The Tarot of Vampyres

Le Fanu said:

Isn't it funny.. midsummer heat and we all dive for the dark decks...Some of our souls are always craving darkness and night!

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So true, my current deck is Diary of a Broken Soul!! Glorious sunshine outside and yet here I am reading with that deck and craving this one! I really need to get my Vampyres a bag, I hate the silly box it originally came in!
I'm off to browse Tarot Sulis, see if I can find a gorgeous bag to treat my Vampyres to come pay day

Eyebright said:

I'm off to browse Tarot Sulis, see if I can find a gorgeous bag to treat my Vampyres to come pay day

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*be wrongly tempted by the Corpse Bride Bag. With red silk lining*

Le Fanu said:

*be wrongly tempted by the Corpse Bride Bag. With red silk lining*

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*happy sigh*

Sulis bags are so fabulous.

Btw, looks like the Vampyres and I may be back on. I've just ordered my third copy.

Sometimes I amaze myself with my own ridiculousness.

OctoberGwen said:

*happy sigh*

Sulis bags are so fabulous.

Btw, looks like the Vampyres and I may be back on. I've just ordered my third copy.

Sometimes I amaze myself with my own ridiculousness.

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LOL. Is that third copy in the house or third attempt to have it in the house and keep it?

Mine has been slumbering since I bought it. I'll give it a try. May well not be for me. In which case, fancy a fourth??

Le Fanu said:

LOL. Is that third copy in the house or third attempt to have it in the house and keep it?

Mine has been slumbering since I bought it. I'll give it a try. May well not be for me. In which case, fancy a fourth??

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LOL...I'd fancy a first! Apparently the book that goes with is very good. Have you read it?

Le Fanu said:

LOL. Is that third copy in the house or third attempt to have it in the house and keep it?

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That would be the latter. When we're 'off', I boot it out the door.

Le Fanu said:

Mine has been slumbering since I bought it. I'll give it a try. May well not be for me. In which case, fancy a fourth??

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Er, no. But I reserve the right to change my answer...

Stormdancer said:

LOL...I'd fancy a first! Apparently the book that goes with is very good. Have you read it?

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*clears throat*

Actually (yes I have) I don't find the book at all what it's cracked up to be. At the risk of sounding horrendously snobbish - Oh well - here goes - it does a very good job at conveying tarot as something incredibly complex and kabbalah-y and thoth-y and you learn how Mercury is exalted and Jupiter rules and that the kindred spirits are - lest you forget - the Daughters of the Reconcilers.

But actually I don't (personally) find the book very substantial. It does something very odd in its card meanings, which I only recently realised. You have 4 or 5 pages of information about each card which is - like - wow, except I realised as I was reading how it just repeats itself over and over again. It's like listening to your grandmother telling you the same thing again and again and again. Take Judgement for example (excerpts below, a few random phrases from three & a half pages);

"The message of this card is that a situation can be solved by making a clear judgement...

"We must weigh all the elements and qualities to come to an objective viewpoint..."

"This judgement is made from a detached place..."

"(We must) measure the various viewpoints to arrive at a true appraisal."

"A strong approach of discernment and discrimination is called for."

"In essence the card is about weighing the actions..."

(got the message yet?)

"Judgment urges us to consider any issue or matter carefully."

"[we must take] the time to compare and understand all perspectives."

"Being objective and impartial allows us to see the true essence of things."

"This type of judgment involves a criticism based on contemplation."

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But it's all the same. And all the card descriptions feel like this. Incredibly repetitive and unedited. The book is 299 pages long and could actually be about 50 IMO. All the card descriptions have this rambling "stuck record" feel.

But I have the deck with me this week and my plan is to do a few (more) readings with it when I can and see what comes up...I like it slightly more than I did last year.

yeah, le fanu,
that's why pretty much all i read is the small list at the beginning, and the Symbolism paragraph, which covers the artwork symbolism.

I kinda get the feeling that he repeated himself so often becuase he figured people would only be skimming the book. that way they wont miss something

Le Fanu said:

But it's all the same. And all the card descriptions feel like this. Incredibly repetitive and unedited.

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I'm reading the book at the moment and while I kinda agree with you there I do not necessarily think that this is a bad thing especially if you are new to tarot...not that I am
By the time you read the same description the 5th time you will definitely know what it supposed to mean for that card or describe the same thing in different ways.

In addition, i always felt that once you learned the basic meaning of the card, the artwork itself did a lot to guide you to more meaning