What if you discovered your favourite deck was painted by a Trump supporter?

[Tanga]

It wouldn't bother me if Trump painted it himself. I keep my politics and my tarot separate, except when I'm using the latter to try explaining the former.

Ditto this.
And in truth IMO with all deck creators - unless you know them in person - you never really know them really.
We could all be using the decks of an ax murderer etc. and never know it. Lol.
People are many faceted beings.

 

[Barleywine]

If there is no visible disrespect in the images themselves, I can't see how it can possibly matter what the artist may have been thinking or feeling while creating them. Even sociopathic tendencies can't seep into paper and ink by osmosis; the artist must put them there, even if only through veiled symbolism. To think otherwise seems like so much New Age hypersensitivity to me.

 

[gregory]

(Question for people who didn't vote Trump.) If you found that your main reading deck was painted by someone who voted for Trump, would you still be able to read with it or would the knowledge of the deck creator's political leanings sour the deck?

Would you feel that by buying the deck you were supporting Trump via his supporters in a round about way?

I know some people can't read with Thoth because they don't like some of the things Crowley did.

Correction - what they have heard he did. A lot of that stuff is gossip and fabrication. He used to make stuff up himself, just to shock people.

For me it's all about ethical buying, as far as possible.

You won't be listening to any Beethoven any time soon then ? Nasty NASTY man. And the poetry of Larkin is off limits ? How do you feel about Churchill - who planned a really vile programme of eugenics.

I find it odd that so many people are put off by the hatred exhibited by Trump, yet they respond with...hatred. There is no duality. Trump represents negative aspects of our collective society being reflected back to us which needs to be healed, not hated. You don't grow by putting people in boxes because you are also putting yourself in a box.

RIGHT ON.

wouldn't bother me a bit.

Me neither. A deck's a deck. I probably read with some deck or other you now have in mind. I haven't noticed myself grabbing pussy or hating on people of other ethnic origins.

Whatever you fight against/resist enters into your reality. By focusing on Trump and his negative ideals you are simply accepting them into your sphere of consciousness and they become a part of your life.

What you focus on, grows. By focusing on your hatred of a particular man you are inviting hatred into your realm of reality and it has no choice but to grow and manifest into untold parts of your life, most notably your health.

If you want to "fight" Trump then ignore him completely. Focus on helping all people of this world gain equality, and on improving the environment. That is how you cancel out his negative vibrations, not by adding to them, which is exactly what he wants.

I agree (bet that comes as a shock, Beancrew49 !)

It wouldn't bother me if Trump painted it himself. I keep my politics and my tarot separate, except when I'm using the latter to try explaining the former.

My position exactly.

By "hate" I mean spreading negative energy. You even made a thread in order to spread that negativity to other people. This is Trump's goal, and you are falling into his hands.

What good does it do you to label a very large group of people, separate from them with the mindstate that they are not as good as you, and then try to rally other people to help you spread that negative energy? I call that hatred, and it's furthering the agenda of the guy you claim to want to disassociate from, so effectively you are actually helping the man you dislike.

Yup.

 

[Le Fanu]

Non-hypothetically I know now that certain decks I own were created by Trump sympathizers, and I won't be using them for readings any more because looking at the art with fresh eyes I see the depiction of certain things in a new light.

Yes. I personally don't see it as boycotting - but I now know that a deck I liked was created by someone very vocally supportive of Trump and I have had enough opportunity to see those points of view in action.

Logically one can be very open minded and say "of course not - tarot and art are above this" - one should go on loving the deck. But I can't. It is very stained now. That's the only way I can express it. An indelible stain. I very much question the good I saw in it at first and now tend to think it comes from a darker, more small-minded place than I had suspected.

I could always rationalise it in a different way. But no. I can't.´Tis besmirched.

 

[celticnoodle]

Somewhere around 63 million out of a total population of around 209 million being voter age of 18 or more (considerably less, if one eliminates felons, non-registered, diminished capacity such as MI, DD, and old age cognitive) that make up the national pool. But overall that would be 30% of the population that voted Trump.

