Unillustrated Pips

I tried finding a topic on this but couldn't.

How do you feel about decks with unillustrated pips? I think it's in a way cheating the deck, but if the faces and Major are done well enough it can be somewhat forgiven.

I have heard once before that it is easier for beginners to learn with completely illustrated decks because they can see the meaning of the card in the illustration, which leads to faster memorization. I'd say I have to believe this, because I know for a fact that it's easier for many people to memorize things that they have associated with pictures.

So, any thoughts about these kinds of decks?

perhaps one could say the pictures illustrate the meaning of the numbers.

some of us think well in terms of numbers.

as for memorization, let me take this…I was just goin’ fishin’ anyway…

There are many threads about pip decks here.

I used decks with scenic minors for many years, and I have only recently started using decks with pips, and it is the best thing I could have done!

The things about decks with scenic minors is that they can be restrictive and limit the range of interpretations available to the reader. Take, for instance, the three of swords. In most RWS decks this tends to be a pretty gloomy card. Yet I associate threes with creativity and expression, and swords with the intellect and communication. So if it comes up in a reading, it could (among many other things) represent someone expressing an opinion or idea. Now this may in fact be painful and cause heartbreak (and fit closely to the RWS meaning), but it could be immensely wonderful too.

I love the fact that using decks without scenic minors opens up a whole world of possible interpretations to me, based on suit and number (and even the abstract designs and foliage of the cards themselves - they are NOT unillustrated).

And another excellent thing about using pip cards is that I don't have to memorise meanings for the minors at all! I simply have an understanding of the suits and numbers, and the meanings of the individual cards only become apparent when they are in a particular spread. This way of reading the cards is much more organic and fluid than sitting down and memorising a bunch of meanings in advance.

I think it's quite strange that you consider pips to be "cheating the deck". Most of the historical decks used pips. This is the foundation of tarot. Scenic minors really only became standard last century (and in many parts of the world marseilles decks with pip cards are still commonplace and popular).

I only have one deck like this, I love my Golden. It has unillustrated pips, and I find it gives great readings. For me, it lets my mind wander into what the cards are saying much better than decks with illustrations. But to each their own

papercut said:

The things about decks with scenic minors is that they can be restrictive and limit the range of interpretations available to the reader.

Click to expand...

That is the precise reason I'm hanging on to my Golden Tarot by Liz Dean.

One of these days, I'll get them back out again, when I'm more sure of myself! For now, I need the scenic minors, but soon, I won't.

This thread shows how different that we all are.

I am very very sensitive to colors and images. So I link up to the pictures and colors on the cards. The pictures are just what I need to sense what the reading is trying to say. I see right to the point of what the imagery is trying to cover.

Without imagery I could still do tarot but I would have to take a different approach.

To me Tarot cards are just like reading a newpaper, each page shows a different story. Some people are just more receptive with their abilities and the images helped that a lot.

I am thankful that Arthur Edward Waite commissioned Pamela Coleman Smith
to do drawings of the Minor Arcana. That gives me access to use my abilities
to read the Tarot imagery.

Morgane_49 said:

That is the precise reason I'm hanging on to my Golden Tarot by Liz Dean.

One of these days, I'll get them back out again, when I'm more sure of myself! For now, I need the scenic minors, but soon, I won't.

Click to expand...

Deck twins Isn't it lovely? the pips speak volumes.

It's cool to see what everyone thinks about the unillustrated pips. After reading the responses I can actually see how unillustrated pips could be less restrictive in interpretation. That's really cool, I hadn't thought of it that way

The Rabbit Tarot is the best of both worlds. The pips are illustrated with a rabbit and a carrot/daisy/tulip/stick, but the picture is pretty vague. Not much is happening.

vague or unillustrated pips are also good for traditions that use swords/fire and wands/air.

I am plagued by that wonderful creature called Self Doubt and I find that working with non-scenic pips allows me to trust what I see and feel a lot more; I know I'm not being "led astray" by the images or what I _want_ to see in them. It is easier to project and explore trains of thought freely when there aren't any human forms to distract and muddle things up. When I'm reading to explore my inner workings, I will usually lay scenic and non-scenic together, to balance things out for myself.

My first deck was a non-scenic, so I might be biased