why do you collect tarot cards?

[VGimlet]

I had only one deck for 29 years, and we were going down to New Orleans for my 40th birthday, so I thought it would be fun to get a new deck while I was down there. My old Aquarian was getting pretty dog eared, and I wanted to see what else was out there.

Went into the shops there, and was amazed at all the different decks available. Bought a few, came home and found AT, and the rest is history.

First it was because I wanted to learn decks in different styles than the standard RWS I had been using, and then it was because I saw decks that intrigued me, or I found interesting, or was drawn to the art...

 

[Masa]

At the moment, each of the decks I own or plan to own fills a particular niche. Shadowscapes is my main deck for reading/brainstorming/meditation/whatever. Hanson-Roberts is for carrying around, shuffling roughly, playing card games, showing to nervous people, and generally beating up. Tiny Tarot is for reading at my computer desk, laying out big charts, and getting quick RWS references.

Silicon Dawn, on its way here, will be my crazytown boundary-pushing deck and also a prop in a roleplaying game and also probably good for brainstorming. Crystal Tarots will be my abstract minors deck (and also do some "I can't handle how pretty this is" work, and possibly get trimmed). Fey will be my really-well-developed-theme deck and be useful for thinking about elements. Manga will be my reversed-genders deck. Metamorphosis will be my "crack" deck. Romantici, if I can ever find/afford it, will be my majors-only. Dark Grimoire will be my spooky deck and make my Lovecraft braincells very happy. If I could get any historical deck I wanted, it'd be the Pierre Madeni Marseilles. I might go for a Scapini someday...

I'm sure I'll gradually find more niches that need filling. ^^ I've never really had a collection before, but this one is starting out pretty awesome, I've got to say.

 

[Morwenna]

Before I had decks, I had books. And books tend to have illustrations. So I knew there were several decks out there, and when I started buying decks it was one by one at roughly one-year intervals. Still, a collection will evolve even at that pace. Of course, AT helped me realize just how many decks there might be out there! Still, my average is less than two a year (there were several years I didn't buy any), even with the recent spike in buying. And I intend to keep it down.

But what keeps me going? The combination of artwork and concept. I tend to stick with RWS-type, though I have a few with non-illo pips and a couple nonstandards. But I do love theme decks if I like the theme AND I think the theme has been treated well AND I like the art! (Well, sometimes if I like the treatment otherwise, I'll be forgiving of the art.)

I do like one of the replies above: "little art galleries." Exactly.

(Do I/did I collect other things? Sure. Books, records, candle holders, owls, Depression glass, etc., which I still have; and when I was a kid it was any picture or clipping having to do with nature. And now it's fancy gaming dice.)

 

[chongjasmine]

For me, I collected the cards because I like the images on them.
When I was young, I used to collect all types of cards... all because I like the images in them.
After my interest in tarot, I begin to collect different kinds of tarot deck, for the pictures that are printed on them.

 

[Narwhallove]

Deluded ...

I'm still under the delusion that all my decks are either working or reference decks. But I am beginning to notice that each time I get a new one (and this is starting to happen on a near weekly basis) I rip open the packaging, trim it if the borders are huge, and knit a pouch for it. Then I put it on my bookshelf and feel satisfied. "How beautiful it looks, wrapped in wool on my bookshelf!"

Then I start searching on AT again....

Really, the forums are more damaging than the site itself. I thought the Alchemical was out of print and unavailable unless you were willing to part with $300, and then I saw a post about the third edition and a new book; I saw Le Fanu's lovely blog and thought, Hey, those Lenormand cards look interesting!; someone mentioned Hoi Polloi, and I'm a sucker for 70s colors ... and there you go. It's like crack.

 

[Morwenna]

You have a Hoi Polloi???

 

[vee]

Yeah, at first I had no idea there were so many different kinds of decks. Then I thought there were a lot of decks, but my only exposure was Borders, so I was like "eh, most of them are not for me." Then I went in search of a tarot deck I had when I was younger (the original mythic), discovered AT, and the rest, as they say...

 

[Narwhallove]

You have a Hoi Polloi???

I wish I did ... it's on my wish list! I did order the Alchemical, but if anyone wants to drop their Hoi Polloi, I'm your tarotist!

 

[Asbestos Mango]

It was an accident, really. There were a few decks I had owned in the past that I wanted to replace...

then I started looking at scans and thinking, "That deck looks cool, I want it..."

I never set out to become a collector, but I'm up to twenty-five decks now, and probably will buy more in the future. I just hope I don't get to a point where I have more decks than I can use and enjoy.

 

[Morwenna]

I wish I did ... it's on my wish list! I did order the Alchemical, but if anyone wants to drop their Hoi Polloi, I'm your tarotist!

Ya gotta duke it out with me first!