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I have had tarot cards for many years now. Never really figured out how they worked really. But have a background in IT and website deployment as well as systems backup and maintenance. So with that background I created a project on Github (https://github.com/hampshirecottage-ai/ootk-thoth-engine) . Don't know if I am allow to post a link to it?? Anyway, I learn through doing and this has given me food for thought. I used some of the classical methods that I scrapped from the information on the Golden Dawn and Alister Crowley. Ai did the rest. I know that some of you probably hate AI, and I completely understand. But as I said learn from doing and a bit lazy... Anyway thought I would come check out some communities, so here I am.

New one out by Nell Grey: I have it but haven't read it yet. Looks like fun. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lost-Diary-Jazmin-Virgo/dp/B0HJMMWB3C

Please leave the word "clubs" behind at this point, I feel like it's being hyperfixated on. A study group can be run in a group quite efficiently. Here is the example: https://www.thetarotforum.com/clubs/19-example-reading-group/ You can have it made public so folks don't have to join it to talk in there, but it's as easy as clicking a button. The owner doesn't matter, but perhaps somebody who would like to organize it a little bit to add different "sub-forums" (see the menu in the example. I

Attending vitually right now... did I say I completely forgot I hadn't paid my balance 🤦🏾‍♀️ Duuugghhh! Anyway... I am enjoying hearing more about Pamela Coleman Smith & each presenters personal experiences 🙂 - some lovely presentations on magic/spellwork itself today. And Neil Kelso stage magician - was great as always. He directed us through some card tricks. Fascinating! 😉 Also delighted to hear that there is a Dutch Tarot conference, 4 years running now. Many years ago, I walked into The Wise Kat bookshop in Utrecht, Holland, saw my 1st ever Tarot cards & wondered what they were for 🥰 Such, is history!

I agree. We all need those lessons to grow-- or at the very least to have something to observe. Of course, we don't have to agree with every perspective, but we respect them regardless or at the very least ignore them altogether. That perspective will continue if it wants to, however sad or frustrated some things may make us. It's how life is. I know what you're saying. It can be the best of times, and the craziest of times, all at once. Sometimes you really enjoy what you're doing, sometimes you have to remind yourself to not take it too seriously lest you're craving to witness some horror of your own creation, lol. I still cringe when I think about some conclusions I'd thought I'd reached on my own (was there really a need?), but I guess that was part of the learning process as well. Eventually you fall in love with one voice, and while you experiment, you try to relate everything you see to that before you think of doing it on your own. This sums up my journey thus far; I'm happy when I play with my cards, and that play-time is allowed so I could make sense of how I think. That, however, is not something I'd venture to pass on to the others, at least not yet. It's personal. Other times, I use the voice I love to apply logic and structure to what I do. Of course, there are plenty of other wonderful stuff that I borrow from the others along the way (your own insight being one much appreciated example when I asked questions here), but something about that one voice will forever remain so special that you can't help but try to find an echo of it in all you see. It's certainly different for each one of us. Beautifully said, as always! Surely, there is no one and only true path; what a single reader does is not the way. Our best teachers attest to that. Questioning things is a necessity when we thoroughly know what we are doing; we expand on our foundations. I see myself capable of doing that in some places, in others I don't. Some things are also better left unchanged, or there will be nothing left of what we do. That's why it's so important to stick to something reliable in the beginning; it will be the spine of what you do, the roots of your tree of knowledge. One way or the other, that is largely what we pass on to others. It's the cord keeping everything else in place, and it's not the same for everybody.

But "Clubs" are somehow exclusive? I thought it was just a different name and perhaps format for the same function of the Study Groups

My point is that the study groups work fine as they are. Why fix it - it isn't broken. As they stand, anyone can join in. With a club you have to sign up. Ugh.

