All Level Exchange Circle in August?

[Rose Lalonde]

It looks like our kind facilitator for the Circle of Seasons exchange has had to be away for a bit, and I thought for August I could facilitate just a general circle similar to the old Newbies Circle at AT -- i.e. welcoming to any level of experience, no particular theme, a suggested spread with 3 - 5 cards.

 

Would you be interested in that next month?

 

I haven't facilitated a circle, and can't promise I could do it every month, but with the mentor program in place, I thought it would be nice to have a second tarot circle in August to go along with ISG.

 

If it turns out that COS will be running in August, that's great too, and in that case we could probably just stick with ISG and COS so we don't get spread too thin.

 

 

Edited to add: The sign up for August is here.

[DanielJUK]

I don't mind helping out some months on this as well, if there is an interest for an all levels / more beginner focused circle.

 

Even if COS was running, Newbies was quite different, it was a smaller spread and no pressure (apart from meeting the deadlines). But it would need people who wanted to take part in it, COS and ISG are quite popular now and worth running when they are on. Also this circle is great for people coming back to divination or a bit rusty and want a gentle place to exchange again :)

[ToadieOdie]

 

I don't fully understand what COS or ISG are, but I am curious.

 

 

I get that ISG you work with just one card per exchange and you glean what you can from it in depth from that card alone based on what you see in the card's image. Is that correct?

 

 

How is that related to COS and how does it work?

 

 

And please forgive all these questions. :-[

[DanielJUK]

I can't remember what ISG stands for, it is temporarily absent from my memory but the first word is intuitive! You can only use intuition in that group, so no learnt meanings, reading systems like astrology or numerology and no looking it up. It's what you see in the card art, what you feel, what you sense. It is a fascinating circle! It's not about normal meanings or the usual idea, but what you get in that moment! I have had the most amazing readings from it but also it's quite scary for beginners (unless you are naturally good at intuitive reading). I wouldn't recommend it for a first time exchanging in a circle because you need a bit of confidence to just go with what comes up! It's one card, sometimes two, sometimes reading the same card in different ways.

 

COS is Circle of Seasons (originally called Stones), and it's just a general exchange. You can read the cards however you want and you tend to get 4 to 6 card spreads. A different spread comes from that circle and you just do it with a partner.

 

Newbies was specifically for Beginners and any level but was meant for people to try their first circle there. It's relaxed and doesn't matter if you get it wrong, although all the circles are meant to be learning experiences to have a go at. You learn so much when it does go wrong :)

[ToadieOdie]

 

Actually, I really like the sounds of ISG even though I'm still new here.

 

 

It sounds very similar to something I had do for an English course in college class oddly enough. The professor would show us a painting or a photo and tell us to write what we saw (aka: tell him the story in it) and there were no wrong answers. You just had to write what you felt was there. Sometimes he had us do it with music. It was a really cool experience in any case.

 

 

Both sound very interesting to me actually. Yes, I would like to join this circle next month. As for the other, I will wait until I get a better feel for how exchanges work.

[DanielJUK]

I mean it is a circle that is welcome to everyone but from my personal experience, I found it quite scary starting out. It took me a while of exchanges before I plucked up the confidence to that one because I didn't trust my intuition. But of course if you want to have a go at it, do!  :)

[ToadieOdie]

 

I understood what you meant.  <3 I'm also worried about taking on too much at once as I tend to do too often.  :P 

 

 

You're not discouraging me in anything. It's all good, I promise.  :)

[pacificwaters]

ISG stands for Intuitive Study Group if I am not mistaken ;)

 

And yes, even I believe there is a need of a newbie circle. Or rather any circle for reading exchange since the Circle of Seasons has gone a bit slow. I too wouldnt mind pitching in with help if needed!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[DanielJUK]

ISG stands for Intuitive Study Group if I am not mistaken ;)

 

And yes, even I believe there is a need of a newbie circle. Or rather any circle for reading exchange since the Circle of Seasons has gone a bit slow. I too wouldnt mind pitching in with help if needed!

 

 

Thanks PacificWaters, that was it!  Intuitive Study Group, It totally slipped my mind :)  I think it's the first sign of ageing, forgetting AT things <3

 

I think running the circles is quite hard for one person to do and RavenofSummer has done an amazing job but I think having a bit of a forum break at the moment, the circles are also much quieter in the Summer anyway. But she has asked if anyone else wants to help on circle threads in the past.

 

I think if there are enough people taking part, we could get both circles going, leaving ISG aside. COS as a general circle with larger spreads and an easier circle with smaller spreads with a focus on learning / gaining confidence  but I think we would have to experiment and see if people would sign up! Newbies would be so useful for people from the mentorship scheme to go to as a first step.

 

If COS is having a little break, it would be good to get Newbies going, like Rose said, at least a tarot exchange is running.

[DDwarks]

It would be a good idea I agree.

If nothing else, it would give all the students a chance to practice their skills.

They need to learn by doing and I think it could be less scary within the context of a circle.

