Opinions on the Vision Quest deck

[Soaring Eagle]

Is there anyone (besides myself) that enjoys using the Vision Quest deck on a regular basis? I'd like to hear your comments as to why/why not. I've found this deck to be really accurate for me. After being away from tarot for a very long time (more than 10 years), I thought it would take more time to become acquainted with the deck again, but the cards just seem to speak to me, and I now only have to look at the cards, to know what they mean.

 

[Le Fanu]

*eagerly awaiting replies*

It's Thothy (I've heard). Big plus.

It's Native American Indian (not sure how much it will mean to me culturally.)

I've held off from buying it but will be curious to see what others say. It's probably the only mainstream Thoth-inspired deck which I don't have.

 

[Soaring Eagle]

*eagerly awaiting replies*

It's Thothy (I've heard). Big plus.

It's Native American Indian (not sure how much it will mean to me culturally.)

I've held off from buying it but will be curious to see what others say. It's probably the only mainstream Thoth-inspired deck which I don't have.

In my opinion, it is a great deck. The meanings are very similar to Thoth. The only difficulty would be the symbology used, I think, as there is none of the traditional Thoth symbology. I have posted the native symbology in the Tarot Study Groups at this link: http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=164746 This deck, for me, is 5 stars.

 

[Pandora MoonRaven]

This deck is by far my favorite native american deck. There was none on the market i liked and then i got this one. It is vivid and to me atmospheric. I often feel like my eyes want to soak up the vivid imagery and i can imagine stepping into the picture. It is more thoth and does not read like rws particularly but the cards have such great "feeling" to them that even though i dont know thoth i read with these fine. To me they relay thoughts and feelings and i love the symbols they use. I woukd recommend this deck for sure. Stunning and functional. Like i said itd the only one of its kind i actually like. I use it regularly for reading and meditation.

 

[Maan]

i use this deck from time to time. And i really like it. At first it looks a bit too sweet but it got depth. Only card i really don't like is the Devil. It feels to plain and empty. I like me devil to be more .... wel devil like
The lwb is one of the better ones around. And it gave me some new insights in certain cards. If a deck can give me that it earns a right to be in my permenant collection;-)

Well and ofcourse the art work is gorgeouse. The colours are amazing.
I highly reccomend it.

 

[Le Fanu]

i use this deck from time to time. And i really like it. At first it looks a bit too sweet but it got depth. Only card i really don't like is the Devil. It feels to plain and empty. I like me devil to be more .... wel devil like
The lwb is one of the better ones around. And it gave me some new insights in certain cards. If a deck can give me that it earns a right to be in my permenant collection;-)

Well and ofcourse the art work is gorgeouse. The colours are amazing.
I highly reccomend it.

May I ask, are you American? If not, how easy do you find the cultural references and symbolism to relate to? I'm curious... maybe the LWB explains all.

 

[Maan]

Nope i'm Dutch/Belgium. And although i've read some books about Native Americans its not a subject i studied. ( mostly Karl May when i was little ;-) )
But i think you would not need much background for this deck. Its clean ,clear and rather earthy. I can relate to it very well even if i'm European.
The LWB explains some but most is rather self explanatory.
I think the biggest learning curve for most people would be that its Toth based instead of RWS.

I gather that your not american either? Did you have some trouble relating to decks that were american in nature? I've been eyeing the pairie tarot from Robin Ator but put of buying because i'm worried i can't relate.

 

[Flaxen]

This deck was one of the first alternatives I bought to replace my RWS. I was in my teens and had been using it regularly on an online divination site. I chanced upon it in a job and eagerly bought it. I loved its gentle colour palette, the spiritual slant of the LWB and the ease with which I could read it. I had no concept at the time that it was 'Thothy'.

I replaced it in my twenties with the Ancestral Path which I liked because it had a variety of cultures. At the time, I saw no need to have two decks so I gave it away. Obviously, that was way before I found this place and discovered that many people had way more than two decks.

Last year, I bought it back again and found it was like catching up with an old friend. I won't be getting rid of it again. It may not be used every day but there are times when it is just what I need.

 

[Le Fanu]

Nope i'm Dutch/Belgium. And although i've read some books about Native Americans its not a subject i studied. ( mostly Karl May when i was little ;-) )
But i think you would not need much background for this deck. Its clean ,clear and rather earthy. I can relate to it very well even if i'm European.
The LWB explains some but most is rather self explanatory.
I think the biggest learning curve for most people would be that its Toth based instead of RWS.

I gather that your not american either? Did you have some trouble relating to decks that were american in nature? I've been eyeing the pairie tarot from Robin Ator but put of buying because i'm worried i can't relate.

To be honest, the Ator or Prairie decks are not decks I can relate to (and no, I'm not American either). Sometimes a deck is done in such a way that makes it universal, other times what we think of as our "grasp" of a culture is superficial and insulting. Sometimes there will always be something niggling that reminds me I won't ever truly get inside a deck because of its references. It is easy to think of decks as "universal", or that we ourselves should indeed, in a globalised world, be universal. But I don't feel it. Like the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot. To be honest, I may study and read the book but I'll never truly grasp the complexities unless I feel somehow initiated into it. The book takes itself very seriously and constantly reminds us of the fact. If I bought the Vision Quest it would be the only Native American deck in my collection. I wouldn't know where to start to be honest.

But I do think tarot is very good at offering us titbits and rashly drawn morsels of other cultures and making us feel we "understand" (that we have "insight" into other cultures, that we are all "shamans") and I'm not saying that as a compliment!

 

[Maan]

But I do think tarot is very good at offering us titbits and rashly drawn morsels of other cultures and making us feel we "understand" (that we have "insight" into other cultures, that we are all "shamans") and I'm not saying that as a compliment!

i totally agree. Really understanding a culture that is not yours is impossible i think. You can't teach body language, shame, intonation and plain reference etc. Most things you 'feel 'more than you know. And there are parts about my own culture that are so inbread/normal for me that i don't see them as part of my culture. A blind spot if you van call it that.

I noticed it a long time ago when i first entered AT. Especially in the chat section that although most of spoke perfect english most quarrels were because of ignorance of culture. Even though before that i thought The Nethelands to be pretty Americanized. It turned out i was wrong.

anyway. I didn't get that with this deck. It feels more like the native american setting is an art style then a believe system .... i'm not sure i word that properly but i have no other way of putting it.