Talking decks

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 21 May 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

RedWood	21 May 2002
I have heard in one thread or another that your decks tell you where they want to live..Like in a velvet bag, box, wooded box..etc.. How do they do this? Am I just not holding mine enough? Not getting "to know them" or taking the time to know them? what do you think? How does your decks talk to you?

SharonElizabeth	22 May 2002
I don't know about my decks tellng me how they want to be kept, but I personally just get the feeling when it's time to get something to keep a deck in other than the original box it came in. I'm becoming unhappy with keeping my Halloween and Santa Fe Tarots in the boxes they came it, so I just recently bought some fabric to make bags for them. I don't know if this would qualify as my decks talking to me. It's just my own feeling that the decks are outgrowing the box and need something more worthy of holding them. Sharon

truthsayer	22 May 2002
i can't say my decks and i have conversations. you know deck A sits across from me in the rocking chair and says, you know, i'm really not happy w/ where i'm living now. any possibility of moving? i think it's more a case that some of us love certain decks so much we tend to anthropomorphize them--give the decks human characteristics. now the day one of my decks sits up and starts a conversation w/ me is the day i got straight to a doctor to have my medications increased!!!! honestly, it's more of an intuitive thing that goes on w/ what "feels right" for the deck. it's like when i feel like i know what my cat is thinking and i try to make her happy or my roses look wilted and yellow and i think they might like some fertilizer or a drink of water. involvement at such an emotional level just invites those kind of perceptions. at least imho. now if the cat or the rose bush have a seat in my living room along w/ the tarot deck for a chat, i'm really not sure what i'm going to do! LOL

Butterfly	22 May 2002
Have to completely agree with Truthsayer. This has only ever happened to me with the faeries oracle, and they are bossy, bossy cards. I'm guilty of posting about it too!! It's like my intuition communicating with me. It doesn't come in words, it's just a complete knowing. They have never outright spoken with me, well not in words. But I just know, it just comes to me. Once, I forgot to do my daily spread with the faeries, next thing, one of my daughters toys starts making this racket in an empty room. Another time, when I hadn't thought about how to store the cards, I found the green lady card sort of screwed up on the floor with her tongue sticking out. Messages just popped into my head at these times. Maybe I read too much into these things, maybe I have a fertile imagination. LOL, but I'm harmless!

Umbrae	22 May 2002
My decks speak, when I read. And before a reading, I am told which deck to use. When I allow my ego to ‘get in the way’, the readings are way off, and the spread screams “NO”…so I gather it up and go for the deck I am supposed to be using. Example: On the reading exchange, the reading for Lili (Umbrae 4 Lili)…I wanted to use one deck (Russian St. Petersberg). Even as I pulled the deck out of the basket it was telling me “No”. I did three spreads (that just looked and felt wrong). As I put the deck back into the basket my 1865 regular playing card deck was giving me the old “Use me” in the back of my head. So I was used…interesting spread. Yup…my cards speak, but they do not talk.

Liliana	22 May 2002
All my decks know they are being stored in ags, except Thoth, he's in a wood box because its y husands, but I think Thoth wants a bag too to e with the other decks. When i found my missing decks it seemed like everyone wanted to move lol. I just got a feeling where everyone wanted to be, my Rohrig wanted my first Tarot Bag, a black velvet one with a moon in holographic sequins and stars in blue glitter glue (it had broken bead trim, which was messy looking so it seemed like my Rohrig told me to trim it off already lol), my Spiral wanted the faeries bag my mom gave me (Celtic deck kind of no surprise) Master Tarot wanted my favorite bag, one with a blue celestial pattern, a white silk lining with a red border pattern, and a quartz crystal sewn inside the lining (the blue celestial pattern goes well with the blue celestial pattern on the card backs), My Connolley wanted the black bag with purple butterflies Tarot of the Cat People took back its home inside the Crown Royale bag (temporarily occupied by Rohrig), only one that stayed was World Spirit in its black bag with stars, since they both arrived the same day at my house they are meant for each other hehe. Of course now that my Rohrig is asking me to buy another deck I'm a bit worried about myself, but it IS a great excuse is'nt it? But they dont talk in words, unless Im doing a reading, the talk in feelings. :THP

RedWood	22 May 2002
I really didn't think they spoke in words...Maybe I just don't bond with my decks enough...I don't really get any feelings from them...Course could be I am getting to many at once to try and bond with one...

truthsayer	22 May 2002
i was just trying to be funny, redwood. i knew what you meant. if i get too many decks too fast then i don't have time to bond w/ them and get a "sense" of what their personality is like. when you are getting to know a deck eventually you'll feel this "click". then you have a relationship going. w/o that relationship, i can't do a reading. well, i can do one but it feels wrong and flat. umbrae describes the feeling very well. i don't click w/ my haindl deck even tho i've tried. when i try to do a reading, it's like i'm getting the silent treatment-nothing happens. but if i use my neferteri, that deck talks! i get images and intuitive reactions. it's a real high to feel connected to that deck! when you finally feel bonded to a deck then you'll experience the things we speak of. it'll come. don't worry. rome wasn't built in a day.

