de-enabling Minchiate cravings
OK, Rusty, let me give de-enabling your Minchiate yearnings a try. Just to help you out.
The RWS and Thoth were at least designed with the intention of being mystical tools. As Myrrha points out, the Minchiate (as near as I can figure, that means “for screwing [somebody] [over]”) was merely designed as a deck of playing cards. There are lots of trumps just because the point of the game is to be able to trump other people as much as possible. That’s the only reason lovely things like constellations and virtues are included. The intention of producing something archetypal just wasn’t present, seems to me. Maybe you could argue that the archetypes found their way in there by accident. But that is equally true of anything humans make: stories, poems, paintings, dreams, love. You could equally well study any of those.
Why study a deck of playing cards? It makes as much sense as looking for wisdom in a deck of Pokemon cards. “Ahhh, Jigglypuff indicates a time of sleep and dreaming. It also indicates singing and mischief. There may also be tendencies to sudden anger here.” Many nine year olds could have long discussions with you about this.
I'll tell you something else about the Minchiate. It annoys me to have a deck full of images no living person can explain to me. That hedgehog? That monkey with a mirror? Anyone?
Comparison? You can always go online and look at them. They all look the same to me, except for the Constantini, which is like a sharp poke to the eye. The Grand Emperor and the Emperors East and West are all identically dressed and have the same props and attributes. What can you tell me about that? And where’s my High Priestess and my Empress? What on earth am I going to do without them?
If all of the above fails to de-enable you, I agree with other people here – wait until a truly special time, and get only one, and wait six months before you get another one. If you really want to study the Minchiate, that’s a perfectly good reason to get one. And I don’t understand what’s not to like about the Minchiate Fiorentine. It looks the prettiest to me.
Frankly, I like Brian Williams’, which is the one I have. The deceptive simplicity is refreshing and inviting. Don’t be fooled by the spareness of the images. A tremendous amount of art and mastery is hidden in there.
Forget I said that.
love,
s.