Roll up, roll up for the magical mystery tour, step right this way...

(Note: Not entirely sure where to put this, but since we're talking hypothetical decks and not real or potentially-doable ones, I don't *think* it goes in the Decks or Deck Creation forums... mods, feel free to move if you disagree.)

Here's a hypothetical: If you could will a deck of any kind into being, irrespective of your own talent/resources... something *not* already available, which would exist solely for your own use (one copy only, no sale, no trade)... what kind of deck would you want to poof into existence?

As for my answer:

I was sitting here taking a break from doing some readings and thought, "hey, a Beatles tarot would be neat," and then realized there'd be no way on earth I'd be able to *read* with it... it'd just be a gimmick deck. Neat, but not useful.

But then I remembered Paul McCartney's paintings - he released a book of them a few years ago, mostly abstracty oil paintings with a lot of nature influences - and I went "*that* would make a nice, readable deck."

I'd also like to see what I might get out of an anatomy and physiology type deck (a la Bodyworks, for anyone who's seen that museum exhibit), but not sure how well I'd read with it (as a geek, I'd probably start naming muscle groups instead...)

And for sentimental reasons, it'd be kind of cool to have a deck with the photos/poetry of a mentor of mine... might make an interesting oracle deck. But again, *I* would probably get too distracted to read with it.

So if I had my choice, it'd be Paul's paintings... I think they'd lend themselves to tarot quite well.. colorful enough to be interesting, vague enough to read well intuitively.

Here are some of my favorite paintings of his: Unspoken Words, Yellow Celt, Robot Star, Big Mountain Face, and Unfinished Symphony

Of course, not only do I not possess the skills to create a deck, but using these images, or advocating that anyone else do so, would be a good way to get myself sued (cause someone would inevitably try to sell one eventually, and at that point...)

So what's *your* impossible-(or unlikely)-to-create, never-before-seen, one of a kind, non-existing, very personal, dream deck? Something themed? Three feet tall (good luck shuffling...)? Scratch'n'sniff?

My mind is wandering off again, lack of sleep so hope makes sense---I saw a movie staring Robin Williams, can't remember the name of it, anyway each time he had a special type of experience, a moment of joy or despair he collected a stone/pebble to keep. This makes sense to me!
Anyway i have been making some cards for myself based somewhat on this principle ,so how i have related to certain cards ,through types of experiences-the drawings are simple, colour seems to focus the mood for me and is most important in these recollections.--- hope this is not miles away from what your aiming at!

Gypsyspell said:

My mind is wandering off again, lack of sleep so hope makes sense---I saw a movie staring Robin Williams, can't remember the name of it, anyway each time he had a special type of experience, a moment of joy or despair he collected a stone/pebble to keep. This makes sense to me!
Anyway i have been making some cards for myself based somewhat on this principle ,so how i have related to certain cards ,through types of experiences-the drawings are simple, colour seems to focus the mood for me and is most important in these recollections.--- hope this is not miles away from what your aiming at!

Click to expand...

That's very cool! And no worries, it's in the ballpark of what I was aiming at, although I was wondering mostly about "uncreatable" decks folks would love to have... but for those of us with limited visual art skills, many many decks are "uncreatable" in the sense of what we'd *like* the final product to look like.

My truly "uncreatable" deck idea would have to be one based off of the Silent Hill series of video games for... obvious reasons. Like, copyright. I mean, it would be a terribly "dark" deck, but I think it would lend itself well to shadow work (since the creatures in Silent Hill are a reflection of your fears and desires). Hell, in the book of "Lost Memories" (an added extra to the Japanese official Silent Hill 3 Game Guide from 2003), each aspect of the first three games is compared to the Major Arcana of tarot! In the third game, you even have to solve a puzzle using tarot cards (including an extra major card, The Eye of the Night, which would have to be in any deck based off the series).

I even have some ideas for images for this deck. You couldn't just copypasta images from the game without the proper context... if I could draw, I would draw them myself.


Which leads me to my next idea. I'm even contemplating trying to learn how to draw well so I could make this idea a reality. There are two decks based off of fairy tales... why is there no deck based off of Ballets? Just think of it! Giselle and Albrecht could be The Lovers, the red shoes could be on The Devil...

LotusSong said:

Which leads me to my next idea. I'm even contemplating trying to learn how to draw well so I could make this idea a reality. There are two decks based off of fairy tales... why is there no deck based off of Ballets? Just think of it! Giselle and Albrecht could be The Lovers, the red shoes could be on The Devil...

Click to expand...

It could be based on the artwork of Degas! He did five or six hundred ballet-related images - surely we can find 78 Tarotistical ones.

I'd like to see a tarot deck created around my favorite book and movie; A Christmas Carol.

LotusSong said:

Hell, in the book of "Lost Memories" (an added extra to the Japanese official Silent Hill 3 Game Guide from 2003), each aspect of the first three games is compared to the Major Arcana of tarot! In the third game, you even have to solve a puzzle using tarot cards (including an extra major card, The Eye of the Night, which would have to be in any deck based off the series).

Click to expand...

Oh, wow. Sounds like they're missing the boat not having licensed that already! They must not realize what a market they're missing.

LotusSong said:

Which leads me to my next idea. I'm even contemplating trying to learn how to draw well so I could make this idea a reality. There are two decks based off of fairy tales... why is there no deck based off of Ballets? Just think of it! Giselle and Albrecht could be The Lovers, the red shoes could be on The Devil...

Click to expand...

That's a neat idea, too.

morticia monroe said:

I'd like to see a tarot deck created around my favorite book and movie; A Christmas Carol.

Click to expand...

That would be a fun deck... with Scrooge as the fool, I assume?

willing a deck into being. You don't stress tarot, so I can't say that mine would be tarot. Probably something Oracle-like. Or I may even manage a tarot.

It would be made up of genuine late Renaissance/Early Baroque engravings. I just know that somewhere, all these figures; Hermit, Hanged Man, Grim Reaper, Moon, Star etc etc, exist in beautiful engravings (maybe in libraries in the Netherlands, Belgium, perhaps France...) and with court cards from Van Dyke engravings, and together they would create a beautiful, coherent deck. Id probably hand-tint them too, for more emphatic unity...

And, no, nothing from Italy. No reference to the Viscontis or anything. A Low Countries tarot

I just know this would be fabulous, but I have to fritter my day away on other things, like earning money to buy other people's creations

I probably don't even have to say this, but... a Discworld tarot. That would make me soooo happy.