Kiama	22 May 2002
My decks do what they're told! :P ;) Well, kinda! I only keep my reading decks in something other than the original box, and I usually bought silk scarves for them, but kinda felt drawn to different colours, depending on the feel or theme of the deck. For instance, my Sacred Circle felt very earthy, so went in mottled brown and green silk scarve. My Inner Child cards were very playful, so they went in a rainbow coloured cloth! Kiama

Cocobird55	22 May 2002
Maybe it isn't my decks that are demanding bags and boxes. But even though I am very messy, my obsessions somehow produce islands of neatness. All my books are in alpha order in bookcases, within categories. My CDs and videos are in order, too. I wanted to put my decks in something special, something that connects to the deck. So I have a bunch of cotton bags, velvet bags and a couple of boxes. Sometimes I switch them around. I've been buying so many decks lately that I just ordered 7 more bags from Tarot Totes. Sometimes I buy the bag at the same time that I buy the deck. There are two local new age stores not too far from where I live. But their selection of bags is limited. And the decks I buy at other places don't have bags right away. I just feel sometimes that a bag isn't right for a deck. I bought a red velvet bag for my Gendron deck, but it just doesn't feel right... Hmm... perhaps I am just a tad obsessive/compulsive.

HudsonGray	23 May 2002
You know, speaking of talking decks, I was just finishing the second book in the Ivory series (about a tarot reader) & tried her technique...where you focus on the card & see if it shows you pictures. I was really surprised to actually GET something from that! The Empress reversed came up on a reading last night & I had a little 4 line conversation with her before she faded out...it was the most bizaar thing! It actually fit the reading too. It was a general reading for myself & the deck basically said get off your duff & get back to work. Geez!

RedWood	23 May 2002
That is interesting...What is the series again and who is the author?

HudsonGray	23 May 2002
The author is Doris Egan. Her trilogy came out as a complete set just recently for $7.99 in paperback called The Complete Ivory. The individual books are The Gate of Ivory, Two-Bit Heroes and Guilt-Edged Ivory. The publisher is DAW. She uses a deck very similar to tarot & we get a lot of card descriptions especially in the second book, but she uses the cards through all 3 books.

RedWood	23 May 2002
I think I will have to check those books out now...

RedWood	06 Jun 2002
I finally got what the talking is all about...I used my Thoth deck for the first time a few days ago..Now it is very vocal..quiet a few demands...Also insists that I don't get a book about the deck yet..Wants me to do the reading withough looking at a book or the LWB....

catlin	07 Jun 2002
I cannot call it "speaking" but I bond somehow with my reading decks. I somehow "feel" what bag to choose (I like to keep ,most of my decks in bags as it prevents the boxes from being battered and besides, not all decks arrive in boxes).

Ravenswing	07 Jun 2002
it's more feeling than anything. then again, i tend toward empath anyway :) LVX steve

fairyhedgehog	07 Jun 2002
I'm not hearing voices either :) When I got my Shakespearian deck it came with a Crown Royal bag. I tried putting the cards in it, but they seemed too small and kind of lost in it. So I put them in a purple Body Shop bag . It has a zip and can only fit a small deck without damage, but it has purple and gold braid and is a very rich-looking bag. Now I feel comfortable and happy, as if the bag is really suitable for this deck - so I would say that 'this is where the cards want to be'. In my belief, everything the cards 'say' to me is like that - it comes from inside me, but triggered by the images etc. But it makes sense to me to talk as though the cards are saying things. FH PS In case you are wondering what happened to the Crown Royal bag, it is very happy holding my Ancestral Path tarot deck and LWB ;)

Jewel	07 Jun 2002
Truthsayer and Umbrae I agree with you totally and could not sum it up any better than you did so I will not try. Butterfly, like you the deck I had this feeling with the most was with the Faeries Oracle. I would be doing something else, non-tarot/oracle related, and suddenly the thought "the Cosmic Tribe should not be in the blue velvet mermaid bag, we should, after all mermaids are faeries." So finally I just switched the CT out and put the Faeries Oracle in the bag. It felt right and I could not help but smile, and I have had no more thoughts like that. It was totally intuitive and emotional, that is the language of the decks to me. But you are right, those faeries are bossy ~chuckles~.

RedWood	07 Jun 2002
I did mean the feeling..it would be weird if it just spoke to me...None of my decks want to be in the 2 crown royal bags I have..

VGimlet	07 Jun 2002
My decks that don't have boxes or bags all want to be in something. Or I want them to be in something. :D But I agree, when they talk to me, it's not that I hear the words, it's just a very strong feeling. The day one of my decks says a word is the day I give them all away, and take up golf, LOL. I'd like to make bags myself, but I am the worlds worst at sewing. Maybe I can bribe the hub....

The Talking decks thread was originally posted on 21 May 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.