Not a review, but more of a complaint. US Games in their infinite wisdom decided it would be a great idea to use shiny, smelly lamination for this deck, just like with the new Joie de Vivre Tarot. This worries me, since I now dread how the upcoming (if ever) Sun deck tarot Patrick Valenza US Games might be published. We need to do something to fight this trend.
Thanks to ![[personal profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
takemyrevolution's head's-up, I asked Santa to stick a Dollar Tree tarot deck in my Christmas stocking, and, wow.
It's not actually a bad deck - it's printed in three colors (red, yellow, black) on fairly flimsy, non-glossy cardstock, but I actually like the design that went into it, and I've been wanting a basic tarot deck that has non-pictorial pip cards.
But!
It is the weirdest deck of cards, tarot or otherwise, I have ever encountered. It has the full Major Arcana (unnumbered), and then it has suit cards numbered 1-7 and Page, knight, queen, king, and ace. If you add in the 8 'divination' cards (which go with the "mystic mat" as guides to doing a Celtic cross layout variant) it does in fact add up to the 'complete set with 78 cards' that the box promises, but, uh, not the cards I expected, and the explanatory pamphlet is... not very explanatory.
Has anyone seen a deck with those cards in it before, tarot or otherwise? I haven't. I checked Hoyle's and apparently there are some old rummy-type games (like Conquian) that use a deck of A-7 + J Q K, but even they don't have ones and aces. Is there somewhere in the world where this is the normal set of cards?
takemyrevolution's head's-up, I asked Santa to stick a Dollar Tree tarot deck in my Christmas stocking, and, wow.It's not actually a bad deck - it's printed in three colors (red, yellow, black) on fairly flimsy, non-glossy cardstock, but I actually like the design that went into it, and I've been wanting a basic tarot deck that has non-pictorial pip cards.
But!
It is the weirdest deck of cards, tarot or otherwise, I have ever encountered. It has the full Major Arcana (unnumbered), and then it has suit cards numbered 1-7 and Page, knight, queen, king, and ace. If you add in the 8 'divination' cards (which go with the "mystic mat" as guides to doing a Celtic cross layout variant) it does in fact add up to the 'complete set with 78 cards' that the box promises, but, uh, not the cards I expected, and the explanatory pamphlet is... not very explanatory.
Has anyone seen a deck with those cards in it before, tarot or otherwise? I haven't. I checked Hoyle's and apparently there are some old rummy-type games (like Conquian) that use a deck of A-7 + J Q K, but even they don't have ones and aces. Is there somewhere in the world where this is the normal set of cards?
If you are in need of a tarot deck and you live near a Dollar Tree, check out their toy isle. I don't know if all Dollar Trees have the same selection, but the one near me has smallish 78-card tarot decks. I picked one up tonight. It's nothing fancy, but the art is okay and hey, it's a functional deck.
Just thought I'd mention it. :)
Just thought I'd mention it. :)
One that I've been looking forward to, the Cat's Eye Tarot, and Paulina Cassidy's new deck Joie De Vivre, which IMHO appears to be an improvement over her last one.
Hi! First time poster, so be gentle with me.
I've been reading cards for over a decade, both personally and professionally.
I've recently made the decision to create my own deck for private use and was wondering if anyone around here had done the same and could offer any introspection into any kind of changes in reading this might cause.
Thank you for your time.
I've been reading cards for over a decade, both personally and professionally.
I've recently made the decision to create my own deck for private use and was wondering if anyone around here had done the same and could offer any introspection into any kind of changes in reading this might cause.
Thank you for your time.
Has anyone out there tried BPAL's line, or similar brands?
The Morbidly Adorable Tarot, to be published by US Games, whenever the hell it might get finished, that is. I'm betting in or around 2012-13 at this rate.
After awhile of getting myself familiar with Modern Astrology, I felt like I was hitting a brick wall, and not getting the answers I needed, with far too many of these books being too vague for my taste, the usual repetition taken as gospel about some asteroid or Outer Planet, or stupid crap being made up on the fly-Matthew Currie's labeling of women with Venus opposing Uranus as 'Spice Girls' in an older episode of his podcast easily comes to mind.
