Pros and Cons Thread #3 - Enabling and De-Enabling

FLizarraga

So, my daughter....who's always been a bit macabre....is insisting my next deck be dark. I don't do dark lol. You can see that from my collection 🙂.

But she may have a point. I do probably need 1 for balance. I don't want a vampire deck, or something super sexy and I was looking at

Night Sun
Ludy Lescot

I've actually looked at the whole "list" on here

I'm going to go a little beyond the obvious, and recommend the Book of Kaos Tarot. It's a magnificent dark deck that's as juicy as it it beautiful. It's not a welcoming, popular deck, however: it's one of those "hate it or adore it" cases.
 

seedcake

First Light Tarot, Ludy Lescot

Hey, I played with this a bit over the weekend.

I like the pictures, too! And I mostly see how they work with/as the majors. Some might find them a bit samey, though.

I like the idea of 3 sets of cards to work with. Tarot majors. I'm pretty sure the "insight cards" are based on numerology, but the connections aren't really spelled out in the book or anywhere. The spread cards are a little disappointing because there are 2 "wild cards." Couldn't think of 2 more spread positions to make 22? Plus there is NO mention in the book about the spread cards, except that they exist. I mean, I guess you don't need an explanation of what "near future" means . . . or do you?

I find the proliferation of keywords annoying. There is a card title at the top and 2 or 3 keywords at the bottom of every card. THEN there is a quick reference card with the same plus more keywords, and advice. THEN there's the book, which, as I mentioned, doesn't really explain the numerology of the insight cards.

I usually like a quick reference or "just the facts" table of cards, especially for unfamiliar (non-tarot) cards, but with keywords on the cards themselves, this one seems like overkill. (Of course, I don't have to use it!)

The book gives credits for the source of the pictures, which is nice, but I don't think it has the names of the galaxies or stars shown. If they are even known . . .

So I would say if you like the space theme, you probably want to try this. But I'm just alerting you to the negatives that I see.

Thank you so much for the insight! I must admit I thought that First Light is similiar to Quantum Tarot on the research level. Space-themed decks are pretty huge effort to make. Quantum is well-thought and the deck helps me to refresh my memory of physics' theories. Reading and learning in the same time. It's a bummer 'cause I see that the negative side is pretty strong. But the pictures are breath-taking. Well, I'm not sure if that's the deck which can be in one place with Quantum.

***
I saw someone show this on a video with their collection and I thought I might like it. Then I saw all (or most) of the cards and she'd skipped the ones I found objectionable. I was certainly glad I'd looked at it more closely.

Diana

I'm not a person who was into gothic stuff but Ludy is a beautiful deck. It's very readable but if you don't like brutal or gory scenes, I wouldn't recommend it. I'm pointing at Three of Swords. I think it's the only card with so strong message but really, not for the faint-hearted.
 

Scarlet Woodland

Cosmos Tarot and Oracle Deck http://lightgreyartlab.com/cosmos/

Looks amazing... Blown away by the price ($35 for BOTH decks!)... Does anyone have this deck and can speak on it?

I absolutely adore this deck/set and if I didn't have to scrap with customs to get it over the pond I'd have a second set by now. It does deviate from tradition quite extensively, so be aware of that but I've had success reading both traditionally and with their system so it needen't be a barrier. The quality is extraordinary and there are really only one or two cards I haven't grown to love. While it is a collaborative deck, the gold constellations and edge gilding bring the artwork together cohesively. My set was perfect but some ppl had trouble with their first deck being cut unevenly... they're lovely to deal with though and sent out replacements for any iffy ones.

As you can probably guess... I say go for it, with bells on :D

ETA: Just wanted to mention that animals do come to harm in some of the images, as I know some peeps are sensitive to this. For me, I'm a huge animal lover but that only makes the images more potent... plus, let's face it, they do eat each other ;)
 

FaintlyMacabre

The Three of Swords is the obvious one in the Ludy Lescot but there were a few others that I didn't care for too (and she'd skipped over those also). I would just recommend looking at it. I don't "get" that Three of Swords at all.

(ETA: People who think one animal eating another is animal cruelty drive me bonkers. Do they think they should be vegans?)

Diana
 

violetdaisy

Lucy Lescot.....Just took a closer look at that 3s, on my tablet it was small, so I expanded it. That's awful. (It looked like large rats)

The Pregnant Death in Night Sun is disturbing as well, I kinda forgot about that card as a reason why I haven't gotten it. *Sigh*

Back to the drawing board :)
 

GlitterNova

As for dark decks that aren't TOO dark, I'd suggest:

Archeon Tarot
Barbieri Tarot
Bohemian Gothic
Ghosts and Spirits Tarot
Deviant Moon Tarot
Raven's Prophesy Tarot
Secret Tarot
and of course...
The Zombie Tarot!

Of these I only actually own the Barbieri Tarot, but I've heard good things about all of them.
 

FaintlyMacabre

I own the Deviant Moon and the Secret Tarot. I never really worked with the Deviant Moon so I can't say. I hope to do that at some point. It is certainly different.

I couldn't really read with the Secret Tarot. I'll have to look at that one again.

Diana
 

GlitterNova

I absolutely adore this deck/set and if I didn't have to scrap with customs to get it over the pond I'd have a second set by now. It does deviate from tradition quite extensively, so be aware of that but I've had success reading both traditionally and with their system so it needen't be a barrier. The quality is extraordinary and there are really only one or two cards I haven't grown to love. While it is a collaborative deck, the gold constellations and edge gilding bring the artwork together cohesively. My set was perfect but some ppl had trouble with their first deck being cut unevenly... they're lovely to deal with though and sent out replacements for any iffy ones.

As you can probably guess... I say go for it, with bells on :D

ETA: Just wanted to mention that animals do come to harm in some of the images, as I know some peeps are sensitive to this. For me, I'm a huge animal lover but that only makes the images more potent... plus, let's face it, they do eat each other ;)

Successfully enabled :D Ordered the deck and excitedly waiting for it. It will be my first collab deck. I don't know a *ton* about astrology so I'm excited to start learning :)
 

JylliM

I'm going to go a little beyond the obvious, and recommend the Book of Kaos Tarot. It's a magnificent dark deck that's as juicy as it it beautiful. It's not a welcoming, popular deck, however: it's one of those "hate it or adore it" cases.

You've enabled me on this one and I wasn't even looking to be enabled on anything! It's going on the wishlist.