pluralgang-practitioners

[pluralgang-practitioners]

Our DCG Divination Deck

Okay, I'm finally gonna stop putting it off and actually talk a bit about our Digimon card game (DCG) divination deck.

Under a read more, because it's gonna be long.

So, the theory behind our DCG div deck is based loosely on these two posts by @miracleeye and @mahouowo respectively. The former is specifically about Pokemon TCG divination, while the latter is a bit more broad.

This is gonna focus on the process we went through to build our DCG div deck. It's technically a WIP, but that's because we have to order a few specific singles that we don't have yet, and are liable to switch cards as new sets come in. I've split this into a few headings, but a full list might be a later project if folks are interested, even though we have a spreadsheet to keep track of things.

Card Selection

Selecting cards is really the most personal part for us. We're Digimonkin, and have a lot of members in our system which adds to the flexibility and personal aspect of card choice. On the most basic level, what we were looking for were cards to represent different members and their different stages, because they have close associations with specific experiences/journeys/emotions.

This creates an "arc" in a similar way to certain groups of cards in Tarot. The Major Arcana tells a story; Digimon lines do the same, because Digimon evolution is often closely tied with spiritual and emotional growth.

It's also worth noting that the way Digimon work on a fundamental level means that growth, despite this chart, is largely nonlinear. Some Digimon revert back to previous levels. Others don't always evolve the same way as they did before. Reincarnation is also involved in certain cases (anime, v-pets, and Digimon World style games included).

All that is to say that, while we included specific "lines" in our DCG div deck, some of those lines have multiple stage representatives in order to highlight the plasticity of growth. This deck also has duplicates of the same stage/Digimon in order to represent different aspects of life, even when on the surface that form is the same or similar (3 Beelzemon cards, 3 Apocalymon cards, 3 Impmon cards, for example).

Beyond that, other card selections also focus on elements related to our experiences. For example, we have a grouping for Jeri, which includes her tamer card, ADR Searcher, Blue Card, Leomon, and Calumon. This same grouping also bleeds into Tamers Impmon's grouping, of which we consider Blue Card and Calumon included, but also has Ai and Mako.

Selection in our case is also most down to what artwork resonates with us most in a symbolically relevant way. We recently switched out BT15 DemiDevimon with EX 8 DemiDevimon, for example. Parallel art is common in the card game as well, to the point we technically have two arts of one card in the same deck.

Part of this change is also down to what the cards do. The former focuses on supporting Myotismon (a Digimon unrelated to our system). The latter focuses on supporting Nightmare Soldiers, which is more in line with the way that stage feels to our headmate who identifies with it: a resignation to the lot others see in you as a servant of evil.

[ID: two Digimon Card Game cards, both depicting DemiDevimon, an orb-shaped demon with bird-like talons and bat-like wings coming out of a leather hat. The first artwork, by Yamuretsu, shows DemiDevimon flying away from a group of agitated Digimon with a mischievous tongue peeking out of its smile. The second artwork, by Minato Sashima, shows DemiDevimon hanging from a tree branch, backlit by unnaturally purple-red moonlight.]

Also, we've included a few cards that aren't DCG cards. Specifically, we have an Apocalymon card from the old Digital Monster Card Game (we usually just refer to it as "Hyper Colo" tbh), and a Satellamon card from the Data Cardass Appli Monsters game.

The former is to represent an "archaic" feeling; something outdated, that has been processed but can ultimately not be purged from one's life. The latter is more down to the fact Satellamon is an Appmon, and we're only just now seeing those in the current DCG. (There's actually two Satellamon cards, and the one we don't have is the one we would prefer, but in a pinch, you take what you get.)

Information to Pay Attention To

In the Digimon Card Game, there are a few different card types as well, with information that puts them into groupings. The most basic card types are Digi-Eggs, Digimon, Tamers, and Option cards.

These may also be further grouped by card colors, which include red, blue, yellow, green, black, purple, and white (in the order of how they're sequenced in sets). Cards may have up to 3 colors.

These don't necessarily correspond to elemental divisions, but do often include them. I think this video does a better job explaining it than I could; divisions are much more about archetype than element, not just mechanically but also within the story structure of Digimon as a franchise.

