Deck of the Week Sign-up Thread, Week 283: Dec. 10 - Dec. 16

[fire cat pickles]

A thread for those who would like to work through their collection of decks, participants choose decks from their collections to work with for the week. Some use one deck, some use two. Some combine methods: Tarot, non-tarot (e.g. oracle), playing cards, or any other divinatory method is welcome. All we ask is that you use at least one tarot or oracle deck.

 

No collection is too large or too small. The only rules we have are the Tarot, Tea & Me Rules; be respectful of one other. Please join us!

   

You can drop in and out at anytime—reality and life permitting. New to tarot? Long time reader? Come on in.

 

• Please post with your chosen deck for the week. 
• Chat away about your deck, how you're finding it (or not), etc., it's all up to you.  
• Participants may either choose to share their readings here in this discussion thread or opt to have their own journal in the Journals Forum and link it here. 

 

Participants:

1. fire cat pickles: Vieville Les éditions SIVILIXI
2. Teemu: The Ghost Tarot
3. Scarlet Woodland: The Hush Tarot and Tarot of the Abyss
4. Bodhiseed: Wild Unknown Tarot paired with the Pictish Oracle
5. Rachelcat: Notoria: Tarot in Light & Goetia: Tarot in Darkness (Listrani) and Angel Tarot and Occult Tarot (McHenry)

 

Click here for DoW 282 (12/3 - 12/9)

Click here for DoW 284 (12/17 - 12/23)

Edited December 17, 2022 by fire cat pickles

[Teemu]

I want to try a shadow work reading with the Ghost Tarot. Maybe I can do more.

[Scarlet Woodland]

I'm in with the Tarot of the Abyss (if it ever arrives) and... something, tbc.

[Scarlet Woodland]

Was expecting to pick something colourful to contrast Tarot of the Abyss but nope. Hush Tarot for me please.

[fire cat pickles]

Welcome back @Teemu and @Scarlet Woodland!

[Bodhiseed]

Wild Unknown Tarot paired with the Pictish Oracle for me. Thank you Fire Cat!   

[fire cat pickles]

Welcome back @Bodhiseed 🙂 

[Bodhiseed]

This week I'll be using the Wild Unknown Tarot, created and self-published by Kim Krans. I'll also be using the Pictish Oracle, created by myself and brought to life in 3-D form by the laser talents of Deborah Ross. Today's draws are the Three of Swords and the Cauldron:

  

 

Loss often results in a strange tangle of grief and anger that ties our rational mind in knots. Such strong emotions override our ability to see a situation with any degree of accuracy or objectivity. Any action taken while within this muddle will likely make things worse. Instead of impulsively reacting, we can choose to do nothing for the moment; we can stop fueling the mental story and let the energy pass. Yet the Cauldron symbolizes something we can feed and nurture - our spirit through acts of self-care (rather than self-indulgence). We can find a creative outlet, cry, connect to our support systems, go for a walk outside or engage in some other wholesome activity to help us find our center again. 

 

The difference between an unwise person and a wise person lies in how they respond to pain, not in whether or not they achieve an absence of pain.

―Vidyamala Burch

[Scarlet Woodland]

Before I even get to the actual illustrations can I just say the Hush Tarot has the perfect borders to me:

 

 

the images go right to the card edge but there's still a subtle something to frame it. Love the way the titles and suits/major arcana numbers are done. The card stock is sturdy and just the right amount of slippy to shuffle. The dimensions of the cards are a great balance between small enough to hold but big enough to see. The box and booklet are sturdy, attractive and compact too. US Games did a great job here.

 

Edit: Oh and I really like the card backs too

 

Edited December 11, 2022 by Scarlet Woodland

[Bodhiseed]

@Scarlet Woodland, I really like those borders too! 😍

[Rachelcat]

Hi, DOW crew!  Here I am!  Late as usual!  And I’m going to bore you all with my angels and demons saga.  I’ve been collecting and trying to get just the right shemhamephorash/72 angels and their demon counterparts in card form for a long time now.  There was a long out of print Lo Scarabeo angel deck I probably shouldn’t have let go.  I recently let go of the Demon Tarot, based on the Dictionnaire infernal by Jacques Collin de Plancy, illustrated by Louis Le Breton (which isn’t quite the right 72 demons) and Fallen Angel Oracle, which is.  (I might grab that one back.)  I also let go of a Spanish-language angel deck but will keep forever the Tarot Cabbalistique, with illustrations that allude to famous artwork corresponding to the 72 angels.

 

The decks I’m going to be talking about this week are the Notoria: Tarot in Light and Goetia: Tarot in Darkness by Fabio Listrani, Lo Scarabeo, and Angel Tarot and Occult Tarot by Travis McHenry, Rockpool.  Both sets have tarot attributions (“intuitive” as far as I can tell, not following a system) to the angels and demons, necessitating 6 extra cards each.  But my intent was always to ignore the tarot attributions and go straight 72 names.  I’ll use The Complete Magician’s Tables by Stephen Skinner and Birth Angels by Terah Cox for reference.  I’m currently (again) working on a comprehensive angel table.  I like making tables, what can I say!  I’ll post it on the forum when I get it all together.

