I use the same too. It is a good deck to start with

Hi,

Great for getting the Rider deck, then you will have no problem in seeing the symbolism on the cards. Perhaps there might be some color variation, I use the "old" Rider Waite-- Coleman Smith deck.

Don't brush the ashes on the cards, it will really "smudge" them dirty!! Incense has some oils in it as well. What you can do, is to get a feather, don't rush and buy one, not needed. Just go out in your garden or a park and find a feather that calls you, not the first the best! I have an ancient owl feather I keep in my Box. You need to light the incense and wait until it smokes nicely, then with the incense in one hand and the feather in the other, brush the smoke over the fanned deck, from the left upper side to the right bottom side. Your deck should be face up and the cards recognizable, I normally start with the Major Arcanum on the top, in numeric sequence then Cups, Swords, Pentacles and Wands. You can also use a clean black cloth as a "table covering". I also from time to time fan my deck on an outside table during the full Moon, try not to have artificial light shine on it and be careful for dew. You may also want to permeate it with the energy from the Sun, this I also do at times. Fan the cards open and leave them in the full sun for about 1 hour, preferable at sunrise. Don't do it for too long or the cards may bend from the heat. I just put them on a window sill before the Sun rises.

When you start doing the impressions of your cards, you need to decide if you are going to read "upright" only or "upright and reversed". In reading only upright you will have only 78 interpretations, reading both ways will double the number of interpretations. I read upright and reversed, this is also the way in which I defined my interpretations.
Follow this link to see an example:
https://docs.google.com/Doc?docid=0AZyuZlzfve9GZGd0a3I2MzlfOTRwbjQ1NWRz&hl=en

Blessed be.

to smudge my cards i use white sage and just holds the cards over the smoke.  although Payewacker has some great stuff with the moon and sun. i will have to put some thoughts on that and start doing that myself.  

Hi

The best deck to start with has to be RW. I exclusively use this deck and the spreads it recomends.

Payewacker has a lot of information on some spreads and the placements of the cards.

We are going to host an extensive course on how to get started reading Tarot. I'm sure you will enjoy this course, as it has great stuff not to be found in books you buy.

I hope to see you around.

Hi,

We are hosting a new Tarot course for 2011, please join us.

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