If you're unfamiliar with Digimon, this also includes Digimon traits, such as Virus, Vaccine, Data, Free, and Unknown. Vi/Va/Da have a rock/paper/scissors relationship in other media, but very rarely interact with each other in the card game.

All Digimon also have stages, which represent levels of growth from In-Training (lv 2) to Mega (lv 6-7). In order, these are Rookie, Champion, Ultimate, and Mega. The terminology differs in Japanese, and elucidates the way you can also read these levels: Baby II, Child, Adult, Perfect, and Ultimate.

There are also other traits such as Field Types (Deep Savers, Nightmare Soldiers, Nature Spirits, etc.), protagonist groupings (Hero, Adventure, Liberators), type (Puppet, Dinosaur, Avian), and lore groupings (Seven Great Demon Lords, Three Angels, Four Great Dragons, Three Musketeers).

Appmon, which are only just getting introduced into the DCG, have similar stages (called "grades"), but 8 attributes. Appmon grades are Standard, Super, Ultimate, and God. Their attributes are in a larger circle than Vi/Va/Da, and are, in order of effectiveness on one another: Social, Navi, Tool, System, Game, Entertainment, and Life. Outside of this relationship is God attribute.

For people interested in using numbers for their readings, Digimon cards also have a lot of information in that regard. Digimon alone have play cost, evolution cost, Digimon level, DP, set/card number, and block number. More or less information is present on some cards.

The DCG also has all artists credited on the cards themselves, which has led us to notice some other groupings in our own readings.

Deck Size

In our case, we made our deck 50 cards large. This is the size that DCG decks are--- there is no variance, outside of egg decks, which are 0-5 eggs large.

Originally, the deck was 35 cards large, but we found this too small after experimentation, leading to unclear readings and ultimately encouraging us to tweak the count to its current number of 50.

Spreads

We've drafted up a few spreads inspired by the various Digimon card games. We've really only tested one of these spreads, as it functions well enough for our purposes without too much complication.

After a bit of messing around, we've found that our DCG div deck plays nice with a spread resembling the current card game. In order, we lay one card in the Raising Area, one card in the Battle Area, and one in Security. An additional clarifying card in each area sometimes helps.

The easiest way to explain it is that this spread represents Potential, State, and Protection:

Potential: something that can be nurtured, or is growing already.

State: elements regarding the current situation, physical or psychological.

Protection: elements that can be utilized to beneficial effect; what is keeping you safe.

We do our readings also on playmats with our own art.

Concluding Thoughts

So, I've told y'all about how our DCG div deck was constructed, but I haven't actually talked at all about the readings and how it treats us.

Generally, we try to do our readings at Digimon Locals, after we've done our matches for the tournament. The vibes are just there. Our cards are double sleeved in the official Bandai Beelzemon sleeves and some Dragon Shield outer sleeves. Anything more and we would literally be unable to hold it in our hands, let alone put it in a deck box.

Any time we do a reading, we also shuffle the same way we'd shuffle our for-play DCG decks--- a mix of pile shuffling and gingerly interlocking the cards in equal piles.

Here's a reading it gave us that's pretty straightforward, so it makes for a good example.

I've described this deck to friends as having the temperament of a high school gossip, but I also think one of our friend's descriptor of it as "roommate that steals your Dr. Pepper" is pretty accurate too. It doesn't really cut corners.

This reading in particular was so straightforward you could mistake it for a ruler, because it's a snapshot of a literal moment in Satty's and my exomemories--- these three cards are associated.

Specifically, Potential is in Satty, state is in Gallantmon, and Protection is in Blue Card. The exomemory this quite literally evokes is when Satty was killed by Gallantmon and death evolved (Blue Card represents evolution, "growth to overcome adversity" and wishes).

Satty evolved into me (Glut), which compounds just how funny this reading was to look at because of our interpretation of Gluttony (the sin) as being about dissatisfaction (ie: wanting; wishing without ever getting what you want).

The deck itself kind of just looked at who was holding it and said "ah, okay, so this is you?" 9 days before I properly split into the system.

