looking at one card to choose a deck

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 17 Jul 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Livia	17 Jul 2004
Is there anyone card that you look at to determine if you will buy a deck? Conversly is there anyone card that if you don't like in a deck will cause you not to buy the deck?

Venian	17 Jul 2004
It all depends on what floats ya boat. Maybe you like pip cards, maybe you only use Rider-Waite clones. Personally, there is no single card, its got to be a good deck collectively. Though they may be a card that initially attracts my attention. This makes impulse buying something I DONT do with tarot cards in shops like waterstones. Most of them dont let you look through a deck beforehand and judging from the picture on the front of the pack may not reflect on whats inside.

MeeWah	17 Jul 2004
Deck choices usually based on any number of criteria. Some base their choice on whether the minor arcana is illustrated or not; others on various Major Arcana; still others on court cards. I look at the Major Arcana. Largely base all of the deck choices on it. For example: I chose The Cosmic Tribe based on its three Lovers; also its Hermit & The Star.

Little Baron	17 Jul 2004
Usually it is the courts for me. Like to see if there is a bit of personality in them. The High Priestess is another; these days, if I buy, I do as hefty research as I can, which is what I am doing with the Marseilles at the moment. I have been caught out before, got an impulse bought deck home and had that 'stomach dropping' feeling. Matt Myers 'Tarot Nouveau' and the 'Adrian' come to mind. Yaboot

Logiatrix	17 Jul 2004
What absolutely makes or breaks a deck for me is the Devil card; regardless of how much I like the rest of the deck, I MUST be okay with the Devil card. And I'm with Yaboot--hefty research is a must; I don't collect every deck in the world anymore, so I want to be sure that the decks I purchase now are decks I really want. :D

Brandaluna	17 Jul 2004
I still just have one deck, but as I look at other decks, I'm discovering that the Devil is an important card for me in making choices about what I like. I don't think I would choose not to buy a deck that I loved except for the Devil card, but it does seem to count for a lot one way or the other. I guess that's because I'm not crazy about the card, so I want it as appealing as possible. Art wise, my favorite card in a deck is usually the Moon or the High Priestess. The court cards are important in that I like for them to have some life to them. I like feeling as though the court has been caught in mid-action.

colusaskye	17 Jul 2004
for some reason, I ALWAYS look at the 4 of Swords and the Hermit. I want my minors illustrated and I need to have an okay time shuffling. Ah, I wish they'd let you go through the entire deck in stores...

Kath	18 Jul 2004
Devil and Death. I dislike decks that try to soften these cards (and the Tower). Life isn’t chocolates and roses, so a deck needs to reflect the things that make us uncomfortable, not just the nice and fluffy things in life. I always look at the 9 of Pents too, because that’s my card :)

hyatt	18 Jul 2004
I must love the queen of swords for me to buy/use the deck. I normally do a fair about on waiting and longing before i treat myself to a new deck. But those spur of the moment buys are fun. So I balence my implusive buys with research too.

linabeet	19 Jul 2004
The Lovers can tell you a lot about how the creator works in the world I think.

brennamor	19 Jul 2004
I agree with The Devil and Death cards being important in my choice of decks. I also find that how the Queens of Wands and Swords are portrayed is important to me too. In fact the Swords in general. I dislike it when the Swords are portrayed too negatively. I like them strong but balance.

Alissa	19 Jul 2004
The Hanged Man. If they show a man, hanging by the neck, I'm put off immediately. This interpretation will make or break a deck for me (although I still like my Legend Arthur... but I don't use it often). The Death and Devil cards tie for next most important, on my list.

WolfSpirit	19 Jul 2004
I only have a few pet peeves... There are a few decks that show on the Strength card someone actually using violence to control the lion (or what animal is used). To me that distorts the whole meaning. And I agree with Alissa on the hanged man: he should not be hanged by the neck.

Flavio	19 Jul 2004
Although I decide to get a deck or not, after checking it as a whole, like to put special attention to Emperor (my soul number) and Devil card, which seems to be popular judging from this thread.

