Tarot's Personality

Shibiusa

I hope I'm not being "crazy" or thinking too much into it, but I do believe each tarot has a personality of its own (otherwise it would make no sense to have so many different decks around).

How do you check your deck's personality? How do you connect with that personality?
Can you love a deck and not knowing how to connect with the deck's personality? How would you "fix" that?
 

gregory

WELL - I have to say that I don't "connect with the personality" of ANY of my decks. I don't really even know what it means - but my decks work well for me.

Some I find harder to read with than others - but I can't say I see that as a clash of personalities; simply - it's a bit like running into someone whose language you don't speak and you need to learn it before you can communicate. That isn't "getting connected to their personality" though - they could be just your sort of person or not - but when there is no way to talk about that - no common language - you can't find out.

I have got really good results on occasion from decks I really don't like - and vice versa.
 

MissChiff

WELL - I have to say that I don't "connect with the personality" of ANY of my decks. I don't really even know what it means - but my decks work well for me.

Some I find harder to read with than others - but I can't say I see that as a clash of personalities; simply - it's a bit like running into someone whose language you don't speak and you need to learn it before you can communicate. That isn't "getting connected to their personality" though - they could be just your sort of person or not - but when there is no way to talk about that - no common language - you can't find out.

I have got really good results on occasion from decks I really don't like - and vice versa.


I would have to agree with this....this is how it works for me..
 

Pachee

I hope I'm not being "crazy" or thinking too much into it, but I do believe each tarot has a personality of its own (otherwise it would make no sense to have so many different decks around).



How do you check your deck's personality? How do you connect with that personality?

Can you love a deck and not knowing how to connect with the deck's personality? How would you "fix" that?



I feel that way about them too. I do deck interviews sometimes and was really into them for a while. Still am. I look back and sometimes do it again to see if any things evolved or if I hadn't written it down

I go on and off with tarot do sometimes I'll get a new deck and play with it and then let it sit for a while until it calls for me. I feel like the longer I have them the more I can feel them, with some taking longer than others to have an intuition feely click for. Shadowscapes called to me by straight up being in my dreams with the imagery. The Afro-Brazilian through the gods of the deck....and real life coincidences and circumstance.

Though honestly the rws mini I have doesn't as much. I do have trouble with its personality. I can't tell if it's a crotchety old man no nonsense type or a straight forward type or if the traditional occult imagery and history weirds me out or what. I think it's the symbolism being hidden in plain sight that gets me because when I have that broken down (clouds, mountains, staffs, trees) it feels less creepy and stingy. That's such a weird thing to admit on a tarot website but there you go. Maybe it's the dream like feel.

Edit: wow taptalk app sucks! I guess it's been crashing lately. Well my paragraph is lost but I guess having faith that you have the deck for a reason even if it is to ultimately pass it on puts the pressure off. Learning about the creator helps a lot too, and their intent. Sometimes if you're broke reading reviews or being in a study group with folk who have the book helps. Even if you disagree with the author for your purposes you still know it's history better and the emotions maybe.
 

Barleywine

I can't say that my favorite decks have "personality," but they certainly have presence or "projection" - of the artist's unique vision. When that "projection" syncs with my equally singular "perception," the alignment is perfected and readability is almost automatic. It usually happens instantly, and not many decks make the grade. I have neither the time nor the desire to "grow into" a new deck, which is why I now try to be extremely selective about what I buy. My shelves are loaded with failed past experiments.
 

Sulis

I don't think that decks have personalities at all, they're paper and ink.
I think saying that they do is a little like saying that books have personality when they clearly don't but you may connect more with the way a certain author writes and with the story being presented a lot better than you will with another.
I think that's what happens with decks.. We connect with the artwork and react to that so some decks will seem easier to read with than others and some decks will seem to have a more straight to the point 'voice' than others.. As gregory said though, it's perfectly possible to read with a deck if you don't like the artwork, it just takes a bit more work.

I very firmly believe that the 'magic' comes from the reader and not from the deck.
 

Pachee

Incidentally do you have an inclination to give personality to non-sentient objects too? Even like tables or maybe stuffed animals and magical tools? I think the term is called animism.
It's interesting to me that even the intuitives of aeclectic don't prefer to see the cards this way and are more pragmatic about it. That's not a criticism, in fact I see the wisdom in it. A tool is a tool. I sort of wonder what is behind it though if anything.


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Barleywine

Incidentally do you have an inclination to give personality to non-sentient objects too? Even like tables or maybe stuffed animals and magical tools? I think the term is called animism.
It's interesting to me that even the intuitives of aeclectic don't prefer to see the cards this way and are more pragmatic about it. That's not a criticism, in fact I see the wisdom in it. A tool is a tool. I sort of wonder what is behind it though if anything.


Sent from my iPod touch using Tapatalk

Funny you should ask. I think I posted before that I have some fun with applying imaginative cultural references to certain inanimate objects: my tree-branch lopper is named "Cyndi," my large, menacing butcher knife is named "Norman" after the murderous heir to the Bates Motel, and my wide-mouthed ice cream scoop is named "Monica" after the legendary White House intern. Not animism, just some slightly perverse amusement to scandalize my wife :) (But now she's started doing it too!)
 

gregory

Funny you should ask. I think I posted before that I have some fun with applying imaginative cultural references to certain inanimate objects: my tree-branch lopper is named "Cyndi," my large, menacing butcher knife is named "Norman" after the murderous heir to the Bates Motel, and my wide-mouthed ice cream scoop is named "Monica" after the legendary White House intern. Not animism, just some slightly perverse amusement to scandalize my wife :) (But now she's started doing it too!)
ALL my cars have had names. I also have other named objects.
 

Shibiusa

Hum... I don't think I ever did that, actually xD I don't connect much with objects. I'm more of a living beings person, I guess, since I do try to connect with nature and animals and persons (but persons are more complicated). Trying to figure out their personality and their philosophy, so to say.

I only have two decks so far and I don't feel the need for more. My Mystic Faerie Tarot has instant connection with me. I didn't need to do anything at all and it kinda makes sense giving my birth charts and my past. I am a earthy person, if you understand me.
My Angel Tarot Cards were my most recent acquisition. I do love the deck. The drawings are beautiful, the cards are beautiful, I agree with the deck's vision (or I wouldn't have bought it). It has everything for me to love. But I have troubles connecting with it. It makes me feel like it's a personality clash, like when you meet a person, you really admire him/her and that person doesn't really care much for you for some reason. I have no idea what to do with it. And I don't want to give up on it! Because I really like it...