It wasn't until I started begrudgingly using the whole sign system and triplicity rulers (there isn't just one set) and started going through a nice Hellenistic/Classical astrology text did much of it come together, and make, dare I say, bitter, fatalistic sense. For personal reasons, I will not get in to that much detail here, though I will say having the Classical ruler of your 7th house conjuncting a nasty fixed star in the 6th house in the Face and Term of Saturn should not be played down with the new age modern kittens and puppies mentality of far too many of today's astrologers still do. I still need to read more of these older texts and learn a few dead languages, but I've come to the conclusions that the ancients were mostly right, even though they might not be the best at writing manuals-that would take a few more centuries.
So what does this have to do with Tarot? A lot I believe, because the Tarot community, including the writer Mary K Greer, seems to be having a similar mentality, with its lack of comfort with fortune telling and how life really can suck. Let's take a look at her latest advice. Sounds so innocent, doesn't it?-
http://marygreer.wordpress.com/2011/0
Now first to be fair here, I am aware that there are a fair amount of frauds and exploiters out there who rip people off by exaggerating or making up stuff about how allegedly in big trouble they are. However, people like Mary K Greer and company throw the baby out of the bathwater here by looking down at prediction altogether (especially the nasty realities of life), as though what they themselves are doing doesn't involve it. Even just using it as a psychological exercise involves the use of guesses they wouldn't get through other means. What Greer does is fortune telling, pure and simple, her type of fortune telling only limited by what kind of readings she chooses to do, regardless of what she picks up from readings, or picks and chooses to tell her clients.
From the thread, Greer comments that:
I chose not to tell a young mother-to-be that I saw problems regarding the birth of her child. I was glad when the birth went beautifully, but 3 months later the baby died of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), in circumstances that one could never have protected against. Should I have created an unhealthy state of anxiety for that mother? Absolutely not!
The trouble here is that we don't know all the circumstances in this incident, and this is after all, just one incident. We don't know about previous mental issues this mother may or may not have, nor anything else.
However, this problem could of also perhaps been much more easily predicted using a Horary, and those who use traditional methods of Western Astrology are far more likely to be blunt about these types of issues. If those who read Horaries are honest about fate with their clients, why can't Tarot readers be?
Personally, if I found out a card reader or astrologer was keeping important medical information away from me, I would no longer be seeing them. I would go to someone else.
The issues of ethics in divination, while worth discussing, are still being discussed in the Tarot (and some of the astrology community) in a way that is far too black and white Good vs Evil than an honest look at the difficulties and problems of life. Predicting a breakup (which I have done before) isn't necessarily a bad thing given the context, nor is a death if a Will must be made, or the possibility of getting a disease what preventative steps should be taken. These are all natural parts of life, as are the good things. These are issues traditional diviners have answered for thousands of years. I can't help wonder, why are card readers being held to different standards?
The reason I started this post with the topic of Traditional astrology is because this is where I seem to be leaning towards lately (though I'm not ready to read charts yet), and the mentality of the Tarot community with its focus on Never Be Negative, something which the Traditional Astrology community lacks (unless perhaps they're discussing frauds). Tarot will always have the problem of vagueness, but a good reader should know the difference between fraud and the need for honesty, and not confuse the two. I believe people like Greer do.
My interest in divination has to do with the need for good answers for real life questions one may not be able to get in other ways, thus, like it or not, what Greer does is prediction even if she is choosey about what her guesses are. It's also a reason I would never pay to have her do a reading for me, anymore than most an astrologer who do not accept things like traditional rulerships and essential dignity schemes, if they are not good at or willing to do what the job description involves, then what good are they? It's like a vegan working at a deli who refuses to sell meat products, pointless.
This is not to say one shouldn't have to worry about a proper rapport with clients, and if you do engage in divination you should want honest feedback from your clients, but correct behavior shouldn't be used as a poor argument against the fortune telling aspect of what one is really doing. If you don't understand or don't feel comfortable with discussing how much life can really be difficult in a reading, much less want to be honest with their clients, fine, but I'd rather these people not bother with the finger waving with those who do.
So yeah, I'm a bit skeptical now of whoever seems to deemed as the Pope of Tarot these days, especially when they say this kind of 'advice'.
