Frankendecken Journal thread

This thread is the journal of the travels of the Frankendecken and is only for participants in the project to post their experiences with the deck. Any other posts will be deleted.

The subject of this thread is a documentation of the Frankendecken's time with the participants; what you did, where you went, first impressions, reflections etc. Photos are welcome, and anyone who is not a subscriber can contact me, gregory or a Moderator and ask for help in posting. Non-participants cannot post comments in this thread.

So I took Frankendeck to the Post Office today. On the way, we stopped at one of the most traditional tearooms in the city, Pastelaria Versailles as it was just filling up for lunch.

I just had a quick coffee and a mid-morning cake (he had nothing). Such a lively place at this time of day. How odd, after what seems like ages in my care, to be sending Frankendecken off into the big wide world.

A cake and a coffee before leaving seems such a fitting farewell...

(Ooh, beautiful interior!)

The Frankendeck arrived today, in good shape, only the Magician is a little bent – and then there's this HUGE card that hardly fits in the bag, that also got bent edges during transport... (it is very, _very_ pretty though and I love that it is a part of the deck)
This lovely, crazy, weird deck! The cards are so different, not only in colouring, style and size, but also in cardstock, thickness, lamination (and lack of lamination) – some are smooth, some rough... it's a joy to go through all the cards.

And what a stunning patchwork bag! It's amazing, I would like bags like this for every deck, ever.

Today, Frankie will spend a quiet evening at home with me, and we'll make plans for what to do while he/she/it is here. (And I'll try to figure out a way to shuffle the little monster. Because I intend to read with it, at least once!)

Sadly, Frankie will probably not go to the gravemounds of Old Uppsala – because I likely won't be able to go there until saturday 22 and the deck will have to leave for Germany on Friday 21.
But we'll find some other fun thing to do!

Journey Journal of the Frankendeck, day 1: Friday

The deck arrives!

It's really lovely. I spent a while just sorting through it and admiring the images, the different backs and cardstock, and laughing at the different sizes… The difference in card sizes is absolutely hilarious. The biggest card is almost four times the size of the smallest. I love the variety! And it's all lovely. Especially the patchwork bag by BlueDragonfly.

But it's not easy to shuffle, so to do that I have to throw all cards out on the floor and move them around. (there's a thick soft carpet, so the cards are safe from scratches)

I even got to do a mini reading this first evening! My roomie pulled a card to see what tomorrow will have in store for her… and got 9 of Pumpkins (Pentacles)! Which we took to mean that tomorrow she will feel very good about herself and something related to home or career.

Day 2: Saturday

Sorry for the lack of photos so far. It's due to the temporary lack of a camera. Photos will be coming up later - but so far, we've only been at my place and there's not that much to see here.

Yesterday's reading for my roomie turned out to be absolutely right! Go Frankie!

While I have this deck, I am going to use this deck for one-card draws when and if I have the chance. I think it would be very good for those, especially for people who never have seen these cards before and don't know what's on the other side – I already recognise a couple of the cards from the back but I try not to and if I pull cards for myself I'll have to close my eyes first.

(Too bad I don't know very many here who are interested in tarot, though… I might have to pester my roomie some more )

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Oh, by the way THIS is a fun coincidence for the first card I've drawn on my own here!

I was just playing with the cards a little while I was thinking about things to do and places to go. I pulled a card – no question, just to get a feel of the deck, a kind of "hello there, who are you" – and got King of Wands from the Comparative Tarot! If you haven't seen this card, it features images of four Kings of Wands from four different decks.
It was like the deck was saying "Hi, I'm an energetic and inspiring fellow full of ideas! And as you can see, I'm also made from cards from several different decks!"

Great joke, Frankie… great joke!

Day 3: Sunday

Had to spend today working, most of the day, so no sightseeing for Frankie.

But I had some friends come over for coffee and let them see the deck – none of them are into Tarot, but they appreciate art and found the deck very interesting with all its different styles. And I got to do some more one-card draws, which again were very accurate and fun! One card draws and intuitive interpretation seem to work very well, so far.
...I'm really going to miss Frankie when it's time to send him/her on... *sigh*

This deck seems to bring out curiosity and playfulness in everyone who sees it, its silly and fun and interesting, and not at all scary like a "real" and "serious" deck could be.
Everybody, even the shy ones and those who don't care for "that silly hocus pocus thing", wants to have a look. And before you know, they start to play with it, pulling cards and turning them over, and go "What's this? What's that? What does it mean?" (and also, I admit, a bit of "look, gold coins, will I get rich?" and "Ooh, this guy is good looking, am I going to meet him?" )
It's like a goodie bag full of different pieces of yummy candy, and they really liked it. Lots of fun and laughs.

Tomorrow I hope to get the Frankendeck out of the house and maybe bring you some pictures too!
I'm no genius when it comes to cameras, but I'll do my very best... so stay tuned!

Day 4: Monday

Such a beautiful sunny day!

After work, Frankie and me took the underground train (also known as the T-bana, T is for "Tunnel") to the city, hoping to get some nice photos in Gamla Stan. But as soon as I got there, I got a call from an old friend and we ended up having sushi and tea instead. Which was very nice.

The Frankendeck and the beautiful bag made quite an impression.

I took some photos, but haven't yet figured out how to transfer them to the computer, and feel a bit stupid because I'm SURE it's not supposed to be that difficult. Sorry about that, pictures Will come, probably all in a great big heap in the final post.

On a happier note, there is a chance we might actually be able to go to Old Uppsala after all – I hope so!

Day 5: Tuesday

A real summer day, the hottest day so far!

Another day of Frankie hanging around in my bag with me all day like a happy patchwork puppy. I think he likes it.

After work we went for a little walk in the sun, passed by the planet Mercury (I'll explain that later) and then to a café on the south side with the interesting name of Café Sodom. It's not as sinful as the name might make you think, it's just a nice little hole-in-the-wall café with brown vintage furniture from the 50's, but they do serve excellent home made ice-cold lemonade that is oh, wow, deeeeelicious.
They also serve the "Gomorra Breakfast Menu" which is a pun on the Swedish "gomorron!" meaning "Good Morning!". Too late in the afternoon for a chance to try that one, though.

So I had a huge glass of the lovely lemonade, and a grilled sandwich. Frankie had nothing, but was happy anyway.

After that, we went to a pub to meet some friends, but this time Frankie got to stay in the bag...

Photos!

I figured out how to transfer pictures to the computer, so here are some! Apologies for the horrible quality of the first two. They are from my phone, and the next day I switched to a proper camera. For the obvious reason.

Here's Frankie happily riding on the subway train (and posing with the Chariot card, of course!). From the streaming sunlight through the windows you can tell it occasionally also runs above ground.

A lovely summer afternoon in Stockholm.
What you see is Gamla Stan (the Old Town). The church tower is the German Church which is from the 1500's and very beautiful. If I had chosen a slightly different angle you would have been able to see the tower of Storkyrkan (Large Church) to the left, but the roofs are in the way now.