Deck of the Week : Sign-up Thread: Week 193 : April 11 - April 17

Ghost Tarot

Thank you so much for the kind welcome, everyone!

I spent some time shuffling through my Ghost Tarot this evening. Gazing at the images, I see that they are more somber than spooky, even a bit heartbreaking. A sense of melancholy prevails, but oddly enough, it is a hauntingly beautiful melancholy.

I am so glad I chose this deck to attempt some ancestor work. The ghosts in these images are so imploring, so insistent on getting their message across. Definitely a sense of important messages trying to come through.

My favorite cards are the Pages. All of them! Actually, I did not recognize them as Pages at first. They convey such power and mystery, they give me chills!!

I'll begin with daily draws tomorrow.

I felt the same about the Deviant Moon, so melancholy...I have enough sad things in life without deliberately adding to the pile, so sold it on.

I'm in this week with Dame Darcy's Mermaid deck. Thanks!

AJ, I wasn't drawn to DM for those reasons as well.

Swedishfish, I'll be interested to hear how you fare with this charming deck. I have it and while I've spent some time with the cards I've yet to work with it for an extended period of time.

As for myself, I'm excited to begin with Ancestral Path. After going through the cards and the LWB I decided this was a deck worth getting the accompanying book for. The artist has a cohesive vision for it. So I tracked one down and it's on its way to me. Until then I'll be drawing from my own knowledge and intuition.

Beautiful Creatures is not grabbing me so far, in fact there was one card that was really 'meh'. (9 of Fires) for me, personally, it might be a deck killer.

VGimlet, I'm not loving my deck this week, either. The artwork of the Ostara is beautiful, and it's obvious that a lot of thought and consideration was put into the deck. However, I'm having issues.

While each of the artists' work is incredible, I just can't read the deck as visually cohesive. To my eye, the Two of Swords and Strength, for example, simply don't belong in the same universe.

Along the same lines, the fact that the card numbers/descriptors jump from the top of the card to the bottom to the top again drives me batty. Because the number of suit symbols isn't easily evident looking at a card, I actually need/use the numbers, and the lack of consistency slowly wears on you. (This wouldn't be a problem if you use the same deck for a good amount of time.)

The cardstock is glossy and thin. It feels like it is pretty durable, overall, but the ink on the edges is chipping pretty badly already. There were a few chips when I first opened the deck, and it's only gotten worse. (I suspect this is why the first edition will be the only one with full bleed.)

Now, I would be remiss if I didn't note the positives of the Ostara. The artwork, like I said, is stunning. It's an RWS-based deck, but very few cards feel like re-dressed clones. (The 7 of Swords is an exception, but it's perfect!)

The cards are full-bleed (no borders), and the titles/numbers feel unobtrusive. This is my ideal, as it allows the eye to really focus on and read the image, rather than just the title.

The imagery is a mix of people and animals. In the minor Arcana, each number is associated with a specific animal, which is pretty cool. The Fives have snakes, the Sevens have Raccoons, etc. Sometimes the animal is the subject; sometimes it's a mask worn by a person; sometimes the animal is just part of the scene. Overall, it's a really great layer of imagery and symbolism.

This will probably never be a reading deck for me; the lack of coherency is too distracting. However, it would be very suitable for study, admiration, and daily draws.

Well. I'm kind of in love with my Dame Darcy deck. I don't know what it is, exactly...but there's just something about it. Every bit of it is so, so charming. The quirky artwork. The sweet expressions on many of the mermaid's faces. The hand-drawn titles. As I looked through the cards, I had a sense of having known these cards for years. I'm utterly won over! lol

Yep, it's a fab deck, I agree, swedishfish.

I'm similarly enthralled with Ancestral Path. Even without the accompanying book I'm finding this deck to be full of stories and rich detail. I think I may even spend a second week with it. Only criticism, I wish the cards were a little bigger so I could see all the beautiful detail more clearly.

I, too, am enjoying my deck! The Ghost Tarot is RWS-based, but I haven't really seen it as a "clone". So many of the cards have something new to offer, new takes on the "traditional" images. It has helped me to read more intuitively. If I knew how to post an image, I would! The 8 of wands, for example. Certainly not the same old 8 sticks flying through the air!

Also, I referred to this deck as "melancholy" in a previous post, but I think I need to amend that. "Poignant" might be a better word.

River, you will find most, if not all, Lo Scarabeo decks veer off from the lock step rider-waite formula. Yes they are mostly Rider-Waite clones, but with a difference

Many newcomers to tarot hate the decks for a year or two, I felt like someone was making fun of me, trying to fool me somehow.

But with time I began to appreciate those little differences for making me think outside the box, and that jump has really brought the joy of tarot home to me.

Lo Scarabeo is to be congratulated for letting their artist group have some freedom.
Not toooo much though