Intensive Deck Study (IDS) Support Thread ~ Part 3

[Brigid]

@Cat*...

Yes you can get matte paper, I get quite a nice double sided matte photo paper from a seller on ebay. I can then print the back straight on.
They are in Australia, but I'm sure you could get it anywhere...

Good luck!

 

[SunriseDesire]

Forgive me if I seem a little outta the loop, but what goes into an IDS?

 

[Wendywu]

The idea behind it is that when you come across a deck that really calls to you in a deep way, you might want to make a special study of it. This is a quote from rodney's post on the first page

Anyone is welcome to join in at any time, with any deck, for any duration they care to commit to. To join, all you have to do is post in this thread to say you're joining and let us know what deck(s) you'll be using.

This thread is where you can post about your difficulties, your triumphs, breakthroughs, and maybe even chat with others using the same deck in their own IDS. This thread is not about judging people's difficulties or failures, but about supporting people when/if they run into problems with their IDS.

..........................


Most IDSers have found it helpful to post a list of pledges about what they will/won't do during their IDS. Here is one post about what did and didn't work for me in making (and keeping) my pledges for the first IDS.

afrosaxon's synopsis of the IDS can be found here.

Most of us have committed to work with our chosen one deck exclusively for a self-chosen period of time. We direct our own study and post here to moan, encourage and ask questions etc. It is a self imposed discipline that adds greatly to an overall understanding of tarot, not just of that study-deck - but not everyone wants to do something like this, and that's absolutely fine too

There are specific study groups for most decks - we add our studies to those threads or to blogs or in handwritten journals, and how/when/what aspect we study is self chosen.

It can be fun, it can be frustrating but it certainly adds to your knowledge.

 

[Cat*]

<red faced> Thanks for trying out the spread, Cat. Sorry it didn't take a bit more.., er, pleasant turn. Maybe struggle is a positive message. It's testing you, making you want to work harder and overcome its challenge.

Are you blushing because I tried your spread, or because of the cards my Greenwood threw at me when I did?

Seriously, I find such readings funny. Getting the exact cards that I have just complained about not understanding well must have triggered my stubbornness - because now I'm actually reading up on the Greenwood court animals... Add in "Frustration" and "Struggle" and watch me go into "Ha! Now I'll try and understand you more than ever, my dear Greenwood!" mode in an instant! That deck knows me too well already if it can trick me into studying/working like that!

I believe you're right: That deck IS challenging me to WORK for grokking it. (Just as I'm writing this I remember that I recently complained about not being challenged enough and never really having to work for something I want to understand -- seems like my wish has been granted! )

So I'm not seriously complaining, just sharing a friendly eye-rolling about my dear deck here with you.

I actually IMed Rachel Pollack last night on Facebook and got crazy nervous and felt like a Jewish girl in 1989 meeting Patrick Swayze. (thats a lot of cultural reference, sorry haha).

Let me guess: you got there because you carried a watermelon?

By the way, do you guys get, I don't know, deck protective? Yesterday, someone in the de-enabling thread asked about the Haindl, so I gave it my all. To help her out? Nope-- really just to avoid someone stepping up on my Hermann. Since obviously Hermann is a small, unknown deck that's NOT sold anywhere tarot decks might be available, or anything.

Is that really weird?

I would be worried if you suddenly decided to buy up all existing Haindls (ALL copies, not just one or two per version) so no one but you could touch them with their dirty paws and look at them with their shallow eyes...

Other than that: It's just a fierce honeymoon monogamy urge you're experiencing right now. It will pass eventually and you'll be happy to share again soon.

Yes you can get matte paper, I get quite a nice double sided matte photo paper from a seller on ebay. I can then print the back straight on.
They are in Australia, but I'm sure you could get it anywhere...

Good luck!

Thanks for the information! I'll ask at the copy shop first and see what they have. If it's not what I want, I'll go and look for matte photo paper.

In terms of my own IDS, I've started to read up on the court card animals in the Greenwood. I have two big beautifully illustrated animal encyclopedias, and a few smaller books on animals (including Ted Andrews' "Animal Speak" and the Carr-Gomm's book for the "Druid Animal Oracle"). So yesterday night, I sat in my bed, surrounded by heavy books, copying relevant bits and pieces about three of the animals (Kingfisher, Heron, and Wren) into my tarot notebook/journal. I found out great stuff about all three of them!

- Wren has many subspecies (is that the correct term?) but only one of them actually lives in Europe. They weave round nests in hollow spaces (in hollow trees, between tree roots, but also in the pockets of jackets left hanging in garden sheds). They are loud and good singers, and often sing duets.

- Kingfisher builds nests by flying against "earth walls" from river banks with its sharp beak, eventually making a tunnel into them. It never cleans out its nest, though, so eventually it starts to stink a lot due to rotting fish leftovers.

- Heron nests up in trees in colonies. When an intruder comes, the whole Heron family vomits out of their nest in defense. I find that sooo hilarious, especially for a bird that looks so dignified much of the time.

These are just the most interesting/surprising bits I remember. I plan to continue this until I have something about each animal. I'm limiting myself to my offline sources for now because anything else would only result in research overkill for me (I'm terrible at that - it's big fun to click from link to link, but also VERY time-consuming and not particularly effective). When I have some basic idea about each animal, I can still go back and do another round of more intensive research. I like starting with some general information about the animals as such before I go and look for more on their mythology. It also fits in with my approach to learning about animals in a shamanic context.