It also likes giving us some cards repeated in certain positions, which are specifically cards representing to us confidence in the self (in creative endeavors) which. Really funny considering we're nervous about applying to grad school for creative writing.

Anyways, all this is to say, testing is always required with this shit, but also, if you make your deck personal, it will go for the jugular without hesitation.

-Gluttony

[pluralgang-practitioners]

a quick psa to anyone recently getting into greek mythology and is a victim of tumblr and/or tiktok misconceptions:

-there is no shame in being introduced to mytholgy from something like percy jackson, epic the musical or anything like that, but keep in mind that actual myths are going to be VERY different from modern retellings

-the myth of medusa you probably know (her being a victim of poseidon and being cursed by athena) isn't 100% accurate to GREEK mythology (look up ovid)

-there is no version of persephone's abduction in which persephone willingly stays with hades, that's a tumblr invention (look up homeric hymn to demeter)

-as much as i would like it, no, cerberus' name does not mean "spot" (probably a misunderstanding from this wikipedia article)

-zeus isn't the only god who does terrible things to women, your fav male god probably has done the same

-on that note, your fav greek hero has probably done some heinous shit as well

-gods are more complicated than simply being "god of [insert thing]", many titles overlap between gods and some may even change depending on where they were worshipped

-also, apollo and artemis being the gods of the sun and the moon isn't 100% accurate, their main aspects as deities originally were music and the hunt

-titans and gods aren't two wholly different concepts, titan is just the word used to decribe the generation of gods before the olympians

-hector isn't the villain some people make him out to be

-hephaestus WAS married to aphrodite. they divorced. yes, divorce was a thing in ancient greece. hephaestus' wife is aglaia

-ancient greek society didn't have the same concepts of sexuality that we have now, it's incorrect to describe virgin goddesses like artemis and athena as lesbians, BUT it's also not wholly accurate to describe them as aromantic/asexual, it's more complex than that

-you can never fully understand certain myths if you don't understand the societal context in which they were told

-myths have lots and lots of retellings, there isn't one singular "canon", but we can try to distinguish between older and newer versions and bewteen greek and roman versions

-most of what you know about sparta is probably incorrect

-reading/waching retellings is not a substitute to reading the original myths, read the iliad! read the odyssey! i know they may seem intimidating, but they're much more entertaining than you may think

greek mythology is so complex and interesting, don't go into it with preconcieved notions! try to be open to learn!

[pluralgang-practitioners]

Trading Card Game Divination

One of my main ways of divination, next to the Clow cards, is Magic the Gathering. After years of trying methods like tarot, lenormand & other cartomancies I saw someone on twitch giving readings with pokemon cards. I was interested and I've been doing it ever since!

Building your deck

First you have to decide what system you will be using. Magic the Gathering? Pokémon? Lorcana? Altered? (etc) When just starting out I suggest using cards you already have. It may not be the best of the best, but you can get an idea of what you want and if you like it. My own decks have between 50 and 75 cards.

What's also a neat thing is that you can tailor TCG divination decks to your liking! You could make a theme or have 'em be nicer or meaner (I like a blunt deck, personally). You can also keep upgrading them as new sets come out. For example, my Magic the Gathering deck is a mix of Theros, Strixhaven & Wilds of Eldraine.

The Basis

Regardless of what route you take, your deck should have a base of one card of each mana type, if your tcg of choice has those. It will be the element in it's purest form like the aces in tarot. You can always take type meanings with you as cards will have one or more anyways.

A few examples:

Magic the Gathering

Plains (Positive, beginnings, good luck, life, etc)

Swamp (Negative, endings, rebirth, death, etc)

Mountain (Fire, passion, struggles, aggressive, speed, etc)

Island (Water, emotions, isolation, magic, etc)

Forest (Earth, roots, strength, growth, etc)

Pokémon

Normal (Basic, nothing, potential, mundane, etc)

Water (Emotions, fluidity, adaptable, etc)

Fire (Passion, drive, aggression, excitable, assertive, etc)

Grass (Earth, roots, growth, slow, passive, etc)

Electric (Energy, sudden, fast, shocking, irritable, etc)

Fighting (Endurance, fighting, tradition, studying, etc)

Psychic (Intuition, magic, manifestation, etc)

