Cathar Tarot

Denever

It has the pull ribbon, and I had to pull on it so hard that I was afraid it would tear off before I got the box out. If it had, I'd have needed a knife to liberate the deck and book.

I have tried gently bending the sleeve from the inside to loosen it up, but no luck. Pushing the box back into the sleeve is so difficult that I've left it sticking out a few inches.

At least one review on Amazon complained that the part that the deck sits in was torn in both the first one they got and the replacement they requested because of the tears in the first. That person was unlucky with that part. I was unlucky with the box. Deck and book are okay, so ... <shrug>

:?:

Mine has a pull ribbon.... If yours doesn't - get a good strong ribbon and lay that in before sliding the stuff in - then you can easily pull it out.
 

gregory

Well, try a long ribbon that loops right around it, and then you can practically lift it out.
 

Le Fanu

I can't believe that someone - like the person in that Amazon review - would go to the trouble of returning a deck, rejecting a deck because of a tear in the box. What planet are these people on? Do they have no concept of - what's it called again? - oh yes, the environment? Chucking one out and carbon footprinting because of a torn box. I know it's easy to say "they may be a collector - they need pristine boxes". But really (and nobody can prove that they are). Hey and I am a collector and I live with tears in boxes. It's such a tiny detail on the scale of things.

It shocks me to see tarot people going on about Gaia and earth spirits and the beauty of the natural world and then complaining about a tear in a box and spending fossil fuel on returning it. Really. All these tarot sets going backwards and forwards because of a rip in a box. I remember this with the Tarot of Prague too. Is it just me that feels a need to rant LOL ?

But yes, gregory's suggestions of a ribbon looped round sounds good (mine too had a ribbon). Whatever you do, don't return it just because of a lack of ribbon!
 

Michellehihi

I can't believe that someone - like the person in that Amazon review - would go to the trouble of returning a deck, rejecting a deck because of a tear in the box. What planet are these people on? Do they have no concept of - what's it called again? - oh yes, the environment? Chucking one out and carbon footprinting because of a torn box. I know it's easy to say "they may be a collector - they need pristine boxes". But really (and nobody can prove that they are). Hey and I am a collector and I live with tears in boxes. It's such a tiny detail on the scale of things.

It shocks me to see tarot people going on about Gaia and earth spirits and the beauty of the natural world and then complaining about a tear in a box and spending fossil fuel on returning it. Really. All these tarot sets going backwards and forwards because of a rip in a box. I remember this with the Tarot of Prague too. Is it just me that feels a need to rant LOL ?

But yes, gregory's suggestions of a ribbon looped round sounds good (mine too had a ribbon). Whatever you do, don't return it just because of a lack of ribbon!
Totally. Thank you for this.
 

Nemia

I agree completely! Unbelievable.

My Cathar deck just arrived and it was no problem to open it. Now I'll have my first date with this deck that I bought spontaneously :) I hope I like it, I've always been interested in the Cathars and I'm amazed how the tarot archetypes inspire totally different types of decks.
 

Nemia

After taking a first look at it, I'm still glad I bought it and find the concept highly interesting (more so than the Holy Grail), but I have a little problem with the art. I recognize famous works of art, Giotto, Hugo van der Goes, the Master of Flemalle - and they clash somehow with the computer-generated rest of the image. Kat Black did a better job in creating seamless images that make me suspend my recognition.

The frame with the color gradient doesn't disturb me, it reminds me of the Byzantine, and I like it there, too.

What a pity they didn't ask the artist of the Byzantine to do this deck - Cilla Conway, isnt' it? She'd have done a better job with traditional means. But then maybe the two decks would have turned out too similar from a style point of view? I don't know.

The cards want to disappear old but as opposed to the decks I mentioned, it doesn't work too well for me.

Now this is a one of the decks where the concept attracts me more than the artwork - and I know myself well enough by now to understand that the concept is the more important part. I've developed great relationships with decks whose art is lukewarm for me, and stayed aloof with gorgeous decks (Margarethe Petersen, yes I'm looking at you again! I still call you Frau Petersen!).

It's not that the art is bad - no. It's just that I see to clearly "how it's been done". It's like seeing a middle aged actress play Juliet on stage. She'll have to be a VERY good actress to make me forget that she's acting.

I'm very happy I bought this deck, it suits into my collection as though made for me. And I hope I didn't spoil the deck's art for anyone else.

And now I'm off to read the book :)
 

Denever

Maybe I'm not explaining this clearly. The problem is the tightness of the box fitting into the sleeve, not the deck fitting into the blue sunken part inside the box. Putting a ribbon under the deck alone would indeed make it easier to lift out, but putting a ribbon all the way around the box that goes into the sleeve would make the fit even tighter. There's no room for anything else in there -- even something as thin as a ribbon.

I simply re-housed the deck and the box. I'm not willing to fight with a box every time I want to use a deck.

Well, try a long ribbon that loops right around it, and then you can practically lift it out.
 

BlueLotus

Thanks to Le Fanu for bringing this deck to my attention, and as I read this thread thoroughly, I decided to order the set after all, not just because it's affordable and the images I saw online were quite gorgeous, in addition to the accompanying book which seems to be very well written and contains colored good size images of the cards, but also because I find the Cathars' belief system quite interesting, as it resonates with the tarot cards and vice versa, and last but not least, because I adore John Mathews' other decks in my collection. :thumbsup:
 

gregory

Maybe I'm not explaining this clearly. The problem is the tightness of the box fitting into the sleeve, not the deck fitting into the blue sunken part inside the box. Putting a ribbon under the deck alone would indeed make it easier to lift out, but putting a ribbon all the way around the box that goes into the sleeve would make the fit even tighter. There's no room for anything else in there -- even something as thin as a ribbon.

I simply re-housed the deck and the box. I'm not willing to fight with a box every time I want to use a deck.
No - you didn't understand what I said. The cards are no problem at all, obviously. I said there was a ribbon attached that pulls it all out - you can't have a ribbon attached to the cards ;)

My ribbon is attached to the edge of the box. It pulls out the whole box form the sleeve - deck and book together. So put a ribbon into the sleeve that is long enough to have a good bit free at each end and then you can pull out the whole lot in its little drawer.
 

Patrick Booker

Finally got a copy. A really nice package, and excellent value.

Patrick