First Deck: Bought or Gift?

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 27 Apr 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Fairawen	27 Apr 2005
Sorry if this seems silly, but I'm just here to abolish a nasty tarot tradition. If you've talked to enough people about tarot, at least one of them will tell you that your first deck should be given to you, and not bought. People will give various reasons: It will curse the readings, bring bad luck upon you, give you false or falty readings... yada yada yada. So, just to go out there and prove once and for all that this is untrue, I wish to know if you bought you fist deck or if it was given to you. I'm gonna tally 'em up, and check the percentage within a week or two. I'm pretty sure that the percentage will be leaning towards those who bought. Me? My first deck was actually made... so I have no idea how that goes. You? ~Fairawen~

bladeraven	27 Apr 2005
oooo..you could have done a poll too *ducking the duck you threw at me* Uhm duck?? since when have we resorted to throwing fowls at people?? Let's see my first first deck was bought but I made my older brother buy them for me because I seriously thought I would have bad things happen if I bought them myself...course bad things still happen...him and my other brother gave my barbie's haircuts.... Didn't use the deck..go figure...they were bought by a horrible hairdresser... Another deck was given to me.....Lost those Bought a deck...chunk them in the trash...don't ask...ex now SO and I broke up..I was cleaning house and well............. and finally bought Radiant this past December and I've been married to them since and have since received as a gift, the Osho Zen and the Haindl which I gave (the Haindl) as a gift to a student of mine who ended up throwing them away (seeing a pattern here) and I have on order the Housewives tarot which should be here anyday and hopign to find a lovely dark set to use as a shadow deck.. Hmmm..you made your own..that's so cool *sneezing*

Rusty Neon	27 Apr 2005
Since you already have your first deck (the homemade one), you'd be buying your second deck. The old wives' tale about not buying your first deck (that it should be given to you), and any karmic repercussions for violation thereof, would be in effect in respect of your first (handmade) deck. Hence,go freely and buy yourself a second deck.

The Dreamer	27 Apr 2005
Another recent thread about this, which contains a link to yet another thread about it: [thread=38013]myth or fact?[/thread]

bladeraven	27 Apr 2005
curious..is there a link to a link about the link about a thread?

HudsonGray	27 Apr 2005
Right, myth-myth-myth. No reason not to buy your own. AND you can even buy a used deck (ohhhh, *shudder*). What other myths can we dispell? Let everyone touch them, don't wrap them in silk, put a rubber band around them when the box falls apart, and don't worry about putting them under a full moon for cleansing. If there's factual reasons for something, great, but anything else is just personal preference.

Ankou	27 Apr 2005
My first deck was bought for me by someone who firmly believed I would be cursed if I bought my own (she was dating the guy who fell out of his chair). I love the deck, but I don't think it makes a difference. The important thing is to be connected to the deck and making your own has got to be the best connection one can have with their cards.

tamaray	27 Apr 2005
My first and second deck was bought for me. The frist i ask for them and i don't feel as connected to them as i do my second deck witch was gift. I was not even expecting. I feel very connected with them so I don't know if it helps your study out or not but that is my answer... tamaray

bladeraven	27 Apr 2005
still laughing hard about the guy who fell out of the chair.... I've seen a lot of great decks sold at half-price books, a used bookstore, and the only way I can see truth about not buying tarot cards for yourself is if the cards cost $100.00 then yeah..I'll tell my SO, it's bad luck that I buy the cards for myself so would he *batting my eyelashes and tearing up* save me from bad mojo and buy the cards using his credit card and paying for the credit card bill with his own paycheck to spare me the eternity of bad luck... Do you think he'll fall for that one I hope??? If he does, then there's this pair of diamond earrings that's REALLY bad luck for me to buy for myself so he's going to have to get that same credit card and.............

bladeraven	27 Apr 2005
come to think of it...there's also a matching diamond pendant that's EXTREMELY bad luck for me to buy for myself..............

bladeraven	27 Apr 2005
Okay...I can prove it's bad luck to get someone to buy tarot decks or diamonds for yourself...SO was on phone and I told him about the previous posts and after he stop laughing, he mentioned that I can always take out a loan if I want diamonds or 100.00 tarot decks that badly....so I guess it's confirmed that nope...no one is going to buy a 100.00 tarot deck for you...or diamonds for that matter...grrrrrrrr

similia	27 Apr 2005
Well of course buying you own first deck is entirely acceptable, and the sky will not fall down. I can say this with the confidence that comes from having been given my first deck as a gift :D

VisionQuest	27 Apr 2005
My first deck was a gift. It just happened to work out for me that I'm happy my first deck was a gift. But if you want a deck there's no reason to sit around waiting for someone to give you one. I think there is something special about it being a gift, but it doesn't always work out that way, so buy it as a gift to yourself :).

