Deck Insanity?!?! (Rant-kinda)

tabi

Randomly I will go searching through the deck section on here, Tarot Garden, Tarot.com, U.S. Games and basically any other site that has and sells decks, be they tarot or oracle. I have started to notice that there seems to be an overflowing of decks. Not a bad thing, but some of them are just flat out deranged.

Yes, I realize that everyone has different tastes and views on things. I'm good with that because ya know what; what you might like would give me nightmares. Which is why I won't have or own a TdM....just the thought of one has me pulling on my hair.

Yet, I noticed more and more frequently; that there are a lot of bizarre ideas for a deck themes: more so with oracles but there is still a lot of tarot decks that simply leave me complete stunned that someone bothered or even thought of to begin with, to make it into a deck.

I'm not a traditionalist when it comes to tarot. I do take it with a gain of salt yet seriously. I do know what the tarots limitation are, what it can and can't answer, but where is the line of offering different styles and ideas to encompass everyone's taste to simply too far? Seriously if you need a deck that gives you daily strategies; how are you functioning in the real world to begin with?!
 

Elven

Hi tabi :)
I went to a friends bookshop the other day and asked what listings she had for Tarot in her catalogues :bugeyed: LOL!! For last year and this year there were just soooooo many - pages and pages of them! ... and each month there are more being released.
I supose that each artist is trying to develop a deck theme different to another - and so the scope on what becomes available widens as well as becomes more 'creative' and diverse.

I think some creators have been looking through AT's 'Bizarre Decks' Thread though for inspiration :p LOL!!
So we can look forward to many more decks to come!

I feel sorry for the poor collectors who are trying to keep up with all this ... the past ten years must have cost them a fortune!!

;)

Blessings Elven x
 

jayem

hm, i know what you mean. some are just incredibly odd, i dont even know why somebody would buy them. or how they could do a serious reading with them. personally, i like the classics or anything whimsical. im not really into sci-fi or fairies or anything like that.
i dont know why, but id love to see a tarot deck with old like 19th century medical drawings. i think itd be incredibly creative, not necessarily 'tarot', but a nice collectors item.
to a certain extent, i think the more crazy the decks are, the more the cards lose their meaning. but, a ton of people buy tarot just to collect the cards, so i guess this really doesnt matter since they wont go in use anyways.
 

tabi

The whole idea of having a deck for everything under the sun, seems to be taking away the seriousiness of what any intuition deck inspires. The "Daily"s *whatever* that US Games are putting out, I also see a ton of very odd ones at the books stores now that leave me going: WTF?! IE: the Golfer's Inner Guide...?

If decks like these are overflowing the market it how is anyone every going to take the tarot/oracles seriously?!
 

firemaiden

tabi said:
[...] there is still a lot of tarot decks that simply leave me complete stunned that someone bothered or even thought of to begin with, to make it into a deck.
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Oh please tell, name names, name names! Which ones do you feel this way about. You have me most intrigued! Would you by any chance be thinking of the Housewives tarot?
 

jayem

firemaiden said:
Oh please tell, name names, name names! Which ones do you feel this way about. You have me most intrigued! Would you by any chance be thinking of the Housewives tarot?
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ha, i love the housewives tarot! i think its cute...
 

tabi

I think the HouseWife's Tarot is a cute deck, but there is of course the Gummy Bear Tarot, the Hello Kitty, the Bright Idea Cards, or what if you go to a reader to have your "fortune" told and they whip out the ClothesPin Tarot or the Disney Afternoon Tarot (which I would buy simply due to my love of DarkWing Duck.) I do understand that some of this is to cover everyone's taste, that isn't the problem.

But there is a ton of just simply decks of random cards put together to help people. US Games is one of the largest makers of this, Self-Help is where they are catogized on their website.....in the "tease" there is this: Patton on Leadership Motivational Cards. :confused:
 

shadowdancer

the Bright Ideas deck should not be underestimated.

Yes, the art work might look slightly comic book style but this deck packs a serious punch, and each card has 2 or 3 slants even though the art content is fairly minimal.

I actually considered this deck as my one deck to use for a few weeks. Each time I look at a card, with a different question in mind, it gives me a different answer which seems to match the issue at hand. A clever concept.

Usually I look for intense, deep artwork but this does a great job whilst being at the opposite end of the spectrum to what I usually like.

I have considered having a back up deck to keep in my desk draw at work.

However, going back to the original posting, I sort of understand where you are coming from. It does appear with current market trends that almost anything goes. Whilst this should widen the tarot appeal to more people by doing so, I think it does take it a little bit further away from what it means to those readers who have been involved for a number of years, who remember times where it was not so commercialised?

Davina
 

Briar Rose

tabi said:
where is the line of offering different styles and ideas to encompass everyone's taste to simply too far? QUOTE]



tabi said:
Seriously if you need a deck that gives you daily strategies; how are you functioning in the real world to begin with?!
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Some people that use daily draws on decks may be looking for affirmations because they didn't get that from their parents, or who ever brought them up. They might be looking at words like, Power, Boundaries, Rejuvenation, Goals, Risk with a newness.

Next time you're in a bookstore, go look at an art history book towards the end. The 1st and 2nd world wars really opened the door for freedom in art.

And in the art world, everyone will always push the limits. *Expression*

It wouldn't be appropriate to tell someone at a buffet, "How could you eat that?" I feel it's the same way here.

Some people keep buying decks because they collect them for the art, or simply because they are wanting to find a deck that really moves them, and they haven't found that yet.



I'd love to look into your clothes closet and see just how many pairs of shoes you don't need in there, or how many pants, jeans, purses, and the worst one for women is lipsticks!!! I must have 50! Look in a guys fishing tackel box, how many lures does he really need???

We set all of our limitations, the cards don't have limitations.
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Briar Rose

PS: Tabi :heart: , you have an excellent Tarot collection. I love your choices!!!!!
 
Is it a book, or is it a blouse? Sometimes it just "clicks" later!