Pros and Cons Thread Enabling+De-enabling

Carla said:

Please give me pros and cons of Crystal Tarots. It's the one that was originally painted on glass. I love the images online and have put up a thread in Tarot Trading searching for someone who wants to sell theirs.

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Pros; beautiful artwork. You just know that this is one of those decks that's in a different category via its artistic technique. I never tire of losing myself in it, marvelling at how detailed and decorative and creative this deck is composition-wise. It amazes me that she was able to think of so many creative solutions in the imagery.

Cons; the LoS edition sadly doesn't do it justice. It needs to be big and borderless (or with minimal borders). As it is, it feels cramped and stunted. Plus - big con - some editions are not as vibrant as others. I have various editions of the Crystal and some are rather drab. NOT jewel-like at all. You never know which one you're going to get and it makes a world of difference. As a general rules, the more recent ones tend to be more vibrant.

It can actually be trimmed and it makes a gorgous pocket deck. I have posted scans in that other thread.

For the record, switched elements never bothered me but some of the backgrounds for the pips are actually the same (Wands if I remember) so if you're planning on interpreting details, you might come unstuck. Cups are air (that's the other one). The other two are regular.

Crystal Tarots

I have the LoS edition and probably because I haven't seen any other editions, I adore it. The artwork is so beautiful. I especially love the minors. For non-scenic pips, they are incredibly detailed and very easy to read with.

Golden Dawn Magical Tarot

Thank you Pen and Wu. I believe I am thoroughly enabled! And I'll get the Zalewski book too. It sounds from these book reviews like both of those books contain the Book T material, as well.

Love your new avatar, Wu!

Crystal

Pros -
Art is amazing. Love the Lovers especially. Really nice majors and courts. I trimmed the side borders of mine and they look great! Also, really nice backs. And LoS cardstock is always great. And yeah. So. Pretty.

Cons -
If unillustrated minors, or minors with unusual elemental associations bother your reading, this deck may be troublesome for you

Thanks Cassandra and Lefanu for the Crystal Tarots comments. I definitely DON'T like my elemental associations to be switched around. For me, swords are air and wands are fire, and I won't even try a different way. And it's the glowy aspect of the art that I like, so if you never know if you'll get glow or murk, well, what's the point. I am successfully de-enabled. Whew that was close. Now to go close that thread in Trading...

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Universal Fantasy. It's a deck I've been wanting for a while but never quite got around to buying.

Essjay said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Universal Fantasy. It's a deck I've been wanting for a while but never quite got around to buying.

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Pros: I love it! It's beautiful, the colours are stunning, images make sense (from a RWS perspective). Definitely one of the best Lo Scarabeo decks around.

Cons: It does derivate somewhat from RWS.

Essjay said:

Does anyone have any thoughts on the Universal Fantasy. It's a deck I've been wanting for a while but never quite got around to buying.

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Pros (I think) when I first received this deck and opened it up I was really quite amazed at the colours and imaginative fancies that this deck had. Compositionally, artistically I think it is very accomplished. It is a very lovely deck.

Cons (the only ones I can think of), the usual; borders, multi-lingual titles etc. Like Nina says, it is very RWS but I think you'll probably like that...

Oh and one other Con for me (and probably nobody else); fantasy illustration can be a bit nerdy and calendar-y so I'd choose my querent carefully with this one.

Thanks Nina and Le Fanu

I do like my RWS safety zone so that's a definite plus for me. Plus, I am quite nerdy and like my SF so this should be up my street. Some of the threads on it say it's a bit "airy" which, looking at the scans could be true.

I think I'm convinced!

IMO it's airy as in floaty and slightly vertigo-inducing in the angles and composition, not airy as in Swords, as in anxiety and negativity!

It's a deck I should use more.