Decks You Wish You Hadn't Bought?

karenquilter

These come readily to mind:

Connolly--it takes chutzpah to rework a famous painting of Jesus & use it for the #15 card. I'm not even a Christian, & I was offended. The whole deck is reworked famous paintings, but the source material is not acknowleged. Also, the makers didn't want to put any "bad" cards in the deck, so they changed the meanings of some of the cards.

The Golden Tarot of Klimt--the deck is well done, but a little Klimt goes a long, long way. I didn't like the source material enough to keep it.

Osho Zen--it didn't seem to have much to do with tarot.

Tarot of Prague--too bright.

Herbal Tarot--I don't know herbs well enough to relate them to tarot. This requires more study, so I still have this deck. I would have preferred that the makers come up with their own imagery, rather than use the RWS with drawings of plants added onto it.

Legend: The Arthurian Tarot--the borders are too big, making the images too small. If it had been printed in a larger size, it would have been easier to see the paintings.
K
 

Le Fanu

I'd forgotten about the Osho Zen. I traded it away and haven't thought of it since. But while I had it I wondered why I had bought it; only perhaps because it was in the Top Ten here one year and I was curious.

I found it so uninspiring; it makes a lot of noise about being spiritual and I think there are more spiritual decks out there...
 

Libra8ca

Starlily said:
Liber T - Yes....I know many people think it's brilliant. I still own a copy because I am waiting for the day when I can get past the bestiality and flagellation. So far--I just can't. I know it's symbolic but still, I just don't want to see that on my Tarot deck.

I forgot about the Liber T; I just don't understand why other people like it so much. Even though I did a few good readings with it I find the images strange and feel repelled by them.
 

Vesper

I had the Liber T for a while, too. Didn't connect with it, but I'm not sorry I bought it. I sold it for roughly as much as I paid, and now it's out of my system, like the Thoth. Now I don't have to wonder about it anymore, so I don't regret that I gave it a shot.

It's the decks I can't seem to get rid of (either because I can't bring myself to, or because no one else wants them) that I regret buying.

Also the decks that are so awful I feel bad about giving the publisher my money.
 

quintessence

I'm still trying to get past the slick marketing feel I get from the Bright Ideas Deck. I appreciated the concept of trying to connect with the synthetic-wearing, power lunch, Wall Street people; to translate them into the world of Tarot, nature, right brain activities, karma, etc. But since I'm not one of those corporate types, reading the deck is like doing an elementary language workbook -- tedious, boring, sterile. And no one has ever selected that deck for a reading. So I don't regret having supported the creator's concept, but I sort of wish I'd not bought the deck.
 

blackstormhawk

Le Fanu said:
I'd forgotten about the Osho Zen. I traded it away and haven't thought of it since. But while I had it I wondered why I had bought it; only perhaps because it was in the Top Ten here one year and I was curious.

I found it so uninspiring; it makes a lot of noise about being spiritual and I think there are more spiritual decks out there...

I luckily avoided that one ... I don't groove to the Bagwan Shree Rajneesh or his teachings.
 

Krystophe

Robert Place's Alchemical Tarot...what rubbish! The illustrations are cartoonish and badly colored. They are said to be based on (or at least "in the manner of") engravings from classic alchemical treatises of the renaissance, but these images compare to renaissance engravings much like a high school musical compares to a performance of the Metropolitan Opera.
 

firefrost

After a conversation with Le Fanu, I can say I was reminded that I do still have a deck I regret buying. The Les Vieux Jours Lenormand!
 

Debra

firefrost said:
After a conversation with Le Fanu, I can say I was reminded that I do still have a deck I regret buying. The Les Vieux Jours Lenormand!

Why? A lot of people were hot for that little deck!
 

Carla

I know this is a place for saying decks we wish we hadn't bought, but I want to make a little holler for the Osho Zen. It has a 5-star rating here and was my first tarot deck. I use it when I want to have some introspection. I find it a centering deck, as it ceaselessly reminds me to trust the here and now rather than the vain imaginings about past and future of the 'monkey mind'. Just sayin'. :)