Two-sided decks? What are they thinking? (Tarot of the Secret Forest)
Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 16 Feb 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.
| firemaiden |
16 Feb 2005 |
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| On the upcoming new decks at Tarot Garden, is listed a future-release Lo Scarabeo deck, "Tarot of the Secret Forest" : the blurb says
Evoking forest scenes, insects, and fairies, this gorgeous deck taps into the primal power of Mother Nature. Bearing color images on one side, black-and-white on the other, these cards will help you soar to new divinatory heights. This tarot can be used in special spreads that involve using both sides of the cards.
I'm so attracted to the art-work (I have such a fetish for Lo Scarabeo decks) and yet so dismayed by the concept of "bearing color images on one side" and "black and white on the other".
How in the world will I read with decks which can't be turned over to hide the image? How will I read with a deck, in which all the cards are always "face up"? What is Lo Scarabeo thinking?
I'd love to hear your thoughts...
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| tarotbear |
16 Feb 2005 |
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Are there pictures of both sides somewheres?
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| firemaiden |
16 Feb 2005 |
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Well, there's a tiny look at Tarot Garden's Upcoming Releases page. The idea is (unless I'm delerious) that each card has its image printed in colour on one side, and the same image in black and white on the other side...
(It's near the bottom of the page which takes an eternity to load - if you have dial-up like me.)
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| tarotbear |
16 Feb 2005 |
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...when it works well.
Only that one B/W image of what looks like two people crossing some rocks? I agree - how do you read cards that are always 'right side up'? Sound slike the reasons for it can be very 'gimmicky'. {"You're more than just a mimic when you've got a gimmick! - oh ... sorry} Too bad there is not more explanation since this seems to be a deck you don't buy without taking a really good look at it first.
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| LilRed |
16 Feb 2005 |
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Hello,
From what I saw it looks like there is a color image to every card, and on the back is a simplier black and white. In that link set higher up if you look at the black and white and then at the card right next to it you will see they are the exact same just one is in color and more detailed and the other is not.
Just my two cents,
LilRed
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| firemaiden |
16 Feb 2005 |
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Yes... that is what I am trying to say. But my question is.. how are you going to read with a deck like that???
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| seneris |
16 Feb 2005 |
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Keeping your eyes closed when shuffling and putting cards in a spread, oh, and lose some cards along the way when they pop out(when you don't want too look because then you would know which card you got)... ;)
Seriously, I don't know.
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| Moonbow* |
16 Feb 2005 |
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The only similarity that I can make here, to anything else that I have seen, is the Fairy Oracle by Sulamith Wolfing. She has a picture on one side and an affirmation on the other (or quote or something). The picture gives away the quote and the the quote gives away the picture!!
In this case though, the picture gives away the picture! Its bizzare - I know.
I think the deck could only be used for puting out the spread face up (or course! haha). But what I mean is... instead of laying out say 5 cards and then turning them over one by one. You would being laying out all five and being thinking about them as you lay them out.
I would think this is good for storytelling.
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| Myrrha |
16 Feb 2005 |
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Very often when I read with my Faeries Oracle and sometimes when I read with the Vargo Gothic Tarot I spread out the cards face up (yes, looking at them!) and without thinking about it too much pick a few that seem appealing at the moment and lay them out in the order they seem to want to go, and then see what they have to say. It is hard to explain but somehow picking from cards you can see gives interesting results. Try it! You can also re-arrange them, get them talking. It is like a conversation.
I'm looking forward to trying this deck and seeing spreads where some cards are in color and some in b+w... some aspects of the situation may be less solid than others, still in flux.
Really, really looking forward to this deck!
Ricardo, if you see this post, is there any chance of seeing a few more scans from this deck?
--Myrrha
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| Cerulean |
16 Feb 2005 |
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The ideas are fascinating and I like new ideas--maybe it isn't a tarot at first, maybe it will be more an oracle-style deck to learn from, to obtain new ideas.
Yes, I would be interested once the deck is out to learn new ways of reading or looking at such images. Even in how to pick a card or cards for layout, it seems like one will be re-thinking old methods.
A fresh light on such things sounds good to me.
Regards
Curious Cerulean
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| Imagemaker |
16 Feb 2005 |
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I find this fascinating too. I'd probably shuffle them all together and try the color cards as positive suggestionss and the b/w ones as warnings--a new way of communicating. (And I'd mix them in a bag or with my eyes closed).
Very interesting . . .
Which deck was it that was being created with uprights and reversals on the front side of the card? And one that was hexagonal? I love all those variations!
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| firemaiden |
16 Feb 2005 |
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Well, I'm not usually adverse to new ideas... its just that, well, crikey, if I want to read the cards face up I can just turn them face up... but but but... one of the things I really love about tarot is the hide and seek element.... which disappears if you can't turn the cards over to see a uniform back.
Maybe they can make a version of this deck with normal backs... just for me! :D
...on the other hand, if we were, as you guys suggest, to shuffle them somehow unseen in a bag, and pull them out one by one, it is true, the colour vs. black and white aspect adds another dimension to the reading. Now there will be four ways to read each card: colour upright, colour reversed, black and white upright, black and white reversed.
(oooo baby, got to come up with meanings for all those!... okay, I guess it could be interesting, LOL.)
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| lark |
16 Feb 2005 |
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I think one of the concepts for this deck is that you never have to straighten out the cards..
You don't have to make sure all the backs are together.
If you lay out a black and white card next to a colored card in a spread the black and with image might trigger a different concept next to the colored card.
I have it on pre-order at Tarot Garden.
