Seasoning a deck

'Lo all,

To me, the more I've been through with a tarot deck, the more it means to me. The more times I've shuffled the cards, the better they feel. If I stuffed the deck in the bottom of a backpack, or a bicycle pannier, or a traveling bag to cross time zones, the deck has been some place with me. Might as well stamp them as my passport.

It takes me years to season a new deck. I don't want to bother unless I really like the deck. I wish, really, that I'd started with some version of the Smith-Rider-Waite deck and just stopped right there.

In my imagination, I collect lot'sa new decks. But, those of you who have a collection of 57 decks, or whatever, how many have you seen layed out on the floor of a one-man tent by candlelight when it is 40 below, or under the glare of a tropical sun? How many have you lived with?

Sorry, just trying to talk myself out of buying another deck.

But I think a really good deck should be seasoned, and living with it is the only way I know how. And I think it is important.

Talisman

Talisman,

What a wonderful post! I agree about the need to season your deck right.

A little salt, a little pepper, lots of garlic and healthy fistful of crushed red pepper. Then a dash of cumin for that exotic touch.

Oh wait, that's pork tenderloin.

I also take my cards everywhere with me. They have been on both sides of the equator and the international dateline. They have been read in the parlor of a 600 year old castle and around the campstove of an Argentinian gaucho camp. They have been scattered on the floor of a 747 after hitting an air pocket somewhere over the South Pacific and one or two of them still bear the tinyest remnants of a Sherry stain picked up in a delightful little tapas bar in Barcelona.

They are as familiar to me as my favorite pair of blue jeans and they fit just as well. They are my true companion and as much a part of me as any of the things my doctor probes and pricks during my annual physical.

Talsiman- it takes you YEARS to season a deck? Maybe you should buy some new spices..... just kidding.

Sorry - I have never taken my deck to anywhere exotic-although I did take one to Ireland and Scotland in 2005 - is that 'exotic' enough? I consider a deck 'seasoned' when I no longer have to think about seasoning it.

Hmmmmmmm... "Durkee's Tarot Seasoning," or 'Newman's Own Tarot Marinade'!

Hey, talisman...

While I've accumulated over 20 decks in just the last couple years, I don't consider most of them 'seasoned' enough to read for others with. (You know...could use a dash more pepper...another clove of garlic or two...)

When I read for friends I offer them a choice of only two or three decks that I've worked with the most. (Such as Osho Zen, Medieval Scapini, and Aquarian, maybe.) More than that gets them all freaked out about choosing a deck, so much so that they end up not concentrating enough on their question.

The rest I use when I'm just playing around with spreads. I'll lay out a spread with one deck, then place the same card values from another deck in the same layout. Then I just let the associations between the two flow...how are they different? the same? what new possibilities does each deck point to? This exercise seems to give my grey matter a good stirring up. And that's something my poor little brain needs regularly.

So, while I, myself haven't travelled to other countries with my tarot decks, I try to let my mind 'boldly go where no one has gone before...' <insert Star Trek theme here >

Peace,

Melvis

Seasoning a deck?

How come i've never heard of seasoning a deck?

besides the fact that i AM pretty new.... maybe haven't read enough books?....

but could someone care to explain....

what's seasoning? (i know about the pepper joke =D)

Well, I have many, many decks, but I only ever use one: My Robin Wood.

I too, take the Robgin Wood everywhere with me. I cannot bear to leave it on it's own, stuffed away in some drawer in my room... That deck is my friend. I don't see it as a tool, but as a good friend who knows me, what's going on inside my head... It's seen the ups and downs of my life for about a year now, and it's stuck with me through and through.

It's been to Oxford Uni with me... I read with it under the stars on a gorgeous evening beneath a fir tree, with the crockets snging in the background...

It's spent rainy nights in a canvas tent with me, protected in bin liners from the damp, but still happily reading for me by the embers of a camp fire...

I took it to Galstonbury, where it no doubt gathered a pretty amazing expereince up on the Tor...

It;s felt the sand from the beach on a sunny day in Bournemouth, with the crowds and screaming children running past, spraying sea water over us...

It's survived the college Common Room (Nuff said)

I've read it in the garden, in a churchyard on a lovely warm day...

It's watched the sunrise with me, and watched that same sun set... It has inspired me, and tolerated me, and has even been known to give the odd reading or two outside a cinema when I should've been watching the film....

It's been aquianted with other decks from all paths of life, and so many different and unusual people...

I don't believe a deck is ever fully seasoned... After all, humans never stop learning, so why should a deck never have room for a little improvement or expereince from time to time?

Kiama

Bumping up this thread because I found it by accident and the posts are a beautiful read.

LB

Wow! 2001! This thread is ancient! LB, you are a sick puppy! LOL!

Mix salt, pepper, and flour; dredge the deck with scrambled egg, then dredge in flour mixture. Fry each side for one minute or deep fry to a crackly crunch!

There are quite some decks i carried around a lot. The RW, the Morgan Geer, the Haindl (the original box fell victim to rain eventually, but the cards were undamaged), Daughters of the Moon etc. I know those best, of course.

tarotbear said:

LB, you are a sick puppy! LOL!

Click to expand...

I know TB, I can't help it, lol. But enjoyed the recepies all the same.

LB