 

The Goetia (demons) looked cool on line, but when I got the deck, I realized the colorful cards were a special Kickstarter edition, and the mass market deck is more monochromatic, white and silver on black.  I recently got the Notoria (angels), and I don’t think I can use it.  The artwork is just too, um, challenging for me!  I mean demon illustrations should be creepy, but angels not so much, according to me anyway.

 

So I pulled the trigger on buying the McHenry decks.  The Occult also uses the Dictionnaire infernal illustrations with the gaps filled in with similar woodblock-style illustrations.  The Angel is illustrated in the same woodblock style, but it doesn’t give a source for the images.  Both also have sigils.  They have lovely presentation, Occult deck is edged in shiny red, Angel in gold.  The Occult book is disappointing because it has exactly the same text as the cards!  The Angel book has more information, probably because more is available about angels than demons, but there are formatting errors. 

 

If you’ve stuck with me this long, may the angel and demons bless you!  Finally, here are some pics. 

 

 

 

Let’s do one card from each deck for interviews (leaving in the extra cards).  Tell me about yourself.

 

 

Notoria:  71. Haiaiel

Next-to-last angel.  “Dominates weapons and soldiers, influences iron.”  Mercury in Pisces.

This is a deck that doesn’t play around.  Mercury in Pisces means it knows how people feel and communicates desires.  It illustrates the Priestess and people reaching out for her wisdom, but why are all her cups overflowing?

 

Goetia:  35. Marchosias

“She-wolf with gryphon’s wings and serpent tail.”  A fighter.  Moon in Virgo. 

The deck may look fierce, but it can be loyal like a dog.

 

Angel:  21. Nelchael

“Desire for knowledge.  Protects from liars.”

This is a good deck for learning more about angels. 

 

Occult:  60. Vapula

“Increases knowledge of philosophy and science.”  An interesting thing I forgot to mention about this deck is it has the Hebrew name of the corresponding angel, but the Angel cards don’t have that.  Strange . . .

Another griffin, this time a more “griffin-y” one, a winged lion.  This is also a good deck to learn with, but it doesn’t require belief.  It will help me be more skeptical, not less!

 

Well, that’s enough of that!  I hope four decks in one week is ok for the thread.  Not sure it’s ok for me!  Now off to do my moon days for yesterday and today.

 

[Scarlet Woodland]

I nearly let go of my Fallen Angel Oracle too @Rachelcat, thankfully a timely youtube mention of it brought me to my senses. Good luck with 4 decks!

[fire cat pickles]

Welcome back @Rachelcat!

[Rachelcat]

Thank you both!  Reading with these has been challenging so far.  So we'll see.  Here are my Saturday and Sunday moon days:

 

[Scarlet Woodland]

Woohoo! Tarot of the Abyss finally arrived. So yes, Hush Tarot and Tarot of the Abyss for me this week.

[fire cat pickles]

5 minutes ago, Scarlet Woodland said:

Woohoo! Tarot of the Abyss finally arrived. So yes, Hush Tarot and Tarot of the Abyss for me this week.

Updated 😀

[Scarlet Woodland]

Okay, I love both these decks.

 

I've worked with the Hush Tarot just enough before this, to know that it reads well for me and I think the artwork is gorgeous. I'd love to know more about his painting process, it looks fascinating. Also look at that wee ferret 😻

 

Tarot of the Abyss has future top 10 deck written all over it. I'm so happy I took the plunge and bought it.

 

 

The two alternate cards are a really nice touch. As you can see on the bottom right of the pic above, I decided to go with the alternate 3 of swords, as it offered a little something extra and just spoke to me. Have stuck with the traditional 10 of swords though, as the alternate is very much a numerological interpretation, which isn't how I read the 10. Beautiful backs on this deck too.

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by Scarlet Woodland

[Rachelcat]

Very autumnal decks that really go together!

 

Here are my today and tomorrow!

 

[Scarlet Woodland]

Sometimes it takes working with a new tarot deck that has "it" to realise what's missing in the decks you haven't clicked with. For whatever reason I trust Tarot of the Abyss, right from the first draw.

 

I have no idea what causes the difference but the decks I end up not using are ones where I lack confidence in what they'll say. My home decks, I trust implicitly, even if I'm not sure what they're trying to communicate immediately.

 

The Druidcraft is at one extreme, I've never doubted it for a second and take everything it tells me deeply seriously. At the other, some just feel like what they are, pieces of cardboard with pictures on them, however beautiful or symbolically rich. Apps are a classic for this. Before I've even turned the card I'll doubt whether I've shuffled properly, if I'm just talking to myself.

 

It's the same with oracle decks, Froud's Faeries has my complete trust, trickster that it can be. Wisdom of the Golden Path? Just pretty pictures.

[Teemu]

Mornin',

 

with me getting shockingly tired in the evenings and the clatterbox then blubbering incessantly in the living room, I am making some time in my office for the shadow reading.

