Question about using "dark" tarot decks

Regarding use of the "dark" Tarot decks...do you feel that such decks can give accurate readings when they may over-emphasize negative or "dark" interpretations? How do you read with them to get balanced readings? I am thinking in particular of Donald Tyson's "Necronomicon" Tarot, which is the darkest tarot deck I have seen so far (his descriptions of the cards are more gross than even the cards themselves..)...I bought this deck on a lark and now that I look at it, I wonder if I could even use it.

For instance, the "Fool" image is described this way by Tyson: "The blind idiot....blubbering from the corners of his thick lips...his misshapen body is covered with filth...slime seeps from the hollow sockets of his blind eyes...excrement and slime surround him...all is dark and gloom-covered." Now right next to this loathsome description, he writes the meaning of the card as this: "Innocence, simplicity, naivete, childlike wonder, spiritual path, new beginning, journey of discovery, higher guidance, need for prudence." Problem is that NONE of those meanings are suggested by this grotesque image, though one could certainly interpret the filthy deformed creature as an exemplar of PRima Materia, in an alchemical sense, but that is not something Tyson lists as one of the meanings of the FOol.

Tyson says about his deck, "Readings may tend to be bleak and unforgiving if the cards are interpreted in a direct way....a diviner...should compensate by seeking an optimistic interpretation...and minimize the more gloomy meanings of the cards." I think this is problematic, because if you have to somehow ignore what the cards are showing you in order to do a reading, then what is the point of producing the cards with an overwhelming gloomy or dark slant? (Other than to enjoy for reasons other than doing readings...)

Anyone have any thoughts on this?

I wouldn't want the Necronomicon - too bleak - but I do have the Dark Grimoire. I like it very much; you could say it's slanted towards a grim view of things, but I've had decks before that are slanted towards a light and happy point of view that I find even more unrealistic. Sometimes I'm in a Dark Grimoire mood, sometimes a Shadowscapes mood. The interpretation is the same, but the influence I'm looking for is different.

I do tend to have personal interpretations, of the Fool and the Magician in particular, that are usually better reflected in 'dark' decks or historic decks.

RootRealm,

Are you aware of the Dark Decks Truths (DDT) reading exchanges? We prove each month that dark decks can be used for everyday readings. Take a look at the current sign-up thread, which contains links to the actual exchanges. There's also a sign-up thread where you can be notified when there's a new signup.

Rodney

Thanks Rodney Sign up for the March DDT Exchange is about to open. Most likely tomorrow.

As to your question. I mainly use dark decks and I find them very accurate. But I don't have the Necronomicon and I'm not a fan of it. My primary reading deck is the Vampyres Tarot. I agree with Marie-Bernard that the interpretation is pretty much the same. I don't really think of it as s dark deck. More just a deck with gorgeous images and many exciting stories to share.

Rootrealm said:

Regarding use of the "dark" Tarot decks...do you feel that such decks can give accurate readings when they may over-emphasize negative or "dark" interpretations?

Click to expand...

I suppose they act as a slight correction for all the rainbow/unicorn/white-light/fluffy-bunny/dolphin/angel decks out there, where it is impossible to draw a card that accurately represents realism.

That LWB description was so silly. I'm not sure I could take the deck seriously with copy like that IMO. Best not to read those maybe.

Thanks everyone for your feedback and for letting me know about the Dark Tarot readers' forum. I will look for that. I looked at the referenced list of "dark" decks and see that one of my favorite decks is on there -- the Deviant Moon deck.
I will experiment with some of the other decks mentioned, like the Vampyres deck. I think the Necronomicon is pretty extreme, even for dark decks, so maybe it's best to continue to explore with some of the others first.

These kind of decks seem to me to be more of an aesthetical approach of the tarot cards since they tend to portray the archetypical images through only one of them: that of the Shadow.

The Shadow's archetype is about these aspects of our psyches we deny and repress and, because of that, they fascinate and dominate us. Our's fragmented psyche, firstly, because of our tendency to wishfuly see only one aspect of ourselves and our reality and that's the reason political and social hierarchies are heavily relies on deceit and trickery to rule - mainly because we want to be deceived. To often see only that we want to see instead an integral truth or fact.

I think is in this spirit that, not only these dark decks are created, but many of other themed decks that highlight love, light and others. They are too focused on one aspect of the consciousness in detriment of the others.

All I have to say is, "The darker, The Better", bring it on.

The artist of "Necronomicon" Tarot, is by Anna Stokes, I so love her artwork, I even bought her Gothic Tarot, and her Dark Hearts (playing card deck).

Bottom line is it, comes down to what you, get out of the cards.

I have got startlingly accurate and not particularly dark readings from the Savage Tarot. That one is as dark as they come.