Logiatrix	19 Jul 2004
Quote: Originally posted by Alissa The Hanged Man. If they show a man, hanging by the neck, I'm put off immediately. This interpretation will make or break a deck for me (although I still like my Legend Arthur... but I don't use it often)... Ah, yes, forgot about that... It's what turned me off about the Londa and the Cagliostro, as well as the very beautiful Legend/Arthurian. About the Devil... I prefer the Devil to be depicted in an otherworldly, beastly way, or in keeping with the psychological concept of bondage/materialism/self-destruction. I do not want to see the Devil as a man, not even as Stalin in the Russian Tarot of St. Petersburg (though it is very clever and understandable, given the theme of the deck), and I don't want to see the Devil as dark-skinned, such as in the 1JJ Swiss Tarot. I actually have a favorite Devil card now--delicate flower that I am, heh. :rolleyes: It's the Visconti Gold version, my main deck; specifically the 1999 edition, where he is absolutely beastly and grotesque. Conveys the Devil appropriately to me...quite evocative to look upon, too. :)

purple_scorp	20 Jul 2004
Card that I love that I look for: The Star Card that I hate that I look for: 5 Pentacles If both of these are okay, I'll consider buying the deck. Cheers purple_scorp

Aun	20 Jul 2004
Well to me there are 2 different ways to pick a deck: - As a collector, I check the artwork above all. If it pleases me, I buy it. - To read, I am limited to a few decks of my choice, (pretty much Thoth and Golden dawn-like decks) but nevertheless the majors have to impress me. I have no problems with pip or illustrated minors.

Eco74	20 Jul 2004
I´ve been looking at the Secret Tarot, and though I do adore most of the images, the chariot reeeeealy bothers me. He just looks so unfocused, and the lions that are supposed to cooperate and pull the chariot seem to be disagreeing over something, while the charioteer himself is ignorant to it and looking somewhere off to the side, almost looking ready to leave the chariot and take off on another route... After having looked at it a few times though, it is starting to grow on me, but having to go through that with several of the cards just does not seem appealing to me. I don´t know exactly what cards I look at to determine the deck, but have noticed that I do want illustrated minors and if one or more of the major arcana seems "too far off" the deck is quickly dismissed even if the remaining cards are right as rain... Maybe I'm just too persistant in looking for singularity and single purpouse in the decks? But maybe not, because on the other hand I am head-over-heels and gleefully in love with the decks I DO have and I believe that for the cards to want to speak to me I need to have a certain level of devotion, as opposed to a feeling of "oh no, that card again, I really don't like that card" followed by me not learning it properly due to the disdain alone...

Livia	20 Jul 2004
I have been debating this for some time... if there was a card that I could decide would tell me if the deck was for me, or would bother me too much to by. I think that the courts esp. the queens will send me over the top to buy a deck, but i think now that if there is one card in the deck that i am really drawn to and the rest of the deck has nice artwork, and there is good talk about it (I try and do research) I will buy it, that is what happened when I bought Secret Tarot, and the Golden Tarot, and it worked with them, because I found I enjoy the majority of the cards in those decks.

Sillanza	22 Jul 2004
Does only one card sway the purchase? Not usually. First, I have to like the deck. Second, it has to give me a message (or just a feeling) that I don't have with any of my other decks, and I don't have many so it's still easy! Third, I need to like most of my favorite cards. I'd hate to make or break a deck I otherwise love on just one card, so I have about 5 "test" cards. If the majority are a thumb's up, it comes home with me. :)

Ace	22 Jul 2004
These days even New Age shops won't let you look at a whole deck. And even if I DO look at a whole deck, I often change my mind after awhile. I fell in love with the Hanged One in the Ancestral Path deck, I even bought several copies, thinking this was going to be my new deck of choice. And fell out of love with it eventually. (I still have it and use it occasionally but less and less.) Other decks, I am attracted to one or two really cool cards and buy the deck, then no... I guess not. And it goes by the wayside. The biggest disappointment: Cannon/Reed's Tarot of the Witches. Half those cards are so good, I want to frame them and half are so bad, I want to throw up. Yet the art is the very similar. But in answer to your main question: it isn't one or two particular cards. I love the Tower in the Cannon/Reed, the Hanged One in the Ancestral Path. Death and the Fool in Robin Wood, 5 of Pentacles in the WorldTree and on and on.... Finally it is similar to Sillanza: Quote: Originally posted by Sillanza Does only one card sway the purchase? Not usually. First, I have to like the deck. Second, it has to give me a message (or just a feeling) that I don't have with any of my other decks, and I don't have many so it's still easy! If some cards really TALK to me, I know I want that deck.

The looking at one card to choose a deck thread was originally posted on 17 Jul 2004 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.