Opinion: best deck for kids?

hemera said:

There is different kinds of nudity,though..
Unfortunately many decks do not display natural nudity of both sexes (and all ages!) but mostly some kind of Playboy-nudity of just young females.
Especially some Italian card makers seen to favour this type of nudity..Tarot of Mermaids is an example of this. Such fantastic artwork but I have rarely seen so many bare young breasts in any deck. It is not bad but it is not a view of the world that I´d like to give to my daughters. Too one sided and sexist..

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Yes Hemera I see what you mean.
As Fudugazi has just said though, it would be for political reasons that I'd object to a deck that I thought of as sexist.
Many folks here just seem to object to nudity in general in a Tarot deck, especially if the deck is going to be seen by children and I know that I've never had a problem with my kids seeing nakedness.

My nephew and niece loved my DruidCraft from the start - when I got it 2 years ago (they were 9 and 10). It was the occasion to discuss Celtic mythology, and the art is gorgeous. It also has one of the most explicit Lovers I've ever seen - a postcoital scene in a wood between the Lord and Lady.

When they saw that one, they were curious, a bit shy and embarrassed. I asked them - what do you think they are doing? And they answered - they are making babies? Yes, they are. What do you think of it? My nephew looked closely and said - "it's funny. They look happy, but he looks tired." (yeah, he'll find out one day!). And my niece said - "it's beautiful. He loves her a lot."

We were able to talk about the birds and the bees, that day - not entirely new to them, but this was a beautiful, very erotic, but also very natural scene of love between two people. It set in their minds what physical love can be, when it is natural and respectful. Funny to look at, maybe, but happy and beautiful. We talked about the Tarot Lovers, and what it means in the tarot and in life. How physical and emotional love intertwine.

I'd much rather they learn that way than by a lot of prurient gazing and wondering. It is a way of binding in their minds sex and love before they've been ruined by "sex as a consumer object" attitudes so prevalent - or made to feel it is unnatural, wrong or something to be ashamed of.

That's how tarot can become a real tool for life with children. It's quite amazing that way.

Fudugazi said:

When they saw that one, they were curious, a bit shy and embarrassed. I asked them - what do you think they are doing? And they answered - they are making babies? Yes, they are. What do you think of it? My nephew looked closely and said - "it's funny. They look happy, but he looks tired." (yeah, he'll find out one day!). And my niece said - "it's beautiful. He loves her a lot."

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I love this tid-bit of a story, Fudugazi - thank you for sharing Isn't it funny how two children of the opposite sex can interpret the feelings of mature adults just by looking at a picture. She interpreted the love that she sees, and he interpreted the fatigue that he sees.....it's funny/cute, because they're children, and yet makes one realize just how much they are connecting to what they see in relation to their perspective as adults. It is a wonderful story you've shared. Thank you again.

Just as many have described here in this thread, I don't have trouble with my children seeing nudity. For me, personally, it's more about the context involved. I wouldn't want my 9-yr-old son looking at a playboy or any of the others more grossly depicted. But for them to see nudity in a popular form of art is very different. I do have trouble with the Star in the Gilded Tarot, though. It's the only card in that whole deck that just didn't seem to fit. While the Star is so often depicted as topless/nude, I don't know....that deck just didn't have the same aura throughout to make that one seem legit. I think Ciro could have been a bit more discrete with this particular card while still getting the point across - something more like the Lovers....showing the emotion and meaning without the nudity. I mean....why did he choose to have them clothed and not the Star? MOST decks show the lovers in the Devil card nude, and similarly the Lovers as well. I don't know....I've seemed to vere towards one particular deck in this post, but this just happens to be one that I don't see fits in the context of the rest of the cards...not only for myself, but for my children as well.

I recently received the African Tarot. That is filled with topless women. The World Spirit I love more than I thought I would and that, too, is filled with nudity. For myself, I would not hold either of these two decks back from my children because of it. Perhaps it is the "cartoonish" style that makes it okay for me, where Ciro's Star is like looking at a real-life photo? My children's ages have a lot to do with my opinions on various decks. The DruidCraft is one of my contraversial ones. But your story about it has been enlightening. Thank you

LP~

Glad you like the story, LixiPixi!

LixiPixi said:

I recently received the African Tarot. That is filled with topless women.

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Well, see - in traditional African villages, such as you see depicted in the African Tarot (at least those that are not over-christianised or islamicised by the missionaries), a topless woman is not nude or even semi-nude. Breasts are not taboo. They are as visible as arms or heads. In fact, in such a culture, only if you are completely starkers are you considered naked. Some tribes even count facial paint and scarification as covering - which means, in the case of scarification, that people are never in the nude. Africans are actually quite discreet - even prudish - about their bodies, but they are also very natural, in the sense of having fewer hang-ups about showing this or that part of their body (there are exceptions - the coast of East Africa and Northern Nigeria has many black-clad totally veiled women). So that's something you can share with your children when you show them that deck - they aren't naked at all, in their culture!

