Chiriku
Mine have.
I used to despise any writing on the cards besides the Trumps' one-word title, the numbered Minors' suit and number, and the court cards' suit and rank. I did use the Thoth years ago but would grit my teeth and try to ignore Crowley's one word titles on the Minors.
Technically, the Golden Dawn titles, Crowley's Thoth titles (and decks based on his), and other "system"-based writing on decks are not "keywords." Yet, in literacy-oriented societies, many people can't help but automatically read words on a card as "the meaning" (i.e. keywords) of the card. Many people's brains zero in on writing (especially that which is novel, and for many RWS tradition-reared people, the bog-standard titles I described in the first paragraph above don't count as "novel").
For lack of a better term to encompass both keyword decks and decks with special titles such as the aforementioned, I shall call them all "wordy" decks.
Then I forced myself to spend more time working with decks I liked but for their "extra" words. That included a more intensive delving into the Thoth, as well the Haindl and the Navigators of the Mystic SEA.
What I found was strange: it wasn't that I stopped seeing the titles, but that I started to appreciate them almost as direct messages from the cards, as a voice that spoke clearly and with singular focus in a way that a non-wordy card doesn't. And that in turn even led me to--surprise of all surprises, for me--see the benefit to non-tarot oracle cards. That's the latter's main selling point for me, in fact: not the imagery, but the Words.
I'm now fond of all three of those decks, with the the Navigator in particular being in my small cadre of favorite decks. Indeed, another of my favorites is one that even has the full Golden Dawn titles--i.e. whole phrases--written on it (Clark's Magickal)!
When once I shuddered and pushed away my decks with words, now I welcome them as clear Voices speaking from the cards.
Now, I am at the point where I enjoy reading with several wordy decks including the aforementioned, but I won't read for others with them, in risks of them reading the words and thinking, "Oh, that's the meaning," even when I am interpreting the card or layout in a way that does not appear to align with the "keyword."
But I wonder if soon I will get over that particular hang-up, as well.
After all, I now enjoy working with wordy decks, and you couldn't have convinced me of that 15 or 10 or even 5 years ago.
What about you: have your feelings about wordy decks changed, and in what way? From like to dislike, or dislike to like--and why?
I used to despise any writing on the cards besides the Trumps' one-word title, the numbered Minors' suit and number, and the court cards' suit and rank. I did use the Thoth years ago but would grit my teeth and try to ignore Crowley's one word titles on the Minors.
Technically, the Golden Dawn titles, Crowley's Thoth titles (and decks based on his), and other "system"-based writing on decks are not "keywords." Yet, in literacy-oriented societies, many people can't help but automatically read words on a card as "the meaning" (i.e. keywords) of the card. Many people's brains zero in on writing (especially that which is novel, and for many RWS tradition-reared people, the bog-standard titles I described in the first paragraph above don't count as "novel").
For lack of a better term to encompass both keyword decks and decks with special titles such as the aforementioned, I shall call them all "wordy" decks.
Then I forced myself to spend more time working with decks I liked but for their "extra" words. That included a more intensive delving into the Thoth, as well the Haindl and the Navigators of the Mystic SEA.
What I found was strange: it wasn't that I stopped seeing the titles, but that I started to appreciate them almost as direct messages from the cards, as a voice that spoke clearly and with singular focus in a way that a non-wordy card doesn't. And that in turn even led me to--surprise of all surprises, for me--see the benefit to non-tarot oracle cards. That's the latter's main selling point for me, in fact: not the imagery, but the Words.
I'm now fond of all three of those decks, with the the Navigator in particular being in my small cadre of favorite decks. Indeed, another of my favorites is one that even has the full Golden Dawn titles--i.e. whole phrases--written on it (Clark's Magickal)!
When once I shuddered and pushed away my decks with words, now I welcome them as clear Voices speaking from the cards.
Now, I am at the point where I enjoy reading with several wordy decks including the aforementioned, but I won't read for others with them, in risks of them reading the words and thinking, "Oh, that's the meaning," even when I am interpreting the card or layout in a way that does not appear to align with the "keyword."
But I wonder if soon I will get over that particular hang-up, as well.
After all, I now enjoy working with wordy decks, and you couldn't have convinced me of that 15 or 10 or even 5 years ago.
What about you: have your feelings about wordy decks changed, and in what way? From like to dislike, or dislike to like--and why?