Pre-ETA: Am I a snob for not approving of the suggestion that you can just mix and match Tarot with Astrology? At the very least, learn the real history and tradition of it first before you get tempted to do something like that.
It wasn't until I started begrudgingly using the whole sign system and triplicity rulers (there isn't just one set) and started going through a nice Hellenistic/Classical astrology text did much of it come together, and make, dare I say, bitter, fatalistic sense. For personal reasons, I will not get in to that much detail here, though I will say having the Classical ruler of your 7th house conjuncting a nasty fixed star in the 6th house in the Face and Term of Saturn should not be played down with the new age modern kittens and puppies mentality of far too many of today's astrologers still do. I still need to read more of these older texts and learn a few dead languages, but I've come to the conclusions that the ancients were mostly right, even though they might not be the best at writing manuals-that would take a few more centuries.
So what does this have to do with Tarot? A lot I believe, because the Tarot community, including the writer Mary K Greer, seems to be having a similar mentality, with its lack of comfort with fortune telling and how life really can suck. Let's take a look at her latest advice. Sounds so innocent, doesn't it?-
http://marygreer.wordpress.com/2011/0
Now first to be fair here, I am aware that there are a fair amount of frauds and exploiters out there who rip people off by exaggerating or making up stuff about how allegedly in big trouble they are. However, people like Mary K Greer and company throw the baby out of the bathwater here by looking down at prediction altogether (especially the nasty realities of life), as though what they themselves are doing doesn't involve it. Even just using it as a psychological exercise involves the use of guesses they wouldn't get through other means. What Greer does is fortune telling, pure and simple, her type of fortune telling only limited by what kind of readings she chooses to do, regardless of what she picks up from readings, or picks and chooses to tell her clients.
From the thread, Greer comments that:
I chose not to tell a young mother-to-be that I saw problems regarding the birth of her child. I was glad when the birth went beautifully, but 3 months later the baby died of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome), in circumstances that one could never have protected against. Should I have created an unhealthy state of anxiety for that mother? Absolutely not!
The trouble here is that we don't know all the circumstances in this incident, and this is after all, just one incident. We don't know about previous mental issues this mother may or may not have, nor anything else.
However, this problem could of also perhaps been much more easily predicted using a Horary, and those who use traditional methods of Western Astrology are far more likely to be blunt about these types of issues. If those who read Horaries are honest about fate with their clients, why can't Tarot readers be?
Personally, if I found out a card reader or astrologer was keeping important medical information away from me, I would no longer be seeing them. I would go to someone else.
The issues of ethics in divination, while worth discussing, are still being discussed in the Tarot (and some of the astrology community) in a way that is far too black and white Good vs Evil than an honest look at the difficulties and problems of life. Predicting a breakup (which I have done before) isn't necessarily a bad thing given the context, nor is a death if a Will must be made, or the possibility of getting a disease what preventative steps should be taken. These are all natural parts of life, as are the good things. These are issues traditional diviners have answered for thousands of years. I can't help wonder, why are card readers being held to different standards?
The reason I started this post with the topic of Traditional astrology is because this is where I seem to be leaning towards lately (though I'm not ready to read charts yet), and the mentality of the Tarot community with its focus on Never Be Negative, something which the Traditional Astrology community lacks (unless perhaps they're discussing frauds). Tarot will always have the problem of vagueness, but a good reader should know the difference between fraud and the need for honesty, and not confuse the two. I believe people like Greer do.
My interest in divination has to do with the need for good answers for real life questions one may not be able to get in other ways, thus, like it or not, what Greer does is prediction even if she is choosey about what her guesses are. It's also a reason I would never pay to have her do a reading for me, anymore than most an astrologer who do not accept things like traditional rulerships and essential dignity schemes, if they are not good at or willing to do what the job description involves, then what good are they? It's like a vegan working at a deli who refuses to sell meat products, pointless.
This is not to say one shouldn't have to worry about a proper rapport with clients, and if you do engage in divination you should want honest feedback from your clients, but correct behavior shouldn't be used as a poor argument against the fortune telling aspect of what one is really doing. If you don't understand or don't feel comfortable with discussing how much life can really be difficult in a reading, much less want to be honest with their clients, fine, but I'd rather these people not bother with the finger waving with those who do.