Cerulean	27 Apr 2005
At that time, it was available, although uncommon to see in stores. I bought my sister's second deck for her, as she didn't like her Tarot Classic. It was the Ukiyoe. My second deck, I bought two years later--the Hallowquest Arthurian. It was in 1996. I've used as often as the Ukiyo-e over the past several years. Best wishes, Cerulean

rainwolf	28 Apr 2005
I bought a Dummies guide which came with the deck, so you could say i bought it because i did, but i didnt because i bought the book and the deck was an "extra". I dont believe in that myth: why is it unlucky? There is no reason!

Fairawen	28 Apr 2005
Oooook-ay and now I'm proving myself wrong by trying to say everyobdy bought there deck. *sigh* Come on people who haven't spoken up yet, tell me you bought your first deck! I don't actually care if they're cursed or not, they work great for me. My first REAL deck is being bought for me by someone here who is so nice!!! *cough cough* Cat *cough cough* I can't prove myself wrong... come on people who bought your own deck. Come on, *closes eyes and grimaces* I'M ASKING YA WITH MY BRAIN!!! *lol* Quote from Bug's Life. :P ~Fairawen~

similia	28 Apr 2005
Fairawen wrote: Oooook-ay and now I'm proving myself wrong by trying to say everyobdy bought there deck. *sigh* Come on people who haven't spoken up yet, tell me you bought your first deck! Yes please vote you first deck buyers. It will save Fairawen the hassle of rigging the results :D

gollog	28 Apr 2005
Sorry Fairawen, I'm another person that got my first one as a gift for my birthday. I asked specifically for it. But at that time I never heard of the superstitious believe that your first one should be a present. I just thought it would make a special present, and it was!

Marindahl	28 Apr 2005
I bought my first three decks, and I'd buy again if I saw another one I liked. So there!

LadyofDreams	28 Apr 2005
i kinda fit into both. I DID buy my first deck myself, but it was with a gift voucher that was given to me for my birthday last year... oooh that means i have been reading tarot for a year today :D always, ~lady~

cybercat	28 Apr 2005
Ok I bought my own decks and I also gave friends there first decks. I got fairawen hers first deck because she wanted one. No mystry no hoopla well maybe for the person getting it. I know of a few others here on AT that have bought decks for other. It is just fun doing it. Cat Gads it is late.

Charmkin	28 Apr 2005
Had to throw in my own response, just to be difficult ;) -- I made my first deck, just like you did. My mother had a RWS deck when she was a teenager, and after awhile I guess she thought maybe it was bad to have one, and she got rid of it. When I was about 15, I wanted my own deck and she was a little wary. So I made my own deck (which actually was very much like a Lenormand, come to think of it) and by the time my birthday arrived she gave in and bought me my first 'real' deck. (Tarot of the Spirit) And my second for my next birthday...(Enchanted) Last Mother's Day she asked for her own deck. I got her the Golden. :) Long story short (too late!) I think it's great that you made your own deck. You put your own energy and thought into creating it, and that makes it very special. And no, I don't think it matters one bit how one acquires their first 'commercial' deck. How did that old myth originally come about, anyway? (Funny thing, though, I just realized that my first two decks --the ones that were purchased for me-- are the two that I have really connected with. All my other decks were purchased by me but don't have the same vibe. Coincidence, yes, but it's a neat coincidence.)

Rogan	28 Apr 2005
I had a clairvoyant give me my first deck, because (she told me) "she was told to give them to me"

Ahria	28 Apr 2005
I have bought all my decks, and havent had a problem yet :D Oh and I will keep on buying...

wellspring	28 Apr 2005
Ironically, the one deck I was given, I never clicked with, and just couldn't get a connection with. Felt stressed and even a bit guilty, precisely because of the myth that you're supposed to run off into the sunset with the wondrous deck you've been given by the universe! I tried for ages to push myself to connect with it and work with it! If you're kindly given a deck by someone and you connect with the deck, that's marvellous, but the two decks I bought myself, because of feeling so connected with them intuitively, have been and are great ... RWT was first deck, and now just started working with the Druidcraft, which I really love. Definitely agree that the connection you feel to the deck is the most important, regardless of whether it's bought or given. Cat

tarotbear	28 Apr 2005
Actually ~ my first deck was neither bought nor a gift: I BARTERED for it! :smoker: There's a thread somewhere on 'tarot absolutes' where we blasted so-called traditional thinking. Will try to dig it up ...

