Decks you wish you didn't "get back"?

I don't know what my deal is but sometimes I trade off a deck, then later I want it back! I pride myself on never getting back with an ex or anything so why my decks? haha. Worse part is often much like going back to an old relationship..I find the same ol problems.

The latest one is the Kazanlar. I used to have this, traded it off or sold it, don't remember. Anyways a couple years later I decide I want to try it again. I got it in the mail today and immediately I remembered why I don't like it. It just seems to have too much going on that goes over my head. I am to lazy to read books on the decks I like to just read them with intuition. I often start books but get bored with them and just start reading with the deck. If I read well with it then great! It is inducted into my tarot chest with the family. If not..well I trade them off. This is one I am 100% positive I can't pick up and read with. I also forgot it has a christian theme which is just not my fav thing.

There is so much about this deck I don't like and I can't figure out why I do this sometimes? Anyone else have a deck or decks you wanted, didn't want, want again and then realized why you didn't want it or am I the only love/hate relationship funny person?

For the most part no. I don't tend to buy back decks at all that I disliked enough to give away. I trust my instincts and feelings. If there was a reason I gave it away, I trust that it was a good one and that deck was not for me. Even if I can no longer remember what the reason was I trust myself enough to know it was there and it was a good one.

I have over 100 decks and it only happened once that I bought back a deck. I ended up doing so because I had conflicting feelings about the deck. It was working very well for me on one level , but not as well on the other. It was a deck that really read well for me, and in fact changed my life dramatically and brought someone I loved into my life via a reading I did with that deck. And you've got to love it for that. It really really works well for me. But, for some reason, I just am not a big fan on the imagery. And reading mainly though the cards images as I do, for me that was a big factor. I do need to be able to "bond with" the images of a deck and love them, for me for me to really enjoy reading with a deck.

I gave it away the first time as I did not think I could get past that. But then I thought....it was a deck that really DID read well for me and did I want to give that up? And in the end I decided that since it DID read well for me, I needed to get it back. I had had such an important reading with it in the past that I figured I would have more with it in the future.

So for me basically, I knew even as I gave that deck away that I had conflicted feelings. I knew it read well, but the imagery did not really call to me. Rare, as these two things usually go together for me. When I gave it away it was a decision that I could not get past my feelings on the imagery. When I got it back it was a decision that that was not important, the good readings I was getting mattered much more.

But no, I never regretted it. I was sure I made the right decision in getting it back. It is a good deck for me. It just works amazingly for me. It's just I had conflicting feelings about it. One factor was drawing me to it and one was pushing me away. At one point I made the decsion that one factor mattered most, later on I decided that it was the other that mattered most.

But overall I guess it's just a matter of trusting your feelings. If you give something away there is a valid reason for it. We don't do that for no reason. Something was not working well emotionally in the connection there. And in most cases you can expect that to still be the case the next time. For me, my experinece with the imagery was the same the next time. But I expected that. It's just that I decided to look past it to get to the greater good.

And me too, I no longer read the books wtih my decks for the most part, except the decks with spiritaul themes that go beyond what I could get on my own, as in the Osho Zen, my Native American decks and my Angel decks. I generally read mainly through the imagery, but these decks have a depth to them that I could not fully get on my own. So I do check with the book meanings to deepen the answer.

Babs

Two decks I got back:
Tarot of the Spirit - I bought this deck on a whim when I was just getting back to tarot, and was still getting re-acquainted with the RWS system. I got the ToS just because I liked the pictures I saw here.
It was way over my head and I traded it for a Tarot of the Old Path which was much easier for me to work with.
Later, I learned the ToS was based on the Thoth and has an excellent companion book. I bought back the deck with a book and never regretted it. It has given me great insights.

Liber T - another deck I bought on a whim because I loved the artwork. On closer inspection, I did not like what the cards depicted though - chopped off heads, sex scenes, flagellation...I remember we called the deck 'the evil twin of the Thoth'.
Thanks to Scion's excellent pr for this deck and loads of information I learnt it was quite a deep deck with loads of symbolism. Plus, it was going out of print (and came back in print immediately afterwards btw) so I wanted to secure a copy.
I must admit that I still don't use it, but it is on my pile of 'must study one day' and will not trade it again.

There are a lot of other decks that I have traded or given away and never regretted.

It is kinda funny how even though I let go of a deck it is still stored somewhere in my 'inner shelf' and most of the time that is ok and even though I liked it I don't need to get it back. No I do not have photographic memory, just that the 'feel' of the deck is still with me.
Like Kazanlar, had it, traded it, loved it but don't really need it back. Same with Hudes too, it went to chiska in a trade train and even though it is a lovely deck I don't think I will buy a new one. It already lives inside me however strange that sounds.

I do have decks I re-bought though, and never use. But somehow I just can regret them either. I don't mind having them there.
That is why the trade train is but fun and difficult. I have to give up a deck but it is after all just one deck, and I get something new and exciting back and since I had the traded away deck and used it how can it be anything but a win/win thing...

I saw someone here kept a list of all decks they used to own too, I wish I had done that!

Tarot of the Old Path
Medieval Cats
Crowley Thoth
Baroque Bohemian Cats

In each case, the second time around was the same as the first.

Hermetic
Magickal

I've never regretted trading decks that I actively disliked, even the Thoth where I'm on my third copy :/ - I decided to have a reference copy even if I don't use it. So I don't often get decks back that I didn't click with - except the Thoth. We agree to differ, I give it house room, etc etc.

I sold a LS Minchiate which I regretted HUGELY and I think that's because I was feeling guilty for having so many decks - I had a LS one, a Williams one and wanted an Il Meneghello one. Someone wonderful on here found me another copy after I moaned a lot . At the same time I also cleared out Tarot of the Moongarden (have got a copy again now) and a few others which I have since got back. I've got over the need to "not have too many decks" now. I don't regret any of the repurchases, just the original sales.

My new approach is:

Hate it? Get rid of it/ wait and trade it e.g. Sun and Moon, Llewellyn, Legend Arthurian.
Not sure? Keep it e.g. Gaiain, Deviant Moon.
Love it? Keep it e.g. Silicon Dawn, Fey.

aerin x

I have only ever bought back two deck I got rid of; Kat Black's Golden & the Hudes. I wasn't ready for them the first time. Traded them, then a couple of years later bought them back again and this time I loved them. And each time there was an overriding sense of me not quite having approached them from the right angle.

A very interesting lesson. It happens, we change.

But that´s the only time it has happened. I trade very, very few decks.

I think if I find a deck hideous, I'll always find it hideous. If I find it "meh", I may well grow into it, as one does with shoes. Once hideous, always hideous, that's what I say. I have never "grown into" hideous, botched artwork. And for that I am grateful.