Le Fanu
Can I just say - utterly objectively of course - that what you are feeling is normal & right. It is the correct reaction to this deck. Anything less would be quite the wrong reaction!punchinella said:--Reviving this thread to say that I have owned the deck for 24 hours now and find it strangely compelling, particularly when I am not actually looking at it. I cannot stop thinking about it. I fell asleep last night thinking about it, and took the run of the year (through Halloween country) dreaming not of the haunted houses and costumed children before my eyes, but of the NotMS deck. I went to Amazon and ordered the book and . . . ahem . . . a back-up deck . . . (*punchinella casts eyes aside in some embarrassment*)
I'm not really sure why the deck is sucking me in like this, it's nothing I can put my finger on. The artwork is, to be honest, not even that attractive imo. But I am intensely stimulated by it . . .
Isn't it dreamlike and, yes, compelling? I'm being very well behaved at the moment because I'm studying the Dodal with Herzog, but over the weekend I took out one of my (7! ) copies thinking "wouldn't it be odd, after enjoying my Dodal studies so much if I found this flat and uninteresting now?"
But no, I tumbled back into it, remembering why I like it so much. It absolutely captivates me. There is so much to pounce on in readings. There is something so weirdly readable about this deck for me. Of course, we need to have breaks and we buy other decks and enjoy them. I don't believe in The One, but this deck never ceases to fascinate me every time I get it out.
I was very lucky as the book is quite hard to find and AJ very kindly sent me a copy, for which I shall be eternally indebted. Imagine finding your favourite deck and never, ever being able to read what the creator wrote about it? I was doing very well without the book (a kind ATer sent me a pdf of notes taken from the book) but reading the book made a huge difference to my understanding of the deck, as it will yours.
What might it be that is sucking you in? Is it the weird genderlessness of these beings (but this doesn't mean they are asexual I find!) Is it the colours? The dreamlike symbolism, the strange, bleak landscapes? I often think that it might be something as simple as size in relation to my hands that makes this deck feel right!
Oh, and remember, we don't have to love the artwork of a deck to relate to it!