How do you use your "chunky" companion books? Poll

[Saturn Celeste]

I got the idea for this poll from the topic found here:

https://www.thetarotforum.com/talking-tarot/when-a-deck-won't-comply/

 

I thought some of the comments were very interesting and thought a poll would be fun.  I'm putting it in this section because we can't make polls in the main Talking Tarot section. ;)

 

You can vote for 2 choices but both votes must be made at once.  You can't go back and try to make the second vote, they must be done on the one and only time you vote.  Have fun everyone!

[Page of Ghosts]

I used to read them cover to cover, but after doing that for a while I got really tired of it! Now I usually read most of the book except the card meanings (or as much of them as I feel like) and then use the card meanings as a reference when I play with the cards / do readings for myself.

[DanielJUK]

When I got a new deck, I just start playing with the deck, later on I might read the creator / artist's original intentions of the deck at the start of their book and their meanings for their cards or what their symbols mean (to them). I always ignore guides to using their deck and spreads and stuff. I have never read a LWB from front to back  :) I usually read their intentions on what they created and either use it or totally ignore it  :P

[EmpyreanKnight]

I always read these huge companion books cover to cover since I feel like it helps me get a more intimate grasp of the deck. If a deck has an LWB, I also read it.

[ballerina]

Some of the books I read cover to cover and some just bits and pieces.  It depends on how different from the RW system they are.  And some of them are great reads full of more info than just how to use a particular deck.

[Elin by the Sea]

The only companion books I've spent much time with are Rachel Pollacks guides to the Haindl deck - it's quite a complex deck and the books really help make sense of it.  As for the LWBs, they basically just stay in a box unread these days.

 

[Guest libra]

I tend to ignore the books while I'm getting to know a deck, then browse it when I've got a really solid connection with the deck on my own. For Shadowscapes, I used the huuuuge margins for personal notes, zodiac signs, quotes, birth cards, etc.

[Grizabella]

The two I voted for were "read cover to cover" and then "read here and there". I actually skim more than I read on the cover to cover one. I also sometimes look back here and there in the book if something piques my curiosity over the course of using the deck.

 

I always prefer deck/book sets when there's an option. I like seeing what the deck creator had  in mind. I have some books now that were part of sets that I don't have the deck for anymore for one reason or another.