lost and found

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 01 Sep 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

bunnyhop	01 Sep 2003
a few years ago when i started reading tarot, i went to a craft show my grandmother was at around the holiday season. when it was time to pack up, i put my little hand-woven white purse next to my grandmother's chair. in the purse was my goddess tarot deck, and twenty bucks. after loading up the car, i came back for my purse and it was gone. i was heartbroken because i lost my tarot deck (and a little miffed i'd lost a twenty), but i always wondered if someone had my deck and started reading with it (pretty odd thought, i guess). if you find a tarot deck lying around and fail to find its rightful owner would you read with it?

Teranar	01 Sep 2003
Heavens, no! Someone is going to miss that deck, and I would make every effort to give it back to its owner - its what I'd want others to do for me. Then again I'm the type of person who would give the purse back with $5 extra in it if I had money to give away. Edit: I missed the last bit of the question - but I still wouldn't read with it.

LadyMedusa	01 Sep 2003
Finding a deck that has become seperated from it's owner. :( I have to say first off, I would consider your situation :mad: as very much different than a lost deck. I have found several handbags and men's billfolds thru the years working in retail and have never not been able to locate the owner. I think a case of a truly found deck, only after dilligently attempting to find it's owner, and not suceeding, allowing enough time to pass to be certain I would not find it's owner. I would take my cue from the deck. I would ask for it's opinion after a light (not enough to clear the previous owners energies completely) mix up. If it says yes then yes I would. Afterall, maybe that was the way I was supposed to receive that deck. If it said no, then I would ask if maybe later, or study use and abide by it's answer, but no more than those unless it indicated I should. I have taken in "lost ones" of all sorts dogs, cats, pythons, turtles, even a kid or 2. :) Why should a deck be different? LadyMedusa

AmounrA	01 Sep 2003
If it was in a handbag? I would give it back . If it was lying about, lost, I would have to view it as a gift. If it was Thoth, I would keep it for myself, and happily read with it. Most other decks I would either split up, randomly dropping cards until they where all gone, or leave as a whole some-where. If it was waites deck I'd.... :-)

Cerulean	01 Sep 2003
Or a tarot text for that matter, as I think these are like school workbooks or self-study. One of the tea/coffeeshops nearby did have a series of paperbacks for people to read and I put a few nice poetry books in the place of a battered high-school paperback where people in the 1960s were trying to teach 'classic' English literature. The selections were funny to me, but the questions were very interesting to me to evaluate poems. It has an old library stamp, and was marked as if someone bought it at a "Friends of the Library" sale. One time I heard a woman at one of the tarot conferences misplaced an old beaded purse and an old reading deck. I heard afterward she recovered it, as I saw her with her beaded purse. I said I was glad to hear that she got it back. She said the old deck was replaceable, but it actually the holder that she was most worried about. It was the prettiest thing that she had for tarot decks and she said she would be heartbroken, as it was a style and a gift that she treasured. I'm sorry to hear you lost a beautiful deck and a purse...I'm attached to little things like that, sometimes more so than bits of jewelry that I lost. Mari H.

matfav	02 Sep 2003
Thithe it to the universe and know that it will do good work Tithing allows a positive good energy to flow (blessing) Don't fret Your deck needed to travel and find a new owner to teach

Diana	02 Sep 2003
Quote: Originally posted by bunnyhop if you find a tarot deck lying around and fail to find its rightful owner would you read with it? If it had Justice as VIII and Strength as XI, (and even better, the Fool unnumbered), most definitely. And of course, I wouldn't want soppy or melodramatic pips in the minors. If not, I would trade it here on Aeclectic, or give it to charity. Why wouldn't one want to read with a deck that one finds? Unless one is superstitious, of course.... and doesn't walk under ladders either.

catlin	02 Sep 2003
In Germany, you bring something you have found either to a special office or to the police where things are usually kept for 6 months. If the person who possessed the item does not pick it up, it belongs to the finder. If the finder does not want it, it passes to an auction. If it were to a deck, I would try to find the possessor and if I failed to do so, I would keep it.

bunnyhop	02 Sep 2003
yeah, i'm aware that whoever found my purse could have turned it into the police or security, but that didn't happen... (so in my case the deck was kind of stolen :) ) i've since replaced the deck and it works just as well. some people posted about cleansing rituals. would there be something special to do if it was a found deck?

SongDeva	02 Sep 2003
Cleansing rituals are very individual specific. You can look up pagan or shamanic rituals, or you could just do some reiki/light channeling until the deck feels right. By the way, why don't you do a tarot spread on the person who took the purse, and / or the deck's current owner? (I'm not assuming they are the same, in fact, I feel like they are not. I feel like the purse stealer gave the deck away.) It might alleviate some curiousity for you!

bunnyhop	02 Sep 2003
most definitely, VioletLotus. i've always felt the current owner of the deck wasn't the person who had my purse. thanks for the idea :)

SongDeva	03 Sep 2003
Quote: Originally posted by bunnyhop most definitely, VioletLotus. i've always felt the current owner of the deck wasn't the person who had my purse. thanks for the idea :) No problem...I'd like to hear the results, if you ever do it.

Tallarico	07 Sep 2003
I have lost my 2 decks in my own house! Recently, I have had some renovations going on here. I am thinking (is this wierd?) that the decks will be mad at me because I cannot find them and haven't used them. True or False. Is that childish thinking? Thanks.

Alissa	07 Sep 2003
Quote: Originally posted by tallarino I am thinking (is this wierd?) that the decks will be mad at me because I cannot find them and haven't used them. True or False. Is that childish thinking? tallarino, I am the first to be guilty of anthropomorphizing inanimate objects, but even *I* don't think you're decks got mad and hid themselves from you. If you have a favorite book that you haven't read for years, would you expect it to hide itself from you as well? (Well, actually sometimes I *do* think that way, but I'm kinda cracked like that. I also believe my home is infested with Faeries who constant borrow stuff). My favorite way of making a missing object reappear (usually done when alone in the house so no one else hears my insanity) : call out and ask for the object to be given back, and soon. Tell the Universe why you need it back. I swear to the Good Gods, this works for me a lot. I don't know why, but when it works, why question it?

Dark_angel	07 Sep 2003
If there were any possibility of finding the owner, I'd do that. If I'd tried for ages, I'd have a deeper look at it and see if I could feel a connection; maybe I was meant to receive the deck in this way. If not, I'd give it as a gift to someone who I knew really wanted that deck. I probably wouldn't trade it because I'd feel like it wasn't mine to profit from; I'd rather give it a new home, kind of like finding a home for the lost kitten that turns up on your doorstep. If the deck and I connected, then yes I'd use it, but I think I'd always wonder about how it got to me. xxx

The lost and found thread was originally posted on 01 Sep 2003 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.