new decks...do you choose them, or do they choose you?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 23 Sep 2004, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Hawks_girl_dove	23 Sep 2004
Wynter Wytch, my daughter and myself are coming upon our 1st Tarot Card reading class next month. I have had 2 decks for a few years now, that i have enjoyed ALOT. I have also acquired a few new one's recently. I have heard some say that they chose a certain deck because of certain aspects the deck had, or they found aesthetically appealing. I have heard others say the decks they have, chose them. So, out of curiosity: Did you choose your deck, or did it choose you, or did someone choose it for you? What do you look for in a deck when choosing one, or when it chooses you? How do you know when it chooses you?

Mesara	23 Sep 2004
I think it works both ways. My first deck (the Magickal Tarot) I guess chose me because it was given as a gift and I totally bonded with it even though it was a struggle to learn and I didn't really like it all that much. Ive never had a deck that has been as accurate (or mean). My Russian Tarot of St. Petersburg I fell in love with at first sight but it has taken a long time for it to love me back. I seem to slowly be winning it's affections. The Thoth deck I swore I would never own, (Im not a big Crowley/Golden Dawn fan) but the more I looked through the cards the more I felt pulled in by them. Now I own the deck and I absolutely love it. I think for some reason it chose me and it has finally enticed me into it's web of seduction. I just bought the Medieval Scapini but cannot connect with it at all. It's a shame, I was so looking forward to having it. PS. I pm'd you about those tarot bags!

The 78th Fool	30 Sep 2004
I definitely choose my decks. Generally, if I respond positively to a deck it will yield good results for me. I've never had any sense of the choice not being in my hands however. Chris. xx

Semiramis	30 Sep 2004
I also think it works both ways. I find I have to see and hold the cards in person, though, to see if they "fit". Many a time I've bought a Tarot deck that looked beautiful in books or on the internet but when I have it, it's just flat and closed to me. I like going to my local new age store where they have demo cards for most of their decks, so you can see and hold them in your hand.

Apollonia	30 Sep 2004
I've chosen most of my decks, but recently I sold a few old CDs and books at my local Half Price Books, and wandered over to their Tarot cabinet just for a look-see. There it was--a brand new, shrink-wrapped Regina Tarot deck, book and bag set for $17.48. I glanced at an open deck they also had there, thought, "Ew--I don't know," and went home. I just wasn't enthralled by the black and white collage format. That night I dreamed about the Regina Victoria Tarot all night long. I returned the next day and bought it--and proceeded to dream about it for the next three nights as well! (The only time I've dreamt about Tarot in my life that I know of...) So I think it wanted to be with me. When I got the deck home and asked it what we would create together, I got the Two of Cups! I guess it was love at first sight for the deck, if not for me...

Alissa	30 Sep 2004
D. All of the above... ;) Some of my decks I chose for myself, after falling in love with them. For the emotional investment, you can argue that these decks that I "chose," actually chose me! Other decks I have were gifts, things that others chose for me, thinking I would like it for whatever reason. Some of these are neat, and some of the suck! ;) When others started gifting me decks, about 20% of them I took one look at, and have never touched since - they langour locked in my Godiva box with the other mouldies. Most of those just don't appeal to me. But I keep them because a. I like having decks, b. I believe I may actually come to like the deck later in time, and/or c. they sometimes make for good gifts for others whom they suit more than me... or for trading, if I decide to trade it later on down the line. So I would say all of the above apply to my own deck acquisitions. And I like them all! I like getting what I want when I fall for a deck and buy it for myself (My Preciousssssss). And I like having exotic decks, that I would never consider typically, being given to me, just because it's fun to get gifts and to expand my own horizons.

