SYMBOLON DECK

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 25 Nov 2001, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Dee 04	25 Nov 2001
THE OTHER DAY I HAD A READING WITH THE SYMBOLON DECK. IT WAS THE FIRST TIME I HAD SEEN IT AND ALTHOUGH IT IS AN ORACLE DECK, NOT TRADITIONAL TAROT DECK, I FOUND IT INCREDIBLE! IT CAN, WITH GREAT DETAIL, TELL ABOUT ONE'S PAST LIVES AND ALSO DIVINE ABOUT THE PRESENT AND FUTURE. HAS ANYONE WORKED WITH THIS DECK? WHAT IS YOUR EXPERIENCE WORKING WITH IT?

Jewel	26 Nov 2001
Hi Dee, I have not worked with this deck but on a friends' recommendation I did purchase it. It is absolutly beautiful and I highly recommend it for anyone that is into Astrology and Mythology. It is published by U.S. games. Rumor had it (at the store I buy most of my decks at) that it was out of print, however it is still listed on the U.S. games site. I also understand that the TWB that comes with it is really really good! I look forward to getting some time to explore this deck further! Love & Light,

Dee 04	26 Nov 2001
interesting... I thought it was published by Agmuller... hmmm...

faunabay	26 Nov 2001
I had to go search and see what this deck looked like -- and of course I want it !!! Thanks alot - now I have another deck to add to my wishlist ??? LOL I found it listed on amazon.com for $25, but they also had a used one for $21. If it's out of print it has to have jsut been recently.

jmd	27 Nov 2001
Quote: Dee (27 Nov, 2001 01:35): interesting... I thought it was published by Agmuller... hmmm... A number of decks copyrighted and distributed by USGames are printed by AGMuller in Switzerland... It may be the case in this instance too...

Jewel	27 Nov 2001
Quote: Dee (27 Nov, 2001 01:35): interesting... I thought it was published by Agmuller... hmmm... As stated by JMD this deck is by AGmuller but distributed by US Games. I saw the deck on the US games site last week. US Games distributes several of the AGmuller decks just as Llewellyn carries some of the Le Scarabeo decks. I really think you will like this deck, I would not trade mine for the world (and that is that I do not even time to use it).

Jewel	27 Nov 2001
Quote: faunabay (27 Nov, 2001 05:14): I had to go search and see what this deck looked like -- and of course I want it !!! Thanks alot - now I have another deck to add to my wishlist ??? LOL I found it listed on amazon.com for $25, but they also had a used one for $21. If it's out of print it has to have jsut been recently. ~Giggles~ yeah I know what you mean, thanks to you I want the Alchemical Tarot *LOL*. Guess we are even ;) I think that the rumor I heard that it was OOP was just that, a rumor. I heard that about a year ago, maybe a little less and me and I purchased the last copy the store had, but was able to attain an extra 2 copies for 2 really good friends as the distributor the store I go to had 4 copies left. I just wanted to be on the safe side. One of my 2 friends uses that deck alot and she sais the readings are right on and that she absolutly loves it! All I can tell you from my experience is that the cards are evocative and absolutly beautiful. Definetly something you would want to add to your collection! Hope you are able to get a copy and enjoy it!

deso	27 Nov 2001
I'm entranced.............must get Symbolon..............must get Symbolon.......drool, drool, drool...........must get Symbolon..........

Lee	27 Nov 2001
Hi -- Just to offer a different perspective, I bought this deck, took it home, opened the box, and before I unwrapped the cards, I looked through the LWB, which was lucky for me, because the LWB contains pictures of each card. After looking through it I took the deck back to the store and was able to get my money back because the cards were still shrinkwrapped. What I saw of the deck gave me the heebie-jeebies. Several of the cards seemed to reflect a sort of stern, grim Calvinism, with people being chased through cemeteries, several Devil or Devil-ish cards, and one particularly unpleasant card called, if I remember correctly, "Abortion," showing a woman throwing a baby-wrapped bundle into a roaring fireplace. It's not that every card in a deck has to be goody-goody, but this one was particularly creepy. Just my two cents -- Lee :)

faunabay	27 Nov 2001
Lee, eeeeeuuuuuu!!!!! I still like the cards I've seen but maybe I'll take a look at more.

Jewel	28 Nov 2001
~Looks confused~ hmmmmm .... Those cards do not come to memory .... Faunabay I will look through my deck and let you know tomorrow. I would think I would remember that! *LOL*. I will make a list of any/all disturbing cards for you. Thanks for your post Lee, you have just given me a new reason to look through this deck again ~giggles~. Love & Light,

Jewel	29 Nov 2001
OKies did the review as promised, wrote up the post (a very detailed one!) then lost it ~grrrrrrrrr~ so here it is in short. Lee was absolutly correct about their being a few a disturbing images, although the images on the cards themselves seemed no worse to me than the 9 or 10 of swords in the RW deck. The 5 cards I found disturbing in the Symbolon deck were: 1) Abortion - shows a matronly looking woman covered from head to toe tossing a baby into a fire. 2) Castigation - a woman wrapped in a sheet whipping herself on her bear back with a whip that had several leather strands with pieces of glass on the ends. Her back is bleeding. 3) Black Mass - a group of individuals robed in black cloacks around an altar with an upside down cross above them. 4) Fear - woman running out of a graveyard with her arms up, she looks frightened and possibly a nun? There is a robed figure standing in the graveyard. Lots of crosses. 5) The Furies - Medusa is projecting snakes like bolts of lightening at a young man that looks paranoid. Now with the descriptions out of the way, I want to say that the LWB presents a summary of each card (which I included in the post I lost), presents the problem represented by the card, presents a way through the problem, and finally a conclusion. If you want additional detail on specific cards please let me know. I still find this deck beautiful and really enjoyed going through it last night. Love & Light,

