Deck of The Weeek: Sign-up Thread: Week 164 : August 29 - September 4

[VGimlet]

This thread is for those who would like to work through their collection of decks.  Each week we will be picking a deck (or decks) to work with for the week.

 

All are welcome. Please join us!      The only rules we have are the Tarot Tea & Me rules; be respectful to each other.    

 

You can drop in and out,  time and real life permitting.   New to tarot?  Long time reader?   Come on in.  

 

1. Please post with your chosen deck for the week.

 

2. Chat away about your deck, how you're finding it etc.

 

Participants:

 

1.  VGimlet - Otherworld Tarot & Pharos Tarot

2. Amberjune - Magical Mermaids and Dolphins Oracle and the Story Medicine Tarot

3. Aj-ish/Sharyn  - Telluric Tarot

4. Gardener - Fantastic Menagerie

5. Bodhiseed - Secret Forest Tarot paired with the Faeries Oracle

6. Madame Squee - Playing Card Oracles.

7. TheFeeLion - Fairy Lights

8. vulprix - Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery

 

 

 

 

 

 

(474)

Edited August 31, 2020 by VGimlet

[VGimlet]

Another week with the Otherworld, this week along with the big, beautiful 22 card majors deck - Pharos Tarot.   

Edited August 27, 2020 by VGimlet

[Amberjune]

Thank you for the new thread, @VGimlet. I love the Pharos Tarot and think it is a fantastic Majors deck.

 

My random number selector called up the following decks for this week:

Magical Mermaids and Dolphins Oracle and the Story Medicine Tarot

 

Happy readings everybody!

 

 

[AJ-ish/Sharyn]

Telluric Tarot. Watercolor. Rocks. Plants. What's not to love? Thanks VG

[Gardener]

Hi Everyone,

 

I am delighted to report that I went digging in my basement yesterday and found about 20 decks that have not seen the light of day in 13 years.  What fun!  What a treasure trove!  Three of the decks I found were majors-only, and I admit I've never done anything with a majors-only deck besides collecting it.  Any suggestions from the group as to something fun to do with these decks?  One is by Sergio Toppi, who is getting buzz these days for the upcoming (delayed?) Primordial sequel to the Tarot of the Origins.

 

AJ - great new picture!

 

AJ and Amberjune, will you post pictures?

 

This week I am going to dig into the Fantastic Menagerie.  I think I am going to use it for fiction writing prompts.

 

What do you guys do in your DOTW exploration?  Draw a card a day, do a three card reading?  Suggestions eagerly awaited!

[AJ-ish/Sharyn]

Anything I do with the cards, I do with whatever deck I've chosen that week.

Everyday I do a blog post.

Sometimes I do a reading on national events. 

Occasionally someone will ask if I'll do or exchange a reading.

I haven't done for for a long time, but sometimes I offer One Minute Wonder readings on a thread here.

I do a big reading at year end.

Sometimes I join a circle here.

I do an occasional full moon or sabbat reading.

Sometimes I do a search on the artist and/or author to get a fuller picture of who or what they are. 

Sometimes Bodhiseed uses an unusual deck, so I'll pull her card of the day on her blog to see how mine speaks.

Sometimes I alter the cards, trim off the borders or add paint or ink the edges. Looking at a card from all four edges/sides gives a new perspective on them. 

If they have hexagrams I look those up.

Sometimes I use them to play solitaire

Some decks tell a story so I lay the full deck out. The Xultun comes to mind. 

In January I review what I have, update my lists, cull, make sure I use decks that haven't made this rotation cycle. 

 

The Telluric does not use traditional imagery, so this week I'll also be reading the companion book that goes with it. I also added the alchemical suit emblem in gold paint pen to the cards 🙂 to make life easier for myself. 

 

Back to your 78 LoS decks subject, did you see my response in last weeks thread? I have even more response now 🙂 I've been doing some research...