Ace	30 Sep 2004
Great story Coatl! As for me, as Astra said on another thread, I have accumulated decks mostly by acretion. I bought a RWS for a class in tarot ( :( NOT THE WAY TO LEARN, IMHO, you do best on your own, but there it is, that was how I went about starting) then friends gave me decks they didn't want, an IIJ (which is the deck that scared me back in my college days so that I didn't touch a deck for 12 years!) and a Marsielles, and then I bought a Robin Wood as my main deck (and bought and bought and bought) I have about 8 or 12 that are worn throughly--I prefer to say loved throughly! And on the road I picked decks I thought I would like: a round woman's deck (NOT the Motherpeace-oh, I remember a Daughters of the Moon), a Connoly, a GILL (which I feel is like the Rosetta stone: they always knew it said something important, but for a long time they couldn't figure out what....) and several copies of Ancestral Path that I thought I would like but didn't so much in the end, and now I am being invaded with WorldTree decks. I have, I guess, always chosen my decks, but with a few exceptions I didn't always choose wisely. If I feel the pictures talk to me, I usually like the deck-very few talk to me! But some did, on SOME Cards, then in the end, just prove to be unsatisfactory, some cards are great and others.... Some, like the AP, are good enough to use, but in the end, I went back to the Robin Wood. Well maybe that is true of all decks.

annik	30 Sep 2004
At the beginning, I wasn't too much knowledgeable about decks nor my taste in those decks. So, I bought some that I didn't liked. So, I went to trade them. I felted that I was playing Russian Roulette each time I bought a deck. Now, I know what I like and there is some themes that I have interest in that are refflected in my tarot decks collection. And I felt that is some special connection with some tarot deck (my olympus one comes to mind). So they acted a bit like a bridge and help me for some other decks. And there is some decks that I only look / admire for their artwork

blackroseivy	30 Sep 2004
Well, I've just recently been picked on by the Giger Baphomet Tarot!!!! There is so much in this deck for me to hate, so little to like - but *something* about it said it *had* to be mine!!!!! I believe that our right brains, who is a stranger to our left, does the choosing in cases like this: so it really seems to be a different entity from the self that chooses. Your Higher Self is somehow this all-inclusive entity who can stand next to you & say, "She's a good kid, but she's got a loooong way to go!!!" with a smile! - I should know: this *exact* thing happened to me once in an OOBE!!! *That's* who's doing the "talking" for the deck!

Emily	07 Oct 2004
I think its a little bit of both - I first saw the Morgan Greer 15 months before I bought the deck. I had problems getting it so cancelled my order and completely forgot about the deck for 15 months but carried on buying unsuitable Rider Waite clones that I really didn't connect with whilst still looking for that '0ne'. Then I saw a programme on TV that used the Morgan Greer, the cards were only on for a few minutes but I felt like I had been hit over the head. I knew then that this was my deck. I ordered a few minutes later and when the deck came and I held it, it felt so right. I don't think the deck would have been right for me the first time i saw it but its the only deck I have that I could read right from the box and the images seemed familiar even though I hadn't seen the whole deck before. Its still my favourite deck. :)

SoulFlower	07 Oct 2004
I prefer to pick my own deck. Just because than you can know how you feel with it. Did the deck chose me? Perhaps, I think if you feel good with the cards right away that it's a positive sign. I don't trust buying decks online, many images seem wonderful online, but when you see the deck in real life, it doesn't do you a thing.

tarotlova	08 Oct 2004
I have to say that when I am looking at a deck to buy I have to hold it, and if I get a tingeling in my hands particulary if they ache then I know im on a winner. When I was in New Zealand on my honeymoon I wanted to buy a NZ deck my husband is from NZ but when I saw and held it no response at all the next one I looked at The Druid Animal Oracle it just blew me away and yet the decks were similar in being native animals!

Linelei	08 Oct 2004
My first deck chose me, in a way. I couldn't decide between two, so I closed my eyes, had a friend "shuffle" them, and picked one. I connected with it very well, whereas I don't think I would have with the other deck. Come to think of it, I do that a lot. I narrow it down to a couple possibles that I've been considering, then let Fate decide. It works for me. I have had one deck that really chose me. I was looking at decks in a store and hadn't really spotted one I wanted, when I picked up the box for the Shapeshifter Tarot. I immediately bought it, after only barely glancing at the images on the box. There was no conscious decision to buy it: on moment I was pulling it off the shelf, the next I was at the counter paying. I had never heard of it before, but it really fits me. I reserve this deck for personal readings that are more spiritual in nature.

dawns_eve	11 Oct 2004
I choose my decks by opening the pack and going through the cards. I am generally attracted to brilliant colors and detailed pictures. I just see if I am drawn to the cards after that.

The new decks...do you choose them, or do they choose you? thread was originally posted on 23 Sep 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.