Strange decks; which are the ones that tempt you?

[Le Fanu]

I'll have another look. But strange, definitely...

[Onyx]

Originally Posted by Alamaris

Oh! I forgot about the Tarot of Metamorphosis. One of my favorite decks, but mad as a fish.

Absolutely! Love the deck, but is is just off. I also like the Dream Inspirational cards done by the same artists. I swear they can work perfectly oddly together.

Onyx.

[Masa]

Originally Posted by jema

ok enough gushing. lol. I know this is not the enabling thread.

Oh yes it is. XD

[poopsie]

I love Liber T and have always used it in combination with other decks even though is Thoth based. i Am struggling with decks such as Tarot of the Master and the Classic Tarot. My imagnation comes to a stop when I get the suits because they are basically so alike and I can't find symbolisms in them. When its wands, it just shows wands, nothng else. I love the major arcanas though.

The Tarot of the Imagination is still in my library and I need to flip it and study it soonest. dante's tarot appears also interesting although I realize I need to be familiar with his works.

[Glass Owl]

A lot of people dislike CGI decks, such as the Vampire Tarot of The Eternal Night but I find myself drawn to them for some reason. I know that some say that the people in CGI decks look strange but I find them strangely attractive all the same (with the exception of the Tarot of The Heroes.). And I think they like me too - the Tarot of the Elves kit fell off of a store bookcase once and landed at my feet as if to say, "please take me home, no one else wants me."

This is why I keep putting the Wizards Tarot on my wish list and then taking it off. I get the feeling that it is a superficial deck and one that may be disappointing but that CGI eye candy keeps reeling me back in.

[SolSionnach]

Speaking of the Elemental

Originally Posted by magpie9

Me too. I thought I had it for a while, actually read with it with much thumbing of the book...but then I lost the knack and it sticks it's tongue out, wiggles it's butt and mocks me.

You've done better with it then I ever did. Though it's one of the very first non-commercial decks I sought out - I have the original grey-boxed set one direct from Caroline. But I found it so unreadable that I sold the commercial extra set that I had.

Speaking Tarot of the Spirit

Originally Posted by WolfSpirit

I love that one ! I find the minors more appealing and easier to read than the majors.

Really??? Well, I do find the minors appealing, but the majors are definitely easier for me.

Originally Posted by Le Fanu

Is that the U.S Games/Eakins one? I came across this one recently and bought it but it really didn't grab me and I put it aside. The colouring seemed off to me, as if the reproduction would bear no resemblence to the orginal artwork. It seemed pallid and - yes - in keeping with this thread; strange.

Yes, that's the one I'm talking about. But my copies are definitely not pallid. More like punchy.

Originally Posted by jema

That does sound strange indeed, I had this deck for years now and love it. But I can't say the colours seem pallid or muted at all, quite the opposite. Some of the darker cards is a bit murky but I think the original paintings are too.

It is a strange deck though, very abstract. Yet when you sit down with even the more 'difficult' cards it has quite a lot to say. Also the book for it is amazing.

ok enough gushing. lol. I know this is not the enabling thread.

The book is amazing, but incredibly dense. Now that I think about it, perhaps I coudn't read it because I wanted to read about my chances w/some guy, versus the state of my soul.

Originally Posted by Le Fanu

I'll have another look. But strange, definitely...

I want to hear what you come up with. Do you have the massive tome of a book, as well?

[Myrrha]

Originally Posted by vee

I think Etteilla is kind of a meeting place between Tarot and Lenormand. It's definitely geared towards huge spreads where the cards are interpreted based on their position and proximity towards other cards, like a Grand Tableau. On the other hand, it does have those deep archetypes of the Tarot that just beg for solitary reflection. I think it's a balance between the two styles. I cannot claim to have mastered it yet, though.

Yes the small snippets of information each card gives would make it work well in large Lenormand type spreads. Maybe I will try it but the idea is a bit intimidating. I've been only using it for daily two card readings or for 4-6 card spreads using the method given in the Dame Fortune's Wheel LWB where the cards are dealt in a line and read sequentially. I don't have set meanings for combinations but perhaps those will come in time.

Originally Posted by Le Fanu

Those supposedly Lenormand ways of reading that everyone is loving right now started with Ettteilla. He invented this stringing together of snippets I think. I'm not quite sure - or rather I've yet to discover - exactly what Mme Lenormand invented, apart from some lovely little cards from beyond the grave.

I wonder though if non-aristocratic people might have been reading cards in this way before Etteilla. I thought he was elaborating on a "traditional" kind of card reading.

One thing I wonder about Etteilla is how he could possibly have thought there was anything "Egyptian" about the six days of creation. The Egyptianity of the Etteilla decks is a pretty thin veneer. I guess he was influenced by Masonry. I wonder if there is anything in the masonic rituals about the six days of creation.

[vee]

Yes. Here's a brief snippet on one ritual that would have involved that: http://www.sacred-texts.com/mas/sof/sof18.htm

Freemasons were (are?) obsessed with symbols and cross-cultural meanings, so I think it would be natural for them to blend Egyptian and Christian and Jewish and other iconography without seeing any kind of contradiction.

I've just started studying the history of Freemasonry and their symbolism and it's been very illuminating for understanding Etteilla!

[Myrrha]

Thanks, vee. I'm printing that out to read later as it covers a lot of ground.

[Greg Stanton]

I'm tempted by the Tarot of the Holy Light. I just like the look of it. I can't stand esotericism, so my attraction to this deck is very out of character.