That is one heck of a lot of people to try and avoid or boycott. And along with the companies that CN cited--consider Internet Brands and Robert Brisco--their CEO. That is the company that develops and sells the vBulletin software this forum operates on...

yes, it is a heck of a lot of people there! And, I definitely won't be leaving A.T., I don't care who sells the software that this forum operates on!

Earthair, if it pollutes your view of your fave deck, and you now feel uncomfortable using it, then - do whatever feels best for you. Ethics, views and feelings are intensely personal, and only you can decide if you want to keep or read with the deck in question.

Yes, exactly. It is your right, Earthair, of course-to boycott any item/company/person whom lives and believes differently from you. Luckily, we have that right to do so. All of us, to a certain degree.

Ditto this.
And in truth IMO with all deck creators - unless you know them in person - you never really know them really.
We could all be using the decks of an ax murderer etc. and never know it. Lol.
People are many faceted beings.

Yes, exactly.

I have some close friends, neighbors and family members who voted for Donald Trump. Some I like, some I don't really care much about and some I can't stand tbh, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop being neighborly, or close to the friends and family members.

 

[earthair]

Yes. I personally don't see it as boycotting - but I now know that a deck I liked was created by someone very vocally supportive of Trump and I have had enough opportunity to see those points of view in action.

Logically one can be very open minded and say "of course not - tarot and art are above this" - one should go on loving the deck. But I can't. It is very stained now. That's the only way I can express it. An indelible stain. I very much question the good I saw in it at first and now tend to think it comes from a darker, more small-minded place than I had suspected.

I could always rationalise it in a different way. But no. I can't.´Tis besmirched.

Stained- yes that's exactly how it feels. I suspect we're talking about the same deck... it's such a shame, and saddens me. I still love the artwork and maybe ignorance is bliss, so in future I won't be reading the online musings of deck creators before elections.

 

[earthair]

I have some close friends, neighbors and family members who voted for Donald Trump. Some I like, some I don't really care much about and some I can't stand tbh, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop being neighborly, or close to the friends and family members.

Of course not- but personally I don't invite people and non tarot products into my subconscious for divination purposes! It's easy to be nice to a Trump voting neighbour; one just partitions that issue or avoids it. But how can one partition the issue when reading tarot from a 'stained' deck?

 

[celticnoodle]

Of course not- but personally I don't invite people and non tarot products into my subconscious for divination purposes! It's easy to be nice to a Trump voting neighbour; one just partitions that issue or avoids it. But how can one partition the issue when reading tarot from a 'stained' deck?

I just don't see it like you do, I guess, earthair. I wouldn't see it as a stained deck anymore then I would see my New Balance sneakers as stained and need to throw them out. I'm also going to continue ordering from Amazon.com, and I LOVE L.L. BEAN too (another company who supports Trump) and will continue to shop there. Quite honestly, I rarely look at the political ways of thinking of anyone who makes the things I purchase, because quite frankly, I don't care. I more often then not do not know them personally. I buy the things I buy because I like it, need it and will use it. If I had to stop and think about who it was that made these products and how they voted, again, I may find myself doing without a lot of products and will be going mad throwing all of them out of my home right now.

I just don't see these "things" as stained. But, you obviously do and so if it does make you feel better to get rid of them, you should do so.

It kind of makes me remember a time when I worked in a jewelry store and had a customer come in and begin to tell me how she is a vegan and also refuses to wear any leather because she sees such things as this as being terrible-since it supports the killing of innocent animals.

Okay. That is her prerogative. However, I also immediately noted a huge flaw in her thinking. She had a leather belt on. I pointed this out to her and she replied "well...yes, I have some leather belts...but I need them to hold my pants up--so that is different!"

Is it, really?

 

[Le Fanu]

It's not just "support". Political support is everywhere for all things and we live in a varied world. It's when you see those beliefs ramified by things that you know that a particular person thinks because they express them and you look at a deck and question. This is natural I think. You react to their thoughts, their thinking. It isn't just some vague political support. It's about opinions you see expressed. The reaction is to that I suppose.

 

[Abrac]

I'd say do whatever you think is best. It doesn't matter what anyone else thinks.