Basically, I'm in favor of kids being able to see the nudity in the decks that aren't explicitly created and marketed as "erotic" decks. And I'm in favor of parents guiding when their kids know what about life. And I realize there's a conflict there. But that's not what I want to address in this post. There's another issue to be remarked on here. I think that male and female gift-givers are in different positions in this regard.

As a gay man, I daily live with the fact that there are thousands of people who assume I'm a child molester. This at least gives me the survival skills of being prudent in my dealings with children. A lot of straight men probably aren't so cautious as I and my kind have learned to be.

The reality is that a lot of child molesters really do use the trick of showing children legitimate nude artwork, and saying, "See, it's OK for you to take your clothes off for me to take a picture. It's just like in this book, or in these cards." A lot of parents know this. Teachers and law enforcement and child protection personnel all know this. And they may err on the side of caution when they hear about Mr. Smith or Uncle Joe giving kids cards with naked people on them.

Unless he knows the kids and their parents really well, and knows without a doubt the parents are OK with the deck he's giving the kids, and OK with his giving it; then my strong opinion is that a man shouldn't show, much less give, a kid a deck with nudity in it. Even then, there's the chance that the kids may say something that gets back to a zealous and protective teacher, who may start zealously protecting the child, calling on law enforcement and child protection services. This sucks. I hate it. I'm a Marseille queen: as far as I'm concerned, The Star isn't really The Star if she's clothed.* But I really think this is an area where women have more wiggle room than men do.

*So my answer to the original question of the thread is of course, the best deck to give a child is The Tarot of Marseilles.

shaveling said:

As a gay man, I daily live with the fact that there are thousands of people who assume I'm a child molester. This at least gives me the survival skills of being prudent in my dealings with children. A lot of straight men probably aren't so cautious as I and my kind have learned to be.

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It may be off-topic but I have to say how angry this makes me, and how it must discourage some men from having contact with children Here in the UK there have been stories of men being treated with distrust if they wanted to teach younger children, and when I worked on a childrenswear department I remember quite clearly the day I let a man go into the fitting room with his disabled son and all the mothers who had been happily chatting outside waiting for their children suddenly stopped and moved to where they could see in through the door. My supervisor later told me I shouldn't have let him in!

To try and stay on topic I really dislike the Hanson Roberts deck and would probably prefer to give - depending on the interests of the child - something like the Cat People or Celtic Dragon. Whether the deck had nudity or not I'd probably let the parents see it first.

Well, for the record, some of my first decks included Haindl and Thoth. Don't remember how old I was, I think around 11 or younger because it was before we moved.

Yote

Tarot of the White Cats would be a good choice (unless your niece doesn't like cats of course) as it is brightly coloured and has the least threatening 10 swords cards that I have ever come across in a deck with pictorial minor cards and is not daunting.

I would agree with other posters here on the Cat People, Halloween and possibly the Morgan-Greer (check the Lovers card first though!).

The Art of Tarot would have been a great one - the Death and Devil cards have been toned down and the Lovers are covered neck to foot and holding hands in the most neutral fashion - the only problem is that the minors are not pictorial which I find irritating so I am not sure how you would feel about that.

Hmmmm

Check the lovers card first.....seems odd advice when thinking of giving a deck to children. It is just my point of view, of course, but a 9 of swords or Tower or 5 of pentacles could be more difficult to understand...as a child. Harder to explain as an adult. How it all fits together. How a card isnt bad or good. I suppose it very much depends on the child.

I suppose everything depends on why you think a child needs a tarot deck.

Why not just give a child a deck of pretty playing cards?

catti said:

I suppose everything depends on why you think a child needs a tarot deck.

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Interesting question!

If it is indeed for divination then I would suggest seeing what the child is drawn to; tarot,crystals,scrying,dowsing,etc... then, if's it tarot it would also depend on the childs' personality and likes but as a general maybe one of the one's already mentioned like HR or one of the Cat one's or RW, etc...Many oracles are great as well...

If it is for personal development within ones self or meditation then I'd go with an Oracle or something like The Soul Cards which I LOVE, maybe even in addition to a tarot deck!

My kids have looked thru almost all of my decks and some they enjoy looking at where others they could careless....they love to see The Devil and The Death cards

As far as nudity goes, DH and I still walk around the naked often although I would not care for them to see porn or anything of the like or anything that may seem demeaning! My fellas are 8 and 12.....