Spread is self made, making reference to four archetypes of shadow.

----2-------
---3---6----
1----------8
---4---7----
----5-------

1. My starting point - X: Wheel of Fortune. The spirit of fate. Something has been triggered.
Shadows
2. Confident archetype - XVII: Stars. The Spirit of the heavens. Flow of pure energy.
3. Archetype of Warrior - 10 Pentacles. Life is for the living. Stagnation looms.
4. Archetype of Magician - Knight of Swords. Never retreat an never think of defeat. Intellect acting.
5. Archetype of Love - 5 Swords. Must defeat be the end? Philosophical adjustments.
Advice
6. What should I heed - 7 chalices. There is always hope. Emotional variety.
7. What should I shun - XX: Judgment. In the end, the beginning. Passage.
Result
8. The outcome - 5 Pentacles. Soul needs material aspects. Physical adjustments.

 

 

It is right, I am feeling some kind of uneasy (1).
The Archetypes: The flow of energy is ghostly and subconscious as depicted on the card (2). The warrior stands (be)for(e) a large amount of water (3), which cannot be fought. The warrioir shows himself in the place of the magician (4), which feels right, since my main weapon is my intellectual mind, perhaps too much so. Perhaps I should remember that I have two 'weapons' at hand, like clearly to be seen on the card (5).
Advice: the chalices hold many different things (6), so I should look for emotional variety. I should shun judgement (7)? Lastly, there are seven entities on a 5 card (8). It seems there will be some difficulties  ahead.

[Rachelcat]

Thursday

Day 23, Wisdom and Surrender

Paired demons

 

 

Where I need to have faith and trust that things will unfold as they are meant to:  12. Sitri

Inflames love between men and women.  Leopard’s face and wings on a beautiful human.  Jupiter in Taurus.

Love and relationship issues will happen if they’re meant to, or not if they’re not.  If it happens, physical attraction will play a large role (Jupiter in Taurus, and I think it means that when it says “love of men for women and vice versa.”)

 

Something reassuring I know deep inside:  52. Aloces

A duke wearing a crown.  (Book says riding a griffin, but both cards have him riding a horse.)  Teaches astronomy and liberal arts.  Mercury in Sagittarius.

Learning is its own reward.  And takes you places you don’t know you were going (Sag.).  It can even lead to a natural superiority (duke).

 

How I can tap into my higher wisdom:  53. Caim

A thrush, then a man with a sharp sword.  I love the man in the bird suit, I guess his sharp sword is his costume beak!  The other looks more like an eagle, with a big sword entwined with snakes.  Teaches the languages of animals.

I can listen and learn from birds.  Not my favorite animals, but I should be more open to them.

 

Ok, this was easier, with input from both decks and the Magician’s Tables book.  I’m still not really reading the images, but at least I’m looking at them more!

 

[Rachelcat]

I’m on a roll, so I’ll go ahead and do my last day with the angels and demons today.  Well, the last day for this week.  I have a feeling I’ll be back to them again soon.

 

Friday on Thursday

Day 24, Joy and Celebration

Paired angels

 

 

Something that sparks joy to me or how to achieve that:  55. Mebahiah

Honestly do NOT know what’s going on in the Notoria cards!  So we’ll look at the other:  Provides consolation and compensation.  Mercury in Capricorn.

I can find joy in using my head (mercury) to do well with my work (Cap).  For which I get compensation.  Maybe?

 

How to make room for fun and laughter:  54. Nethael

Ok this angel looks like she’s kneeling and reading, wearing a crown.  The other card says King of Heaven, so that works.  Don’t know what the orbs are though.  Venus in Sagittarius.

I find fun (Venus) in reading or learning about other cultures (Sag).  Maybe something about coming into my own sovereignty?  Acting like I’m the queen makes me the queen of the party!

 

 

Something to look forward to and celebrate in the near future:  56. Poyel

Ok this is challenging:  A pieta, only the dying person is death with its scythe.  Is the dove flying away the soul/spirit of death?  And why are there so many people desperately reaching in most of these cards?  The other card says fortune and fame.  Moon in Capricorn. 

Well, my office holiday party is tomorrow, so that’s something to celebrate in the near future.  But how does that work with these cards?  In the previous card, I associated work with Cap.  And the party will be at night moon!  And maybe moon also says go ahead and go a little crazy within reason (Also Cap.) 

 

See how the Notoria/angels is much more challenging than the Goetia/demons? 

 

Also the tarot attributions in the different decks are completely different.  And it’s really difficult to figure out how they came about for any of them.

 

So that’s it for a while.  I’ll keep both sets and see what the look like sometime in the future.

 

[Misterei]

On 12/13/2022 at 9:06 PM, Scarlet Woodland said:

Sometimes it takes working with a new tarot deck that has "it" to realise what's missing in the decks you haven't clicked with. For whatever reason I trust Tarot of the Abyss, right from the first draw.

Glad to see you connecting with this monochrome deck!

[fire cat pickles]

Next week: