decks: bought or offered???

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 10 Oct 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

anjocoxo	10 Oct 2002
hi guys, I really have an important question: the tarot decks that i have have to be given, or can i just buy them? because a bought a new deck (Aleister Crowley) and everybody - especially non-readers - started telling me "it has to be given, bla,bla,bla". the thing is, if i'm waiting for someone to give me a tarot deck, i can wait forever and ever, because i don't know anyone - apart from you nice people :) - who does tarot reading. So i need your opinion on this, PLEASE.... thanks

Dark Inquisitor	10 Oct 2002
Go buy whatever decks you like- and then go buy some more! Tarotphelia

fairyhedgehog	10 Oct 2002
There have been threads on this before (which some kind soul may know how to find for you.) The vast majority of us here have bought our own first deck. And subsequent decks - in some cases very many of the latter :) You will find people (outside of this forum) very quick to tell you how to use Tarot - how to get, store, use the cards etc. Don't listen to them! Go with what is right for you. Hope you have fun with your new tarot deck, and don't let anyone spoil it for you.

Laurel	10 Oct 2002
Buy a tarot deck. If that somehow doesn't feel quite right, then buy two and give one away to a friend... somehow, when I start giving tarot decks away, other ones appear in my life shortly thereafter, usually within a month, as gifts themselves. :) Laurel

anjocoxo	10 Oct 2002
thanks for your help, it's a relief for me to know i can buy whatever deck i like - especially because the next deck i intend to buy doesn't exist in portugal (tarot readers are not very usual here in portugal) and i will have to have it sent from the UK (it's the sacred circle tarot); so, i assume nobody i know will have it sent - and spent 40 euros- just to offer me!!!!

Marion	10 Oct 2002
I know what you mean! There you are wanting a lovely new deck, and someone tells you that you have to wait until someone spontaneously gives it to you!! No way!! Buy the deck you want and enjoy it. I bought all my decks, including the first, and am glad no told me such a thing at the time.

Trogon	11 Oct 2002
Funny thing about this... I have 4 Tarot decks. One of which (my first, purchased deck) I have just, essentially, given away (it still needs to be shipped). The two which I use the most, my Rider-Waite (my second deck) and my Röhrig Tarot (my most recent deck) are decks I purchased for myself. The one deck which was given to me (my mother's old Albano-Waite deck) is one I've never done a reading with, but I am finding to be a very good deck for study purposes. I find this to be rather ironic in light of the "your first deck must be given to you" theory. Fortunately, I did not find this out until after I had purchased my first two decks, by then it was too late... })

jmd	11 Oct 2002
I strongly suspect that the reason that a story has developed that one has to be given one's deck is that until not so long ago (1960s - and later in many places), one had to be given one if one wanted a deck, as they just weren't commonly available for the buying. From this, the story that one was usually given one's deck slowly changed to one 'needs' to be given one's deck! It's always very nice to be given Tarot decks, and there is a fair chance that each of us will be (or have been) given numerous - but let's not wait!

jema	11 Oct 2002
i have been given some very nice decks and i have given away a few decks myself too. it is a wonderful exchange where you don't really trade but rather just pass it on. but my first deck i definatly bought (and gave away later on) had someone given me a deck just a month before i bought my first i suspect i would even have been offended. i found the deck in the exact right time for me. to this day i still hesitate before giving someone their first deck. will it be well received? is it the right deck for this person? they great things about buying your own is that you get just the right deck at just the right time:)

Jewel	11 Oct 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Tarotphelia Go buy whatever decks you like- and then go buy some more! *ROFLMAO* that's the spirit! I think JMD made a great point on how the myth on having to have decks given to one came about. I have 92 or so Tarot decks ... most of them bought by me. Decks that have been given to me as gifts will always be treasures to me, and will never be traded away or sold under any circumstance, but that is based on sentimental value not a beielf that they are better decks because they are gifts. Enjoy your new deck, and as recommended by Tarotphelia ... go buy some more!!!

wavebreaker	11 Oct 2002
Well, if I would have waited until somebody gave me a deck, I still wouldn't have one... ;) Funny thing is, this story about "it has to be given" is told about many things. A friend of mine uses a pendulum and she at first believed that a pendulum should be given to you as well. So she decided that she was going to buy me one. And then she got confused: "but how do I know whether you will like the pendulum and really click with it?" Which is when she decided there was nothing wrong with buying your own pendulum (or tarot deck for that matter).

Mystica	11 Oct 2002
I got my first deck on a Summer Solstice, although not intentionally. I thought it seemed kind of special, so now I only buy new decks on Winter or Summer Solstice, or Autumn or Spring Equinox. It's just my own personal thing that I do, but I have always enjoyed waiting and then deciding what to get!

Zhritza	12 Oct 2002
My first deck was a gift from my best friend in high school -- for my 14th birthday, I think. It was the Medieval Scapini, which is very beautiful in many ways. It was the only deck I used for a number of years (I had my mother's Thoth, but at the time I think it was too "dark" for me). The Scapini's imagery was always sort of muddy for me, so I never really gripped the core meanings and sets of meanings. I had to buy the Robin Wood for that. And I had to replace the Scapini anyway at some point, because I lost a few cards -- at that time I had no idea you could just ask U. S. Games for replacements. So there was never anything better about the given deck than the bought deck (or the bought decks that followed): quite the contrary, in fact. I feel that the right deck or decks for you, if you're talking about decks for reading purposes, is determined by what kinds of imagery trigger your subconscious most effectively.

jacx57	12 Oct 2002
I agree with most people here. If I wait, I'll never get any! But I can't picture giving my deck away...even if we don't get along. It's a part of me, and it just wouldn't feel right not having it. Maybe once I finish my deck I might give my old one away...but that's a big maybe. It's easier to find a deck that clicks with you if you buy it yourself. Unless the person who is giving you the deck knows you very well, or knows the deck will click with you, the odds arn't very good of getting a deck you'll love.

divinerguy	12 Oct 2002
I have a dozen decks and bought every one of them.

Sinta	13 Oct 2002
Buy buy buy! All i can say is, no problem if someone gifts you with a deck. But to make you feel comfortable and perhaps readings even better, you have to find a deck that strikes that cord in you. A deck you can identify with. What deck could that be? Only you would know ;)

Pollux	13 Oct 2002
Tarotphelia should write a book of aphorisms... *LOL* I totally agree with everyone before me. I bought my first three decks - RW, Marseille and Visconti Sforza (the first two did away with) - and after that I was given one, and then others... The Tarocchi Celtici by Tuan was the first. No need to say I loved my Marseille and Visconti Sforza, the ones I chose myself, and had hard times with the Celtic one till I called myself defeated (the system is quite different and Thoth-like, and I have not reached Thoth yet). Therefore, get decks yourself cos you know they will work well for you. Gift Decks have a totally different, deeper feel, and they are great. BUT, you needn't wait till someone will give you a deck! ;) My aphorism for today... Being a tarot-holic is great, feel the freedom to yearn for, and enjoy the awareness to know how to satisfy yourself... *BLISS* :D *LOL*

Trogon	13 Oct 2002
I just had one more thought about this topic. Probably every single one of us was "given" our first deck! I don't know about the rest of you... but I "gave" some money to a clerk... then she me my very first Tarot deck! })

Eyes of Night	13 Oct 2002
Quote: Originally posted by Trogon I just had one more thought about this topic. Probably every single one of us was "given" our first deck! I don't know about the rest of you... but I "gave" some money to a clerk... then she me my very first Tarot deck! }) LOL Trogon. I also bought my first (and only, well, for now) deck. The only thing I find that you should to do is research a bit about it. Look at some pics of the deck and read reviews. IMHO, getting a deck would add sentimental value, but that's about it. Buy your own deck, that's what lots of great readers have done.

The decks: bought or offered??? thread was originally posted on 10 Oct 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.