[Gardener]

Hi AJ - thanks for the list of deck activities.  I have been in "study" mode rather than "readings" mode as part of my tarot reset, and it's nice to see how other people choose to spend time with their cards.  

 

I have trimmed a few decks myself - my trimmed Thoth is one of my favorites.  So vibrant!  I hadn't thought of coloring in the edges as an alternative, I like that.  There are decks I enjoy but can't use because the keywords lead me astray.  Paint might be the solution!

 

Yes, I did read your suggestion that I hunt for 78 Lo Scarabeo decks, oh my!  That was a rather overwhelming thought.  Beautiful, but more work than I can imagine doing.  The size of the project, at 26 decks, is just right for my appetite.  Also, I don't know if you know the Artist's Inner Vision but it was a deck created by a collective of 26 artists, 3 cards each, and there is something I adore about seeing one artist pop up in three different places.  It gives the deck a special resonance.  Ah, the power of three!

 

I'd love to hear your newest response!!

[VGimlet]

I do a daily three card draw.  I have a little flip notebook that has many many three card spreads I've gathered over the years, and some 2 card and 4 card spreads too.  When I'm using an oracle or a 22 card deck along with my tarot I will use that as "what else I need to know" for the 3 card drawing.

 

I usually do a big spread at the end of the year - what will the coming  year bring.  Sometimes I do readings about current events.  I do read for friends and family - I don't charge,  except to raise money for charity.     

 

I use any new decks for a week minimum.   Before I use them I go through and write down all the information - ISBN, publishing date, when I bought it, cost, if it's collectible or not, etc..  I also check out the illustrator and author.    Do a basic review that includes a general description of the cards.   .  Then after my week is over, I write down my impressions of the deck.   Did I like it, was it easy to shuffle, easy to read with, what level tarot reader would it work for.   I'll also decide if I want to put it on what I call my "more later" list, and those decks I use for at least a month. 

Edited August 29, 2020 by VGimlet

[Bodhiseed]

Looking at your lists of what y'all do with your decks makes me feel lazy. 😂 Right now, I just do a daily blog.

This week I'm in with the Secret Forest Tarot paired with the Faeries Oracle. Thank you VG!🐞

[Madame Squee]

Thank you for the thread, VG 💐 I'm in with The Playing Card Oracles.

 

You all have so many great ideas for DOTW activities!!!

 

Myself, I just lay the cards out, 2 to 5 at a time, looking for patterns and connections between and among them. Sometimes, I research the meanings of new symbols. I'm terrible at journaling, but I keep promising myself I will do it. I like to make a special tarot bag or prepare a special box for my DOTW. Sometimes, I also will alter a deck. And although my daughter enjoys having a reading once in awhile, I mostly read for fictitious sitters. 

 

During the past 18 years since I discovered it, I've probably spent more time with this week's deck than any other divination deck. I'm drawn to playing cards in general, but I'm transfixed by C.J. Freeman's unforgettable art. In the Playing Card Oracles, 10's are Ladies, part of the Court...

 

Edited August 30, 2020 by Madame Squee

[TheFeeLion]

@Madame Squeethat's a beautiful deck!

@Bodhiseed I love the Faeries Oracle, its one of my favs 😁

 

I'm going to give this a go this week. I have recently acquired a copy of Fairy Lights which I haven't done anything with yet, so this should be fun 😁

Hopefully the busy week ahead of me won't get in the way of playing with my cards🤞

Not sure what I'm going to do with them yet but I know I'll be doing a 3 card deck interview. I like do that with any new decks I get. I also want to let them all out so I can find the matching images. I read somewhere that the cards are arranged in pairs that form a bigger picture. I'd like to make a list of pairs so when I do readings with the deck I could use that list to find what is unseen

Edited August 30, 2020 by TheFeeLion

[Amberjune]

Thank you to everybody for sharing your practices with the Deck of the Week and thank you @Gardener for bringing the question.