Here are some of my favorite cards. I really like the hanged man. The idea that just by hanging there she’s slowly unzipping a new perspective is fun. The page of wands helps me understand their character better. The knight of pentacles is what drew me to this deck, but I’m still trying to connect the strange horse to the meaning other than the rider might be going at their natural pace. And the ten of pentacles is just trippy and cool and shows an old man’s legacy superimposed on a tree’s rings. It’s a surreal, lush, unique deck. I’m looking forward to getting to know it.

I got the Tarot of Mystical Moments. :) I just went through each card and read the LWB. She did a good job at explaining what’s going on in each card and connecting it to the meaning. She really studied the card meanings and gave us her unique spin on it without losing track of what the card is meant to symbolize. So you get a man Emperor and woman Emperor, four kings who are men, and four who are women. I am putting pictures below. I went with the women cards for now, even if I preferred some of the men cards, because I thought it’d help me see the archetype more clearly ultimately, particularly with the court cards. I want to be able to see the court cards as their personalities without gender so I am hoping this helps break some of my mental rigidity. I do need to just do a study and connect characters and real people to the cards to help me understand the court cards better. But anyway. The LWB describes the man Emperor a little more flatteringly. I thought the one on the right described how government effects and manages people’s behavior in an interesting way. The LWB mentioned a marionette effect but also said she protects people. I think the woman king of wands was described as guiding others through peril or difficulty by shining her light and that she’ll never give up etc. And the man king of wands was drumming and waking the town up and calling them to follow him. I prefer the men kings here. The samurai looks lush (edit: and going off the LWB makes perfect sense) and the man king of cups is simple and captures the air of water thing. But I also thought the woman king of cups was so crazy looking, it might give me something interesting to journal about. I feel like I should do that to get a handle on what I feel about her, because it’s a lot. The woman king of swords confuses me a little. My ideas of the queen and king of swords kinda bleed into each other, so I have trouble distinguishing them personality/role-wise. So maybe this will challenge me to get a grip on them. I’ll post some of my favorite cards below.

Thank you gregory and fire cat pickles. I appreciate your insights as experienced participants in this forum. If the concern is cluttering up the main forum, couldn't we just keep our responses in this one thread? I don't anticipate a high level of participation so there's probably no need to create a bunch of separate threads for all the cards. That way no one needs to assert ownership and anyone can jump in at anytime with whatever level of participation they're comfortable with (including following along silently). Wherever we are in the year will determine which cards we're discussing, at least for the next year. Then assuming we make it that far, we would move into the center of the wheel around November 2027. Chesca writes that the minor arcana are fragmented parts of the major arcana, so it kind of makes sense to keep those discussions in the same thread anyway.

Yes, thanks, but I know the differences! I have a few decks of the Grand Lenormand, and many Lenormand Decks. I should have took more time to type what I wanted to say -- English being my second language -- but what I meant is I don't mind that they include this in the Anima Antiqua lineup, as the design is "original" or unique/interesting.

I have treated myself to the Autumn Wilds Seasonal Companion for the Forager's Daughter Tarot. Not as huge long study I might flunk out of before the end, jusr 4 weeks of lovelines! https://theforagersdaughter.com/products/autumn-wilds-seasonal-companion?utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&_kx=dQ4-KBAYwNUtlsFH9LyVhy54d-4x4yVqoOw2v7WccdLPrS9wwkrm0OQ5Zq4EEa8i.TptMEV She does send to UK, as well as her home USA, and P&P isn't too badf. Limited numbers I believe, so grab one if you like the deck too? PathWalker

Exactly this, @fire cat pickles I have joined one club here - and nothing ever happens there ! I'm not joining any more.

I have found that making groups exclusive discourages participation, if you consider that participation could include those that don't want to actively post but only want to browse. For example, I don't own the Greenwood but this doesn't mean I wouldn't want to follow along reading the discussion. If there was a club I wouldn't feel the need the join.

I think that is a very regrettable decision; someone looking for a study group is not going to look to "clubs" which is an area that several here - including me - see as a sort of "members only" thing. Not least because each has an "owner." Please reconsider. ETA They may be "flexible" - whatever that means to you; can't see it myself. But the footfall will be significantly less. Yuu don't go to "clubs" for a study.