Dark (Unknown, unseen, struggles, shadow, negativity, etc)

Steel (Perseverance, support, willpower, etc)

Fairy (Wishes, hope, positivity, etc)

Dragon (Strength, magnanimous, divine, magnificence, etc)

Lorcana

Amber (Resilience, persistence, patience, dedication, etc)

Amethyst (Sorcery, mysticism, power, limited options, etc)

Emerald (Flexibility, adaptability, change, analytic, witty, etc)

Ruby (Courage, challenges, speed, confrontations, etc)

Sapphire (Knowledge, creativity, inventive, strategy, etc)

Steel (Strength, imposition, perseverance, mundane, etc)

There is a lot from the card itself you can take with you in your reading. Let's look at Spectacle Mage to see what.

You can use:

The cost, their attack & defense or all together (numerology)

The name of the card

The subtext of the card

The abilities of the card

The (creature)type of the card

The element(s)

The image

The setting

Pokémon cards will have attacks and stages you can take with you in your readings, next to how they act (try sites like bulbapedia). With Lorcana you can look at the stories of the disney characters, as well as the lyrics of their songs and whether they can turn into ink or not.

Now to add other cards! You want a mix & match of different themes. If you build a deck of around 50 cards I advice you have little theme overlap between the cards unless you like the nuance. My Pokémon deck has Deino & Diglett which both can mean overwhelm with the versions I have. But whereas Deino is pure overwhelm because it can't find its way nor its family, Diglett's overwhelm is because it dug out next to the sea. You dug too deep, poked your nose where you shouldn't have, said yes one too many times, etc.

Once you have a good amount of cards you can give 'em cute sleeves, practice with your deck and build up from there!

[pluralgang-practitioners]

Hello, I'm Dark Pink and I've made a tumblr to talk about my website that gives Tarot readings. Four public domain decks are available for use, including the Rider-Waite-Coleman deck, the Marseilles deck, the Tarot de Flamand, and the Sola Busca deck. As of this writing there are 19 spreads available, and they increase all the time. The website is designed to feel old-school, unique in aesthetic, and relatable, and there are improvements that get added every day as I develop them. I programmed the website from scratch using PHP, and it gets better all the time, so check back often!

[pluralgang-practitioners]

How to Make a Pokemon TCG Divination Deck

Recently, for fun, I made a divination deck using Pokemon Trading Card Game (TCG) cards. This has - no joke - been one of the most fun and accurate divination decks I’ve ever used. Here’s my methodology on how to make one for yourself.

This can also work with other TCGs, like Yugioh and Magic the Gathering.

Feel free to reblog with any additions, notes, advice, etc.

Putting it under the cut because it’s long. I wanted to be thorough.

If you have any questions, my ask box is open.

Keep reading

[pluralgang-practitioners]

How to Read Tarot Cards When You Don’t Know Shit

OR: HOW I STOPPED WORRYING AND LEARNED TO LOVE PRACTICING TAROT

This is a simple exercise I’ve done really to hone my intuition while divining. I like to pull a three card spread (past, present, future) but you can really use whichever spread you’d like.

Major Arcana:

Most trump cards can be self explanatory if you’re good at word association.

The Fool card starts a story that follows a journey through to the World, the end. Everything in between is character development.

Death does not mean death. Unlike most horror films, its appearance can actually signal a new beginning or change.

Minor Arcana: Know what each suit means or symbolizes in general.

Cups: Water, focuses on your emotional self, creativity and romance, following your heart over your head.

Pentacles: Earth, focuses on your physical self, material ideas like business or wealth, manifestation.

Swords: Air, focuses on your mental self, action and concentration, intelligence and conflict.

Wands: Fire, focuses on your spiritual self, intuition and inspiration, values and flaws.

All in All: 

Use the context clues in the imagery of your cards to guide your intuition.

Don’t worry about misreading a card or getting anything wrong. This is really about trusting yourself and your gut instincts.

Don’t be afraid to take the surface value of the card during this exercise. It’s just an exercise. 

I hope this helped you if you’re just starting out, want to try a different method to divining with tarot, or just want to generally work on trusting your gut.

