Time for a new deck

[Starling]

I can understand a new perspective, because various decks have different images that can aid you. That is why I don't understand people who only own one deck like for years or decades.

I own more than one deck. I used to read with more than one, but only the RWS really spoke to me. I put the cards down for more than a decade and now, coming back to tarot again, I think I can talk about why I'm only reading with RWS at this time.

When I took a close look at the decks I had bought in the past, and the one I recently bought, I discovered that several of them, while pretty and artistic, just didn't have enough depth in them to be reading decks. And even the ones I had tried to read with, the Mythic and the Sacred Rose, got put down because there was nothing there that really spoke to me.

I didn't get the book that went with the Mythic, so I didn't know which stories were being illustrated on the cards. It might have helped if I had.

The figures on the Sacred Rose had those blind eyes that frankly freaked me out.

I have been temped by two decks recently. One of them is only available in a very expensive edition. I'm not paying $75 for a tarot deck. If it comes out in a less expensive, mass market edition, I'll probably buy it. The other is only available in a limited edition. The price is OK, but it is almost certainly already out of print.

What tempts me about both of them is that I think I might actually be able to use them as reading decks. There is enough detail and depth in the cards for that. And they are both RWS clones, so what I've learned from RWS will still work with those decks.

It is a lot easier today to choose a deck carefully than it was 10-15 years ago, much less 25 years ago when I bought my first deck. You can see what all of the cards look like. If I had done that I wouldn't have bought the one deck I recently bought. When I looked at all of the cards I realized that although beautiful, it wasn't a reading deck. I'm not a collector of anything but books. If it isn't a reading deck, I don't really want to have it.

 

[lark]

I have been temped by two decks recently. One of them is only available in a very expensive edition. I'm not paying $75 for a tarot deck. If it comes out in a less expensive, mass market edition, I'll probably buy it. The other is only available in a limited edition. The price is OK, but it is almost certainly already out of print.

What tempts me about both of them is that I think I might actually be able to use them as reading decks. There is enough detail and depth in the cards for that. And they are both RWS clones, so what I've learned from RWS will still work with those decks.

Which two decks? The nosey want to know.

 

[Mariana]

II'm not paying $75 for a tarot deck. If it comes out in a less expensive, mass market edition, I'll probably buy it.

Tarot of Dreams, maybe?

 

[Starling]

Which two decks? The nosey want to know.

Tarot of Dreams (at $75) and the Lunatic Tarot. I have just had such as bad time with buying decks and then not loving them that I've started not buying at all. The Gilded Tarot is gorgeous, but the Tarot of Dreams is just amazing from the cards I've seen online. And I'm absolutely not the person who should be in love with the Lunatic Tarot. I mean I am not in the right age group to just love that deck, but I've been amazed by every card in that deck that I've seen.

I digital scrapbook using Photoshop. I know Tarot of Dreams was done with Photoshop and I'm pretty sure that is one of the reasons I love the deck. I'm amazed with what he did with the program. I think the Lunatic Tarot was also done that way. Totally different, but equally amazing in its own way.

I have a history of buying pretty or artistic decks and then not being able to use them because the cards are not deep enough which is why I've stopped buying decks. But...

 

[berrieh]

curious though, how do you know that a deck isn't chatty?

Different things. There are physical signs sometimes--cards fly out, cards stick together, cards feel too heavy or light in my hands. The cards don't feel right when I set them down. They move about too much or not enough. They don't turn over easily.

Then, there's what happens when I turn them over. The images don't pop. The images don't flow. They feel like they're giving me short answers. Now, one reading isn't conclusive, but when I get the feeling, I simply ask, "What's up?" and I can usually feel when the cards aren't into being read.

But I'm a bit odd.

 

[lark]

Tarot of Dreams (at $75) and the Lunatic Tarot. I have just had such as bad time with buying decks and then not loving them that I've started not buying at all. The Gilded Tarot is gorgeous, but the Tarot of Dreams is just amazing from the cards I've seen online. And I'm absolutely not the person who should be in love with the Lunatic Tarot. I mean I am not in the right age group to just love that deck, but I've been amazed by every card in that deck that I've seen.

I digital scrapbook using Photoshop. I know Tarot of Dreams was done with Photoshop and I'm pretty sure that is one of the reasons I love the deck. I'm amazed with what he did with the program. I think the Lunatic Tarot was also done that way. Totally different, but equally amazing in its own way.

I have a history of buying pretty or artistic decks and then not being able to use them because the cards are not deep enough which is why I've stopped buying decks. But...

The nosey are satisfied.
I admire you for being careful and only buying when you're sure it's something you will read with.
But the pit fall of tarot is...we can't know that until we try it out and that usually means buying it.
I think we should have a lending library here where we can take out a deck for a little while and try it out....maybe I should start that with all the decks I don't want anymore...it would put them to good use.

I wish I had not gone through my diarrhea phase of buying any deck that struck my fancy for 5 minutes.
Now I'm left with the task of simpifying...

Where are we...oh, decks not being chatty...I've said it before...well I've said almost everything here before, but I truly think if you find one or two decks that you really connect with you are blessed and you should hold on to them with all your might.
And if you find a 4 or 5, excellent!...switch off...stimulate your eyes and mind with a new image once and awhile...then go back to your old friend and I think you'll be surprised at how comfortable and chatty it will be again.
It's happened to me many times.

 

[BLFO]

Okay, I have said it a million times that out of my 5 decks, I use Gilded the most. Gilded has taught me something very important about buying decks. Don't just get decks because they are pretty, bright and colorful, or you like the artist work. Look at the deck carefully. What is featured in the deck that you may not be able to interpret. With Gilded, the deck has too many distractions and it makes me wonder if me not knowing what some of the illustration means, I could not be interpreting the reading correctly.

For example, there are way too many planetary business going in background. The Gilded book doesn't explain what type of planets they are. I was never into astronomy so how do tell the difference from Mars to Jupiter? I just don't know. And do these planets in the background really have meaning or are they just for show? Another thing, plants. There are a lot of different plants featured in Gilded. I do not have a green thumb. And I am not into Green Magick (study of herbology and plants for divination and magickal practices). So I have no knowledge if the ferns or the ivies (or ivys) have special meanings. Quite frankly, I am not a plant or flower person. So, heck! I don't know what many of those plants are in the illustrations!

So when you buy a tarot deck, make sure you can identify and possibly know the meaning of various elements in the deck's illustration.