Would a different elemental/suit system be a deal-breaker?

[Laura Borealis]

If a tarot deck had a different elemental/suit correspondence system than the usual one, would that stop you from getting it?

For clarity, imo the usual system is Swords/air, Staves/fire, Cups/water, and Coins/air. I don't want to muddy the question by saying what I have in mind instead.

Poll is simple yes or no, because I am curious if it would be a deal-breaker. If you're thinking "It depends!" then the answer is No, as the mere fact of a different system would not be a deal breaker... Feel free to discuss what it would depend on, though!

 

[RunningWild]

Let me be the first to vote and respond here...

Not a deal breaker at all. I have a deck or two that switch the elements around and it doesn't seem to affect readings I do with them as long as I can see what the artist sees in the elemental switch.

 

[dancing_moon]

I don't have any decks that use non-traditional suit correspondences, but I don't think it would matter that much.

I'm more and more inclined to view every deck as a unique system that might or might not remind similar decks. For me, no two decks are similar enough (unless it's another clone of RWS, with thematically redressed scenery ), and slight deviations make each deck a system in its own. So, shifted suit correspondences would be just another peculiarity to pay attention to.

 

[Laura Borealis]

Thank you for answering, you two

I'm still in the contemplation stage, so I'm not sure I would go with a different system anyway. But I keep being mentally pulled to it.

 

[Chronata]

I wanted to say no...but then I realized that every deck that had the swords/fire and wands/air were decks that I gave away. Even the ones that were incredibly beautiful.

Because I just never used them.

 

[Laura Borealis]

This is good to know! Thank you.

 

[Zephyros]

For me it wouldn't be provided the deck explained itself well enough why (not the LWB, the deck). The traditional attributions have centuries of history and context, and a deeply-rooted structure and reasoning. Simply switching the attributions on a whim is uninteresting to me.

 

[Alta]

Not a deal-breaker, but because my mind is so fixed on the attributions you name in your opening post, I do struggle with the Swords/Fire thing or the the other combos that have come out. As closrapexa says, the new system would have to be very well explained.

 

[Richard]

I use the usual Elemental attributions (Wands = Fire, etc) extensively and automatically. For me they have wide ranging mythological, psychological, and occult associations which I have built up over the years and would be loathe to give up. Another system (such as the Wiccan) would be a deal breaker unless there were something really special about the deck. I have no problem with decks which are neutral regarding the Elements, such as those in the Marseille tradition.

 

[Padma]

Not a deal breaker for me, because I tend to read intuitively more than traditionally, anyways...and I do not always use the elemental dignities. So I don't mind at all. As long as the images speak to me, it little matters whether they are stones instead of Pents, for example, or cake instead of fire! Cards are cards are cards, imo. They're just keys to open my own intuition.