I was about to give up on the "Wednesdays will be my new blog post day" idea when I thought I had nothing to write about. I shuffled and pulled a card on this issue. The Queen of Swords impassively stared back at me. I know, I know. She doesn't need to say anything. She says it all with one look: "Get over yourself, you wench, and just blog. The words will come." Okay, I'm blogging. You don't mess with the Queen of Swords.
Today on twitter the tweets were aflame with my fellow tarot readers' admissions of tarot deck addiction. It seemed the more decks we accumulate, the more we want (and I'm most certainly not immune). The newest, the latest, the prettiest, the edgiest. But no matter how you dress it up, the cards will still say what they want to say. For example, you can dress up the Queen of Swords, but no matter what, she'll still kinda be a bitch. (It's okay I'm saying this; she knows damn well what she is.)
The problem with tarot deck addiction is that if you have too many decks, it's really hard to build a rapport with any one of them. It's the "spreading yourself too thin" syndrome. The cards speak to me. Each deck has its own language of symbols. With each new deck, it is a new system of symbols to learn. Yes, the symbols are usually the same from deck to deck (rarely is the High Priestess unrecognizable, no matter what deck you're looking at), but with artistic license comes additional symbols specific to that deck alone. I'm only talking about the people that build up a collection of decks that they read with. There are some people I know that simply collect decks for the art alone, and have never read with them. "Spreading yourself too thin" syndrome does not apply to collectors.
I admit, I have the attention span of a ferret sometimes. Pretty and shiny and new decks are like a siren call to me. But now that I think about it, it's probably best that I stick with the collection that I have for now, and not drive myself crazy with amassing decks.
She says with three new decks in her possession...
i love buying new decks, but i like the point you put forward about the connection.. i've started using the legacy of the divine tarot since a couple of months, i'm not going to leave it till we build a great connection for atleast a year. unless u actually do readings for a good time with a deck, a real connection is not possible.
ReplyDeleteI, too, am using Legacy of the Divine as my default deck right now!
ReplyDeleteYeah, I'm not trying to knock people that have a lot of decks, but it is really hard to "start over" with a new deck. The imagery really does have to speak to me before I even consider adding a deck to my collection. Then after the purchase I have the task of "getting to know" the new deck. :)
I bought two new decks a few months ago (Legacy of the Divine Tarot and The Gilded Tarot). I felt that I couldn't live without them. As lovely as those decks were I still felt the calling of my Mystic Dreamer Tarot deck. I love that deck. It speaks to me like no other tarot deck. I may become a collector but my heart will always be with the Mystic Dreamer :)
ReplyDeleteThe Whispering Path: I know EXACTLY what you mean about Ciro Marchetti's work, Legacy of the Divine and the Gilded Tarot. I thought I could love no other deck more than my Llewellyn Deck... but I was wrong. Though the Llewellyn deck does still speak to me, but perhaps now as a scorned lover. ;)
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