Talisman	29 Nov 2001
Jewel, Good grief! This sounds awful. Talisman

Jewel	30 Nov 2001
Quote: Talisman (30 Nov, 2001 10:00): Good grief! This sounds awful. Talisman ~Chuckles~ Now that I read it again it sure does *LOL*. But honestly you have to see the art (painted, not black & white) before passing total judgement. Also like I said, the LWB goes into more detail and not everything about these cards as is negative as the names and my descriptions of them imply. The deck also has beautiful loving cards, and many more of those than of the ugly/scarry cards. Love & Light,

Dee 04	30 Nov 2001
Well, I did get the deck and I have to say that its energy is wonderful. Yes - there are a few not so positive cards - but that is life right - duality. Also, we can interpret these to mean what we want and not what is in the LWB. I see what you mean Jewel, these cards gave me the creeps when i first saw them - for example - the abortion card does not necessarily have to mean that - in the reading i was given it represented my overall anxiety of not spending enough time with my son even though i do spend a lot of time with him i always feel like it is never enough. I really like this deck for past life readings. That will be my use for it. I am not too good at reading symbols and it does have a lot of astrological symbols - I'll try. I am glad that you guys have taken the time to comment on this deck. If someone gets it - please add to this post. :)

faunabay	09 Jan 2002
I had to go in the archives and dig up this thread. I never did buy the deck, but it has popped up again to get my attention. I think I might just have to go for it. Anyone else have anything more to add, before I go spend even more money I don't have????

Jewel	10 Jan 2002
Go for it!!! *LOL* I just ordered the Cosmic Tribe yesterday (told you guys it would not take long for me to break down ~giggles). I really think you will like it overall. Like I said earlier there are so many more positive cards than scary ones. I pretty much listed all the ones I thought were nasty *LOL*. Let us know how you like it if you get it. Like I said before, I would not trade mine for the world (even if I don't use it!). Love & Light,

faunabay	17 Jan 2002
I GOT IT!!!! The artwork is so beautiful! And I tend to agree with Dee now that I've looked throught them. There are definitely some yucky/bad cards but life can be hard sometimes and they don't seem out of place. Without them the deck would be way too goody goody. And I've already got an interesting story with them. LOL When I brought them home I pulled a card to see how we'd work together and I got the "Defiant Child" card. It's a hilarious card showing a little boy running away from his nurse? Mother? with the "I hate you" look while the woman looks on with a small understanding smile. It made ME smile because I saw myself as the little boy and the deck as the woman. Anyway I did a three card spread asking what it wanted to tell me at our first get together. The outcome card was the Actor. Well I wasn't too happy with that. I don't want to be acting. I want to be true to myself. So I did another 3 card to explain the Actor card. And the outcome of that one was the Puppet. It was kind of funny (after the fact) but at the time I was starting to get irritated. "What do you mean I'm either going to be acting or have someone pulling my strings?" So I did ANOTHER 3 card spread asking about that and got cards that told me I was getting a bit too complacent and needed to be scared/shocked a bit so I would do the hard work needed to allow myself to soar/fly to new places and experience new things. WOW! As pretty and frilly as this deck looks I don't think it's going to pull any punches with me at all, huh?? LOL I"m going to be very interested to see how we work together as time goes on.

Jewel	18 Jan 2002
*LOL* Faunabay ... I am so glad you like it. And it seems your deck has a sense a humor as well as good advice. My copy of the Cosmic Tribe came in last night and I really enjoyed looking through the cards ... I giggled and laughed for a while. Then I kept having these psychodelic dreams of naked just like in the deck ~giggles~ ... needless to say I woke up laughing and had to quickly check in the mirror to make sure I did not have any traces of body paint left on me ;) Anyways ... good luck with the deck. The greatest difficulty I have working with the Symbolon is that it is not exactly Tarot so I am not sure I am using it right when I do. Also because it is so astrologically based and that is not my forte. Hopefully some day ~sigh~ ... but I do love the pretty cards, and I do agree the negative ones bring a balance to the deck and keep it from being a "sugary sweet" deck. Love & Light,

faunabay	18 Jan 2002
Jewel, Oh honey, you're going to have so much fun with the Cosmic Tribe!! :D I love mine. It just seems like such a friendly deck, doesn't it? LOL

Jewel	21 Jan 2002
Quote: faunabay (19 Jan, 2002 13:43): Jewel, Oh honey, you're going to have so much fun with the Cosmic Tribe!! :D I love mine. It just seems like such a friendly deck, doesn't it? LOL :D Hi Faunabay!!! I think you are right! I think I am really going to enjoy the Cosmic Tribe, more than I thought I would *LOL*. I hope you will be here to guide me as I start learning this deck. I plan to do my first reading with it tonigh in my Tarot for Yourself workbook work. Should be fun and a little different as I am not "intimate" with the deck as I am with my Robin Wood and Tarot of the Old Path. Certainly different than what I am used to working with *ROFLMAO*. Thanks for your encouragement and I will be looking to you and others for guidance. Love & Light,

The SYMBOLON DECK thread was originally posted on 25 Nov 2001 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.