Doing a reading and then comparing the cards from different decks.

[fall_guy]

Has anyone tried this..?

You do a reading with one deck, and then compare the cards you pulled with those from another deck (in other words, say you use the World Spirit deck and pull the fool, 5 of wands and the hierophant, and then get these cards out from another deck for comparison)?

I've been trying to improve my intuitive approach to reading, and it's interesting to see how the imagery in a different deck can give you alternative interpretations of the problem/question (or re-inforce a particular pattern that's occured to you).

 

[blackstormhawk]

I've used mutliple decks in readings to get clarification or additional information, but never like that! That's a very intesting idea ... I'll have to try that soon.

 

[ana luisa]

I love the idea. However, I´d rather do this with decks that REALLY differ in imagery say Rider and Druidcraft.

 

[star-lover]

I asked a similar question yesterday in talking tarot
I too think its interesting to get a differing view from another deck (and even from a rws clone deck as well as they have differences as well)

i think it can make the reading more subtle and richer

 

[SunChariot]

Has anyone tried this..?

You do a reading with one deck, and then compare the cards you pulled with those from another deck (in other words, say you use the World Spirit deck and pull the fool, 5 of wands and the hierophant, and then get these cards out from another deck for comparison)?

I've been trying to improve my intuitive approach to reading, and it's interesting to see how the imagery in a different deck can give you alternative interpretations of the problem/question (or re-inforce a particular pattern that's occured to you).

Nope have never tried that. Although I have on many occasions pulled cards from more than one deck for the same question.

Don't take this the wrong way, and of course we are all on our own paths in Tarot, but that way would not make sense to me in the way I understand Tarot. And of course we all understand it differently.

I also read very intuitively. Which I guess means to me that there is no real connection between the 5 of Wands in one deck and the same card in the other. The way I read, the same card in different decks does not at all have the same meaning. Even the same card in the same deck varies greatly in meaning from one reading to the next, and never has the same meaning twice. It's like if I had 10 decks, I would have 780 unique and magical cards, each with very magically fluid meanings.

I guess that means that if I got the Hierophant in one deck, to me, that does not mean that the Hierophant in the next deck is related to my answe in any way.

Well those are my opinions...

Babs

 

[zach bender]

special case

would not make sense to me in

I work with two rather different decks, and I certainly understand what SunChariot is saying: each of these decks speaks to me in rather different ways. But the one deck is said by the artist to have been based on the Rider-Waite meanings, and the other deck is a Rider-Waite, so once or twice I have laid out the same cards from the Rider-Waite, specifically for the purpose of comparing the imagery, to try to see where the artist had made different choices. Otherwise, each deck is on its own.

zb

 

[YDM42]

I do this with Osho Zen and Rider Waite = I combine the meanings for a general day to day, then a more zen or meditative meaning. (spiritual)

It helps a lot when I'm need to know how to respond to things going on in my life.

 

[Niti]

I also read very intuitively. Which I guess means to me that there is no real connection between the 5 of Wands in one deck and the same card in the other. The way I read, the same card in different decks does not at all have the same meaning. Even the same card in the same deck varies greatly in meaning from one reading to the next, and never has the same meaning twice. It's like if I had 10 decks, I would have 780 unique and magical cards, each with very magically fluid meanings.

I agree. For me, pulling the same cards from different decks to "compare" and find more meaning in the cards would actually be a great way to screw up my reading. It would just make for a lot of pointless misunderstandings and misinterpretations. When I pull one card from one deck, it is usually because there is something about the artwork, colors, imagery, or general feeling/energy in that particular card that will point me to the meaning I need to read from it. Because so many artists take different approaches to making their cards - in symbolism, pictures, colors, intent, etc....it is impossible, at least for me, to make the reading any more clear by reading the same card from multiple decks. Once I start to read with one deck, I stick with that. If I were to get the same meaning out of a card in another deck, I might even pull a completely different card from that one. Even if they are both RW-based.

I dunno though...it could work. I suppose it's kind of like using books for readings...when I first started reading, I used books about the general RW deck to help me read decks based on the RW style/symbolism. It didn't really screw me up, and many of my readings had threads of truth and accuracy in them, even though I was doing that.
Still, I think the best way to develop your intuitive approach is to read what you can from that one deck or card, rather than drawing from outside sources. That way, you sort of force yourself to see things in that card, even if you have to struggle to do so...rather than taking the easy route by drawing meanings from an easier-to-read card.

 

[Bridget]

I took a tarot reading class a few years ago, and my teacher said that a good reader can work with a pack of 78 index cards inscribed with the card names and nothing more. But that only seems possible if you have a mental store of meanings for each card. And if your mental store of meanings includes something that occurred to you when you worked with the RWS, why not apply it to another deck?

For instance, I think the Thoth 8w is a much better representation of "swiftness" than the RWS, because it looks like an explosion. Now when I see the RWS image, I remember that it can mean explosive energy.

Granted, I say this as one only beginning to study the Thoth, so I may feel differently down the road. And I don't think it works for all cards - I'd never interpret the Thoth Aeon the way I would the RWS Judgment.

But I think reading is about your reaction to the card. We usually think of the card in terms of the image, but the name is a huge part of it too, and if the title "Ace of Wands" makes you think of something you don't see in the image, I think that's ok.

 

[euripides]

Definitely a case of 'what works for you...'

I do this a lot and it definitely works well for me. If I NEED to do it, because I just can't see anything in the cards, then its an indication that its the wrong deck for me.

I think I do it mentally a lot - I enjoy reading with my Celtic Davis/Patterson deck, but still find the pip minors a bit hard (the same with my new Tarot de Marseille) so I mentally picture the RWS card or more often the Spiral card, since the spiral is my main reading deck. But I try not to let that 'drown out' what I'm seeing in the original reading.

I don't think of the cards as magical in themselves, and to me a five-of-swords is a five-of-swords, whichever deck I've drawn it from. Some decks might focus on one aspect of the card more than another.

That's how I see it, anway. Clearly not what works for others.

I also sometimes draw cards from different decks in the same reading.

Euri