About Winged Spirits deck

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 24 Jul 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Circe	24 Jul 2004
Hi! Last week me and a friend of mine went to buy his first tarot deck, which came to be Winged Spirit Tarot. When I got home, I came to the site and saw the review on this deck: it's "only" rated 3 stars!It worries me that I could have helped him to choose a better deck (he was quite divided between Fantastical and this one), but he read much more easily with W.S. (it also seemed a more simple deck to me than Fantastical for a first deck) I privileged the deck with which he read better instead of chosing the "best deck" (if he wants a better advanced deck, he can buy it later I guess) Do you think I decided wisely?:P ***Circe***

Eco74	24 Jul 2004
It is far better to choose with ones own heart (or in this case the intuition of the person who will be interacting with the deck) than to choose by the opinion of others. If he reads better with the winged spirit, that deck IS far better for him than any other no matter how good the reviews may be. And there is always the oportunity for him to also get the Fantastical at a later time if he still feels an inkling towards it..

Sulis	24 Jul 2004
Personally I don't think that any decks are 'more advanced' than any other deck. It's how you read with a deck that counts. Some people read best with decks which contain loads and loads of sybolism, some people read best with decks which are really 'simple', with a small amount of symbolism. No one deck is necessarily more advanced than any other in my opinion. Love Sulis xx

cjtarot	24 Jul 2004
Hi, OK..the truth. We are all very different people with very different requirements from a deck. SO with that, judge a deck by what you see and what you feel. If you need opinions, discuss the deck with others on the board. You will be surprised at how many people love the deck and how many dislike it. Get the whys from those who have it, but ultimately make your own decision. here's another review. http://www.wicce.com/wingedspirit.html Personally, I took a look see at in on Learn tarot.com and saw the pictures. Its an interesting, beautiful deck CJ

SilverWing	25 Jul 2004
WS sounds like the deck that called to him rather than the other. I think it was the right decision.

Migraine	26 Jul 2004
AH! So... questioning my deck because it is "only" rated 3... I don't really care about that! :P It's not your fault (nor it was a fault anyway!) who makes those evaluations anyway? Some like it and some dislike it. I like it and it is good for me at this moment. It is like evaluating a picasso or miro painting: ppl who can "understand" what is painted will rate it better than others that don't and that have to go only for the technical aspect of it. Anyway, thanks for the advices! "Porta-te", Circe!

Circe	26 Jul 2004
Thanks everybody for giving me their opinions :) Now that we all agreed that it's probably better to choose a deck because we can read it fluently and not because other people it's good, I think (and Migraine would appreciate it cause after all the deck is his :P) that we could discuss as well what we think of the deck itself :) When I saw it the first time (it was 10 min after Migraine bought it :P) I actually liked it. It seems to emanate a balanced and harmonious power and it's got softly-coloured simple ilustrations. I know that every card is related to one angel (78 cards, 78 angels -> so I guess this is possible) but as this deck is not mine, and I hope Migraine has done his homework LOL, I give the word to him if he wants to tell you more about W.S.

tao51	03 Aug 2004
that the critics did not rate very high. I like the Winged Spirits Tarot. I wouldn't worry too much about what others think, it is what you feel that is important.--Tao

ambermoon	03 Aug 2004
I would not worry about ratings, because they reflect how the deck meets the needs of the person writing the ratings. Your own needs may differ. I do read the reviews and ratings, here and on other sites, but I think that the next time I want to buy a deck for myself, I will trust my intuition. I think that explains why I don't have a RW deck. Despite what I know about it as the foundation for many modern tarot decks, it simply does not reach out to me. ambermoon

Shade	03 Aug 2004
Personally, I really enjoy this deck. The cards of the major arcana are mostly aligned with different angels but there a couple of exceptions. The Empress is the Goddess Sophia and the Emperor is the Demiurge both from Gnostic tradition. The Chariot is a Valkyrie from Norse myths and the Moon is Lilith an Apocryphal figure from both Sumerian and Judeo-Christian myth. Oh and the world is Shekinah Jehovah's female self. It is true that the Majors (all the cards really) seem a touch empty as there is no landscape or setting but I liked that aspect. Instead of looking at distant castles and waterfalls for hidden meanings you find them within the countenance of each figure. The body language and expression of the Winged Spirits speak volumes here which is a nice change as other decks have sometimes kept them quite rigid so as not to sway the reader's opinion by giving a wry smile to a queen or a scowl to a page. The minor's are four different stories played out from cards 1 - 10 and I cannot recall all of the court figures right now but they are drawn from several different myth systems. I believe one of the Grek Furies appears as the Queen of disks but I'd have to look it up. Some people feel that having the suits each be one story is stifling but I think it helps one relate back to the essence of the element of each suit and what happens to it as it builds and increases from one to ten. The same thing has been done with the Art Noveau and Mythic decks among others. Before working with this deck I knew very little about Gnostic or Mystical Christian tradition, and I had previously thought that most Christian mythical figures were a bit too stuffy. After reading with this deck and doing a little research on my own I became very interested in these areas. Because the figures here are allowed to be less than pristine and perfect they are a bit more approachable. I also originaly picked up the deck when I was looking for tarot cards witha queer sensibility. On the advice of some other reviewrs I got this deck along with William's Renaissance and POMO decks and the cosmic tribe. Good arguments could be (and have been) made about whether or not there is such a thing present when looking at a work Caravaggio or a Michaelangelo but for myself it's true. The Strength card in the Winged Spirits deck is Jacob wrestling with the Angel, a metaphor that has long been used in connection with internal conflict for queer folk and Judeo-Christian faith.

The About Winged Spirits deck thread was originally posted on 24 Jul 2004 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.