despite our best intentions

[velvetina]

it's sometimes strange which decks we fall in love with: I had been considering 3 candidates for my year-and-a-day long particular devotion - the Mary-El, the Bohemian Gothic, the Greenwood.

I have chosen....the Universal Fantasy ! and cannot logically explain why. Here's the thing - I think that is why..I cannot sensibilly explain why I am drawn to it, why I fall into the images, like Alice down the rabbit hole.

I had wanted a deck with a rich symbolism, literature to accompany the images and symbolism, a deck I could really get my teeth into.
Instead I have an aesthetically beautiful (to me) deck that tells me bizarre and wonderful tales, that makes me feel as if I am dreaming awake.

the deck I keep picking up, the deck that haunts me now is the Universal Fantasy.

So - does any one else love a deck they kind of think they shouldn't? Is anyone else smitten with the Universal Fantasy?

 

[Emily]

I long ago gave up trying to rationalize my relationship with the Liber T - it's the kind of deck I shouldn't have fell so hard for. There was a time when I really actively disliked the artwork and wouldn't have given it the time of day.

I was always very RWS, most the decks in my collection are clones and RWS symbology and I think that was where the Liber T came in, I was stuck in a rut and bored of my decks. I'd tried to read the Thoth and had come up against a brick wall, then the Liber T was mentioned as going OOP, and I remembered this as a deck I'd traded almost as soon as I received it. I think that original deck probably spent more time in the post than it did at my house.

So out of curiosity of a deck that I'd hated a few years previously and couldn't care less if they made it OOP or not, I took another look at it. And felt like I'd been gut-punched, I checked out the cards online and realised that whatever had bothered me before wasn't there now. I liked the abstract artwork and the colours used, I could see the Thoth influence but the smaller images on the Minors fascinated me. They are still my favourite cards in the deck, the Minors.

I ended up with 3 copies of the Liber T and it had a reprieve and is still in the LoScarabeo catalogue and its been my deck of choice now for around 5 years and I'm still learning from it. It has given me the confidence to try out different types of deck, the Deva is another deck I'm fond of but not as I love the Liber T.

 

[Chiriku]

Deck-fatuation

No, I have never had this sort of "smitten" (velvetina) or "gut-punched" (Emily) feeling, with any deck.

It was 12 years into my tarot life--a deck collector's life, too--before I began to encounter decks that I approved of wholeheartedly and knew straight away I would be fond of.

But "wholehearted approval" and "instant fondness" are quite different from the feelings you and Emily describe. What you describe is infatuation, being struck by Cupid's Arrow, a feeling so strong that it overrides your conscious will and rational objections.

I've never felt that, for any deck.

 

[Emily]

No, I have never had this sort of "smitten" (velvetina) or "gut-punched" (Emily) feeling, with any deck.

It was 12 years into my tarot life--a deck collector's life, too--before I began to encounter decks that I approved of wholeheartedly and knew straight away I would be fond of.

But "wholehearted approval" and "instant fondness" are quite different from the feelings you and Emily describe. What you describe is infatuation, being struck by Cupid's Arrow, a feeling so strong that it overrides your conscious will and rational objections.

I've never felt that, for any deck.

I full well know that I'm infatuated with the Liber T and I have been for 5 years now. I still collect the odd deck here and there but I'm very happy with having the Liber T on the sidelines as my comfort deck. I've had some hard readings off it, it is very balanced and honest with its readings. It also opened my eyes to intuitive readings, which is something I'd never done before. I do still use other decks but none of them match the Liber T.

I know there are people who don't like this deck, on the surface all you see is the blood and gore, a few headless people and the bestiality card which is a killer for a few people but it is a deck with layers and the fun part is working through the cards that are not so appealing to find the real essence of the Liber T.

 

[AJ]

There doesn't seem any rhyme or reason to me, looking at my deck list. but it is hewed and thinned to the nth degree. All the maybe's are gone.

To me, it has always been about where I am, not what the deck is.

 

[annik]

I seems to work by periods, in general. In tarot, it's hold true. I started with the Olympus Tarot, it was my first steps where everything started to click. I used it a lot. After that, it was my Gothic Vampire period, it is already 5 years ago. I couldn't put that deck down. It was also good for the spread I did when my dad died. Most recently, I had a intensive period with the housewives tarot. Now, I wonder what will be the next deck my mind will pick up.

 

[Freddie]

I still love the 78 card 'Oswald Wirth' by AGMuller/U.S. Games. I have tried to dislike this deck as I know it is unpopular with Tarot experts, but I have grown fond of it as a TDM variation.



Freddie