So yeah, I'm a bit skeptical now of whoever seems to deemed as the Pope of Tarot these days, especially when they say this kind of 'advice'.
Pre-ETA: Am I a snob for not approving of the suggestion that you can just mix and match Tarot with Astrology? At the very least, learn the real history and tradition of it first before you get tempted to do something like that.
This might be the last deck I get for awhile, because I need to focus on the Deviant Moon Tarot deck for once, and other forms of divination.
Anyway. I bought a copy of it recently because according to the description on Llewllyn's website, the cards are 3x5 inches, thus larger than the packaged set. And thankfully they are, though a bit thin IMHO, but thankfully not as bad as what they did with Legacy of the Divine Tarot. I'm disappointed by the lack of gilded edges (at least I assume they had it in the boxed set), and because of the detail in the watercolor art I think the cards should of been a bit larger, but at least they're viewable and interpretable. Sadly, no Happy Squirrel card is in this edition.
It has a faint chemical smell, but at least it (mostly) goes away by airing it out, but your mileage may vary.
That being said, I still plan on using them in the near future, and I hope Llewllyn will do the same with their other Tarot kit packages of the past few years, especially with Legacy of the Divine Tarot and the upcoming Gaian Tarot. My current speculations that the release of the Shadowscapes Tarot Deck is a test run to see if people are willing to buy it without the book, so I don't regret purchasing it. Let's hope that I'm correct in that they're finally listening to customer criticism.
Anyway. I bought a copy of it recently because according to the description on Llewllyn's website, the cards are 3x5 inches, thus larger than the packaged set. And thankfully they are, though a bit thin IMHO, but thankfully not as bad as what they did with Legacy of the Divine Tarot. I'm disappointed by the lack of gilded edges (at least I assume they had it in the boxed set), and because of the detail in the watercolor art I think the cards should of been a bit larger, but at least they're viewable and interpretable. Sadly, no Happy Squirrel card is in this edition.
It has a faint chemical smell, but at least it (mostly) goes away by airing it out, but your mileage may vary.
That being said, I still plan on using them in the near future, and I hope Llewllyn will do the same with their other Tarot kit packages of the past few years, especially with Legacy of the Divine Tarot and the upcoming Gaian Tarot. My current speculations that the release of the Shadowscapes Tarot Deck is a test run to see if people are willing to buy it without the book, so I don't regret purchasing it. Let's hope that I'm correct in that they're finally listening to customer criticism.
(thejeopardymaze Apr. 25th, 2011 04:27 pm)
thejeopardymaze Apr. 25th, 2011 04:27 pm) The ![[community profile]](http://s.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
astrology community seems to be pretty much dead. Now I'll admit I'm hardly what you would call an expert on this subject, in fact, I'm still at the beginner's stage, but I'm thinking of starting another community in hopes for more traffic in comparison, and besides, there is a lot of interesting stuff out there that's been discovered in the traditional astrology community that too many of the pop astrologers out there like to ignore, which I believe merits discussion. Or just to ask someone here if they're interested in doing it for me.
If this is the wrong place for me to ask if anyone else might be interested in my ideas, I'll delete this post.
astrology community seems to be pretty much dead. Now I'll admit I'm hardly what you would call an expert on this subject, in fact, I'm still at the beginner's stage, but I'm thinking of starting another community in hopes for more traffic in comparison, and besides, there is a lot of interesting stuff out there that's been discovered in the traditional astrology community that too many of the pop astrologers out there like to ignore, which I believe merits discussion. Or just to ask someone here if they're interested in doing it for me.If this is the wrong place for me to ask if anyone else might be interested in my ideas, I'll delete this post.
What independent Tarot & other cartomancy deck publishers and artists do you think everyone should know about?
Beyond Worlds/Tarot Tribe had an interesting discussion with him yesterday, especially about his future decks and card readings, so if you haven't downloaded the program now and are a DM fan, I suggest doing so now (the show is easy to find on iTunes and that godawful BlogTalkRadio site.