ISG can be intimidating at first.

I jump into it these days but I clearly remember having some "ISG anxiety" when I first started.

Anyone remembers the exercise when we asked to use a clear glass on top of the card?

I chickened out but my hat off to ones that did it!

 

[2dogs]

I'd join in a general circle, I've never dared attempt ISG :-[.

[pacificwaters]

ISG stands for Intuitive Study Group if I am not mistaken ;)

 

And yes, even I believe there is a need of a newbie circle. Or rather any circle for reading exchange since the Circle of Seasons has gone a bit slow. I too wouldnt mind pitching in with help if needed!

 

 

Thanks PacificWaters, that was it!  Intuitive Study Group, It totally slipped my mind :)  I think it's the first sign of ageing, forgetting AT things <3

 

I think running the circles is quite hard for one person to do and RavenofSummer has done an amazing job but I think having a bit of a forum break at the moment, the circles are also much quieter in the Summer anyway. But she has asked if anyone else wants to help on circle threads in the past.

 

I think if there are enough people taking part, we could get both circles going, leaving ISG aside. COS as a general circle with larger spreads and an easier circle with smaller spreads with a focus on learning / gaining confidence  but I think we would have to experiment and see if people would sign up! Newbies would be so useful for people from the mentorship scheme to go to as a first step.

 

If COS is having a little break, it would be good to get Newbies going, like Rose said, at least a tarot exchange is running.

 

+1 to what you said DanielJUK[/member]

 

I remember how individual invitees were sent over PM on AT but these were decided to make away with consideringthe lack of interest of people responding/reverting or in extreme cases not even bothering to empty their inboxes. No doubt hosting circles is/was a thankless job. So a burn out is  but understandable, where a person does it singularly. Be it RavenofSummer or even dancing_moon with her TdM circles (gosh I miss her. I want her back, and I hope she is fine)

 

Anyone remembers the exercise when we asked to use a clear glass on top of the card?

I chickened out but my hat off to ones that did it!

 

I remember this exercise so vividly DDwarks[/member]. I had used the Sacred Rose Tarot for it :) Dont know how I remember that too without checking my journal. I make it a point never to miss ISG circles. When AT stopped, one of my biggest concerns was missing the ISG so I was super glad it re-started here :) :) :)

[Rose Lalonde]

It sounds like we all think it's a good idea to have it. Even if only a few people sign up, it's a nice to have the option. I'm happy to post a Newbies Circle and pair people up for August. Or if someone else has a burning desire to do it, I'm ok with that too. :)

 

As DanielJUK[/member] said it's not easy for one person to keep up with year round, but in August my workload is less. If it's good by you all, I will probably post it tonight (it's early morning here).

 

If anyone has a saved Newbies opening post from AT with explanatory text that we could draw inspiration from, my email address is in my profile. I remember the gist: that it's for anyone who would like to take part, and in particular it's a gentle space for readers who are new to tarot, new to reading for others, or even just new to working with a particular deck.

 

Ok to just call it the Newbies Circle like before?

[Saturn Celeste]

ISG stands for Intuitive Study Group if I am not mistaken ;)

 

And yes, even I believe there is a need of a newbie circle. Or rather any circle for reading exchange since the Circle of Seasons has gone a bit slow. I too wouldnt mind pitching in with help if needed!

 

 

Thanks PacificWaters, that was it!  Intuitive Study Group, It totally slipped my mind :)  I think it's the first sign of ageing, forgetting AT things <3

 

I think running the circles is quite hard for one person to do and RavenofSummer has done an amazing job but I think having a bit of a forum break at the moment, the circles are also much quieter in the Summer anyway. But she has asked if anyone else wants to help on circle threads in the past.

 

I think if there are enough people taking part, we could get both circles going, leaving ISG aside. COS as a general circle with larger spreads and an easier circle with smaller spreads with a focus on learning / gaining confidence  but I think we would have to experiment and see if people would sign up! Newbies would be so useful for people from the mentorship scheme to go to as a first step.

 

If COS is having a little break, it would be good to get Newbies going, like Rose said, at least a tarot exchange is running.

 

+1 to what you said DanielJUK[/member]

 

I remember how individual invitees were sent over PM on AT but these were decided to make away with consideringthe lack of interest of people responding/reverting or in extreme cases not even bothering to empty their inboxes. No doubt hosting circles is/was a thankless job. So a burn out is  but understandable, where a person does it singularly. Be it RavenofSummer or even dancing_moon with her TdM circles (gosh I miss her. I want her back, and I hope she is fine)

 

Anyone remembers the exercise when we asked to use a clear glass on top of the card?

I chickened out but my hat off to ones that did it!

 

I remember this exercise so vividly DDwarks[/member]. I had used the Sacred Rose Tarot for it :) Dont know how I remember that too without checking my journal. I make it a point never to miss ISG circles. When AT stopped, one of my biggest concerns was missing the ISG so I was super glad it re-started here :) :) :)

If hosting a circle means setting up the thread, I can do that, I do the #56 faves.  It is not extra work for me.  If I have to preside over the group, I'm not sure I can do that aside from getting it started, setting up the threads, that stuff is easy.  You guys can rotate whatever you need to for the thread.  Let me know if what I can do would help you all with starting up this kind of a circle.

