Who's down with the pips?

I have a few non-illustrated minors decks: The Crystal Tarot (Trevisan), Le Tarot des Gitans - I Tarocchi Gitani (I. Donelli), The Tarot de Marseille Fournier and The Old English Tarot (Kneen), whose pips are in between between illustrated and non-illustrated.

My favorites for reading for others include...

1JJ Swiss... a beautiful old standby that makes me feel all romantic when I read with it.

Fournier Marseilles...my brightly colored and happy Marseille deck!

Vision Tarot...one of the few photographic decks I really like. Had to cut the annoying borders off, though.

I have the original version of the crystal tarot (called le tarot de verre with 22 majors alone) and it's one of the best tarot to integrate the logical and intuitive minds, verry accurate et definitivly worth a try.

Omeada

I had never looked at the Crystal Tarot before -- how beautiful! It's going on my wish list.

I only have one nonscenic deck (I agree with the other member who feels this is a much better term than "unillustrated") -- Tarot Classic. I haven't used it much because of the pips, but I'd really like to get into nonscenic pip territory.

My main problem is that the geometry does not correlate with the card's meaning, in my opinion. I'd love to see nongeometric, nonscenic illustrations! Not every card means "balance", but that's all I see when I look at these cards!

In Tarot Classic, all cups have the same pattern, all swords have the same pattern, etc. They just have a new cup/sword/... on each card. The basic design and coloring doesn't change at all. So they don't say anything to me. Yeah, 5+1=6, but what does that mean??? I don't know if this is just a problem with Tarot Classic, or if all nonscenic decks follow the geometric add-on pattern. Maybe I just need to learn more about numerology.

Looking at the Thoth and Crystal Tarot images here, it looks like they don't succumb to the identical geometric patterning, but with only one or two pips shown, it's really hard to tell.

On a somewhat related note, I really wish that AT would post more pips with their deck images. Most decks have only six images, and we're lucky if one of those is a pip. Pips are sooo important!!! They come up more than the majors, courts, and aces in most readings. They really show the overall personality of the deck. I know most people think Majors are, well, majorly important, and courts & aces are, umm, of an elevated stature. But let's not forget the working class pips! They're our bread and butter!

Okay, rant over. I LOVE AT!!!

Yep... the Crystal tarot is a truly beautiful deck.

Besides that I would recommend a Marseilles (Marseille whatever) deck too; either the Marsella or the Camoin

xxx
Nina

Hi Kaylee Marie - oh, you are going to LOVE the Crystal! Its original name is Tarocchi di Vetro, btw (I love the Italian). And no, the patterning is not identical. It is interesting whether you are into geometric symbolism (traditional) or not. Even the repetitions tend to make sense - the gradually increasing numbers building on each other. I forget where - probably on a Crystal Tarot thread - another member (Fulgour?) - mentioned that the Crystal creator, Elisabetta Trevisian, had made wide use of sacred geometry. I agree: but I think she went further and used geometry creatively too. As TheOld mentioned, it is a deck that allows for both the intuitive and the intellectual mind to expand.

I don't own the Labyrinth Tarot yet, but look forward to.

Another deck with non-scenic Minors is the Eden. It is GORGEOUS! So rich and generous. Hop over to Tarot Garden to see a few samples!

Yes, I think I'm going to have to order Crystal sooner than later. And I might have to get Eden if only for the monkey Wheel of Fortune... I love everything monkeys! (my eldest cat is even named Monkey, though she doesn't act like one much anymore)

Labrynith is pretty as well -- love those sepia tones. There goes the budget!

You don't have to be Gladys Knight!

Hey Kaylee Marie,

I'll second MANY of the decks that have already been recommended, but one non-Marseille that hasn't been mentioned is definitely worth a look: Scapini's Stained Glass Tarot. aka the Tarocco delle Vetrate. You can find a review of it here. Stunning images and colors, and fantastically readable. And Scapini has a visceral feel for pre-modern images, so it doesn't have a cutesy or synthetic feel to it. Highly recommended.

