21 Ways to Choose a Tarot Deck

Can you tell us how you make your choices when choosing that Oh! so fabulous new deck.

Word of mouth?
Most talked about deck on AT?
Any new deck that comes out and looks good???
Throwing darts at....ok, let's keep it non-violent.

21. Photo-collage is the new love of your life. You remember collage from childhood so your Tarot deck must have signs of cut and paste on it. Using the Voyager you pull a card asking what your next photo-collage purchase must be...yikes! You got Fool-Child. Looking at those big eyes you think: Artist's Inner Vision!!! Bonanza! Yes! I must have it!!!!!

Any other ideas?

I don't want another deck. What's wrong with the ones I have? Nothing. But then, in passing, someone mentions that casual addition to their collection, and I can't help but look it up. Just idle curiosity, you understand, that's all... and there it is, with its lush artworks seductively beckoning. Its thoughtful text, beggin to be read..... I have to have it.

But there's a downside: the dissapointment. 'An Odilon Redon Tarot' Oh! The excitement! I love Redon! But no, its majors only, and an expensive collectable. Sigh........

Oh, many ways...

This is one. Someone uses a deck I've initially rejected on scans in a reading for me. I love the reading and am drawn to give the deck another look - and end up ordering it, intrigued by its seeming readability. This happened with the Druidcraft, after a Chubby Mummy special. Thankfully I liked the deck much more in real life than in scans - it's really quite beautiful, in a classic English way, the book is fabulous, and it opened up the hitherto hazy world of Celtic mythology to me (which in turn cost me a little fortune in books, but that's another story )

I think out and out addiction could also play a part.

DIdn't somebody mention there could be a 12 step programme to help with this?

Of course, I am not addicted. I tell myself that each time I check e - bay to see if any wee bargains can be had.

Nope, not addicted.

There are some other elements, other than the Magpie instinct for shiny new things, that influence me:

Study - I want to learn about Tarot history, so I want to get historical reproductions that I can lay out rather than trying to use a webpage or book.

Intuitive reading - some images just have so much that I can see in them. The Spiral works for me that way. So when I see artwork that fires off little sparks of imagination, I want it.

Complexity - tarots that draw together rich layers of symbolism from one tradition or many

Theme - decks that reflect my various interests are a big attraction. The Housewives, so I can draw a card along with my glass of wine before I start rattling pots and pans. "How will today's culinary masterpiece turn out, and what are the kids going to moan about today?" The Silicone Valley tarot - "how slow is the work server going to be today?" ...

cheers
Euri

euripides said:

There are some other elements, other than the Magpie instinct for shiny new things, that influence me:

Click to expand...

*Ahem* Who, Me? I don't even know you, and I'm a bad influence??? I usually have to work up to that...
Well, yeah, I probably am. 200 decks and counting, no voluntary simplicity here.


All kidding aside, yes, it certainly is part of it for me. Actually, all your reasons work for me--and most of us, I think.

euripides said:

I don't want another deck. What's wrong with the ones I have? Nothing. But then, in passing, someone mentions that casual addition to their collection, and I can't help but look it up. Just idle curiosity, you understand, that's all... and there it is, with its lush artworks seductively beckoning. Its thoughtful text, beggin to be read..... I have to have it.

Click to expand...

Heheh. That pretty much describes my process...

I've also succumbed to the Helvetica someone-did-a-great-reading-for-me-with-it method, but I've found to my cost that what works brilliantly for others does not always work for me...

Also, if you want to have any chance of resisting a deck, NEVER, EVER tell anyone on AT that you're thinking of getting it. They'll invariably find a way of persuading you, De-enabling Thread notwithstanding.

There's also the Failed Denial approach: "I'm not a tarot collector but...just this ONE MORE deck, then I'll have all I need. For good. That's it."

I applied this only yesterday when ordering the Llewellyn Tarot.

*chuckle* yes, I'm still in denial.... only its about 20 more at this point! repeat after me... "I am not a collector... I am not...." but not forgetting the nice distinction that someone made on another thread - its a 'selection', not a 'collection'.

Heh, Magpie, is that one of those Freudian guilt-by-association things? Been doing a bit of enabling, have we?

I do the same thing that I do with everything else..

I check it out a bunch of times (well, atleast three) and if I like it enough each time and the prize is right - I get it.

Being picky has saved my finances more than once, I can tell you that...

How about the shuffle the collection tango?

As in, I'll trade a bunch of decks rather than buy anything...and then later when you decide to buy you think, "Well I didn't spend money on the Transformational or the Heron Conver, I traded for them...so, I have some cushion."

EEEEKKK!