Emotional connection to Deck?

[wooden-eye]

I am not sure if 'Emotion' is the right word or if this the right place to ask. I was interested in knowing what card readers feel when they bond with a deck and decide that adopt it as a useful deck. I am mid deck creation and have no idea if it will really work as a Tarot workhorse (if you know what I mean). I am anxious not to make something which only has value as art and as another deck. I am aiming high. I have begun to try intuitive reading of the RW I am using for reference and am beginning to see why it is so perfect.
I don't think my own deck will ever work for me, as though it is obviously very personal and full of my energy; I can not be detach it from the critical art process.
So I guess I'm saying; what makes a deck talk?
Do all decks have a voice?
What kind of things consign a deck to the recycling pile?
I might be way off track- maybe it's not like that at all for you readers.

 

[The crowned one]

I feel comfortable at worse, picking up a old friend at best for my favorite decks.

History and tradition make a deck "click" for me.

It can have its interpretation of what tarot is through the art and artists mind...IF they know tarot, but the social/cultural aspects must still add up to "tarot old school" for it to work for me. Very few decks hold my attention for more then a few weeks in spite of amazing art in a few.

As two plus two is four, and four squared is sixteen, and as m = E/c^2, then tarot= 78 cards, 4 suits A to K and majors. There is no wiggle room, but within this template the artist can play if the moral lesson and numerology stands. Just my 2 bits.

 

[tarotcognito]

What makes a deck talk? Whether or not I find the conversation interesting. Otherwise it's just gibberish blabber to me.

Do all decks have a voice? Yes. Whether or not one likes the pitch, depth and volume is a matter of personal preference.

What kind of things consign a deck to the recycle bin? Lack of interesting conversation. Dull, flat voice. No visual connection.

My connection to my deck is instinctual and emotional. I have about 30 decks and use only this one because it's the only one I've found (yet) that speaks to me on a very profound level.

Hope this makes a bit of sense.

 

[missy]

I am an intuitive reader that uses some symbolism / book meanings at times.

I don't need a straight RWS clone, although something familiar in the card ... an idea ... is nice. If I don't have that idea, the gist of the card, then present me with a good chatty card that I can intuitively read.

Some decks, for me, are very chatty whereas others are not. The RWS is not as chatty as other decks I have. A deck I might find very chatty someone else may not. Although you will find some decks that are very popular and beloved here by many of us; i.e., many people enjoy reading with them and find them to be "workhorse decks." So there is some concensus on which decks are considered good reading decks.

One thing that sometimes doesn't work for me is when an artist does not use enough symbolism in the cards. For example: a plain background, plain foreground, hardly anything going on in the image -- not much for me to grab onto visually. There may be a central character, but if there isn't some symbolism (a mix of traditional and nontraditional is nice), there isn't much to read. However this can also depend on the artist. I have some stunning tarot with what some would consider very plain style, yet they are very much reading decks. So you see, even I cannot explain this.

Or, the opposite: a bombardment of too much information. There is too much to focus on and no clear path down which to go. However, this can also work in a deck -- many collage decks have taken this approach and it can work in intuitive readings. But it depends on the deck.

I like it when cards have a dynamic interplay or tell some sort of story, even if there is only one character in the card. If the card is telling a story, through the character, symbolism in the card, and the mood of the card -- then that is probably a chatty card.

In the end though, I don't think I have been able to predict whether I would like a deck. Once I have the cards in my hands and I begin to read with them, only then do I know for certain that the deck is a reading deck for me.

 

[trzes]

In the end though, I don't think I have been able to predict whether I would like a deck. Once I have the cards in my hands and I begin to read with them, only then do I know for certain that the deck is a reading deck for me.

Sadly that holds for me too. I wish I'd be able to tell people exactely what kind of deck I want next

For me one critical point with "workhorse" decks is the balance between consistency of the artwork all over the deck and distinct mood/emotions expressed by different cards. I adore the Mary-El and the Deviant Moon because they manage to provide both at the same time. However the price for that might be that these decks are quite non-standard and have a very distinctive style that isn't to everybody's liking. And, as Missy said about how busy a deck should be, the optimal balance seems to be different in different decks. When I can't have both I normally prefer consistency.

I also have problems to work with decks that are too "loud", like decks that are too busy, decks with migraine-inducing color overflow, decks that push their agenda too hard (interesting discussion about agendas in tarot decks: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=183093) or decks that are so specialized on a certain theme that I can't ignore the theme where I just want to read with it. All of this doesn't prevent me from collecting them of course .