No problem at all. I was re-reading the passage of the handbook. About this, she says "All the cards are based on European images; apparent similarities between our deck and other ‘native’ mythologies are because of similarities in early climate and lifestyles. For instance the continent that is now the USA had Ice Ages like Europe with the same prehistoric animals, i.e., mammoth; Przewalski horses and cave bears. A human in bison skin and horns was painted in a French cave (Chauvet) c. 28,000 BCE, echoing the contemporary Native American sacred bison dancers." Apart from that, the creative process of the cards, that tried to trace try to trace the universal archetypes, may have been influenced by images and pictures that she had seen and studied before starting it, I think

Strictly speaking, this wasn't "the original Lenormand look", if we by that refer to Das Spiel der Hoffnung, later renamed Petit Jeu de Mdlle Lenormand (the small Lenormand, 36 cards). This is Grand Jeu de Mdlle Lenormand, the greater Lenormand (52 cards). None of these decks have much, or anything, to do with the historical Marie Anne Lenormand (1772-1843), but were posthumously named after her for commercial purposes – similar to how the name and reputation of Ulrica Arfvidsson (1734-1801, of Verdi fame*) was posthumously used to sell various cartomancy books or magazines in Sweden. *A fictitious version of Arfvidsson (still under the name "Ulrica") is one of the characters –an Alto– in Verdi's Un ballo in maschera (1859).

Ilweran's work that @Rose Lalonde recalled here https://www.thetarotforum.com/forums/topic/3316-ilwerans-greenwood-tarot-journal/ seems too be precious not to be included in a "Club". If @ilweran were disposed to put their name as the owner of the club, I would be more than happy to join and try to give my contribution

Oh, wonderful! I didn't see it :) We could also join that thread, if ilweran doesn't mind @cspacediva

Thank you, TekkieTarot. I really appreciate you taking the time to share such a detailed answer. I especially liked the way you described the Empress as someone a person prioritizes, as well as something that is still in the process of being created or brought into being. Those are both good examples of how much the card can shift depending on the context of the reading. Your examples of her showing up in more everyday situations — getting dressed up, feeling feminine, or thinking about how you want to present yourself — were interesting too. That gives me another way to think about how her energy can show up outside of the larger archetypal meanings.

This looks like one lovely challenge. But why does it slumber so? I will meet it with the Visconti.

If you want to make a full study group with threads and things, you can request one here.... We are slowly transitioning all the old groups to the clubs, because they are more flexible to work with. Someone needs to put their name on it as the "owner" of the club and request it on that page above, but then anyone can post and join in and keep it going.

Thank you, Rose. It looks like there's a lot there, so I will dive into that too. I'm already falling out of my chair after reading the first post, because in addition to having a collection of tarot decks, I also have a collection of journals, both blank and filled. I always have several journals going at once--planning journals, reflection journals, nature journals....very special decks get their own dedicated journals, and then I have general tarot journals to keep track of readings for decks that don't have their own journals. Of course none of these are truly distinct categories and one area will bleed into another. I have tried to commit to finishing the journals I already have going before starting another new one. But, this deck is special and a dedicated journal seemed to be called for. I had a already picked out one of my blank journals that I've been holding on to for a few years. Yes, it's the same one @ilweran mentioned--Paperblanks Poetry in Bloom. That is CRAZY!!! To be fair, it does coordinate very nicely with the deck. I am no stranger to these serendipitous moments that happen in tarot, but they still amaze me.

It's the same there, which will be where Llewellyn got it.

If you haven't seen it, @ilweran also has had a journal on the greenwood here for years that links to art sources, etc. You may already know all these sources, but passing along in case it's helpful. Even as someone who knows little about pagan decks, I found it interesting. ilweran's Greenwood Tarot Journal - Tarot, Tea, & Me - A Tarot Reader's Community