One thing that annoyed me, Valenza stated that he hasn't even done the art for the upcoming Sun based sister deck, so as far as I'm concerned its just vaporware until a definite release date by the publisher is announced. However, the companion book for Deviant Moon will probably be published this year, I just wouldn't count on it happening until at least after summer.
One more thing, in this blog post he claims he won't be making anymore decks after the Sun deck is released. I am always skeptical about artists claiming they'll never do a particular type of art again, because I've seen them coming back again and again, at least in the entertainment industry. If he goes without making more decks for at least 30 afterwards years, I might believe him. Might.
One thing that annoyed me, Valenza stated that he hasn't even done the art for the upcoming Sun based sister deck, so as far as I'm concerned its just vaporware until a definite release date by the publisher is announced. However, the companion book for Deviant Moon will probably be published this year, I just wouldn't count on it happening until at least after summer.
One more thing, in this blog post he claims he won't be making anymore decks after the Sun deck is released. I am always skeptical about artists claiming they'll never do a particular type of art again, because I've seen them coming back again and again, at least in the entertainment industry. If he goes without making more decks for at least 30 afterwards years, I might believe him. Might.
(thejeopardymaze Mar. 6th, 2011 03:30 pm)
thejeopardymaze Mar. 6th, 2011 03:30 pm) I only recently bought a copy of Kat Black's Golden Tarot, and now I'm kicking myself that I didn't buy this as my first deck. I was trying to be cheap as possible back then, but not caring much for RWS or Universal Waite art all those years ago and bought The Hermetic Tarot instead. I'm not saying The Hermetic Tarot is a bad deck, but the Golden Tarot has, at least to me, everything I like about the structure of the RWS without the children's book art of the RWS, and without the pointless (granted, this is just my view) cramming of occult symbolism smashed in to every card of The Hermetic Tarot, Thoth Deck, and their clones.
According to his Twitter account he's working on the pips for his Tarot of the Sevenfold Mystery. I can't wait until the 78 card version of that deck is released.
I heard about this deck on a recent episode of Tarot Today podcast. It's an interesting concept, but I am not terribly sure about it, I always thought 78 cards were enough, adding more tends to add difficulties with shuffling. But if the card stock is made to handle it without being terribly thin like some of Llewllyn's offerings, it might be useful anyway.
It looks like The Fairytale Tarot may never be reprinted again either, so you might as well buy some copies from The Tarot Garden, Amazon or B&N resellers very soon while you still can. I bought two of them, because I am starting to view these things as part of my mini investment strategy.
Their upcoming Alice Tarot can be pre-ordered from The Tarot Garden, but be sure to register an account and log in first before you do so.
ETA: Minor edit because I should of looked at one of the Tarot deck sellers to see if they still have it.
Their upcoming Alice Tarot can be pre-ordered from The Tarot Garden, but be sure to register an account and log in first before you do so.
ETA: Minor edit because I should of looked at one of the Tarot deck sellers to see if they still have it.
The word from God (ie, the good people of Baba Studio on FaceBook) says this deck is unlikely to ever be republished, so if this kind of deck floats your boat, I suggest buying copies of it from places like the Tarot Garden, Amazon, and etc ASAP.
ETA: Looks like it's no longer available in the Tarot Garden.
ETA: Looks like it's no longer available in the Tarot Garden.
Is almost finished. I plan on buying it, it looks like a lot more of an even work than the Legacy of the Divine Tarot deck, but I do kind of worry about interpreting them in the future, since I tend to like divination decks that are a bit more blunt. But since my main reason to learn cartomancy is to get my intuition to work a bit better than it does now I can only complain about so much, and it's coming with a book anyway.
Edited to add-I think the price will most likely be worth it because it isn't going to be one of those tarot kits Llewellyn keeps popping out, where the quality of the cards is sacrificed. Judging from Marchetti's descriptions it does look like a deck that will last, so I'll be saving up money for this one.
Edited to add-I think the price will most likely be worth it because it isn't going to be one of those tarot kits Llewellyn keeps popping out, where the quality of the cards is sacrificed. Judging from Marchetti's descriptions it does look like a deck that will last, so I'll be saving up money for this one.
.
