"Bad" deck?

juliasv

Recently, it seems like I've been getting a lot of really weird readings for my daily...if I went with what the cards are saying, my life is completely falling apart or is glorious with riches, love and wisdom raining down on me. Major arcana dominate the throws, etc.

When I would journal the throws, then go back and read/relate them to daily events, it was so far off that I could have been randomly pulling pieces of paper out of hat for all the accuracy they showed.

A few friends of mine have been reading the cards for years, two of them told me to put that deck away and get a new one. One said the deck was "messing with me"; the other told me that deck wasn't "speaking" to me. (I asked if maybe it was angry for some reason and I needed to apologize, lol!) As both of these particular friends consider the cards to be almost a living entity in some ways, I had expected them to give a more dramatic answer. Others have told me simply to give that deck a "rest"...clear it, put it away and forget about it for a while.

Has anyone else ever had a deck that suddenly just quit working for them? It seems to be this specific deck, the Thoth I purchased a few days ago seems to being doing well; much more insight.
 

cricket

I've had it happen multiple times. Giving the deck a rest, and cleansing it in either salt or the light of the full moon (spread the cards out for the night where the moonlight can hit them) seemed to work well enough to clear it up. Sometimes it's also just good to change it up a bit - the problem may well be with you, and you're not aware of it, not with the deck itself.
 

juliasv

I bought a new RW deck tonight, put the old away. Will have to try the full moon cleansing, have heard of salting or smudging them, but not the moonlight. Should have known that *headsmack, duh!*.

It may well be me, not the deck...or maybe the deck is "mad" at me, since I threatened to take the emperor card out and cut it in itty bitty pieces, then stomp the pieces, then burn them...lol It represents a person I would prefer not popping up, but all too often does. At times the cards were right, I just didn't LIKE what they said, lol!
 

cricket

:D

Never threatened a deck before in my life. Nope. Not ever. And they never got mad at me for it, either. Or started shoving hard, unwanted truths in my face for it.

Yeah. Yeah. That's it.

-insert shifty eyes here-

It could be that it's just being overly dramatic, since you were being overly dramatic in threatening the Emperor.
 

nisaba

Also, you've got to remember that the whole total of a deck's ability to act is tied up with *our* reaction to its images. If you react differently, the deck will read differently. If you really, really are having problems with a deck, look within.
 

Eco74

This sometimes happens to me and I've always put it down to myself not resonating with the artwork.

I go through phases and shifts in life, and that shows in every aspect including tarot. A deck that I've been able to have great conversations with (as my readings are more often an ongoing discussion than a set question) might stop resonating and I can't make heads or tails of what it's been trying to tell me. To me, it has meant - 'go and play with another deck for a while, or give tarot a bit of a rest entierly til you figure out this other thing that's eating away at your attention.'

For me to be able to read the cards I have to have a 'neutral base' and in stressful times or when I'm packed full of emotion from other sources and lacking time for the cards it just won't work.
Well, I can still get a reasonably good reading out if I really want to and take the time, but it's not as good and not as rewarding as when I can really devote my time and unfocus properly to take in the messages.
 

juliasv

Lately this deck has been throwing me a odd mix of cards, certain cards "follow" me (9oP; the blame Emperor..) Now I've started getting Tower, Devil, Death, etc....all in just "what does today look like" readings.

They're going to get a break and I'm going to give them a rest....see if any of it actually plays out or if they are just being difficult, lol!!

Gives me a chance to play with the Thoth more!!
 

elvenstar

Another thing to keep in mind is that these 'dramatic Majors' don't necessarily refer to big things in daily draws, Death could just be about throwing away all the stuff that's gone off in the fridge or something little and mundane like that. :)
 

Ambrosia

elvenstar said:
Another thing to keep in mind is that these 'dramatic Majors' don't necessarily refer to big things in daily draws, Death could just be about throwing away all the stuff that's gone off in the fridge or something little and mundane like that. :)

Ha ha. Especially if you get Death from the Housewives Tarot. :D
 

geminiwoman

I've had that kind of stuff happen. I think it's usually just me, maybe having seen those particular images too many times or whatever and not really paying attention.

Giving it a break and switching to something else for a while usually does the trick.