It might be amazing or it might be confusing...but I'm going to give it a try.
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| RedMaple |
16 Feb 2005 |
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I find this fascinating too. I'd probably shuffle them all together and try the color cards as positive suggestionss and the b/w ones as warnings--a new way of communicating. (And I'd mix them in a bag or with my eyes closed).
Very interesting . . .
I love all those variations!
Me, too. Also, you can do readings where you choose the cards to plan a future path -- Mary Greer has a chapter on this in her first workbook. There's also a book called "Choice Centered Tarot" (?? can't recall the exact title or author -- it's been a while...) where you design spreads to help you visualize or actualize plans for the future.
I like Imagemaker's idea of positive suggestions and warnings. Wow! What a lot of possibilites that opens up. I think if you riffle shuffle, which barely involves looking at the cards at all, it doesn't matter what you see. Your subconscious is going to choose, anyway, so even if you "know", well, of course you know, that's why the cards work. But ok, I can see putting them in a bag, too.
Fun. Who had the hexagonal cards? Isn't there a Russian Gypsy oracle deck that is hexaonal? Or are those just squares? I love the idea of that -- kind of a beehive -- you could devise some interesting spreads, especially if the edges of the cards were designed to create patterns....how wonderful. Kaleidoscope spreads, snowflake spreads, and of course star spreads....
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| WolfSpirit |
16 Feb 2005 |
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Well I think it will be interesting at least for the artwork...
I'm also not sure about readings...it could be very interesting with coloured and b/w cards in one reading. Yes, you could shuffle them in a bag...
I would like to give it a try...but I would like to see some more cards first.
Me, too. Also, you can do readings where you choose the cards to plan a future path -- Mary Greer has a chapter on this in her first workbook. There's also a book called "Choice Centered Tarot" (?? can't recall the exact title or author -- it's been a while...) where you design spreads to help you visualize or actualize plans for the future.
The author of Choice Centered Tarot is Gail Fairfield.
But the book has been reprinted under a new title, it is now called "Everyday Tarot".
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| OceanBeauty |
16 Feb 2005 |
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never heard of that b4
very interesting
how much is a set?
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| Imagemaker |
16 Feb 2005 |
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Hi, Ocean Beauty! Are you referring to the price of the Tarot of the Secret Forest? On the link to tarotgarden it says the preorder price is $16, full price is $20.
I'm interested too!
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| Cerulean |
16 Feb 2005 |
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Suppose you think to yourself that if you shuffle, there might be a chance of laying out colored or monochromatic black & white cards all in the same spread.
So while mixing, in one's hand or in a bag of sorts, you pull out six cards. You decide as you lay them out that colored cards will have regular meanings...and the black and white ones will hint at a shadow or undercurrent. As you play with the six cards forming a layout in front of you, you decide the layout looks good, then flip the cards from color to black and white to color....and somehow, you decide, what looks right is to have three cards color, three cards black and white...anyway, the idea is, how would the possibility of more options sound to you? Tantalizing, confusing, even more curiously fascinating because who knows what 'secret forest' lurks in the hearts of humans...
Ohboyohboyohboy! Something to wiggle my toes about in curiousity...
Regards,
Holes in Sox
Cerulean
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| MeeWah |
16 Feb 2005 |
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The concept is certainly different. Holds possibilities as a reading &/or meditative deck.
Presents intriguing permutations of the coloured sides versus the black & white. Their reversals, too.
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| Myrrha |
16 Feb 2005 |
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As you play with the six cards forming a layout in front of you, you decide the layout looks good, then flip the cards from color to black and white to color....and somehow, you decide, what looks right is to have three cards color, three cards black and white...anyway, the idea is, how would the possibility of more options sound to you?
Yes! you could flip them back and forth, change it... keep the reading out over the course of a few days and change it around.... More options could make it more fluid and conversation-like, more nuanced. I feel more drawn to the idea of leaving it flexible what black and white means, it could mean something different in different readings. Or maybe I've been playing with the Faeries Oracle too much :)
--Myrrha
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| contrascarpe |
16 Feb 2005 |
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The ideas are fascinating and I like new ideas--maybe it isn't a tarot at first, maybe it will be more an oracle-style deck to learn from, to obtain new ideas.
Yes, I would be interested once the deck is out to learn new ways of reading or looking at such images. Even in how to pick a card or cards for layout, it seems like one will be re-thinking old methods.
A fresh light on such things sounds good to me.
Regards
Curious Cerulean
Curious Cerulean took the words right out of my mouth :)
When I first read about this, I thought "what a novel idea". When I shuffle the cards, I rarely look at the backs anyway. Typically I am concentrating on grounding myself for the upcoming reading and my hands usually hold the cards as I am dealing. And since I don't use reversals, I never concern myself with non-symmetrical backs.
If the artwork is stunning (and I still cannot tell if I want this deck based on the Tarot Garden image), then the fact that the cards are two-sided won't be an issue for me.
Dan
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| firemaiden |
18 Feb 2005 |
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I just checked the lo scarabeo website, and they have updated it! So you can see some larger scans of this deck! www.loscarabeo.com
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| seneris |
18 Feb 2005 |
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Wow, it looks good! I like the colours and mood.
Too bad it will be a while before it's published :(
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| crystal cove |
18 Feb 2005 |
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Holy cow! What a nightmare for those of us who have trouble focussing on just one thing anyway!
I'm fairly certain that this one won't be in my collection. However, I'll be interested in other people's experience with it.
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The Two-sided decks? What are they thinking? (Tarot of the Secret Forest) thread was originally posted on 16 Feb 2005 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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