 

[tarotbear]

I don't think my own deck will ever work for me, as though it is obviously very personal and full of my energy; I can not ... detach it from the critical art process.

If it is 'very personal' and 'full of your energy' --- but you don't think it will ever work for you? What does that mean? Everyone who has designed a deck puts their heart & soul into it, sort of to 'crystallize' whatever they felt is lacking in other decks; they are making the deck 'theirs,' so what is the purpose behind this deck, then? Not trying to sound hyper-critical here - but if you are not making a deck that you yourself would use ... ?

Explain, please.

 

[Milfoil]

The decks that I feel closest to are deeply and intrinscally linked to those artists beliefs and their inner symbolic language which also resonates with me. The symbolic language which most closely works is that which is both reasonably open enough to be generally understood and belongs to a tradition which I understand.

Also it is the integrity of the deck which calls to me. Some decks are predominantly commercial or arty. Their integrity as a complete tarot system is often lost due to artistic and commercial concerns. I don't mind cards being re-named to fit with that system within reason and having a work of art at your fingertips is incredibly special too but there has to be more to it than lovely images.

Other factors such as the quality of the deck, cardstock, laminating, smell, feel, eco-friendliness of printing and production etc. They all come into play to a lesser extent.

 

[Grizabella]

If it is 'very personal' and 'full of your energy' --- but you don't think it will ever work for you? What does that mean? Everyone who has designed a deck puts their heart & soul into it, sort of to 'crystallize' whatever they felt is lacking in other decks; they are making the deck 'theirs,' so what is the purpose behind this deck, then? Not trying to sound hyper-critical here - but if you are not making a deck that you yourself would use ... ?

Explain, please.

Yes, this was my thought, too. I can't understand how a deck creator could create a deck and then not be able to use it or not choose to use it. I'd think it would be the opposite. Maybe you need to give this thought----if it's not one you'd use yourself, maybe nobody else would want to (or be able to) use it, either? What was your motive for creating it?

You can see our point, maybe, if you think of a book's author saying, "I'm writing a book. It's not one I'd want to read, but----" or an artist saying, "I'm painting this picture. It's not one I'd care to own, but----".

 

[missy]

I believe I understand, in that you are creating it and cannot detach yourself from the creative process. You cannot read with it because you are too close to it.

I just googled for "detach from creative process" and it brings up sites of interest about this process.

This seems very personal, though, so I may not have gotten that right -- just tossing out a theory. I don't feel like you owe me any explanation.

 

[wooden-eye]

Hmmm

Thank you for your interesting thoughts. Yes I did write that I think the deck will not work for me, this was badly put and I mightn't do a better job now. I do want to emphasise to the 'think ' rather then the 'will' and perhaps be allowed to swap them for 'fear' and 'might"..
The real purposeof the post was not so much to talk of my motivation; rather that I want to make the best deck that I can and as a very novice reader I am searching for clues as to whether my cards will be good tarot and I mean that as entity utterly seperate from whether or not the deck is visually appealling to the beholder. Then perhaps there can be no seperation and as such nothing is gleaned by analysis.
I am nervous of a particular word. I saw it wielded unmercilessly on another forum 'Solipsism' argh-it stikes fear. Now granted the artist was pushing it abit and this was tough-love/, but right there, before I had even commited a stoke to paper I recognised that there was much serious business to be attended to, but also, that which is always important, I had simply to begin.
There is so much I could say on my motivation, but this could become a dull discourse involving me telling a story you may never have cared to hear. Suffice to say the original intentions are vastly removed from where I am now. But I am in essence visual artist, a decorative 2d practioner tackling a multi-dimensional subject and in the process discovering many new facets. I imagine that most tarot artists on their first forays are the same. I do not think that we all have the higher purpose of trying to make a deck to fullfill something that the might find lacking in other decks. Some might be, others merely want to pay with all the gifts they got for their birthdays.
I am my own favourite artist I have to be or else chuck it all in. I want to add something to the discourse rather than to plug some perceived lack.
I am certainly not saying that my deck is no good. It is by far the best work I have made, but I am my own harshest critic.I guess what I mean by being unable to detach from the deck is akin to going to a gig with a muso and watching them frown and judge their way through the evening. When I relax and try to read with the RW there is a hint of something akin to a void which allows me to weave a story. I fear that my own deck might only ever reveal my story and that of it's creation. This experience would be singular to me. I don't know... the paintings are on canvas on my wall at home and untested. So ultimately the answer is, don't know, that's why I'm here.