tarot addiction timeline

Hi all,

Ive read a few threads on here about tarot addiction and the skyrocketing number of decks people tend to have. One thing I couldnt find though was how long it took for your interest in tarot to turn from a passing curiousity into a full-out addiction.

For me, I only happened by chance to buy my first deck (a yellow box RWS) about a month ago, having no prior knowledge of tarot and having just thought the box was pretty, and as of the end of this week (hopefully!), I'll already be up to 9 decks. Is that really bad in one month? Ive always been the type to get overly addicted to things pretty quickly, but this seems to be far worse than past addictions were. Did you, wise forum addicts, have it happen to you so quicky? (Not to mentioned having found this site nearly as soon as I got home after buying my first deck and having not left since).

AT/Amazon/Ebay just makes it so easy! Each time I find a new one that seems nice, I think, "Okay, that is definitely the one." It isn't that I won't want to buy anymore after that, its that I just won't need anymore after finding this perfect one. (Lather-Rinse-Repeat)

Everyone feels the same way right? Its not just me... (?) Argh.

Welcome to AT, zan_chan!

I never collected anything until I started collecting tarot, and I blame AT. I love seeing so many pictures of cards!

Deck collecting is expensive. It is fun but not necessary.

You can have a great tarot experience with only one deck!

hi debra, thanks for your warm welcome

i think part of the problem with deck collecting seems to be that its deceptively cheap. "just one more" deck might be just $20. but the desire for "just one more" seems to strike on a shockingly daily (hourly?) basis haha.

Meanwhile, speaking of price, just be glad that you arent shopping in Japan, like me. The average retail for typical USG/AGM/LS decks in shops here is about ¥4000, or US$40. Just the other day I was in a bookstore and saw the Haindl, which I wanted, for ¥4300. Grabbed my iphone to check amazon.jp and it was ¥1450. Shocking!

Can't you buy from other countries and have decks sent to you? Or would the shipping make the costs not worth it?

With me it's taken years to reach the stage where I finally feel that there are only a few decks left that interest me. I got one of them this morning, and the others ... well I could live without them quite happily. I have about a dozen I think I really want to move on to happier homes but I thought I'd wait at least a couple of months (probably longer) just to be sure I wouldn't be making a mistake by passing them on.

But at its height - I tended to buy a deck a day for a fortnight and then panic and stop buying until the guilt subsided.....

Welcome to AT

if you feel addicted, set a limit of decks you will buy or set a reward system up, for example you could say that you will stop buying decks until you can master each deck you currently have. its always worth trying to see the decks before purchasing them too, i used to buy blind and as a result i have lots of decks i have to get rid of because they arent for me.

I dont beleive there is a perfect deck (unless you make your own), i do think many people find a deck that suits them, or a couple of decks that they work with well.

hi wendy. yeah, ive been buying from amazon japan, which is nice and cheap (and free shipping from overseas!) Its just buying in shops here thats so crazy.

A deck a day?! Thats what I like to hear! :-D Now I don't feel so bad about it. Just this morning I ordered Haindl and Robin Wood, but then five minutes later amazon emailed to tell me that my backordered Liber T and Thoth Green box had come in. Then my mom called to say that she had found a tarot shop in New York and had picked up a "beautiful" deck that shes keeping as a surprise. So thats 5 decks in one day! So, ah, the overwhelming guilt is what caused me to start this thread. I was hoping for some positive enabling. Its just nice to not feel like im in a league of my own.

Thanks!

214red--

thats excellent de-enabling since i just got both my first thoth and liber t. if i set my goal to be no new decks until i master my current ones, i may never buy another! haha

zan_chan said:

214red--

thats excellent de-enabling since i just got both my first thoth and liber t. if i set my goal to be no new decks until i master my current ones, i may never buy another! haha

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i guess it depends if you can afford it, and also if your a collector.if you can afford it and like collecting them, dont bother about feeling guilty!

I limitthe money i spend on books and decks each month because often i am just wasting my money as i am not a collector, and i only keep decks i can use ...so if i buy decks and dont like them i feel guilty when i see them gathering dust!

I took a while to build up to being a collector. Back when I was given my first deck, 1995 I think, I didn't know how many were out there and it was probably just about before my family had internet access - and even if we'd had internet access internet shopping would have been new-fangled

And decks in new age type shops in the UK can be expensive - up to £40 for a deck & book set, £15-18 (I've seen up to £22!) for a LS, AGM or USG deck on its own and most bookshops tend to have a very limited range. Of course once we were online and I'd discovered Amazon...

yeah, ilweran, i guess thats the (excellent!) problem-- that the same day I discovered tarot, i also discovered AT. Downward (upward?) spiral from there. You know, in Japan, you dont even need a credit card to shop on amazon-- you just pay at a convenience store. Convenient? Yeah, a little too convenient.