THE deck: is it really a myth?

[Sulis]

Could we please stick to the topic of 'The deck: is it really a myth?' in this thread?

If you want to discuss a particular deck, please start a new thread for that discussion.

Thanks.

Sulis - Talking Tarot co-moderator

[Chiriku]

Originally Posted by Carla

I might get more out of my relationship with tarot if I just picked one and got rid of the rest

... And I can't shake the feeling that if I had just one deck that became a worn and treasured companion, I might get more from that relationship than from my boxes of decks.

This feeling often gets hold of me.

I am cyclical in my tarot needs and wants, and sometimes the thought of one deck only is unbearably constraining (because I am not of the "you've learned one deck, you've learned them all" school of thought), while other times, it's an appealing and tantalizing prospect: that one special deck that becomes a "worn and treasured companion." The cycles make their way round and then back again--ebb and flow, flux and reflux (to borrow a Golden Dawn-ism).

I have been socialized into the monogamous ideal (for both decks and human domestic partnerships) and I duly idealize and uphold it on an intellectual level. I believe this urge that Carla describes, above, is not necessarily entirely organic in origin but that it has sprung from society: I want a treasured "one and only" because that's what's supposed to be the best, the tops, the pinnacle of the tarot reader's (or human lover's) experience.

But on the level of daily practice, it just doesn't translate. I invariably want more, not "different." I don't need a deck different to the current main squeeze so much as I want more decks, in addition to this one, to intellectually stimulate and please me in additional ways.

hunter , if you'll accept a polyamorous love story:

My deck trajectory has been:

(1) several years of indiscriminate collecting in the hopes that I will one day meet that socialized ideal, The One;

(2) a tarot hiatus that officially occurred because my life was too hectic but which might just have been a small bit because I didn't connect well with all those indiscriminately collected decks;

(3) a vigorous return to tarot in which for the first time I began to encounter decks I valued highly and thus realized that I didn't need or want a One, that a small cadre of treasures was even better; and

(4) the realization that one of that cadre, the Maat, was likely going to remain my primary partner, no matter what other decks come into my life.

I started doing an Intensive Deck Study with the Maat last year, around September. I have done an IDS before, with Dame's Fortune Wheel, which is still in my special "cadre" but which I do not feel the need to be a constant companion. The Maat *is* my constant companion, and mine alone (as with the rest of my cadre, I do not use it for readings for others). Despite rarely having time at work to deal with the cards and despite being a member of the Deck of the Week group in which I work with a different deck every week, I always have the Maat in my work satchel. It is always the Maat + whatever other deck I'm working with that week. The others always alternate; the Maat remains.

It has everything I need in a long-term companion : intellectual depth, a well-thought out system (even if the creator has since backtracked on some of the astrological correspondences), and artwork that resonates with me almost totally and without caveat.

That is the love story--yes, a polyamorous one.

I never thought it would happen to me.

Cupid's Arrow doesn't tend to pierce me, neither in decks nor in life, and to be honest, it hasn't found its mark here, either. I have never been infatuated with the Maat or giddy over it, but this is coming from someone chronically infatuation-immune and thus should not be the barometer of love.

The barometer for me is: will I keep coming back to it as an anchor amidst the other treasured decks out there towards whom I rotate my interest? Will I want it to always have a place in my life? Yes, and yes, and this is the basis for my polyamorous, no-butterflies union with my primary deck partner.

We understand each other very well.

[Barleywine]

Originally Posted by Chiriku

This feeling often gets hold of me.

I invariably want more, not "different." I don't need a deck different to the current main squeeze so much as I want more decks, in addition to this one, to intellectually stimulate and please me in additional ways.

Amen. Although Thoth has been "IT" for me for decades, I can never shake the feeling that something even more wonderful could be hiding behind that next credit-card transaction. But there's the rub: they're much easier to buy than to pay for, and I've been disappointed so often in this quest that I tend to research and waffle until the urge has passed, and then don't buy them (at least when my wife is looking ).

[LRichard]

Originally Posted by Barleywine

The RWS is without a doubt the most influential esoteric deck of the "modern era" (although Thoth seems to be nipping at its heels), and for good reason. The supposedly more "official" Golden Dawn deck by Wang/Regardie leaves me unimpressed. But the Cicero's GD deck appears to be much more aesthetically and symbolically potent. Do you have any insights on it? If it's worthwhile, I want to grab it before it disappears.

The Wang-Regardie is rather crude. Wang is a brilliant occult scholar but not a very accomplished artist. The Cicero shows promise. I may have to spring for that one before it goes OOP. The Thoth is gorgeous, but I am not enamoured of the titles on the Minors or the astrological symbols and Hebrew letters on the Majors. It is by no means a beginner's deck. Such information is not needed by those who are familiar with the Qabalistic parallels to Tarot, and is probably lost on those who have no interest in such "nonsense."

