22 card decks
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 18 Aug 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| mehndigirl |
18 Aug 2004 |
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Does anyone read a 22 card deck? I've wondered about them a lot lately. Losts of times the minor cards just don't speak to me. They seem to be thrown in to fill in gaps between the trumps. I feel like a smaller spread whith trumps only would be far more usefull. I'd like to try a deck that was made with 22 cards rather than dividing an existing deck. Has anyone else felt this? Can anyone recomend a 22 card deck?
Thanks,
mehndigirl
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| le pendu |
18 Aug 2004 |
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Hi mehndigirl,
Welcome to Aeclectic!
I'm not sure why you wouldn't just use the Major Arcana of your favorite deck rather than buying a 22 card set?
One really nice thing about only using a 22 card deck though is that it opens up a lot of "art" decks to you. Many artists put out 22 card decks because they only had time or interest in doing the Major Arcana. Most people don't like to read with them because they find that limiting. But if you're looking for that, well, you have a lot of cool decks to work with that others can't use because they want the 78 cards.
My absolute recommendation would the the "Noblet", (or second the "Dodal"), Tarot of Marseilles decks by Jean-Claude Flornoy.
http://english.letarot.com/
Look for 22 card decks here:
http://www.tarotgarden.com/database/dbsearchadv.html
Type in "22" where it says "Number of Cards:", that brings up 376 22 card decks!
Hope you enjoy your adventure.
robert
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| contrascarpe |
18 Aug 2004 |
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Personally I am not a big fan of Majors only decks except for art appreciation purposes. I like having the daily trauma of the Minor Arcana at my fingertips as well.
But as le pendu noted, there is no reason why you couldn't use the Majors of a full 78 card deck for a reading as well.
Dan
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| casia |
31 Aug 2004 |
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I wonder, are the oracle cards the same as the tarot cards? the decks have less cards from what I have heard.
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| contrascarpe |
31 Aug 2004 |
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Tarot decks are in an essence an oracle deck, just a more structured one. When one talks about a 22-card majors only deck, they are just that - the major arcana only, and are typically structured the same on every deck.
Oracles have less rigid guidelines which means they can contain just about any information and come in different card quantities.
If you do a search, I believe you will find several threads comparing traditional Tarot to the other Oracle decks.
Dan
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| Trogon |
31 Aug 2004 |
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I have "The Love Tarot" by Sarah Bartlett and Nancy Tolford(sorry, can't get into the A.T. list of decks right now, so I can't give you the link). This is a Majors only deck done with collages. I'm not a big fan of it. The artwork is okay and the imagery is okay... but it's only "okay" to me I'm afraid. The collage work isn't quite as nicely done as in some other collage decks ("The Golden Tarot" for example). For instance, on the High Priestess, the girl's head and hand appear to large for her body. Some of the imagery is a little off too, such as on The Moon, which pictures two wolves, instead of a domestic dog with a wild dog. Anyway, I've never found myself using it. But... this is only my take on just that single deck and as such, doesn't really answer the question, does it? :rolleyes:
In general, while the Major Arcana can certainly shine light on major issues for a person, I feel that they still leave out a lot of human experience. I personally find that the blending of the broad scale archetypes illustrated by the Major Arcana are just that, broad scale. I feel that most readings for individuals are best done with both the Majors along with the Minor Arcana which fill in the details.
For example. The Empress is, or can be, a mother figure. But does just the empress fill in the multiple facets of wife/mother shown by the Queens of each suit? The other day I did a reading for a friend who's been having some problems with his relationships... having gone through a couple of girl friends over just the past few months. His "present" card came up with the Queen of Coins - reversed. I immediately felt that he is, right now, seeing women in a very negative light (in the circumstances, not a huge leap of intuition I guess :D ). Not just that he's disappointed with women right now, but can see only negative qualities about women... but at the same time, he still wants to have a meaningful relationship with someone. I doubt that a Major would've given me the depth of detail which I got with this card.
To put it another way. The Major Arcana are kind of like flying in an airplane over a city. You can see the city, you can get a feel, perhaps, for what kind of city it is. You can see how it's laid out, see the parks, see the big buildings in the downtown area, see the residential areas. You can probably tell that there are people living, working, falling in love, fighting, shopping... but you can't actually see these people. The Minor Arcana are like walking around the streets. When you're in the city on foot, you see the up-close details of every day life. You see the squalor of the ghettos. You see the traffic as well as the people in their cars. You see them shopping, going to movies, eating out, going to their homes. You see the rich, the poor, the middle class.
If I only use the Major Arcana, I get that overview of the city. And, if I only used the Minor Arcana, I would only see those close-up details. For me, neither one is the entire picture. I want to have the overview, but I also want to see those details.
That's my thoughts on it anyway.
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| Diana |
31 Aug 2004 |
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Originally posted by le pendu
I'm not sure why you wouldn't just use the Major Arcana of your favorite deck rather than buying a 22 card set?
This is a very good idea.
I use the Major Arcana only very often for my spreads. Privately and professionally. They work very well indeed.
For very "big" issues, I will only use Major Arcana. And to get to the very heart of an issue as well. Like if one of my patients comes in with a depression - I would never use the Minor Arcana to find the root of it.
And if at lunch-time I can't remember whether I put salt in the water for the rice (because the phone rang at the wrong time) I will use the Major Arcana as well. The Hermit told me that I had forgotten. :D
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| Umbrae |
31 Aug 2004 |
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I love Majors only decks. Have a few, use two of them often.
The ones I use have a different feel, or flavour than a full deck.
They work wonderful for those small yet profound spreads.
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The 22 card decks thread was originally posted on 18 Aug 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.
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