Dark Goddess Tarot by Ellen Lorenzi-Prince

Well, after reading this thread THREE times, and reading every review I could find, I gave in and bought this deck a few nights ago. I love my Crone, so I knew I couldn't hold out for very long. I can't wait to get it. Those of you who have it, is it in regular rotation for you? I tend to only use my Crone for the heavy stuff, like spiritual questions or looking at the year ahead, that sort of thing.

yes!

I too, am a huge admirer of the crone, especially the companion book; it really turned my ideas of what tarot was or could be on its head. I just got the dark goddess companion book a couple weeks ago, and it too has reinvigorated my interest in this deck, which I got this winter. I would say its a special deck; now w/ the book its especially useful for people who want to be proactive w/ their tarot 'answers' along the line of ritual. Also, the pithy one liners that are in the little white book, are so whip ass smart that i find myself exclusively letting them improvise my reading; but the book really opens that up. i can still have the 'pithy' but i can also have a whole new line of magical actions to take.

The cost of international shipping (plus knowing I'll be stung for customs charges) means I can only buy one of the decks. And I can't decide which - Crone or Dark Goddess! I used an online reading thing for the Crone and it was very insightful. But, I wonder if it's a bit too heavy for day to day reading. I love the artwork of the Dark Goddess. But, I'm not drawn to all the traditions that the goddesses are from and I'm wondering if that could have an impact on how I connect with the deck.

All thoughts, comments and opinions would be most welcome! Thank you!

hmm... tricky this is, journeying

I logged into this intending to tell you to definitely go w/ the crone, but if you're not planning on getting a seperate full length companion book and you love the look of the dark goddess, i would say because the little white book that comes with dk. goddess is so good... maybe that should be your one. I will say that my bigger detraction w/ the dk goddess is that i don't find it as useful for larger spreads mainly because i have a hard time doing much imagistic in readings w/ the goddesses: it is as if you're staring at 78 of them. whereas the crone opens up a lot for imagistic readers. Still i would highly highly recommend getting the pdfs for both books (or hard copy if you prefer) bc Lorenzi-prince really has such a unique powerful take on tarot that to me neither deck is worth it w/out her wonderful context. personally speaking, if i had to pick one for myself it would be the crone. don't know if size matters to you but crone is a smaller deck, though totally big enough to do the artwork justice. i really am beginning to look at dk goddess (especially now that i have the book) as something to do one or two card readings for and then just go deeply into those couple of cards, doing the rituals with them. i've used the crone successfully w/ all types of spreads and for all types of questions. hope this helps.

--E

Thank you so much, Dark Victory!

I really appreciate you taking the time to help me out and drawing attention to things I hadn't considered. Interesting that you've used the Crone for all sorts of readings, whereas you find the Dark Goddess is better for just a couple of cards. I'm now wondering if I might find that more limiting, somehow, especially as I'm not drawn to all the traditions. And of course now I'm reminded, that whilst I love Celtic, Egyptian, all sorts of themes, I don't tend to get on well with them all mixed together in one deck. So, I'm going to have to think some more on this decision, but yes, I think it will be the Crone Thanks again!

I haven't used the Dark Goddess enough to say which I prefer, but I will say that I can't imagine anyone getting the Crone and regretting it. I adore that deck.

I already do feel like the DG is better suited to smaller spreads. There's just so much information to work with, once you read about the Goddesses in the book, that I imagine a large spread would make my head explode! I could see myself doing one card daily draws from this deck for ages and not getting tired of it, but I can't imagine pulling it out at parties to do "fun readings" for my friends. This is a serious, heady deck.

i will say

What swedishfish just said about not bringing DG to a party to whip out for friends is totally true. Once you get the book it seems to beg almost for personal, spiritual work. I will say in june i had one of my best long-distance friend come stay w/ me for a week, and i let her choose any of my (uhm...approaching fifty decks in the collection-- i cringe) for a reading...anyway out of the whole lot she chose Crone and we did a six month forecast spread which uses upwards of twenty cards and the crone gave a v. satisfying reading. And those readings are really all aspects of your life: job, love, family, friends, money etc. Was v. surprised that was the deck she picked, and i told her i was going to use the book heavily along w/ my intuition (and hers) and it really turned out much better than i expected. That cup suit is one of the most amazing things i've ever seen.

Has anyone else found a mistake in the guide book where instead of a picture of Corruption it has the pic of the Hierophant instead?

Yes, my pdf has the Hierophant image instead of Corruption too.

So Dark Goddess lovers, how are you enjoying/finding/working with this deck? I've read the whole thread and am interested to know if the initial love is still there.