![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
What deck(s) do you use and why?
Do you think individual decks (instances of the same design) have their own personalities - like, do you expect your copy of Rider-Waite to behave differently from my copy of Rider-Waite?
Do you use different decks for different readings?
Do you put the Crowley and Waite decks together and shake the jar to see if they'll fight? (Don't laugh, I've heard of people doing it.)
Does a deck work better if you receive it as a gift than if you buy it? Is it necessary, or unthinkable, to steal your deck? (All positions I've heard people advocate seriously.)
These days I mostly use the Manara Erotic tarot. Probably an unusual choice - I think that deck was primarily designed as an "art" deck rather than for serious divinatory use - but I've found that it seems to work well for me, even for the non-sex-related reading I usually do. There are a lot of things in the design of that deck that I think could either be very clever, insightful choices on the part of the designer, or else just random stuff he did for artistic reasons on which I'm imposing my own tarot-related assumptions. For instance, I like how the Knights are all female; that nicely solves the imbalance a lot of people object to in the court cards (three men and one woman per suit, in traditional decks) in a way that I think is definitely right for this particular deck. I also like the skinny Empress - it's a clever way to update the card image to the modern setting.
I also have a Rider-Waite deck I use when I do readings in public. It's familiar and non-scary to most people, and it's cheap and easy to replace so it doesn't really matter if it gets dirty or ruined in the places I take it.
I rarely use my copy of the Crowley Thoth deck. It doesn't seem to speak to me as well as some of the others. I feel like it speaks in the voice of its designer (metaphorically - I don't believe in tarot working by a "channeling" mechanism to any spiritual being other than my own unconscious mind) and most of the time I don't need to hear what Crowley has to say on any given subject. Smug bastard. I do really like the book he wrote about it, though, partly because of its random and uneven nature. He'll write ten pages about one card, then half a paragraph about another, and then oh look it's five pages of drug visions, and then back to the list of individual cards...
I have a whole bunch of other decks, most of which seldom see much use.
Do you think individual decks (instances of the same design) have their own personalities - like, do you expect your copy of Rider-Waite to behave differently from my copy of Rider-Waite?
Do you use different decks for different readings?
Do you put the Crowley and Waite decks together and shake the jar to see if they'll fight? (Don't laugh, I've heard of people doing it.)
Does a deck work better if you receive it as a gift than if you buy it? Is it necessary, or unthinkable, to steal your deck? (All positions I've heard people advocate seriously.)
These days I mostly use the Manara Erotic tarot. Probably an unusual choice - I think that deck was primarily designed as an "art" deck rather than for serious divinatory use - but I've found that it seems to work well for me, even for the non-sex-related reading I usually do. There are a lot of things in the design of that deck that I think could either be very clever, insightful choices on the part of the designer, or else just random stuff he did for artistic reasons on which I'm imposing my own tarot-related assumptions. For instance, I like how the Knights are all female; that nicely solves the imbalance a lot of people object to in the court cards (three men and one woman per suit, in traditional decks) in a way that I think is definitely right for this particular deck. I also like the skinny Empress - it's a clever way to update the card image to the modern setting.
I also have a Rider-Waite deck I use when I do readings in public. It's familiar and non-scary to most people, and it's cheap and easy to replace so it doesn't really matter if it gets dirty or ruined in the places I take it.
I rarely use my copy of the Crowley Thoth deck. It doesn't seem to speak to me as well as some of the others. I feel like it speaks in the voice of its designer (metaphorically - I don't believe in tarot working by a "channeling" mechanism to any spiritual being other than my own unconscious mind) and most of the time I don't need to hear what Crowley has to say on any given subject. Smug bastard. I do really like the book he wrote about it, though, partly because of its random and uneven nature. He'll write ten pages about one card, then half a paragraph about another, and then oh look it's five pages of drug visions, and then back to the list of individual cards...
I have a whole bunch of other decks, most of which seldom see much use.
Tags:
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
From:
no subject
The Rider Waite, card design by Pamela Smith
Tarot of the Witches by Fergus Hall
The Mythic Tarot by Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene and illustrated by Tricia Newell
The Merlin Tarot by R.J. Stewart and illustrated by Miranda Gray
Santa Fe Tarot by Holly Huber and Tracy LeCocq
Experimental Tarot by Samvado Gunnar Kossatz
Tarot Cards copyrighted by S.R. Kaplan (1970)
I also have a couple of miniature decks more for novelty than actual use (oh but so cute).
As for individual decks I have to say yes and no. If when buying a brand new deck and picking out one from many of the same design, probably no (aside from misprints or other mechanical ways to differentiate between like decks of cards). But sometimes, rarely, I do get a feeling/"spidey sense" ;-) about something. Perhaps it is superstitious of me but I never buy the top, first one of anything in a store. My suspicions are that the item has likely been handled by many people and I know that sounds germaphobic of me (and perhaps in part that is true) but I truly believe that things can be "imprinted" by people.
And this is why I will not buy a used tarot deck of cards for more than admiration of its art - I believe that you do leave a part of yourself in/on anything you use. This is not a bad thing but for something so personal as the tarot, I want to know that it is all "me" that I am experiencing.
Okay, I know that this may sound a bit off-the-wall but if you think about it everyone's hands (more or less) produces oils. Everyone has a particular way they hold things, shuffle the cards, etc. I know that all this handling causes physical changes: worn corners, frayed edges, slightly bent cards, etc. I don't consider this damage but more of what makes the tarot deck (or even a favorite pair of shoes) uniquely yours.
So yes, I do believe that I could pick out my deck from your deck (or a new deck) even if they were of the same design.
Fighting cards? This is something else I have not heard of! I will have to try it and see...
A gift? Hmmm... well I try not to make light of gifts but whether or not the deck became one of my favorites would depend on how well the gift-giver knew me. To steal a deck? I don't know about this... is it a custom or ritual? Can someone tell me more about this?
The tarot I use the most I suppose is my Rider Waite deck as the images were sort of "imprinted" on me a time ago. I love all of my tarot decks - the artwork can be quite stunning but for imagery I still turn to Rider Waite, it's an old-comfortable-pair-of-shoes thing for me.
My Merlin Tarot is my difficult deck. I want to love it as much as I do the Rider Waite but as beautiful as the images are, they don't speak to my subconscious mind (as mskala says about her Crowley Thoth cards).
Ah, this is probably more than enough from me again ;-)
From:
no subject
"Nah, I'm not that into Pokemon."
From:
no subject
What if you cleanse the deck before using it?
I believe the same thing, that cards can be imprinted by people handling them or reading from them -- but that's why I cleanse a deck, do a couple of test readings, and spend some time with it before I rely on the readings I get. Even shrinkwrapped, new-from-the-store decks have been handled. You may not be able to wash off oils or unbend corners, but you can certainly cleanse a deck of psychic traces to make sure that it's just you and the cards connecting.
From:
no subject
You make a good point