Decks You Wish You Hadn't Bought?

> the author made some anti-semitic remarks

wait what

*digs through the source files*

Do you mean this?

(And here's another angle: Tarot is a trap - an endlessly complicated system for smart people to dig endlessly into, instead of engaging with the world. Especially when you link it with the Kabbalah, an absolutely brilliant invention for keeping smart old Hebrew dudes out of anyone's affairs. It ate about two years of my life; I'm eager to switch to another angle on the world for a while. How long do you feel like using this lens to look at the world?)

Click to expand...

That's the only thing I can find that seems like it could be remotely seen as anti-semitic. Unless I'm missing something? Sorry about that, it's totally not meant to be any kind of attack on Jewish people. Is there anything I can do to keep the intended sentiment that "these are some complicated systems you can get lost in" without making you think I'm being anti-semitic? I'll change it in the next edition, if there is one. Or maybe just drop the Kabbalah line entirely.

Because really, I am pretty much absolutely lacking in an opinion on Jewish people either way. Don't hate 'em, don't love 'em, they're just people, some of them are great, some of them are not great, just like any other ethnicity or culture. Several of my artistic heroes were Jewish.

As to my lack of respect for the occult, it's complicated. Mostly it boils down to "when I am a practicing magician I am a practicing CHAOS magician, as well as an occasional Discordian", which IMHO demands a healthy lack of respect for the whole affair sometimes. Plus one of the decks that influenced me a little bit in the creation of the Silicon Dawn was the PoMo, which has no respect for the occult, Tarot, the culture of the Eighties, art history, or itself. Or a LOT of respect for all of these that it camouflages in snark, I'm still not sure.

Normally I'm fine with people saying they hated the Silicon Dawn, or just Did Not Connect With It - that's fine, I made the thing because I couldn't connect with most decks - but seriously, while I've got some lingering bits of racial prejudice, none of it's about Jewish folks. Tell me how I can make sure a future edition doesn't give this impression.

Naomi Ningishzidda said:

I BURNED the Thoth tarot. It was physically attacking me. lol...I was not doing The Great Work as Crowley would put it. Yet, neither was he all of the time. Still I deserved the terrifying experience I had with it.

Click to expand...

Your deck was 'physically attacking' you????
Really, it physically attacked you? I'm hoping that's a typo and you mean that it was psychically attacking you although I'm wondering how a deck can attack anyone in any way.

Immediately upon opening Tarot of Vampyres the other day I was hit with a pang of buyer's remorse. Maybe it's all those pretty, bland 20-somethings dressed up as though for a suburban Halloween party; the packaging (no box for the cards?) was a disappointment too. But maybe it'll grow on me.

-Gilded Tarot
-The giant RWS. (I felt I could connect with this better than gilded but shuffling is just..hard! When my subscription gets accepted, I will sell it on here, guess I could sell my gilded).

*I just have to check past old posts to see if gilded WAS accurate*

I did have Faeries Oracle too. I didn't feel annoyed or anything by it just felt it wasn't always accurate and it just isn't deep as tarot cards (Sorry just not a huge oracle kind of person).

My List

I cannot get on with the Reflections.... the same with the Alchemy 1977, Witches Tarot (Cannon Reed) and the Gendron. Most have gone, but if anyone wants a Reflections,!

I am not an oracle type CH. but I borrowed a copy of Froud's Faeries Oracle and it worked really well. I shall be getting a copy of my own.

Faery Wicca Tarot .... lovely, but a learning curve.

I don't like having decks I dislike... or anything for that matter, never have.... so they have to go, or I do feel psychically attacked!! Yes they can do this... just like chocolate can from the fridge!!

Winterchild said:

I cannot get on with the Reflections.... the same with the Alchemy 1977, Witches Tarot (Cannon Reed) and the Gendron. Most have gone, but if anyone wants a Reflections,!

I am not an oracle type CH. but I borrowed a copy of Froud's Faeries Oracle and it worked really well. I shall be getting a copy of my own.

Faery Wicca Tarot .... lovely, but a learning curve.

I don't like having decks I dislike... or anything for that matter, never have.... so they have to go, or I do feel psychically attacked!! Yes they can do this... just like chocolate can from the fridge!!

Click to expand...

