My Rare German Dark-bordered Margarete Petersen has arrived!!!!!!

firemaiden

Namaste said:
I have to say that Petersen's text, which accompanies each of her minor arcana, is among the best and most useful I have encountered. Have you found that, too? Or do you just approach your Margarete Petersen intuitively and let the images speak for themselves, without ever turning to the accompanying booklet?

Well, the whole reason I spent sooooooo many hours translating the little white book, (how long did all those translations take me... a year?) and making sure that it was so very close to her actual German, is because I thought her poetry was beautiful, and obviously the product of deep thought; and always a very positive message. However, the text can be a bit obscure, as poetry often is...

I have done very few readings with the cards, but I have let the pictures and the text both speak together.

Namaste

starsongs said:
(((((((((((((Namaste))))))))))))),

Congratulations!! The Margarete Petersen is sooo beautiful. May these 2 versions give you many years of pleasure and insight

love,
starsongs

(((((((((((((((((((Starsongs)))))))))))))))))))))

Your appearance is always a pleasure.

I think these decks do have the potential to provide incredible personal insight.

Namaste

firemaiden said:
Well, the whole reason I spent sooooooo many hours translating the little white book, (how long did all those translations take me... a year?) and making sure that it was so very close to her actual German, is because I thought her poetry was beautiful, and obviously the product of deep thought; and always a very positive message. However, the text can be a bit obscure, as poetry often is...

I have done very few readings with the cards, but I have let the pictures and the text both speak together.

And... what a labour of love that was, Firemaiden! I find the poetry of the majors more difficult, but not that of the minors. I think it is a very personal deck, better suited, perhaps, to meditation, introspection, self-analysis... I agree that a reading with it, in answer to specific questions, especially mundane ones, might prove very difficult.

I can imagine how grateful MP lovers must have been that you took so much time and trouble when an English translation of the LWB was not even to be imagined.

I know that I would be deeply beholden to whomever would have the ability, and the patience, to translate the Farsi of the Farschian cards.

Josh

I was wondering how you got to order this deck of cards, i would like to talk to them and see how much they would charge to send it my way!!!

-Josh

Namaste

Josh said:
I was wondering how you got to order this deck of cards, i would like to talk to them and see how much they would charge to send it my way!!!

-Josh

I found it on eBay by great chance; eBay in Germany. The shipping was horrendous and it was very expensive. (Thank goodness it was a gift). It's very difficult to get a dark-bordered MP in any language (German and English) nowadays.

This is a lovely lady who sells this deck here. I think she only has four left:

http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=39215&item=6169559951&rd=1&ssPageName=WDVW

Shipping is expensive and she only accepts a bank draft in Euros. Plus, she doesn't speak a word of English, but uses Altavista's translator. I found the one at Dictionary.com to be better. She is really very, very pleasant, helpful and entirely reliable.

Hope this helps, Josh.

WolfSpirit

You can also try the German amazon site: www.amazon.de
There are market sellers who offer the purple version.

www.elbeteam.de is a German on-line bookshop and they say they have both versions, but the site is in German.

Annabelle

WolfSpirit said:
You can also try the German amazon site: www.amazon.de
There are market sellers who offer the purple version.

www.elbeteam.de is a German on-line bookshop and they say they have both versions, but the site is in German.

I just recieved my German copy of the Petersen deck from this seller (elbeteam) via the German Amazon marketplace. Although they had pictured the deck as the purple copy, what they sent me is a grey-bordered copy, in German. Not to mention, the quality of the coating on the cards is pitiful; there are visible scratches and nicks in the coating, although it is a brand-new copy that I just took out of the box.

I know I could return it, but as I don't speak German and the seller doesn't seem to speak English, and as I've already waited 2 months for the deck to get here, and as it's already cost me over $50, I'm just going to keep it - and perhaps trade it once I get around to buying the grey-bordered version in English (if I'm going to be stuck with grey borders, I may as well have a copy that comes with a book I can read!). Someday, somewhere, I'll run across the elusive purple version.

Buyer beware!! If you are going to buy a purple-version copy from abroad, triple-check with the seller first to be absolutely certain of what you are buying!!

Edited to add: Just in case this helps anyone else avoid accidentally buying a German grey-bordered copy, here's the ISBN from mine: 3-89875-627-0

contrascarpe

Annabelle -

So sorry you had this experience. The burgundy German edition is definitely out-of-print and very difficult to find, even on the German websites. It surprises me that the quality of the deck is that bad, as well. Sounds like you are definitely better off getting the English version if you are to be stuck with the lighter borders.

I hope you find the "good" German version soon ..... will keep an eye out for you.

Oh, one question about the new German version - did it come in a nice sturdy box?

Dan

Annabelle

Hi Dan!

Thanks so much for the response

. Actually, now that I've had a few hours to spend with the deck, I'm starting to really love it, grey borders and scratches and all.

contrascarpe said:
The burgundy German edition is definitely out-of-print and very difficult to find, even on the German websites.

I knew that . . . but when I saw the burgundy-bordered version pictured, I made the unfortunate assumption that it was the burgundy-bordered version that they were selling. I really should have gotten someone to read over the item description for me before I bought it, just in case it was stated somewhere that this was the edition with grey borders. While I don't read German myself, I work with a number of people who do.

contrascarpe said:
It surprises me that the quality of the deck is that bad, as well.

Well, I should clarify, perhaps. It's not awful . . . it's just that the finish is rough (the cards have a bit of a grainy feel) and three of the cards show minor scratches and spots where the finish is marred. It just so happened that one of those cards was the Fool, the first card I looked at . . . and so I got off to a bad start with the deck.

contrascarpe said:
Sounds like you are definitely better off getting the English version if you are to be stuck with the lighter borders.

Yes, definitely! Normally, I wouldn't care too much about whether or not I could read the book - and the language of the card titles doesn't matter, because I can decipher enough German to make out which card is which. But I've heard that the book with the Petersen is quite wonderful - plus, the cards are so unique - I really want to read what the author has to say.

contrascarpe said:
I hope you find the "good" German version soon ..... will keep an eye out for you.

Thanks so much . . . if you happen to spot it somewhere, let me know. I may put in a request through the Tarot Garden search service sometime, too.

contrascarpe said:
Oh, one question about the new German version - did it come in a nice sturdy box?

The box is quite sturdy and nice. It's a lidded grey box, and the book sits inside the box on top of the cards. As far as I can tell from online pictures of the other editions, this box is about the same in terms of design. Very well made; one of the nicer boxes I've seen.

WolfSpirit

I'm sorry to hear about your deck Annabelle, and I am glad you are now warming up to the grey borders a bit

One day you will find the purple bordered one and then you can compare them together.

There is no way you could have known they would not send you the purple bordered one; I just checked the site and it says nothing about the colour (I understand enough German to know).
Worse, the information they give for the deck is exactly the info of the purple bordered one (the ISBN and publication year 2001)
I think it is the same in this respect as amazon does sometimes (for example with 1st and 2nd edition Tarot of Prague): they are not really specialised in tarot and just send whatever edition they have, not making a distinction between the two because they don't know how much it matters to us.