 

I use my decks of the week for my daily draws. Each day  I pull two tarot cards, one oracle card and one animal or nature card (usually from the Animal Spirit Deck by the creator of the Wild Unknown tarot).  Before I pull the cards I tune myself to the day and think of the tarot cards I would like to receive. Looking at what I would like to receive vs what I do receive is often illuminating and expands my practice. If I feel fancy I will create a daily spell/ mantra from the combination of cards I pull (this is inspired by the wonderful T Susan Chang).

 

I don't do a lot of readings (as in spreads)  but when I do, I don't necessarily use the deck of the week, but pull out whichever deck calls to me or one of my trusty go to decks.

 

Because I have way more decks than I can use in a year (or two 😉) I keep an excel with all my tarots and one with all my oracles and each week have a random number generator pick my decks of the weeks, once picked a deck gets crossed out until I have cycled through all of them. There are weeks when things get rough where I allow myself to pick up a comfort deck or if I do not get on with a particular deck, I will pick up a different one. But the intention is get to all of them eventually.

 

Personally I don't have very many Lo Scarabeo decks. The Crystal Tarot has beautiful colors and some of the majors are stunning. I like the Impressionist Tarot, it reads really well for me. And the Tarot of 1001 Nights is very beautiful.

 

Below a photo of my decks for the week. Again with censored nudity...

 

 

 

[Bodhiseed]

This week I'll be using Tarot of the Secret Forest, created by Lucia Mattioli and published by Lo Scarabeo. I'll also be drawing from the Faeries' Oracle created by Brian Froud with text by Jessica Macbeth; it was published by Simon & Schuster. Today's cards are the Eight of Swords and the Bright Mother:

 

          We all find ourselves in the briar patch eventually; sometimes it's our own choices that get us there, and sometimes it's just the unexpected twists and turns of life. But how I meet my situation - my relationship with it - will determine whether or not I manage to extricate myself. If I sit around wringing my hands and conclude the sky is falling, those thorns will just grow in more snugly. But if I take the Brer Rabbit approach, remembering I've been given a mind that is geared to come up with some solutions or options, I can eventually nibble my way clear. The Bright Mother suggests a combination of creativity and compassion. While I'm busy disentangling myself using a variety of tactics, I must not forget to practice some self-care along the way. Bandaids, both literal and metaphorical, can be beneficial when I get pricked too hard.

 

Viewing slips as simple alerts that our willpower is fatigued and needs to recover (instead as indications of failure) will allow us to acknowledge the lapse without getting further off track.

― Guy Winch

[Gardener]

VGimlet,

 

Thanks so much for sharing the things you do with your deck each week!  How many weeks have you been studying the Otherworld now?  In addition to being curious about what people do as their personal Tarot practice, I'm also wondering what sorts of relationships everyone has with their decks?  I have to move back and forth between 4-5 favorites.  Others on this thread seem to be very organized about rotating through all their decks without showing favoritism.  So many options!

[Bodhiseed]

34 minutes ago, Gardener said:

 

I'm also wondering what sorts of relationships everyone has with their decks?  I have to move back and forth between 4-5 favorites.  Others on this thread seem to be very organized about rotating through all their decks without showing favoritism.  So many options!

I tend to be the organized type - though I have my favorites, I rotate through all my decks anyway. I find that some decks, after a period of time, I enjoy more than before. Others that I thought were great sometimes lose their shine. If, after using them over a period of years without much inspiration, I try to pass them on.

[vulprix]

2 hours ago, Gardener said:

[...] I'm also wondering what sorts of relationships everyone has with their decks?  I have to move back and forth between 4-5 favorites.  Others on this thread seem to be very organized about rotating through all their decks without showing favoritism.  So many options!

Hi everyone! I will be using the Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery for myself this week.
 

