Hanson-Roberts trouble...

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 16 Mar 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

aeonx	16 Mar 2002
Greetings. Well, I finally got my Hanson-Roberts deck, and just loved it right away! The artwork appealed greatly to me, I loved the colors and the soft images. However, I'm finding myself disappointed, again. I've discovered during my last readings that many cards don't have the, as I see it, important symbolizm of the RW. I use the RW for study-deck, but don't like reading with it since it's not very beautiful. Well, take for instance the Ten of Pentackles. In the RW it's the only card in the deck that have the Tree of Life formed (out of the ten pentackles). The two adults in the picture are holding each other, yet not looking at each other. They seem a bit distant. None of the family-members take any notice of the elder man. Only the dogs do. The old man is probably a magician of some kind, and from old days, dogs were often the only ones to 'feel' them. (I'll admit that I'm a bit influenced by Pollack's interpretations in 78DW.) But, in the HR-deck, the card is illustrated in a whole different way. Here the couple seem very much in love, and all members of the family, kids as well, see the old man and welcome him. Most importantly, the pentackles aren't arranged in the pattern of the Tree of Life. They seem scattered. Really disappointing, since symbolizm of the cards and my intuition have become very important to me. Maybe I'll just have to wait for my Universal Waite. :( A petty, since I'm really attracted to the artwork of the Hanson-Roberts deck.

Ophiel	16 Mar 2002
Greetings Aeonx. I have read a little bit about the period when Waite (and Mathers) worked on the Tarot deck and became early proponents of picturing the minor cards (I was reading Kaplan's Encyclopedia of the Tarot recently, reseaching an entirely different area of the cards and thought I ran into an old deck that the text said was used by the Golden Dawn guys as a basis for their pics...or maybe it was a web site...) and that made it easier to read the cards. Actually, I'm not sure it's better, but it is easier. There are SO many books out now that interpret the cards and some conflict with one another. It's not surprising that the imagery is the same way. Perhaps it's based more on what we are used to, or even which deck we learn on. It would be nice if we could view ALL the cards in a deck before buying it!

blumoon	16 Mar 2002
aeonx i have a similar problem with a deck i bought a few days ago, the hudes tarot deck, the cards are based on rider waite symbolism and my first deck was a rider waite so i am kinda biased when it comes to reading with new decks, i am finding it tricky to get my head around some of her cards, especially the swords and wands cards, for example the 2 of swords...in the RW there is a lady sitting down with a blindfold on and is holding 2 swords in front of her, but in the hudes the lady is standing up holding 2 swords to her right and is not wearing a blindfold, to me the blindfold is important but it is missing..i really like these cards but they are going to take a while to get used to reading with... :(

fairyhedgehog	16 Mar 2002
Hi, I've got both the Universal Waite and the Hanson-Roberts. For me, the trick is to read quite differently with each of them. The Waite is a calm deck, where you can take your time to understand the meaning of a card with all its symbolism. The Hanson-Roberts is more 'in your face' - the pictures seem to be drawn from a closer camera angle, and the 'feel' of each picture is more immediate. So I tend to go more by the feel of that deck, but remaining conscious of any other symbolism for the card that I know of. I've also got the Whimsical Tarot, which uses different meanings entirely in some places. I just let the conventional meaning inform the cards where appropriate, and ignore it where it isn't helping. Eg, two of swords shows Hansel and Gretel having pushed the witch into the oven. I just interpret that one from its own angle - maybe 'two working together can do more than one', or 'brains work better than brute strength' or whatever. Hope you manage to enjoy the cards you've got :) Best wishes,

Emily	16 Mar 2002
Hi aeonx, I have the Hanson Robets too and I've also found that alot of the symbolism from the Rider Waite is missing, its a nice clone but that is all it is - but because I like the colours I also ordered the Universal Waite and am eagerly awaiting its delivery :) The Rider Waite is my usual study deck but I might change to the Universal just so long as nothing is missing from the cards lol

truthsayer	17 Mar 2002
i'm such a mary hanson-roberts fan that the differences don't bother me. in fact, i'm hard pressed to remember any differences in how i read the universal vs. the hanson-roberts. the only thing i can think of is that the HR is more emotional w/ emphasis on faces versus symbolism. in the UW, the concentration is more on tradition. the next time i read w/ them i'll pay more attention to the differences. but in comparison and contrast in RW clones like the robin wood and these, the differences seem negligible to me. however, it is an interesting point that i respect and plan to notice more in the future. i haven't gotten the whimsical yet but plan to asap. i don't understand what it is about her art i like so much but i think it's her overall gentleness of spirit that comes thru her drawings and colors.

aeonx	18 Mar 2002
Greetings all and thanx for your replies. I'll try to work a bit more with the HR, simply because it's a beautiful deck. *s* I'll try to interpret the cards after what I feel, instead of what I've learned by using the RW. However, still looking immensly forward to receiving my Universal Waite! :) Have a great day!

The Hanson-Roberts trouble... thread was originally posted on 16 Mar 2002 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.