"Sweet" Decks "Dark" Readings...

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 15 Nov 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Scion	15 Nov 2004
Hey y'all, I tend to steer clear of the more pastel end of the deck spectrum, but I'm curious about the kind of readings people elicit form them. Do they address the full range of things? Are they applicable to scary/intense situations? Do you get scary/intense answers from them? The Fey was a surprisingly successful deck for me, but it's actually LESS saccharine than I'd imagined... But what about out-and-out sweetness-and-light decks like the Whimsical or Hanson-Roberts?

Eco74	16 Nov 2004
Don't be fooled by the sugarcoating... Remember those little sweet-as-anything girls in preschool who were all sugar and spice and pink lace and then just turned around and broke your whole world apart with a few well chosen words? And then those tough guys with black clothes and skulls and hollow eyes who gave you the creeps every time you had to walk past them in the school corridor, and then one unexpected day when you were feeling down asked you with the sweetest and most caring of voices if everything was okay and offering a helping hand? Decks can be a lot like that.. ;)

Keslynn	16 Nov 2004
It's weird because I always got brutally honest readings from my Hanson-Roberts deck. I would only ever read with it when I thought my ego could take it. Eco74 is right about it being similar to a child's honesty, which can be surprisingly harsh. My Halloween deck might also be considered sugary, but it's only ever given me good honest readings. It's not the brutal honesty of the Hanson-Roberts. Instead, it shows you your problems and let's you laugh at them. I like that aspect of it, and I think it holds a lot of power. :) Kes

Emily	17 Nov 2004
I've never regarded the Hanson Roberts as a sweet or sugary deck - the images might be easy on the eye and childlike but the readings I get from it are straight to the point. It's not a deck I use very often but, like the Morgan Greer, the faces and expressions are very clear and some of them have eye colour. :)

Chronata	17 Nov 2004
Hanson Roberts may look sweet...but it really does have a lot of bite. It has been my main reading deck forever...for myself and for clients. The Whimsical, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be quite as honest...it's almost like the fairy tales depicted have been removed from thier original dark origins.

RedMaple	17 Nov 2004
Chronata wrote: Hanson Roberts may look sweet...but it really does have a lot of bite. It has been my main reading deck forever...for myself and for clients. The Whimsical, on the other hand, doesn't seem to be quite as honest...it's almost like the fairy tales depicted have been removed from thier original dark origins. I agree on the Hanson Roberts completely. With the Whimsical, though, I have also gotten very accurate and to the point readings, but I have really had to rely on the images and/or stories, rather than on traditional meanings. (I actually got the Hermit card for a woman who was having trouble in her marriage -- literally that she was sleeping alone. I was surprised, you couldn't get much more direct.) It may be that because I was a storyteller, and pretty steeped in the fairytale tradition, that lots of layers of meanings are there for my subconscious to grab onto. I think that's part of the magic between the deck and the reader. RM

raeanne	17 Nov 2004
Hi all, I get very good readings with the Whimsical. Fairy tales can be very 'dark' and gruesome. Children get threatened to be cooked and eaten (Hansel & Gretel), people get poisoned (Snow White and Sleeping Beauty), women got locked up in towers (Rapunzel), and many other dark, desturbing things happen in fairy tales.

rachelcat	17 Nov 2004
Do you folks have a opinion on Inner Child Cards? I am interested in the fairy tale connection. Thanks.

Flavio	17 Nov 2004
As many other answers here I believe the Hanson Roberts might look sweet but can be brutally honest, I remember someone here called it "the wolf inside the sheep skin" that is so right... As for the Whimsical, I've only used for light hearted readings or for "playing" with my niece, maybe it is waiting for the chance to surprise me with a reading on a serious matter.

RedMaple	17 Nov 2004
rachelcat wrote: Do you folks have a opinion on Inner Child Cards? I am interested in the fairy tale connection. Thanks. I have found this deck to have quite a sense of humor, but it also has given me quite accurate readings. It simply does it tongue in cheek. I'm less excited about the gnomes and the Christmas imagery in one of the suits, but my son (now 35), who grew up with gnome books as part of his childhood mythology, likes them a lot. And my grandson (2 years old) enjoys these cards, lays them out on the rug in designs, and has his own stories about them. Because the cards are so oversize, they are particularly good for him, and I like them because they seem so right with the artwork -- you don't lose any detail. (One of my frustrations with some decks is that they are too small.) RM

rachelcat	18 Nov 2004
Thanks Red. Inner Child Cards are now FIRMLY lodged in my wish list! I thought from the samples that the art would be great! I just joined up with the Hanson-Roberts study group. It seems like a very popular deck around here. It was my first deck, and with it, I never felt the need for a RWS.

Melpomone18	18 Nov 2004
I too have had many a hope dashed by the deceptively soft Hanson Roberts deck. Actually, it is probably the most blunt, tell-it-like-it-is deck that I own. I don't know what it is, but those little cards pack a lot of power. The Whimsical, however, just isn't the same for me. As far as the theme and the images go, it's among my favorite decks since I've always loved folk and fairy tales, but there is something almost cloying about it in a reading. I usually feel like it just fritters around the question and gives an extra coat of sugar to difficult matters. Although, that's not so bad sometimes. Every now and then, depending on the reading that I'm doing (or especially if I'm doing a reading for the "tarot-shy"), I find a deck that breaks it to you gently a rather useful thing.

Centaur	19 Nov 2004
I agree with what has been said re. the Hanson-Roberts. It does not hold back. I met a guy two years ago, and we had a relationship together. At the start of our relationship, I asked him to pick a card to signify our time together. He pulled the Three of Swords. This made sense to neither of us at the time. However, it turned out to be the most destructive, abusive, and messed up relationship I have ever had to the misfortune to embark upon. So... Hanson-Roberts may look sweet and sugary... but it still packs a punch!!! If only I had listened to the advice in that card!!!

Gaidheal	19 Nov 2004
Just another reader who thinks of her Hanson-Roberts as anything but cute and sugary...mine is fairly blunt and sarcastic, and extremely beligerant if I ask it a question I (or the querant) already know the answer to.

Lurea	01 Dec 2004
LOL, Gaidheal! I know exactly what you mean! Once I was feeling ornery about a reading, and wanted to pull a clarification card. So I did, and it turned out to the Eight of Swords. (This was totally out of line from the outcome card I'd pulled just a couple of minutes earlier) It was as if the deck was saying, "What, you can't read that? Are you BLIND?" :laugh: :)

dolphingirl	02 Dec 2004
Actually the deck that gives me the most wack between the eyes readings is the Whimsical tarot deck. I first pulled it out when I wanted a reading that I thought was going to be very painful and I wanted a deck that would sugar coat the truth and this deck just did the opposite. Instead of sugar coating it it seemed to just beat me over the head with it all. Needless to say I sure don't pull the Whimsical deck out unless I am really serious about a reading now.

The "Sweet" Decks "Dark" Readings... thread was originally posted on 15 Nov 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.