@Gardener, I feel like I’m the most lackadaisical in this thread so far. I choose the deck based on my mood, or based on what I feel I need to pay more attention to. Like last week I chose the Victorian Romantic because it was quite the opposite of pip decks that I had been gravitating toward. Also, it was expensive, so I really wanted to pay more attention to it like I had once in days of old!

 

This week I chose Sevenfold Mystery because the preliminary draw seemed promising. In other words, a matter of intuition. 🙂

 

And really when I choose a DOTW, that just means that I stay committed to that deck for the whole week, at least in reading for myself! 🙂

[Madame Squee]

I'm working with The Playing Card Oracles (Ana Cortez & C.J. Freeman).

 

This morning, I've been looking at 3-card spreads, and in doing so, realized that the one-eyed Jacks are both left-handed (an observation that probably should be followed up with additional research). 

 

From this particular combination (9s-Jh-Js), I got this message: 

Faced with a grave threat, the one-eyed Jacks have each other's back. 

 

Anyway, I'm always excited when they appear together. They make an interesting pair. The Jack of Hearts is cunning. The Jack of Spades follows orders. And I can't stop looking at them. 

 

[Gardener]

Oh Vulprix, thank goodness for you!  I thought I was the only lackadaisical one!  There was bodhiseed saying - all I do is my daily blog!  And I'm like - just that?  Really?  I could never in a million years manage a daily blog.  I do a monthly newsletter article for my church, and that is the absolute max I can do.  I don't know how in the world I'm going to post weekly for the 78 week study...

 

Seriously, folks, it's fantastic to hear all the ways you interact with your cards.  Tarot is endlessly malleable, isn't it?

 

And thanks for posting all the pictures - so many different imaginations at work...

 

I am finding my experience this week with the Fantastic Menagerie completely different from the interaction with the Ironwing.  The Ironwing felt very serious, like an older sister educating me.  I felt the need to type out Loreena's full explanations from the guidebook.  I typed out the whole entry for each of the three cards and I feel like I've only begun to scratch the surface.  I want to come back to those cards, I want to imagine the people who use the objects on the cards.  Meanwhile, in contrast, the Fantastic Menagerie is super chatty from the get-go, and although the guidebook is a delightful read, it's a separate experience.  This deck reads "right out of the box" as it were.  

 

So I have ANOTHER question for everyone - can you describe the different FEELING of working with two recent decks?  I'd love to see if other people have these experiences.

[AJ-ish/Sharyn]

I don't do everything every week! This week, because the Telluric Tarot is rocks and flowers, and because I've already written all over the book and cards, I'm adding a note in the book for the cards I pull of the Mohs hardness scale, and when and where that rock/gem was discovered. I printed out the hardness scale to add to the book which already contains some paper notes, a couple of sticky notes and a print out of the majors. Fun to find when its next turn comes up in the rotation and I can add to the fund of knowledge then. 

My last three weeks were Patchwork, Spiritsong, Telluric. Utterly different, like Ironwing and Fantastic Menagerie! I used different decks in the beginning to help me learn outside keywords. Now they keep my brain spry, but in the end we only know what is within us, and that is what they bring out. Why we help out with reading queries here, our insight differs from someone else's and helps fill in the gaps. 

[VGimlet]

On 8/30/2020 at 5:50 AM, Gardener said:

VGimlet,

 

Thanks so much for sharing the things you do with your deck each week!  How many weeks have you been studying the Otherworld now?  In addition to being curious about what people do as their personal Tarot practice, I'm also wondering what sorts of relationships everyone has with their decks?  I have to move back and forth between 4-5 favorites.  Others on this thread seem to be very organized about rotating through all their decks without showing favoritism.  So many options!

This will be my 3rd week of 4 I'll spend with the Otherworld.   Then I either have to hope a new deck comes in the mail, or figure out which of my older decks I want to use for 4 weeks next.  😎 

I don't do everything every week either.  BUT I do try to do a three card daily draw, that's my goal, but some weeks are better than others.  Heh.  