OakDragon	28 Apr 2005
HudsonGray wrote: put a rubber band around them when the box falls apart Actually, keeping a rubber band around your cards is not a good idea (long term, anyway)... nothing mythological about it. A rubber band will dry out sooner or later and stick to your cards, ruining them. As to my first deck, I bought it. It was a Rohrig that cried out to me. :) I've actually had mediocre luck with gifted decks. The ones I've received are the Baseball Tarot (the Lerner-Phillips-Gardner one) which is neat, but I don't often find myself in situations where a baseball-themed tarot comes in handy and the other was the US Games Lord of The Rings Tarot, which is iffy as far as LOTR goes.

Clau	28 Apr 2005
Well, I bought my first deck, got the second and third as a gift, gave the first as a gift, and all the rest I have bought for myself. Bad luck or any curse??... NOT!!!! LOL

Fairawen	28 Apr 2005
Yay! Lot's more people who bought first deck. :) Happy me! Will be back tonight, gotta go to mall now. Keep posting guys! Thanks to the ones who have! This is begining to get interesting... ~Fairawen~

lark	28 Apr 2005
Well here's a third catagory for you..... I bought my first deck as a gift for someone else and they didn't want it so I kept it for myself. :confused: About 140 decks later I am still buying my own decks like crazy. And woe to those who try to stop me !!!!!!!

Nydia	28 Apr 2005
I bought my first deck and all the others I have.

Annabelle	28 Apr 2005
I bought my first deck, as well as most of my other decks. A few have been given to me as gifts.

Ilithiya	28 Apr 2005
Out of the 26 I own at the moment: One gift and one trade with fellow Aeclecticians, one trade w/ my SIL's hubby, and one gifted and two kidnapped from my current and previous SO's. Of the remaining 20, I bought them all; 12 were new, 8 used. 10 of my decks are newly purchased just in April. Of the 10-15 that I have given away over the years, they were all bought used. And my very first deck? Myers Art Nouveau, brand new, purchased at Powell's for $14 in 1993. Do I still have it? Hell yeah. Is it going anywhere? Only over my (literally) dead body. I may give it to a granddaughter if I ever have one. (It was a tossup between that and the Herbal, which I bought last year just to finally end that 11 year long fit of indecision.) I'm not obsessed, I'm just a "Tarotfile". :D Illy

Tabby	28 Apr 2005
I bought my first deck(RW) a long time ago at a bookstore. At the time it was just a curiosity. There was a little book that came with my deck that has all the definitions of the cards and a few layouts. Every so often I would try to read cards from that. It took me a long time to realize there was other sources out there than that. And the vast amount of info. I.e. books, aeclectic, and other decks that I could have...lol

Island Dreamer	28 Apr 2005
I bought my first deck for myself. It was a Hoi Polloi back in the early 1970s (which has subsequently moved on to Kissa in Finland via a trade) I've bought/traded for all of my twenty decks, none have been given as gifts. Island Dreamer

Gwynne	28 Apr 2005
I'm like a lot of other people in that if I'd waited for someone to give me my first deck, I'd have never started reading Tarot!

bladeraven	28 Apr 2005
Raise your hand if you would have grown old waiting for a Tarot Deck...what I would love is to get my hands on a deck made out of Ravens..the crow magick tarot is nice but just doesn't really click for me

bladeraven	28 Apr 2005
for 7.00 you can order a blank deck to create your own...tempted to do that. http://www.skybluepink.com/products8.html

Vadella	28 Apr 2005
I bought my first deck. I did not know there was a tradition. *hides*

Indigo Rose	28 Apr 2005
I bought my first deck, and every deck thereafter. I don't believe the myth at all. My readings have been a source of help and inspiration, as I started reading for myself and then branched out. I am anything but cursed. Rather, I feel quite blessed with love and liberty. Blessings, Indigo Rose :)

Fairawen	28 Apr 2005
:) This is going well, don't you think? Yes it is... certainly is... Off to dinner! ~Fairawen~

bladeraven	28 Apr 2005
I wonder does it count me giving decks to post about that in this thread...granted that they got chunked

Majecot	28 Apr 2005
The myth I was told is that you could never buy your own deck....HA! What ever, my first deck was a gift, but I immediately said poppycock to the myth and bought 5 more decks. I had the same 6 untill I came back to AT...then I was struck by the shopping bug...hehe I have had a few that have gifted to me (Thanks Guys- you know who you are), but I feel not fear of retribution in buying my own... other than the fact that it makes me poorer.

Thuvia	28 Apr 2005
My first deck was a gift, but it had more to do with being 12yo and no allowance than superstition, all the rest I have bought myself :)

bassetized	29 Apr 2005
I bought my first deck, a Thoth, in the early 80s. When I came back to Tarot in the mid-90s, starting my second phase, if you will, I bought a RWS. I've been given some as gifts, gotten a few more in trades on AT (thanks!), but bought most of them. So far I haven't sprouted horns or another head or anything (well, depending on who you ask...). })

full deck	29 Apr 2005
Would it matter if I stole a car and the deck was in the glove compartment; would that be like a gift deck?

