My deck is mad at me!

Malophile,just stating how I feel about my cards here. Not trying to convince anybody just sharing, ok ? To me, cards are tools. Yes, I agree. However, depending on the way you use them, they may have a personality, temper, etc. I personally do not believe in inner self giving you messages through the cards. I am a spiritualist and as such, use the cards as conduit for spirits' messages. And it just so happens that each deck may have more affinity with a different entity. So, I have rude decks, shy ones, ironic etc. which does not mean the CARDS are rude but the presence who talks through them are.
Having said that, I don't believe you should allow the cards as mere tools or as conduits or however you use them to rule what or how you lead your life. After all, the power is in your hands, YOU are the reader. Besides, your interpretation of the 5 of cups as "being mad" could well be what YOU feared could happen. Cards also reflect our feelings like crazy...

thank you so much for this discussion. I have been picking up pro and con on cards having or not having a personality, etc. I am not firm in my belief yet but leaning to cards ar paper and I am human with a spirit as in the person I might read for.

however from Ana luisa - this is intriguing
"o me, cards are tools. Yes, I agree. However, depending on the way you use them, they may have a personality, temper, etc. I personally do not believe in inner self giving you messages through the cards. I am a spiritualist and as such, use the cards as conduit for spirits' messages. And it just so happens that each deck may have more affinity with a different entity. So, I have rude decks, shy ones, ironic etc. which does not mean the CARDS are rude but the presence who talks through them are.
Having said that, I don't believe you should allow the cards as mere tools or as conduits or however you use them to rule what or how you lead your life. After all, the power is in your hands, YOU are the reader. Besides, your interpretation of the 5 of cups as "being mad" could well be what YOU feared could happen. Cards also reflect our feelings like crazy... "

so what does that mean ana, depending on the way you use them---?

I don't know if I think my deck could be mad at me. I'm still exploring how I view the cards. I don't think they're sentient, but i do think the cards (like almost anything) can have a personality. Especially with all the different "kinds" of decks. I've done a few deck interviews, and while I may be asking the cards a question that personifies them as something capable of answer, that doesn't make the card pulls any less meaningful than drawing cards for a "real" reading. The interpretation feels right, from what the cards told me.

hehe, Come on people..haven't you ever pleaded with your car, or computer, and things suddenly started working better? Engine finally turned over and sputtered to life? It's human nature to anthropomorphize objects. I do it. I argue with computers all the time (I'm a computer tech so..we exchange heated words )

I think we're more likely (especially as newbies) to be unsure of how we're supposed to treat the cards, and I think many like me, as we started reading about tarot and learning, saw the many posts of "how you're supposed to treat the cards (Wrapped in cloth, cleansed with sage, buried in dirt, only supposed to receive cards, etc'). Until I got my hands on my second deck I was worried that I shouldn't have. Also, seeing people's bios full of hundreds of decks assuaged me! Lol.

Token Buddhist/pagan viewpoint here, for what it's worth: the science of everything being molecules in motion makes sense to me, and so yeah, the cards could sort of be mad at me the way that weather beings or deities, if they exist, or the coffee that day on the level that it exists, could be mad at me, or happy with me or whatever. *shrug* I tend to think that for practical purposes though, being too influneced by 'what someone or something thinks of me' can be a form of being hostage to the least whim of someone or something, and it doesn't seem a great way to live life, being hostage to every little emotional motion that goes through a person or being or entity of any sort, *incouding every little whim that goes through me*. I tend to think that each deck of cards is like a filter than can give me or another a certain perspective, just like I have a different viewpoint from you or him or her etc., or I have a different viewpoint depending on where I am in my life, and it may be wise to take that into consideration in my day-to-day interactions.

So, the upshot for me, is, sure, everyone can be correct in their beliefs that cards do or do not have the ability to be mad, but what am *I* going to do about it: be hostage to that belief, or make wisest use of my resources and common sense? If I felt a deck actually had super-negative energy that I could perceive that did not help me gain insight, I'd get rid of it. If I felt that a deck was sensitive to the energies of me or others, as I feel some decks are, I'd sprinkle it with salt and a little saffron water between readings, and see what perspectives come up. That's pretty much how I regard the subject, for the consideration of folks who might want to hear yet another viewpoint! As Marshall McLuen says, "Don't believe everything you think". I love that--

I hope this makes sense and is helpful, as i usually say when I do readings. It''s really all just subjective--

It could be considered an extension of animist belief I suppose ... if we want to get technical about it.

And that is a religion ...

My old Triumph motorcycle always ran better when I gave him a pat and told him he was a good boy.

Some people name their cars and seem to think they have a bit of a personality

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78b67l_yxUc

Except the trouble is ... 'technically' (that is according to the magical theory) it isnt the deck itself that has a personality its the cards. If you give your deck a personality then its going to be one that has 'multiple personality issues' - 78 of them

An angel 'rules' them (and 'over' the deck) but the 'personalities of the tarot' are the Lords , Queens, Spirits , etc .

.... of course that is a bit different from calling your tarot deck Bimpy and having afternoon tea and a teddy bear picnic with it .

Does it? I thought the spirit ruled over the reading itself, not the cards (even though the invocation says "cards of art").

interesting discussion, I am leaning toward, spirit is within me, the reading - interpretation of cards comes from me,
but it does not answer the question of how the cards get in the right place for a accurate reading.
I do ask the question during shuffling and do stop when I "feel" it is time.
???

Such an interesting discussion. But I do wonder if a deck can get mad at you could it then also get vindictive? Give false readings to show its discontent?

I think it's as feasible as any other idea that each gets some odd guidance according to what s/he believes spiritually and religious and worldview-wise: animist, christian, muslim, jewish, pagan, humanist, fatalist, taoist, whatever--I think it would be intriguing if my cards behave a certain way, and have the aid of angels/devils/devas/molecules/thermodynamics/pick yer helpers just because I believe in that...it could be how it works--

gregory said:

Excuse me - see under Nina*.

I am 69 years old and cantankerous No apology required

But yes, it was the "you won't grasp the truth unless you do it this way" that got my goat. That was presented far more as a statement of fact than any other post in this thread, and NONE of us (no-one at all, indeed !) knows how these things work, so there are no facts to offer. We can each only use our cards the way that works for us. I am well aware that my way of reading draws the opprobrium of many, for instance, but I've tried the other way and - nup. I am quite sure that having a little chat with my cards and treating them as though they have personality is not going to help.

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