[Barleywine]

Originally Posted by LRichard

The Thoth is gorgeous, but I am not enamoured of the titles on the Minors or the astrological symbols and Hebrew letters on the Majors.

I was puzzled by this until I realized that my old (1971) large decks have plain borders and no astrological symbols or Hebrew letters on the Majors. (My 1983 AG Mueller standard-size edition does have these, and the ornate borders). The Minor Arcana titles have always been there, I believe, and they tie in with the BoT text, so I appreciated them early on. Now I don't pay much attention to them, but I'm not a card trimmer so I guess they'll stay. In practice, I use the Pythagorean number associations, the astrological and elemental attributions and the "feel" of the images and colors for the Minors, not the largely GD-based titles. The overpowering sense of deep knowledge and wisdom is what puts it at the top of my list.

[hunter]

I am so enjoying hearing people's responses. I love hearing about how deck monogamy does or does not correspond with people's general ideas of relationships and frugality and simplicity.

I see that I am not the only one to take a tarot break, after being quite stretched out among many decks. But that others have managed to successfully keep a harem, or more. I personally find it fatiguing to manage multiple decks. It has been fun at times, but I find I burn out, and the nagging emptiness grows with each addition acquisition. It starts to feel like a large brothel instead of a harem.

I think the hardest thing for me in finding a mate, is that there is slim pickings for Swords=Fire. It's like a lower income blue-collar worker who does hand manual labor all day. He really needs a wife that can cook, or he is going to spend his life hungry. No amount of fashion and beauty and wit compares with a full belly after a hard day's work. I'm hungry for my deck to correspond with my larger spiritual practices and the glamour of everything else quickly fades when I am hungry.

I'm deeply desirous of routine and consistency lately. I'm tired and hungry. Excitement isn't exciting most of the time. I'm like the cranky child at an amusement park, surrounded by wonders, but too tired and hungry to do anything but whine.

My second copy of the Art Nouveau came in. It's in such nicer condition than the one that came in Saturday. I did a reading with both decks about the idea of switching to the new deck. What responses :-) I think I'll just stick with the 1st deck LOL. Okay this is the Art Nouveau with a LWB that's meanings are geared to relationships, but the cards taken literally make me actually fear switching decks, if I know what is good for me. It's kind of fun to just go with the literal meanings.

I'm so jaded that there is no such thing as a perfect deck, depite being ravenously hungry for one, that I want to see faults. I'm almost getting angry I can't find anything wrong. I want to shake the deck and say, "Show me what is wrong with you! NOW! Don't lead me on giving me hope, when there is no hope".

I don't think finding the one means never reading with another deck. I look at it like having a well worn and loved Bible that you read every evening and morning for 50 years, but also having a book shelf full of pop fiction for occasional amusement when bored. They are stored differently and used differently. The Bible is what would get grabbed during a fire, and what would be read sitting next to the ashes--which included the shelves of pop fiction. I guess I'm looking for my Bible.

[Thoughtful]

I am new to the forum community and have only just seen Hunters very interesting question. To relate my own experience with tarot cards l would say for me yes there is THE deck.
I played around with many decks feeling quite disatisfied at times. Some didn't want to work and others gave up on me after a few readings. I used to get so excited waiting for my next deck to arrive then being quite disappointed when I found l just had a flat experince with them. It was like being in a sweet shop so many decks to choose from but where was 'my deck' would l ever feel a true connection.
I've had RWS, Druid Craft, Mythic, Gilded etc. etc. all good decks but they didn't gel with me, or rather me with them.
Its was pure chance (or maybe not!) that led me into the 1JJ Swiss Tarot, long story so won't go into it here. From the word go l knew this was THE deck. It somehow felt familiar like meeting an old friend. I can only liken it to playing the field then suddenly finding the one that you know you will end up with for a lifetime.
The TDM's were decks l had never given any thought to previously, and isn't that just like falling for a partner and they being nothing like your choices before!!
Just my thoughts on it.

[Marnie]

I have searched for many years for THE deck! The ONE that as soon as i held those cards in my hands and studied each image i would at once connect spiritually, emotionally and lovingly with with them and know in an instant this was the ONE!

Unfortunately that has never happened (as yet! lol) but i have collected some beautiful decks along the way, some i can read with extremely well, others i cannot.

Everytime i see a new deck there are certain cards i do instantly connect with, but others in the deck i do not, so to some degree i am disappointed because i need and want to feel connected to all of them then i will have found THE deck for me, this is how i see it for me personally

I often think wouldnt it be nice if i could take my favourite cards from each deck and make them into one perfect deck!
Would that work? Of course alot of cards are very deck specific, so maybe not, lol.

But i think i will always be on the lookout for THE deck...i just cannot help it, as i do love a happy ending!

Marnie