Does the history of the tarot deck matter in being credible?

I got a little intrigued about the NY times article posted. I was just wondering -- does the year when a particular deck was created really matter? In other words, is it true that the older the deck, the more "reliable" or credible it would be?

I have started my tarot collection and although I try to find out when they were constructed, I valued them more simply because of their history (like an artifact). When it comes to use, I have always assumed that history of the deck may not necessarily fit in sometimes because I tend to use intuition more... or are my assumptions wrong? I am aware that I do need to understand some aspects of the tarot deck's roots (such as in Thoth) just so that I could further refine my readings. For the newer decks which I use, I may not have that much material.

Would appreciate inputs on this one.

But it's not the deck that reads, it's you. So no, it doesn't matter.

But if you believe it matters, then of course it does...

(if you see what I mean )

Think about it this way: a city is failing (be it economically or natural disaster) and the people flee. What got taken with them to a new location? What got left behind because it wasn't important enough, or for lack of space? What did a certain noble patron consider worthy to be financially backed & preserved?

There are as many reasons for what we do/don't have as there are human beings who made the choices.

In general I find people's obsession with "authenticity" kind of silly. You know how when you take someone out to eat at say, a Mexican restaurant, and they ask if it's authentic? Drives me crazy. Like there are a bunch of Mexicans out there just trying to trick unsuspecting gringos into eating food that people in Mexico wouldn't' actually eat! I'm like, dude, if a Mexican makes it (and is cooking their own cultural food of course) or it's prepared in a way that is culturally specific to Mexico, then it's freaking Mexican, lets just leave it at that.

Just eat what you like, I say. Or, more pertinent to this thread, just use what deck calls to you.

vee said:

I'm like, dude,

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Vee???? you talk like this??? In Cheeecago???? LOL gotta love it : )

Poopsie....LOL don't believe everything you read in the paper. If this were true we will all be dead before any of the decks published in the last few years will be "readable".

poopsie said:

I was just wondering -- does the year when a particular deck was created really matter? In other words, is it true that the older the deck, the more "reliable" or credible it would be?...

...When it comes to use, I have always assumed that history of the deck may not necessarily fit in sometimes because I tend to use intuition more... or are my assumptions wrong?

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I think a given reader's intuition is the absolute primary ingredient in working with Tarot -- that's my understanding, anyway.

As far as your main question goes, I have a couple of thoughts:

1) No matter what deck you pick -- whether an old "classic" or a newfangled experimental one -- you will almost immediately be able to find both someone who will sneer at it, and someone who will love it even more than you do. Those people will all just be offering opinions, though, not some kind of verifiable scientific findings. Your opinion is no less valuable than theirs...and since it's your usage being affected, your opinion of your own deck would seem to me to be *more* valuable/valid than anyone else's...

2) I'm going to try an analogy here... I play the guitar. There are many guitars out there. Some are fancy and revered and expensive, and some are cheap and much less hallowed. When I pick up certain guitars, they feel fantastic in my hands, smooth, agreeable, like they make me play better than I really am (Gibsons fit this category for me)...and then on the other hand, some guitars -- even some quite beloved out there and used by many universally acclaimed guitarists throughout the rock era -- feel like blocks of wood to me, and feel like they make me play worse than I am (Fenders...). So what works for me is to just pick a guitar that feels great and makes me feel like I play well. If I were to buy one because it had a great reputation and "pedigree" even though I felt like I didn't connect with it and sounded like rubbish on it, that great rep and pedigree would not make the overall purchase feel worthwhile. Instead, I'd prefer to get a cheap knockoff that might never win any coolness contests, but which made me feel like I was laying down the real stuff every time I strapped it on. In short: I think you should pick whatever deck speaks to you directly, and while learning about its history and reputation isn't a bad thing, I'd place those things kinda far down on the list of factors to worry about when deciding whether or not to use it.

3) If chronological order of deck creation mattered that much, no one would value the Crowley-Harris Thoth deck over the older Rider-Waite, right? But tons of people do. Again, the biggest question (I think) should always be "What will work best for me and make me the happiest?"

DownwardSpiral said:

Vee???? you talk like this??? In Cheeecago???? LOL gotta love it : )
.

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Haha! If it's any consolation, I do talk with very nasal vowels.

I'm a certified (or is it certifiable?) history nerd, but I have to agree with the previous posters, that when it comes to selecting a deck to read with, history and dates aren't important. What matters is how a deck opens your intuition.

I got into tarot history over 15 years ago because I thought if I could discover the original deck and how its users interpreted the cards, I would be closer to the "true" tarot. Alas, we'll probably never know what the first deck looked like, and we can only speculate on how 15th century tarot game players related to the images.

My research has added interesting layers to my card interpretations, but I cant say it's done much for my reading technique. I haven't felt compelled to read with the oldest decks we have from the mid 1400s. I prefer one of the latest spin-offs of the TdM (a version of the soprafino from 1880 by the Avondo Brothers) because I respond to the art. But I also respond very strongly to certain decks created in the last 10 years because they're a product of the world I actually live in. It just occurred to me that some of my favorite decks were created by people in my age group (aging baby boomers). I wonder if we tend to resonate with decks created by our generational peers?

vee said:

Like there are a bunch of Mexicans out there just trying to trick unsuspecting gringos into eating food that people in Mexico wouldn't' actually eat!

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DAMN IT! he's on to us ! abort, ABORT!


nah buit seriously , keeping with that analogy, if the food is good does it matter who made it? my uncle makes GREAT chinesse food. and Im sure there must be chinesse people who make sucky chinesse food. I once ate korean food thinking it was japanese! *gasp* I felt betrayed X) lol

and so on.

Beg to differ.

When a Mexican guy makes spaghetti and meatballs, it's Italian food.

If the cards stray too far from the tradition, they're not tarot--they're an oracle, or a deck of playing cards, or card-sized pictures.