Today, I plan to do Woodpecker and Hawk, and maybe Salmon and/or Adder. It seems to make sense to go by "biological animal category", i.e. all birds together, all mammals together, and the rest (one fish, one snake) inbetween. I'll probably also group Fox, Bear, Lynx, and Wolf ("wild hunters" to me), as well as Deer, Reindeer, and Horse (hoof animals), and finally Hare and Stoat/Ferret (the smallest of the mammals/"the rest").

Aside from that, I've started to wonder about the seasonal and elemental associations of the Greenwood again. Chesca Potter and Mark Ryan use wands for fire/spring and arrows (swords) for air/summer, which is different than the RWS system of swords/air/spring and wands/fire/summer. Cups/water/autumn and stones (pentacles)/earth/winter are the same in both systems. I haven't thought this through but would like to hear your takes on associating summer with air/arrows (swords) and spring with fire/wands... Does that make sense to you? Why (not)?

 

[Faolainn Storm]

I just had one of those moments - I was reading post on an only vaguely related forum, and someone posted a link to a New York Times article on Lost European Cultures. Out of curiousity I clicked through, and began skimming it. Then, halfway down the page I spotted a picture of a figurine - that MUST have been the inspiration for the figure on the Greenwood's Four of Cups! What a weird coincidence! I guess that is the universes way of telling me I am on the right track with the Greenwood!

Only thing is, now I have a whole new area to research! I just wish I was in NY to go see the exhibition

FS

Edited to Add: Just flicked over to read the next post on the same forum and found a link to an article on a White Stag - which is the Queen of Arrows (air). Maybe the universe thought I needed a little extra hint!

 

[Faolainn Storm]

How did you laminate your cards? I meant to ask about that yesterday already but must have forgotten. And how did you glue on the back paper? Doesn't it come off when you shuffle the deck? Or don't you shuffle it that much in the first place since it's mainly your study deck?

I was thinking that I can maybe do without lamination if I have the copy laser-printed...

For the backing I used a spray glue. By spraying both pieces of paper, the glue is supposed to be permanent. It seems to be working, I have yet to have any peeling of the backing paper. For the lamination, I invested in a laminating machine. I have had a little peeling of the lamination - so if I was to do it again, I think I would run the pages through the machine twice (most of the peeling is on the back and as I ran them all through the machine picture side up, I figure I should have run them through both sides up - the pages were very thick). But as most of the peeling is on the back, and I can restick the corners with glue it doesn't worry me too much.

I have shuffled them quite a bit, and it doesn't seem to be causing any damage to the lamination so far (what little peeling there is has been there since the beginning). However, I figure that I can always reprint any that do get damaged, so I am not in the least bit gentle while shuffling them.

I decided to laminate because I was worried that without it the backing might peel off. And when I tried it out it made the colours so vivid, that I loved the effect. But you could go without it. A well printed deck should be waterproof and last reasonably well (I know because I printed a smaller version of another deck when I was IDSing it, and it lasted really well - but was hard to shuffle, as the photo paper on its own is a little too thin.)

As for matte paper, I know its available, but I personally like the glossy, as it really makes the colours pop. I went with glossy lamination for the same reason, even though it is possible to find matte lamination (if you look hard enough).

And I'm not the least worried that this is off topic. After all the process of making a working copy of my deck has been a big part of my IDS. I has really helped me connect with the images.

FS

 

[rwcarter]

I've come to three realizations about my IDS in the last couple of days.

First, I was finally able to set aside some time Thursday night to actually get back to studying my deck when I realized that the two desks I use are so full of other crap that I can't study effectively. So today becomes desk clearing day.

Second, I realized that for my only successful IDS (Ancient Egyptian Tarot), I made a deck-specific box for the deck. My subsequent IDSs with the Transparent Tarot and the Fifth Tarot failed for other reasons, but I didn't make a box for either deck. So after I get my study area all cleaned up, I need to make a box for the deck. I went through the cards and the imagery on 4 of the cards jumped out at me as being appropriate for a box cover - The Fool, The Magician, The Hierophant and The Chariot. But I think I'm going to let the deck tell me which image should grace the cover of its box. I'll do my normal shuffling routine and whatever card ends up on top will grace the top of the box.

Third, I've had (placeholder) for far too long next my name on the master list, so I finally decided to just get off the pot and put Mythic back there.

Rodney

 

[thorhammer]

Third, I've had (placeholder) for far too long next my name on the master list, so I finally decided to just get off the pot and put Mythic back there.

LOL And I was reading the first part of your post, thinking, "Hey! I don't even know what deck Rodney's using!" Now I do How is it going, largely? How are you feeling about the deck? You're very familiar with the Mythic, are you not?

\m/ Kat

 

[rwcarter]

How is it going, largely? How are you feeling about the deck? You're very familiar with the Mythic, are you not?

The Mythic was the first deck I bought in 1991, and I used it exclusively for a couple of years before adding the Witches Tarot (Cannon Reed) and the Robin Wood into the mix. I figured that with the skills I learned in my IDS with the Ancient Egyptian, it might be interesting to go back to where it all started and see what I could do with the deck now.

Truthfully, other things at Aeclectic have basically stalled my IDS. I haven't entered anything into my "journal" for the deck in 5 months.... That's why I was all excited about actually making the time to get back to studying and then really annoyed when I realized that I couldn't.

And since my earlier post today, I realized that it may be awhile before I'll be able to make the box cause the program I use to design the boxes is on my desktop, which is currently giving me problems.

Rodney

 

[LotusSong]

Wow, that box is gorgeous! I wish I could make a deck-specific box like that for all my decks. (It would certainly make moving my Shakespearean around easier, since the box it comes in is so big.)

I'm sorry you're having such a hard time finding the time to study your deck rwcarter. :/ Now that your desks are cleaned off, hopefully next time you can get some extra studying done to make up for it?