

Negatives

I do long for another deck at times, I can't lie. Especially the BG on dark nights. Although with the spring moving on I feel this less.

I can't move away from the tarot deck forum - I miss it too much. I'm looking but not touching.

I'm still buying the odd deck, just the ToP, I'm only checking the deck for completeness but I do feel that this makes me lose focus.



In addition to this, and most puzzling to me, is that I have strong feelings as to when the cards should and shouldn't be read. I've never had this before and I don't know what it means. At times I've reached for them but have a feeling that it's not the right time and that I'm not in the right mindset. If I don't have plenty of time I don't read when before I'd do a "quicky" reading.

So, to sum up, still enjoying it. But it really is much more demanding than I thought it would be.

mosaica said:

A month into my IDS with the Thoth, and I find that I still often look at the small cards and picture the RWS equivalent in order to get an immediate sense of meaning. Perhaps I'll never be able to escape that way of looking at any tarot. But I know that study of the Thoth is deepening my understanding of the RWS images, and that will always be a triumph.

Anyone else having trouble truly *seeing* their deck? Even if you aren't using other decks, do you find that their images still play in your mind?

Mosaica

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I think that you really have hit on a major component of this exercise. I am trying to determine if the 5 of Wands in one deck has the same meaning as in another deck? Are the cards all representation of the same idea and hence have the same name? Almost in a sense of like regional dialects use the same words differently, and then do Tarot decks use the card names differently?

I feel that beginners fear that I will never get all the meanings for the cards straight in my own head when I contemplate that each card in each deck style has its own distinct meaning. Brrr -- cold chill down my spine.

It is occurring to me why three months is a good length of time. It honestly seems to have taken a month for me to break the assumptions I have about what the cards mean and begin to see beyond what they have ever meant in my RWS programmed mind.

As we finish the first month I decided to take a look at what I "pledged" in the beginning. I just started to laugh . . . boy am I behind in some of those areas. It seems as if though I needed this first month to learn to just pick up this one deck and focus on readings.

I think that now that I have in a sense balanced myself and worked into a routine with this deck I can go back and look at doing the journaling and individual card study. The rewards for this exercise at this point are subtle but meaningful. I am sure that they will be more so as the weeks progress.

Peter

two suits down, two to go!

Well, I just finished working with my cards...doing a backlog of journaling (5 days worth!). I will try to restart my mind/body/spirit draws tomorrow.

I just finished the Santeria [Pentacles] suit, and am starting the Rada [Swords] suit. Two suits down, two to go...then the majors!

I had to do more research on Santeria, as it is similar in some aspects to voudoun but is more earth-based and based on the Cuban and Nigerian cultures (santeria evolved from the Ifa religion, which is/was practiced by the Lukumi and Yoruba peoples in Nigeria. Over time, due to the slave trade, it became mixed in with certain aspects of Cuban culture (when slaves were brought there to work the sugar plantations), which is how it evolved into today's version (and nomer) of santeria (due to the association of Catholic saints with santeria orisha, or spirits/gods).

This research was very beneficial for me, as it gave me a richer knowledge of santeria, the deck, and my interpretations of this suit. Also, my astrological sun sign is Taurus, which is an earth sign. I like the outdoors, gardening, and all that, so this suit was a good one for me to work with.

I even had another a-ha moment with regard to two of the courts: Santeria -- Yaguo [Page of Pentacles] and Santeria -- Oriate [Knight of Pentacles]. These two cards are among the six extra cards I received when I first purchased the deck back in 1998/99, and I always figured that these six extra cards were a special message for me. I got part of that message today .

BTW: an oriate is a Santeria priest (santero) or priestess (santera) who is a diviner of the orisha! A book has this definition:

"Master of dilogun, deemed worthy of highest respect, an individual to whom the hierarchs of santeria submit themselves, particularly in any matter related to the deciphering of some mystery or sortilege. An oba oriate is a santero with expertise in divination." -- Creole Religions of the Caribbean: An Introduction from Voudou and Santeria

How cool is THAT?! This passage just resonated with me.

Guess I have a calling upon me and am actually worth the free air I suck up (I interpret this card to indicate one who is worthy or proven their worthiness, as the card alludes to the legend of King Arthur and how he had to pull the sword out of the stone to prove he was worthy to be king).

I even changed my avatar to this particular card, in homage.

Sorry for the long-winded post.

thorhammer, thank you for re-starting these IDS/one-deck wonder studies. I'm getting a lot out of it.

T.