I really like the Cannon Reed Witches Tarot and that shocks me to no end because there is so much that I don't like about it at the same time. For Froud's Faeries Oracle...it is so not me, but some of my best readings with any deck of any kind over the last 20 years have been with that deck. Plus the artwork is fantastic.

There are some decks I wish I had not bought just because I don't connect with them in readings, like the Llewellyn Tarot and the Druidcraft. I do like the books and most of the cards themselves which is why I still have them. Faery Wicca, found it at Goodwill for $5 or would not have purchased it otherwise...no real connection there either.

I definitely had some buyer's remorse after I opened up the Dark Tarot from by Royo. Some of the images I liked, others I didn't. It also seemed like some the images didn't necessarily match the suit. **Shoulder Shrug**

The Gilded Tarot was another impulse buy that I regret. It's a little too cartoon-y for me, and the superbright colors give my eyes after-burn. Not to mention some poorly photoshopped faces abound in that deck...

Radiant Rider Waite. With a few exceptions, detail is lacking, particularly in the faces, as others have noted. The subtle shading of other RWS decks has been replaced with solid hunks of color that just don't seem esthetically pleasing to me. As I continue to study the amazing potential of Tarot, one of the most fascinating aspects of it, to me, is how it highlights out individual differences in terms of deck preference, etc. It really is so much a matter of taste. And that seems to sometimes evolve and change with time.

Oops, I meant to say "our" individual differences!

Egypt Urnash said:

> the author made some anti-semitic remarks

wait what

*digs through the source files*

Do you mean this?



That's the only thing I can find that seems like it could be remotely seen as anti-semitic. Unless I'm missing something? Sorry about that, it's totally not meant to be any kind of attack on Jewish people. Is there anything I can do to keep the intended sentiment that "these are some complicated systems you can get lost in" without making you think I'm being anti-semitic? I'll change it in the next edition, if there is one. Or maybe just drop the Kabbalah line entirely.

Because really, I am pretty much absolutely lacking in an opinion on Jewish people either way. Don't hate 'em, don't love 'em, they're just people, some of them are great, some of them are not great, just like any other ethnicity or culture. Several of my artistic heroes were Jewish.

As to my lack of respect for the occult, it's complicated. Mostly it boils down to "when I am a practicing magician I am a practicing CHAOS magician, as well as an occasional Discordian", which IMHO demands a healthy lack of respect for the whole affair sometimes. Plus one of the decks that influenced me a little bit in the creation of the Silicon Dawn was the PoMo, which has no respect for the occult, Tarot, the culture of the Eighties, art history, or itself. Or a LOT of respect for all of these that it camouflages in snark, I'm still not sure.

Normally I'm fine with people saying they hated the Silicon Dawn, or just Did Not Connect With It - that's fine, I made the thing because I couldn't connect with most decks - but seriously, while I've got some lingering bits of racial prejudice, none of it's about Jewish folks. Tell me how I can make sure a future edition doesn't give this impression.

Click to expand...

I read the entire book, page to page, mainly because I had a hard time understanding it and really wanted to - and I didn't find anything even remotely insulting in it. Some people have their reasons for being more sensitive to such things, and it is easy to take the written word in the wrong way - you lack the face to face communication that might give you more clues to the person's actual meaning. So I wouldn't worry too much about it. And this is coming from someone who really didn't love your deck all that much....though i don't want to trade it, either! I appreciate it's uniqueness and want to keep it.

Some of my disappointments: the Spiral tarot, the Alchemical Renewed, all of the decks by Lisa Hunt, Vargo's Gothic, the 1979 vintage Morgan Greer I got on Ebay....and a few more. The Spiral just didn't live up to the Celestial, and the Alchemical was a major disappointment after anticipating it for so many months - frankly, for the price, I didn't think it was such great quality. The vintage MG is just sort of blah, thin shabby cardstock, and the Gothic looked much more interesting online. Lisa Hunt's decks - I don't know why I bother. I finally drew the line before Ghosts and Spirits, because I knew that one would be no better, in spite of how much I love the subject matter.

I also found the Wildwood to be very disappointing- too far removed from traditional tarot, cartoonish artwork, boring. There are more, but I can't think of them now. Thing is, even though I don't like all the decks I buy, it doesn't necessarily mean I want to get rid of them. Take the Sacred Circle for example. That hideous thing has been just taking up space in my tarot chest since the day i got it, but I still haven't had the urge to sell or trade it. I just don't get it, why am I hanging on to decks I don't even like???