 

I have a number of favorite decks.   My favorite deck for personal use is the Mary-el, which I feel particularly attached to as it not only speaks to me, but I also started watching the deck being created online card by card many, many moons ago.   I also use the Gilded a LOT for reading for others, people seem to like it, and if I have several decks I'm using (when I'm reading for a bunch of people or at an event) that one is picked the most frequently.   I also love the Rock and Roll tarot, and the Universal Waite (US Games) and my favorite marseille deck is... the one whose name escapes me at the moment, but it was a recreation of one of the old decks.   I also like the Lo Scarabeo Visconti quite a bit.  

 

I can say that I've noticed decks have a different tone to them.  The Thoth always seems a little over the top, and slightly sarcastic.  My gilded tarot is very straightforward.   One of my fluffy bunny decks, the Hello Kitty gave conversely very dark readings.  Some are more mellow (Otherworld is kind of a brown-paper-bag tarot as far as readings go)

 

Welcome FeeLion!!!    Enjoy the DOTW group!

Edited August 31, 2020 by VGimlet

[Gardener]

I wonder why it makes me so happy to hear someone describe their 5-6 favorite decks?  It's one of the most wonderful things, hearing about those relationships.  I guess it's because a deck is the creation of so many people, filtered through one artist, and then it goes out to many people, and filters down to YOU.  So the Mary-El (I watched the creation too, it was wonderful to behold) contains the whole history of tarot, but equally it contains Marie's unique vision.  And many of us develop relationships with it, but for you it's your special personal deck.  There's such a rich web of relationship there.  

 

I wonder how people feel about their favorite personal deck.  It's almost like a diary, isn't it?  Of course someone else drew the pictures, but over time you develop your personal associations with each card.  My special deck is the Blue Rose, and I feel like each card is an old friend.  

 

The Gilded is a great deck for parties, isn't it?  And I agree that the Visconti has a certain antique charm, although I rarely read with it.

[AJ-ish/Sharyn]

my favorites morph over the years. Well so have I so no wonder.

I binned the Gilded mid-week, fail for me. 

I too watched the Mary-El from inception. tried to like it, trimmed it, inked it, sold it on. Just too damned personal, like looking in someone else's medicine cabinet. 

🙂  

[TheFeeLion]

Thanks for the welcome @VGimlet😁

 

I've now pulled cards for 2 spreads with the Fairy Lights; a deck interview and a reading for someone here on the forum. As yet I haven't actually done the readings for either of them, too much other stuff getting in the way 🙄

I have, however discovered a pdf of all the card pairings which has already come in handy for the forum reading! As I was looking at all the card pairs I noticed all of the cards I drew (except for the one in the First Steps position) were the left half of the pair picture. It didn't seam like much at first but then I realised that as this reading is about being stuck the person's First Steps out of stuckness should be completely different to what they would normally do!

 

The deck interview I should really sit down do properly, especially now I have that pdf. 

This is the spread I did (thanks to the lovely person on here I can't remember it's from) 

 

1  3  2

 

1. Who are you? 

2. Who am I? 

3. How will we work together? 

[Gardener]

@TheFeeLion I've been meaning to reply to this post.  Did you really get the happy dancing couple for your "how will we work together" card???  How perfect is that?  That's just uncanny.  I feel like pulling out my personal favorite deck and asking it if it still feels that way about me.  Your deck luuuuuuvvvs you!

[TheFeeLion]

4 hours ago, Gardener said:

@TheFeeLion I've been meaning to reply to this post.  Did you really get the happy dancing couple for your "how will we work together" card???  How perfect is that?  That's just uncanny.  I feel like pulling out my personal favorite deck and asking it if it still feels that way about me.  Your deck luuuuuuvvvs you!

I saw that too and thought the same thing! 😁

I love doing this spread for new decks. I've also found another one that's called Chillin with your Deckie which is good when you've had you deck a while