Clau	29 Apr 2005
full deck wrote: Would it matter if I stole a car and the deck was in the glove compartment; would that be like a gift deck? ROFL!!!!! I think that is more like a self given gift...

Vadella	29 Apr 2005
Thuvia wrote: My first deck was a gift, but it had more to do with being 12yo and no allowance than superstition, all the rest I have bought myself :) I was thinking this morning about buying my niece a tarot set for her 12th birthday in May but I don't know how my sister will handle that. I think I might ask my sister first. It's better than the ouija in their house, IMO.

Fairawen	29 Apr 2005
Vadella wrote: I was thinking this morning about buying my niece a tarot set for her 12th birthday in May but I don't know how my sister will handle that. I think I might ask my sister first. It's better than the ouija in their house, IMO. Oh, LOL! MUCH better. If she's into Ouija, she can't think tarot is evil at least... at the most tarot should be a comfort to that... (Sorry folks, I'm not into Ouija. :P) ~Fairawen~

Chronata	29 Apr 2005
My first deck...the RWS... was a gift. Come to think of it...my first 12 or so decks were more or less gifts. My mom would find a lot of them at garage sales, and buy them for me. And a lot of my favorite decks were given to me over the years by wonderful generous people. Some of them from this Forum! I don't think the whole "bad luck if you buy a deck" thing is true at all....except for me! For a while there, every deck I bought for myself turned out to be not at all what I thought it would be! Thank goodness for the Trading Forum!

Asia	29 Apr 2005
I bought my first deck. Since, joining this Forum, i've got my eye on several more.

-=Light=-	30 Apr 2005
Well I was in the store and even at the cash register with my first deck which was the RWS deck and Easy Tarot Guide by Maria Masino. I even handed the psychic at the counter my credit card. Then my boyfriend at the time (Puzzler from my relationship post awhile back in Your Readings) took my credit card and put it in his wallet and whipped out his card and layed it on the counter. So ?? I was purchasing my first deck right up to the 10 seconds it took for him to take the card and change it with his own. Did I buy my first deck? Hmmm good question. Kind of but didn't actually pay for it. Or was it more of a gift ? BTW I got my credit card back. He always insists on paying ! Light :)

IDN	30 Apr 2005
I have bought all my decks myself. I can imagine that receiving a deck as a present is nice, but I find it a really exciting experience to go the "tarot shop" and look through the portfolio of cards and then choose a deck. Even actually handing the card over to pay for it is magical for me- it's the start of a special journey with that particular deck. And when you walk out of the shop with your new deck, you just want to open it there and then- like a child with a christmas present!It's amazing the excitement a pack of cards can generate! Regards, Ian

mike gorth	30 Apr 2005
I bought mine. I don't know anybody that was interested in tarot. plus it's really expensive. I bought it because I wanted to learn. When I bought it, I didn't hear about the 'curse' so to speak. I don't believe in it anyway. Tarot usually works better if you buy it just because of energy but whatever. Some people think there is a curse, I don't. I have really reliable decks and none of them have given me any trouble. I don't even use my first one because that one is the universal tarot and I don't really like any rider waite decks. I do like ones that have the same symbols like the sharman caselli and nigel jackson. Mike Gorth

NYCTeen	30 Apr 2005
I bought mine. Well, my mother bought mine.

leapylees	30 Apr 2005
I bought my first deck (the Mythic Tarot) as it was a few weeks before my birthday and I was too impatient to wait till my birthday. I got on okay with it at first but I've got on better with the decks I've bought myself since. I don't really get on that well with the two decks i've been given as gifts (although they were both decks that were on my wishlist).

MoonLite	30 Apr 2005
I've recently bought my own first Tarot Deck (Sharman-Caselli)... hmm, although one could consider that it came as a "gift" from money that I was given for my Birthday! So wonder what that one counts as? I also bought over the internet, so it was like getting a wrapped up birthday present and I had all the excitement of unwrapping it, like a child would. :D ~ MoonLite ~

Elven	30 Apr 2005
I bought my first deck, then my teacher kindly gave me the deck which I learnt with in class. I have swopped decks and bought others. I think giving Tarot and receiving them as a gift is a beautiful gesture, and any gift given in the Spirit of love always holds significance and meaning. Blessings Elven x

Statickitten	01 May 2005
My first deck was bought, the rest were gifts. The deck I bought has always worked well for me.

Fairawen	03 May 2005
I'm going to tally soon (within the next few days), check by for results, and for those who have yet to post: do so quickly so I can tie your first deck results in with the rest! ~Fairawen~

The First Deck: Bought or Gift? thread was originally posted on 27 Apr 2005 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.