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Edited on Sat Jul-26-08 01:31 PM by LWolf
and used to do so at fundraisers several years back.
We started out with the rider-waite deck, and the traditional meanings. To be frank, those didn't "take" with me.
My teacher finally told me to decide what each card in the deck meant TO ME, and to assign it that meaning consistently, and that worked quite well.
As the class/es advanced, we each tried a few different decks that called to us. I have a whole collection, just because I like them. ;) I found that the more traditional rider-waite decks, in any version, just didn't "connect" well for me. The first new deck I tried was the Robin Wood, because I really liked the illustrations. I struggled with it for a few weeks, until my teacher literally took it out of my hands and handed me hers: I don't remember the name of the deck now. It was old and worn, with a native/nature theme that I immediately felt at home with. I only used it that once, but it "clicked." I never looked back; I gave my Robin Woods cards to one of the other students in the class who wanted to try them, and moved on to other decks.
Some of my favorites, which I still have, include:
The motherpeace deck Wisdom of the 4 winds The Sedona Deck (from our own DR, who rarely drops in, but first drew me to the meeting room almost 6 years ago) Medicine Cards and Sacred Path Cards (used exclusively for reading myself) The Infinite Tarot (used most often to read for others)
Some of these are not true "Tarot" decks, but are cards used for divination, like Tarot, but not necessarily tarot based, with traditional arcana, etc..
I'm glad to find this post here; I have little privacy in my life the last few years, and have not been reading because of that. I no longer have space and time undisturbed. Still, I realize that I've let dust gather, and I shouldn't have. As a matter of fact, I have 2 decks over on the shelf that I've never even tried; an old Celtic tree deck that I found somewhere, and a brand-new, still-in plastic mayan deck that has been unopened for more than 3 years.
Along side them are some of my old journals, reflecting on the learning and experiences at the time. I feel called to reread them now.
Edited to add, before I forget your original question:
When you find a deck you like, and feel good with, study the manual that comes with it. It will probably have some spreads as well as card meanings. Practice a lot with it; you'll be able to tell if you are "clicking" with the cards.
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