The problem with many decks...

Richard

agviz said:
......Back on topic, I just purchased the Rosetta Tarot; I'm very curious to see the treatment of the pips. I find it very interesting each suit is done with a different medium to impart a different feeling.

Interesting gimmick, but still just a gimmick.

tarotbear

LRichard said:
I hate that sort of thing. It is a distraction. For most people it adds absolutely nothing to their understanding of the cards, and if one is really into esoteric Tarot, it is almost an insult.

There IS a such thing as putting Way Too Much Information onto the cards - why not just have a microchip that can be pushed or a magnetic strip that can be swiped and let the card read itself to you?

Sometimes the super esoterica is of particular interest only to the deck creator and of no interest to large numbers of the buying public.

It's kind of like if you give the punch line and no one laughs you have to tell the audience why they should have laughed at the joke. If you have to explain it - it didn't work.

kalliope

delizt said:
I do like the Spiral as well, despite the business and the borders and the difference in the majors/minors..

I solved the borders problem by trimming them.

At first I tried saving the titles, but their ugly redness had to go, too.

tarotbear

LRichard said:
Interesting gimmick, but still just a gimmick.

Like the song says 'You're more than just a mimic when you've got a gimmick!'

The problem is sometimes the gimmick is all there is and there is nothing else of substance.

willowfox

tarotbear said:
There IS a such thing as putting Way Too Much Information onto the cards -

***Shadowscapes just spreads it on like peanut butter. Isn't simple better?

Richard

tarotbear said:
There IS a such thing as putting Way Too Much Information onto the cards - why not just have a microchip that can be pushed or a magnetic strip that can be swiped and let the card read itself to you?

Sometimes the super esoterica is of particular interest only to the deck creator and of no interest to large numbers of the buying public.

It's kind of like if you give the punch line and no one laughs you have to tell the audience why they should have laughed at the joke. If you have to explain it - it didn't work.

Precisely!!!

delizt

ooo great job with the trimming!! I'm tempted to get out my scissors!!!

Kgirl

agviz said:
Slightly off topic, but may I ask what the card stock is like on this deck?

Back on topic, I just purchased the Rosetta Tarot; I'm very curious to see the treatment of the pips. I find it very interesting each suit is done with a different medium to impart a different feeling.

Very glossy and bendy (which I tend to like) but not good glossy. Two or three of the cards started to peel a bit on the back after like, two shuffles.

Mallah said:
I agree completely, and I've almost bought this deck a number of times...knowing there are "plain pips"....see I love TdM, and read pips, and enjoy them, so I don't think doing pips in the minors is a "comedown". BUT...there's a difference between pips and pips. If you just slap the pips on a background, that's like playing cards...the reader is left to number and suit and memorized meanings...there's no visual storymaking going on. But if, in the pip cards you surround the pips with lovely patterns, then there's something there to get your imagination going. TdM is a perfect example of this...and it's different enough, card to card, to be useful. But if all the swords, say are on the same background, (or theres two or three backgrounds, as in the Truth Seekers or the Crystal Tarots...well, that's not fooling anyone, and it's like you ar trying to do that...just fill the space. I find all three of these decks (Golden/Dean, Truth Seekers, Crystal) to be disappointing because of that same reason...and there are so few good modern pip decks. They all have beautiful art but the work falls short because of this.

Do image searches on the Jasniak Tarot...there's a beautiful pip deck that doesn't seem to do this...been on my wish list for awhile!

Exactly! That what made it worse, the same background. It really felt like she went "to hell with it, I give up, this is too hard" :laugh:

Cheers Mallah I will check it out!

Mallah

tarotbear said:
There IS a such thing as putting Way Too Much Information onto the cards - why not just have a microchip that can be pushed or a magnetic strip that can be swiped and let the card read itself to you?

Sometimes the super esoterica is of particular interest only to the deck creator and of no interest to large numbers of the buying public.

It's kind of like if you give the punch line and no one laughs you have to tell the audience why they should have laughed at the joke. If you have to explain it - it didn't work.

Hear hear! I call the esoteric stuff "under the hood". Let's not look under the hood on the surface, or in a public reading, unless there's a specific piece that applies. Sometimes I like when I spot and esoteric element "hidden in the open" (you get this a lot in TdM) for all to see, but not obvious..that's sort of fun, but I like having the esoteric stuff in the books to crack into when I want to...and in my own mind, "behind the scenes"...so I can bring it in or leave it out with a person. The mechanics of it all are under the hood...like seeing a nice sleek vehicle...and it handles like a dream...but you don't see all the "stuff" that makes it go till you look "under the hood".

Le Fanu

I honestly don't mind the esoteric stuff if it is well thought out and not just decorative. Surely it only annoys for one of two reasons?

a) we don't understand it
b) we don't agree with the creator's choices, i.e astrology in the MAAT or Crowley's Star & Emperor astrological switch

It's one of those things I can skim over in a reading unless it dominates the cards and I'd honestly never really picked up on it in the Spiral.

The problem with many decks...

Richard

tarotbear

kalliope

tarotbear

willowfox

Richard

delizt

Kgirl

Mallah

Le Fanu