[Rose Lalonde]

Saturn Celeste[/member] As I understand it, it also involves pairing up the partners (and where possible giving people a different partner the following month), keeping an eye on whether all the exchanges finish with feedback for both parties (usually people post in the sign up thread when they're done), answering questions people have about the circle, sending a friendly PM if someone comes to you to say they can't reach their partner, and keeping track of who should not be partnered again unless/until they have caught up with a previous month's reading. I think it's those things, rather than the original post in the sign up thread, that make it difficult for one person to keep it running smoothly every month year round.

[DDwarks]

I suppose there's enough of us to take it in turn?

 

We could put the responsibility to report late readings/ uncooperative behaviour on the participants to minimise the host involvement?

 

Participants open their own threads, copy the link in the sign up thread and come back to say when their reading is done.

 

All the host should have to do is come up with a suitable exercise (3 cards?) and open the thread with clear instructions.

 

pacificwaters[/member]. Im not surprised you did it! It was just the kind of exercise I'd expect a thrill seeker like you to undertake!

 

[Saturn Celeste]

Saturn Celeste[/member] As I understand it, it also involves pairing up the partners (and where possible giving people a different partner the following month), keeping an eye on whether all the exchanges finish with feedback for both parties (usually people post in the sign up thread when they're done), answering questions people have about the circle, sending a friendly PM if someone comes to you to say they can't reach their partner, and keeping track of who should not be partnered again unless/until they have caught up with a previous month's reading. I think it's those things, rather than the original post in the sign up thread, that make it difficult for one person to keep it running smoothly every month year round.

Well the #56 faves will end in a few months, we will be starting the swords soon after the Queen and King of Cups and then have the 2 suits left; swords and pentacles.  I would be happy to give it a try for sure!  Whoever will be the actual person running it can just Pm me whatever you guys need like Pms and such.  That might make it easier for you guys to handle the circle.  I'm very happy to help!

[2dogs]

I took over an oracle circle for a few months and found the hardest thing was deciding what we'd be doing each time :(.

[Rose Lalonde]

I posted a sign up for August here. We can always fine tune it or add something new later if need be.  :)

Thanks all!

[pacificwaters]

Thanks for taking the initiative Rose Lalonde. I just signed up :)

 

DDwarks[/member] ... you humble me!! ;D

[DanielJUK]

Well done Rose!  <3

 

@Saturn you do so much on the forum and running the mentors / students exchange, I think we have this! If we work this out, we can try and get COS going and some people to support Raven there later on.

 

I looked through my old saved Newbie circle readings from AT, I didn't do any readings in the last year of the forum so they are all before that. The circle hosts at the time had hardly any text in the info, no instruction almost! They are just all small spreads (max 4 cards) and at one point they were doing 5 to 7 days sign up and then reading and feedback before the last day of the month which I think is a bad idea to not separate feedback! The dates work fine as Rose has done them, 5 days into the month sign up, 2 weeks for readings, last week feedback, I think.

 

Shall I do September? Pacific October and DDWarks, would you like to do November? Rotating with as many people who want to host will make it less stressful and all you do is have to find a spread that you think would be good for beginners and all levels. I am flexible so can move months around if needed and we can swap if someone can't do a month.

 

AT had a very strict circle hosting system with their own circle host (hidden) subforum and a spreadsheet of people who were late or didn't fulfil the circles. With the other circles here, they are just playing it by ear so far I think. The circle host will pm if you are late with the final date, you are not allowed to take part in other circles if someone has not completed that one. I think you can always pm Saturn or a moderator for help as well. There was a rule on AT which was 3 no circle completions and a temporary ban from taking part in them. Let's see how it goes, perhaps a gentle reminder and then less gentle if they don't complete.

 

I'll try and promote the circle in the students area of the mentorship section if they want to sign up for practice :)

 

gregory[/member] do you have any tips from ISG, how are you guys running it? what are your circle rules? <3

[DDwarks]

Yes I'll take November :)

I've got a spread in mind already!

 

It would be useful to have a "master list" of who has any strikes.

 

A subforum would require special access to non mods.

We could all just have a little note book at home and PM each other each months when the circles are over?

 

It's a little all fashion but there's nothing wrong with the good old pen and paper.

[Flaxen]

I’d be happy to help out with this and can do December.

[DanielJUK]

thank you Flaxen  <3

 

List for Now

 

August - Rose Lalonde

September - DanielJUK

October - PacificWaters (if it's okay with him)

November - DDWarks

December - Flaxen

[Whisper]

The circles are so wonderful. Thank you so much for all your kindness and dedication. I would love to help out, if it weren't for the situation I'm presently in. I will always support you and participate in these lovely exchanges, thanking you for your indulgence and patience. [emoji4]  <3 <3