If you like a little more humor in a deck, I also love my Tarocco Bizzarro ) Thanks Sophie!) which you can see here at Tarot Garden. It's a funky and stern redrawing of the traditional Piedmont Tarot that gives the most shocking, hilarious readings. It really gets to you... funny weird and funny, ha-ha.

Pips-wise, the Hadar is my TdM of choice, and the Prediction mentioned above is the first nonscenic minor deck I read with... painterly, haunting, and beautiful.

Happy hunting.

Scion

Hearye, hearye. Tonight at the thunder done Non-scenic vs Non-illustrated

Ooh, I think I have a good grasp on what decks I want. Well, I'm wishlisting them, of course.

Tarot de Marsella
I think I could skip over a classic deck with pips. My opinion is that the classic decks are very good to begin learning the tarot with. My usual deck is the Rider-Waite. I have other favorites... the Handl deck and a deck I just got a few days ago... The Secret Forest Tarot!! I've not been this excited about a deck before, but I'm a big-big fan for the deck. I'm introducing myself to it. I really appreciate that now that I can read the RW very well, I can take an original approach to learning a new deck. So, with that, I think I have the chance to choose any type of deck that has the pips in it. Sadly, the greatest appeal Marsella has is the age of it's creation. By far, I like this rendition the best.

Crystal Tarot
Very, very nice. The images are subdued and acute. They're a bit like collages of magazine clippings. It's really great and has a unique style.

Labyrinth Tarot by Luis Royo
I saw this deck some time ago. I gotta say, I was really interested. It has appeal. Very pretty and a little dark. Really nice and it has been on my wishlist. It's one of the more expensive decks.

Prediction Tarot
Stark and realistic paintings. This deck gives the impression of antiquity without the antiquated painting style. This one, I think, is a must and goes further than the marseille deck.

Now... the wait. Haha, they're on my wishlist atleast! I'll probably pick them up in a few months. In the mean time, I'll be reading my Secret Forest deck. Also, I ordered with my Secret Forest deck a book titled "The Intuitive Tarot: A Metaphysical Approach to Reading the Tarot Cards" by Richard Gordon. I've skimmed the chapters and it has numerology and intuition building meditations. So, I think this book will prepare me for the pip deck.

Did a special book help you out with the non-scenic decks? Did you leave books out and go with an intuitive approach to the meanings of the cards? Did you apply the meanings from the RW type decks onto the minor arcana of the non-scenic decks from memory? "Hm, this is the 2 of cups... I remember the couple holding two cups and the little fishes kissing. Yep, these two cups definitely mean friendship and love." That kind of stuff? Or how do you do it?

A friendly website with a card a day and meanings...

www.aleph-tarot.com, using one of my favorite quiet decks.

...from the out of print Il Solleone Neoclassical 1810 Italian deck, with Spanish-style pips on each card. Rather a delicate deck in reproduction: Lo Scarabeo titles their version the Ancient Tarots of Lombardy, Il Meneghello calls it Neoclassical 1810. I like the Il Meneghello version the best.

I have some other suggestions, if you are interested....hope the information below helps.

I did storylines using Napoleonic times as a theme with the 1811 deck; I decorated and did made-up story to the Eden Tarot in it's smaller, earlier version. I'm not certain how historically accurate the meanings are, but these way of reading the decks work for me. I tend to read each deck slightly differently.

Those self-studies take time. I believe more people who decide to enjoy Italian decks will choose deck designs with more decoration in the pip cards to inspire them.

These decks might include the following Lo Scarabeo reproductions: Classical Tarots; Ancient Italian; Visconti Gold. There are certain books that show these deck designs and correlate meanings in English to the pips; but meanings don't seem historic, they seem to be lessons from experienced readers who tend to give similar meanings to different decks.

Best wishes!

Cerulean