Sudden Urge To Buy The Voyager Tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 15 Jan 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

purplelady	15 Jan 2003
The Voyager has never even been on my wish list. I just didn't feel attracted to it. It seems the people who love it really love it , and eveyone else thinks it's ugly! I always found it ugly! ( From the online scans I've seen) with it's large beige borders and cluttered collage. BUT all of a sudden the last couple of weeks I feel suddenly drawn to it. Now, I must have it! I wonder why it is calling to me? I have many decks and no time for them lately since I work all the time. And it doesn't seem an easy deck or one to take lightly. I DO want to find some time for tarot again. I'm guessing part of the sudden attraction may be that I find myself drawn to all decks that have gemstones/rocks/crystals lately and I know the voyager has that , and unusual names for some of the minor suits. Anyhow I'm just rambling now, and I know there are previous threads about this deck but I just thought I'd throw it out here. I may go to the bookstores around here today , as I thought I remember seeing it at one , and amazon has it but for full price anyhow. ( And I'm not sure I can wait!) The kit comes with a book , he also has other books out for this deck and even a full course. Which books are the best? I think some are out of print also?

Lee	15 Jan 2003
Hi purplelady, I think the book that comes with the deck is perfectly fine. The course is rather expensive. I haven't taken it, but I don't think I would recommend it unless you're really into Voyager. If you haven't already, check out the author's website: http://www.voyagertarot.com/ -- Lee

purplelady	15 Jan 2003
Back from Borders, where I Did buy the Voyager Tarot! And I am so very thrilled with it! Here is my brief critique of first impressions of the deck set: I really like the Hierophant , and the use of ancient architecture in many of the majors. Those Khaki-beige colored borders Are ugly! I wonder why another color wasn't used , perhaps black , or white? The truth is this deck just isn't a "pretty" deck. ( But even that is o.k. with me as I already own many "pretty" decks!)I don't like some of the negative titles on the crystal (sword) cards. For instance, six of crystals is titled "confusion" and seven is "dullness". But then Most decks give negative meanings to many of the sword cards. This is something I never quite agree with. Most every other suit and card is positive in title. I very much like the court cards. They are "sage, child, woman, and man". They are particularly busy and vibrant! But I cannot manage to "match" them up , or classify them as to Which corosponds to the traditional page, knight, queen, and king? I just can't figure it out. I Suppose "man" could be king , and "woman" would be queen , but what of the other two? And even So the man and woman thing doesn't really seem to be king and queen. I decided that this was a new system and that's o.k! The deck seems very dynamic. The cards are BIG and kind-of sticky and definitely need breaking in. I know I've read on other threads that the way to read Voyager is to pick ONE symbol or picture from each card that happens to draw your eye , at a time, so as not to feel confused or overwhelmed by All the collage pictures. However, I've read/skimmed through most of the book and can't seem to find this advice anywhere. I do like that the minors (and Especially the courts!) are every bit as complicated and vibrant , if not more, than the majors. See my new deck reading with Voyager under "your readings" as this didn't seem the proper place to post it.

truthsayer	15 Jan 2003
purplelady, sounds like you're walking in my shoes. take it from personal experience--from now on, NEVER ever publicly state distaste for a deck. invariably it always ends with badly. meaning: you end up needing THAT deck in the most obsessive-compulsive way possible! LOL

juice	16 Jan 2003
Lets start with a question as to borders or not and how much. Most people don't like these big wide borders on their cards. I have 3 theories for the border size. 1. It provides a glue to hold the many collage styles together in a sigle theme. 2. It provides a resting balance for the eye. 3. Traditionally many artists "improve" their painting by presenting them in big matted frames. This guy may be simply drawing from that background. I have a feeling imporving this paragraph would tribble it in size. ...like the borders. I bet he could cut those borders in half with no ill effect. Now color. The problem with white borders is they overwhelm the object. In most lighting situations too much white makes it hard to see the rest of the card unless it is all pastels. Grey or black borders would overwhelm the cards with a heavy mood. I think one of the off-whites like cream or egg shell would have been less distracting. He had to go with dusty soft rusty neutral since bright colors would tear your eyes out. My gut feeling is that he was trying for a warm neutral color. He may have also come to the conclusion that all those designers are griping about on the you-can-do-it tv shows: "Oh GOD! not another beige" }) The not/related example is tidy-whities is not supposed to be flattering for underwear.

Insomnia Turtle	16 Jan 2003
As a little addition to juice's post about borders, they also have a practical use in art as well. Many "borders" or "frames" are used to protect the art itself, as the first place to get damaged on any peice art that is constantly being handled is usually at the corners or the sides.

The Sudden Urge To Buy The Voyager Tarot thread was originally posted on 15 Jan 2003 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.