[pluralgang-practitioners]

i feel like there aren't nearly enough resources for people who leave a high-controlling religious environment and still want to seek God/spirituality in their own way without the toxicity of their previous religion.

most of the stuff out there is "your new life without God," "leaving God behind," etc...

people act like the natural next step from leaving a controlling religion is staunch atheism.

that might be the most common outcome, considering the trauma associated with God that such an upbringing can result in. and if that's the path you choose, that's perfectly valid. you process your trauma however you need to, as long as you're not hurting anyone.

but it's not the only possible outcome, and it doesn't work for everyone.

some people still feel the need to seek spirituality and feel as though they're not alone on a cosmic scale. (i'm one of those people.)

i feel like people fail to acknowledge this sometimes.

[pluralgang-practitioners]

Deity tip: Dedicate jewelry to your deity.

I have a necklace dedicated to the Morrigan and as of late I haven't been able to practice my craft as much as I would like and I haven't been able to dedicate much time to my deities. So what I've been doing is putting on that necklace when I go out and inviting her to accompany me on my ventures.

Sometimes I feel like she's there, others not so much. Either way, the invitation is extended and she knows I'm still thinking of her every day.

[pluralgang-practitioners]

This week's divination challenge: Ask, "If I was a character in [inset favorite show/movie/books here], what would my role in it be?" Pull as many cards as you want.

You are free to do this privately, but I encourage y'all to reblog and share what you ended up with in your reading!

[pluralgang-practitioners]

i fear the start of my deity workings

[pluralgang-practitioners]

look, my main takeaway from the upcoming rant is that no, it is not a five-card spread.

it is five 1-card spreads for five different questions related by a single theme.

[pluralgang-practitioners]

man why do white people have to appropriate our guys its not like y'all dont have your own guys

[pluralgang-practitioners]

My original spread, the Labyrinthine spread is the seasonal reading I'm offering this month!

Interpretation-only readings are $10. Live video readings or hand-drawn illustrated readings are $18.

Send me an ask if you're interested in a reading! Or if you use this reading yourself, tell me about your results!

[pluralgang-practitioners]

My original spread, the Floral spread is the seasonal reading I'm offering this month!

Interpretation-only readings are $10. Live video readings or hand-drawn illustrated readings are $18.

Send me an ask if you're interested in a reading! Or if you use this reading yourself, tell me about your results!

[pluralgang-practitioners]

Reblog; do not repost. By “repost”, I mean: do not save this image and then re-upload it. Please hit the “reblog” button so that I may receive the credit for my work :)

[pluralgang-practitioners]

The ‘Churning Water’ tarot spread is simple yet helpful for figuring out situations where you feel like you’re stuck in a tough situation, almost like you’re treading water during a storm.

1. Hidden Current - What do you need to know about the situation? What's something 'hidden' or unknown that is affecting it?

2. Life Preserver - What do you need to do in order to stay afloat? What can help with the situation?

3. Wait it Out - What is the outcome of the situation if you do nothing?

[pluralgang-practitioners]

Character Development Tarot Spread by Rosalarian

When applied to a living person, Tarot cards represent little pieces of a person’s life story. The same can be applied to fictional characters. Drawing cards and asking the right questions can help give a character depth.

Whether you’re a writer, actor, or developing a fake boyfriend to get your grandma off your back, sometimes you need to come up with a bunch of characters and you might get stumped on the details. Even side characters can benefit from having their personality fleshed out more. I came up with this method for putting together characters using Tarot cards.

What is their strength?

What is their weakness?

What motivates them?

What do they love?

What do they hate?

How do they relate to friends?

How do they relate to family?

How do they relate to lovers?

These 8 prompts get to the basic core of a character, but you can get more specific with it, too. Draw additional cards if you still have more questions about the characters. Are they educated or not? What class are they? Get really specific. What is their mutant power?

If it’s minor arcana, it’s a minor trait, but major arcana means it’s something very important to the character, something that drives them. You can use either the upright or reversed meaning, depending on which makes more sense/inspires you. This is a tool, after all, and it must be guided by the user.

For examples of how to use this spread and more, check out my Tarot project on Kickstarter, now through Nov 6.