Completionism

Hello. My name is Rodney, and I'm a Completionist.

What, you may ask, is a Completionist? I can best explain by example. In this post of mine on the Dali deck, I explained how I ended up with 2-1/2 copies of a deck I'm only so-so about. (That number's now 3-1/2, but shhh, we won't talk about that....)

Other examples of Completionism in my life? I have all four iterations (that I'm aware of) of Clive Barrett's Ancient Egyptian Tarot. But at least I used that deck exclusively for 7 months in 2008.

I'm on a quest to get all three back patterns of the original Mythic Tarot (my first deck). I think the New Mythic is an abomination, but the Completionist in me will make me buy it as soon as I find it at a decent price.

I have all three iterations of James Wanless' Voyager Tarot. But the most recent version was bought (through the Trading Forum) already trimmed. (I knew that when I bought it.) So what did I do today? I bought an untrimmed copy of the deck off eBay. I've never used the Voyager for a reading, but I did attend a seminar with Mr. Wanless at the Bay Area Tarot Symposium (BATS) 2008.

I have copies of the Cagliostro, the Cartomanzia 184 and now I have a copy of the Messis Summa promotional copy of the Cartomanzia 184 on it's way from Italy. I don't even particularly like this deck, but it's captured my attention with trying to figure out a rhyme or reason behind the number on card 78. And the backs on the Messis Summa edition are just gorgeous.

Other decks I've gone Completionist with?

• Arcus Arcanum
• Cosmic
• Mage the Ascension
• Morgan Greer
• Simply Tarot Kit
• Thoth (but only partially)
• Rider Waite (but not completely)
• Tarot de Paris
• Tarot of Dreams
• Legacy of the Divine
• Bohemian Gothic
• Alchemical
• Celtic Tarot (Courtney Davis)

I'm also a Completionist about themes in my collection. Decks with more than 78 cards? Erotic decks? Gay-themed decks? Vampire dekcs? Egyptian-themed decks? I want them all!

And heaven forbid that a deck from a new theme enters my collection. I then have to get every other deck in that theme that I can find - Color Your Own decks, The Element Boxed Sets (Ancient Egyptian, Celtic and Arthurian), colorful/unusual/non-standard TdMs, Baseball-themed, Native American-themed, Lo Scarabeo kits (which are too few and far between in my opinion), etc.

I know I can't be the only Completionist on Aeclectic. Completionists, stand up and be counted!

Rodney

LOL @ you

I flirted briefly with the completionist syndrome; its Tarot expression found an avenue in the Caroline Smith decks.

The Mystic Meg and Elemental came, i think, within a week of one another, and promptly cured me of the whole affliction. I am now Sensible.

\m/ Kat

thorhammer said:

The Mystic Meg and Elemental came, i think, within a week of one another, and promptly cured me of the whole affliction. I am now Sensible.

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I have the Elemental, the Runic and the Sun Signs (? It's an oracle). I've flirted with the Mystic Meg, but haven't gone down that road yet. Maybe I don't need to, thanks to you.

Completionism doesn't always have a rhyme or reason, but I wouldn't say it's not Sensible.

Rodney

rwcarter said:

I have the Elemental, the Runic and the Sun Signs (? It's an oracle). I've flirted with the Mystic Meg, but haven't gone down that road yet. Maybe I don't need to, thanks to you.

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Oh dear god, no. Don't sully the doors of your home with the Mystic Meg . . . the Elemental is boring, the Runic is not Tarot, the Radiant Sun complicated and full of holes . ..

Wait . . . where am I? Oh, not the De-enabling thread . . .

*slinks away, chastened*

\m/ Kat

I am too broke to be a completionista...LOL

I admire completionism. But I'm too forgetful to be a completionist, although I did complete my collection of the 1JJ Swiss, having both the 1969 and 1974 versions.

I started down the road with the Rider-Waite and lost interest.

What were we talking about?

<helpless laughter> Rodney, I shudder to tell you, you are an incomplete completionist.

Complete completionism would be acquiring, or being dedicated to acquire only two simple things:

1) Every in-print deck in the world, and

2) Every out of print deck in the market.

Both simpler and more complete than your own personal so-called completionism.

It's an OCD -- we need help!

The first time that I ever saw this was with another member, who still drops by but rarely posts. He collected every version of the different backs (and there are 5 or so) of the Aquarian. He purchased every deck from one specific decade and was completionistic in several other ways. It makes for a fascinating collection.

I used to do this with books. If I read one book by an author I liked, I would hunt down every other other thing they ever wrote, and this was before the internet so it took some doing.

Alta

Alta said:

I used to do this with books. If I read one book by an author I liked, I would hunt down every other other thing they ever wrote, and this was before the internet so it took some doing.

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<nods approvingly>

And if I buy a "new" author second-hand and like them, I'll make a point of going out and buying them new, even if it's the same book, so they get rewarded with royalties for my reading pleasure.

But <ahem> Back to Tarot completionism.