Why do people sell their deck collections?

Annabelle said:

Sometimes, I think, people are just ready to clear out "the old" in their life and move onward.

This subject brings to mind my husband's grandparents. They retired early, and pretty much sold off all their "stuff" (they had various collections and so on) and bought a cabin in the woods. They lived simply and happily there for years until their health declined . . . and once again they sold off almost everything, and moved to a small, new, very simple house near one of their children and near doctors/hospitals.

In other words, sometimes it is just time to let go.

I have never had the urge to sell off my tarot collection, but I have given away a LOT of makeup products this past year. For a while I was buying a lot of MAC, Urban Decay, NARS, etc. products and had traincases full of eyeshadows and blushes and whatnot.

I finally realized "hey, I only wear/use the same few products over and over . . . the rest was just impulse buys because I thought the colors were pretty."

So I've given a lot of it to the student workers in my office, to friends, etc. I don't really care that I'm not recouping the expense of it all . . . I'm just happy to be rid of the clutter.

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Like this.

Why oh Why!

Again, little late to the party but here I am.

I like many others here had no intention of becoming a "collector" but it was a slippery slope....One moment I had a deck, it disappeared and I was "discouraged" from entering the "realm of evil that is tarot"..a few years later I found myself in a bookstore with the shakes fondling the boxes of decks on the small shelves of the New Age section. As soon as I had my own separate income I would be at the bookstore, or even better as I became aware of shopping online or at my local metaphysical shop I suddenly acquired more decks. As many as two+ a week! At my worst I believe I owned 70 tarot decks and 40 oracle decks. >__> I don't want to go back there...Now I believe I am down to 25 tarot decks and 30 oracle decks...HOWEVER they do all fit into an antique hat box and once the box is full I have told myself I will buy NO MORE until I re-home some of the box. (It works..I swear I don't go and re-arrange the box to fit more...<__<)

I can understand downsizing..I can. But I would prefer to get rid of clothing I am not going to wear, or shoes that are falling apart, or old stuffed animals..(Let's not go into my new Squishable craze.) or any number of other things. In fact I converted 2/3 of my book collection to ebooks so that I could have more space. So there are tons of things you can do before getting rid of decks. Now I have made mistakes....we all have...that shiny deck you see online...the pictures making you go all googly eyed, as you reach for your credit card....You anxiously await your postman...practically tackling them to the ground to snatch the paper open only to look at the deck forlornly....what happened to it's shininess? It's drawing appeal? Suddenly it takes a place on the back of your shelf and you don't look at it for months..it makes friends with the spiders and tries to appeal itself to your other beloved decks...(Unless it's Deviant Moon...then you can hear the screams of the poor innocent decks it is torturing in the middle of the night for it's own sick amusement as you pull the pillow over your eyes and pretend it's all okay..) Suddenly as you are cleaning it falls out again...but you just have no love, no energy for it...and now we come to re-homing.

During my..."Mistake period.." (Ie: Addiction Period) I re-homed several decks...some I donated to my local metaphysical shop...(Probably more than 30 split between two shops) where they met with new owners and happily were carried out and taken to live new lives. Others were sold into slavery with new owners...(Look I'm not proud) But those decks that left my hands were just something I did not connect with in a valuable, meaningful way. I technically see myself in a relationship with all my decks..yes...it may be a slightly neglectful one at times but we have come to terms with it.

I also understand selling for money..but I have never put myself in the hole so bad it was a choice between food/rent.....my addiction never was THAT bad.

But in general, no connection, needing money, change of religion, exc are typical reasons I have seen.

On a note about something I did see here....spousal disagreement.....If I meet someone (and I have a substantial deck collection still) and they said to date them or marry them I have to get rid of my cards...I am going to tell you not to let the door hit your butt on the way out. This is a part of me...now if I was married for twenty years and all of a sudden spent $20,000 on tarot cards....I could see this causing a problem. But if you really care about someone it wouldn't cause the end of a relationship per say....I would be pissed about losing $20,000....(okay that might end the relationship because it shows you are irresponsible)..but all relationships have limitations on what each person can deal with.

So there you go...>.>

I started this thread some time ago. Wow I can't believe im actually thinking of downsizing as I feel im drowning in decks. I feel more power with less decks.

Hmm now to decide what to do

There is a "deck of the week" study group where you pick a different deck to work with each week. It can be very interesting to work with decks you don't usually use or that you haven't used in a while. Some people do daily readings with their decks and some don't. There is a thread you can post dailies in if you want to. It might help you decide which ones to keep!

Myrrha said:

There is a "deck of the week" study group where you pick a different deck to work with each week. It can be very interesting to work with decks you don't usually use or that you haven't used in a while. Some people do daily readings with their decks and some don't. There is a thread you can post dailies in if you want to. It might help you decide which ones to keep!

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Hmm I might have to do this.

http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=201707

Here is the deck of the week thread for the coming week
Each week Elendil starts a new thread in talking tarot.
We'd love to see what you've got

I have 50+ decks and would only get rid of the ones i didn't like on arrival. Some people like these- but they don't resonate with me at all. The imagery isn't something i relate to.

Moving - it makes you chuck things.

Since my original past way back when I did move and I did divest myself of many things; in fact - I'm not exactly sure what i retained! But I did keep all the tarot decks and books ...so far.

If I had to move across the country where I would once again have to sort out what is left ...I would divest myself of many decks .... just for the space.

I have a lot of things, I'm definitely a pack rat and hoarder.

Once a year, usually around New Year's (because that's when I usually have a few days off work, but we don't travel then), I go through my wardrobe and the magazine stack and discard things.

But I never touch my Tarot decks, or jewellery, or crafty things, because these are what I always come back to. I'm not an impulse buyer, and I don't have backups.

I've never sold a deck. And every time I've given one away, even ones I disliked and never used, I lived to regret it bitterly, sooner or later.

I simply cannot turn my back on a single deck.