A curious experiment....

SolSionnach

wytchwood said:
Well things are going exactly as I expected, as inexplicable as I may still find the whole thing. I am finding the deck enjoyable to use and it is reading like an old favourite, I seem to look past the cats in their finery and see beautiful scenes, and the joyful cards are so full of happiness, it's the lightness and colour I think, and the 'sad' or warning type cards seem equally expressive and give off the appropriate vibes for their meanings. I am even already reading into the layers, getting intuitive insights, as much if not more than I do with my favourite decks.

This is all highly peculiar, as I still would not say I *like* the deck, it is, after all a cat deck, and I've never understood why there are so many cat decks and cat deck fans. I love cats, but I still don't get the cat deck thing. So, perhaps there is more to this. I knew I would love reading with this deck and that I would get on well with it despite my misgivings about the style. Maybe I get less distracted by it than I would by a deck I loved the pictures on.

Zoe xx

Hey Zoe,
You've just about convinced me to get out the BBC and give it a go. I'm with you on the whole 'cat' deck thing, but I bought it anyway because folks were raving about it. I must say that teh Knight of Wands in that deck is my now-not-secret swoon (! I even have a MRP bag with him on it!) but I've never attempted to read with that deck for the very reasons you mention.

:Sravana is off to do some shuffling:
 

wytchwood

Aerin said:
Well, I wouldn't have bought the Liber T any time soon if it hadn't been for this thread.

I find it surprisingly easy to read with, but I can't say I'll ever love it e.g. can't imagine ever wanting a tarot bag with an image on. I like the style of the artwork but not often the subject matter.

Aerin

I beg your pardon Aerin, I must have missed that! Now you mention it, there were some that bought decks they weren't sure of, but have they deliberately bought ones as far away from their style as poss? I'm going for another rummage through the thread to see.....

Zoe xx
 

wytchwood

Oh yes, Queen of Disks did the whole kit and caboodle with the Quest, and quite a few others have given it a go as well, great! And thanks everyone for the camaraderie and stuff, I'm really enjoying this!

Zoe xx
 

wytchwood

sravana said:
Hey Zoe,
You've just about convinced me to get out the BBC and give it a go. I'm with you on the whole 'cat' deck thing, but I bought it anyway because folks were raving about it. I must say that teh Knight of Wands in that deck is my now-not-secret swoon (! I even have a MRP bag with him on it!) but I've never attempted to read with that deck for the very reasons you mention.

:Sravana is off to do some shuffling:

Haha! I would give it a chance, if you liked it well enough to buy it, you will probably like it more once you read with it. If your concerns are about it's readability, I can vouch for that, it reads very well for me!

Zoe xx
 

SolSionnach

wytchwood said:
Haha! I would give it a chance, if you liked it well enough to buy it, you will probably like it more once you read with it. If your concerns are about it's readability, I can vouch for that, it reads very well for me!

Zoe xx

Well, it's more about having the time to do something with it, vs all the other stuff I have to do. (she says as she's websurfing. GAAAH!) lol :p
 

Cerulean

Well, I'd been saving the color-blinding Papus...

...my sister and I had been shopping in an outdoor series of stores and I was fascinated and happy to see this out-of-print title (distributed by AG Mueller as well as U.S. Games, I believe) for a reasonable price...I had given my old one up in a friendly exchange, believing that I could find another at a reasonable price rather quickly...took me two years, so I bought this one as soon as I saw it! And now I see that I've been saving it...for too long.

For some reason, even though I thought the so-called Egyptianized tarots as romantic twaddle---well, today's romantic twaddle might have been yesterday's wierd science...or deep exploration into mysteries.

I absolutely thought the colors were hideous and wanted to find an authentic Papus deck...ha, ha! I am not certain there was ever such a deck even when
Papus wrote his Divinatory Tarot... Even finding the translated Papus "Divinatory Tarot" book took another two years of waiting on a pre-order.

So about two-to-four years later, I'm exploring the Papus design in reproduction. While earlier I had said I was going to delve into the Celestial for a week, I realize that the Papus deck and the funny astrology and curious Etteilla descriptions is inspiring to delve more deeply into resources I just glanced at previously...so this is a perfect thing to do in the spring-summer season--take a deck each week...or extend it out to two if such things work out. So far, I've explored the Gill for a full week, checked out the Victoria Regina, Celestial and Adrian--at least for a few days, until I settled on the Celestial...and spent a weekend with the Papus.

The very pretty Spirit Tarot from AG Mueller and Celestial are sliding into my night table tarots, but I'm at least I'm doing right by the Papus during the day! (I may fall asleep too quickly if I had to read Papus' books by night).

Thanks for reading my babbles...thanks for posting the progress of a deck study week by week!

Best,

Cerulean
 

wytchwood

Well, the cats are going from strength to strength. I'd have to say that this is the easiest deck to read with, regardless of the fact that this is not a deck I would ever 'browse' through to enjoy the images as I do with decks I like. All week I have resisted the temptation even to look at other decks, I very briefly flicked through one that came from a swap and quickly put it away, and have not read with any other decks since Tuesday. Well, a couple more days to go and I feel like it's flown by. As an interesting but very welcome side effect I have stopped buying or wanting any more decks. I must admit I'm itching to look at the Motherpeace I got from a car boot sale, but I have resisted.

Zoe xx
 

morticia monroe

Same goes with the Cosmic. My first spread in the experiment with this one was crystal clear, and I've had no problem deciphering the messages these cards have been sending me for the past few days. All in all, it is helping me to see this deck in an entirely new light, although I'm still not particularly fond of the colors or even the images used in the deck. I prefer my images not to resemble movie stars.. but I've still got to gve this tryout two thumbs up.
 

wytchwood

Morticia, Do you think we work well with these 'no likey' decks because we are less distracted by the images than we would be with a favourite deck with artwork/ theme we appreciate? I'm starting to wonder, you know. This experiment is reminding me in so many ways of the stint I did with the International Icon. Although I do like the look if the International Icon, the images could not be said to be distracting.

I have also in the last couple of weeks been surprised by the other end of the scale- decks I like but cannot read with such as the Albano. These things are somehow connected, I know it! I just have to figure out the missing puzzle pieces.....

Zoe xx
 

wytchwood

Well, today is the last day of the experiment and there don't seem to be any more takers on the reading threads, so I think that's probably about it for me and the cats for now. I had thought that I would really be in a hurry to trade the deck, but I think I'll keep hold of it for a while. I am still slightly embarrassed to own it, but it read so well for me this week I have developed a fondness for it :D

I am looking forward to seeing my other decks again tomorrow, I have missed looking through some of them, I'm partial to a flip through the Boho Goth silver from time to time, and the Motherpeace I got recently I only had a little chance to look through, so there are a couple of decks waiting for my attention! But this has also been quite cleansing, like a tarot deck 'fast', better than a break from the tarot because the reading element has remained, but a break from hunting decks online, buying decks and taking decks out to look at, and pondering which deck to use in readings. I have found this very settling in many ways, and I have lost the hunger for more decks which plagued me a couple of weeks ago.

I'd definitely do this experiment again, though I doubt I could fond another deck so 'not me' as the BBC!

Zoe xx