spiral tarot study group - what do you like?

Just pulled this deck out after years of neglect..for some reason I bought it, now I know why, what a lovely deck! Every night I do a bit of a ritual, guess you could call it that. I will grab a deck or a book that I have sitting in my book shelf and just read or look at the cards. Last night I pulled out my Spiral and was in awe at how much it spoke to me...The book is easy to read and really seems to make this deck come alive. I love the different myths that she weaves into her cards. And the size is perfect, BUT I cannot stand the lavender borders! Yuck! It is distracting...thinking about trimming..guess I will check out the trimmed decks post...

I was just today browsing my online bookstore for some new decks, thought to add Celestial tarot, looked up the pictures and thought that, hey, i don't need that one, i got the Spiral!

Spiral is one of my older and very very used deck.
It has my favorite Wheel of Fortune with the 3 fates.
I love how expressive the courts are.
The minors got a great story-telling quality about them, esp the swords.

This is one of my favourite decks

I love the minors some of the faves are: 10 of Pentalces (I think it's the best 10 of Pents I have seen), 8 of Cups, 4 of Swords, 6 of Cups, 6 of Pentacles, 10 of Cups, 9 of Pentacles.

Out of the majors I probably like the Empress and Moon the best. I like that you can only see part of the moon in that card and the other side is shadowed. The imagery in this card fits with meaning so well.

I also have this deck. Strangely, I find it ugly but love it to bits. It reads SO well and the pictures are so to the point ! My favorites are the 4 of Swords (it does show the need for rest, quiet and recuperation time), the Ace of Swords (super sinister and has given me such different and accurate messages), the Eight of Wands (always try to feel whether the wind is being blown or sucked up ), the 6 of cups (so family oriented !) among others. Again, I'm not crazy for the art and could do without the purple borders but apart from that, and excellent deck by all means.

I'm resurrecting this thread, for anyone who's interested in discussing the Spiral. Hopefully there's someone out there who is...

wizzle said:

Here are some light-hearted questions about this deck to start off our group.

1. What made you buy the deck?
2. Any favorite cards?
3. Any cards that make you giggle?

I bought the deck years ago, just because it looked good, I guess. I've only recently gotten around to taking a real squint at it. I find it a pretty warm and fuzzy deck, overall so I'm glad I bought it.

I'm looking forward to your thoughts.

Click to expand...

The Spiral has been my favorite deck (and go-to readings deck) for a long time now. Honestly, I cannot now remember what drew me to the deck several years ago--likely something mundane, like interesting images online. But once I started exploring it, I was hooked. I like that the people in the cards are drawn to look fairly real (i.e., not cartoonish), but yet they are not computerized images of real people. (Photographs of real faces tend to be a major turn-off to me in a deck; given that the images are supposed to transcend specific individuals and apply instead to archetypal content, life themes, etc., I find that real faces come across as cheesy and get in the way of serious meditation on a card.)

Favorite cards:

The Hermit: I love the fact that it's a woman in this deck! As a big introvert, I have my share of hermit tendencies, and I like that I can more easily identify with this image than with the typical male hermit.

The Moon/The Wheel: The Maiden/Mother/Crone concept has always appealed to me; Steventon applies it well here.

Eight of Cups: The lone floating cup is intriguing and a little different than in some decks, like the RW, and overall, this is just a beautiful card.

Three of Pentacles: This card speaks to me as a singer.

Queen of Wands: Just an all-around attractive card--rich colors and adequate symbolism


Cards that make me giggle:

The Fool: Unlike some of you, I just don't care as much for the imagery here. The figure behind the fool is amusing to me and reminds me of Glenda, the Good Witch of the North...lol One positive of this card: the cat!

Five of Swords: I realize that the victor here is supposed to look intimidating, but for some reason he comes across a little comically, as does the set of eyes peering over the raft. heehee

Overall, I don't find this deck particularly fluffy or particularly dark, but well-balanced. For the most part, the cards communicate seriously, even when the message is positive.

I love the 4 of Swords. My idea of bliss; tucked up in bed at twilight with cosy light, nobody bothering me. Pure serenity...

I love this deck. I picked it up last week and fell in love with it all over again.

The 4 of Swords is one of my favorites too. All she is missing is a cat curled up next to her. Just looks so peaceful to me. I also love the Empress, the moon, and strength. And 9 of swords, just because it is so expressive. The 2 of pentacles is great too. Many of the cards I like just for the style and color choices. The courts are mostly great in this deck as well.

I bought this deck because I have and like the Celestial, blue borders aside. What I don't like, and what probably stops me from using the Spiral more often, are the already mentioned horrible lavender borders. What - WHAT - was the artist thinking?? They are 10 times worse than the blue borders in the Celestial.