Should Tarot be Mainstream?

firemaiden said:

*It's okay Mom, really, I'm just "brainstorming"...

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Lol, I've used that one. And: "It helps me think".
That's for the people you don't feel like talking to in the first place, though. I don't really feel I owe anyone an explanation, and if someone tries to put their nose where it doesn't belong, a snowjob is often one's best defense.

firemaiden said:

I suppose Tarot can go mainstream to the degree that it can be divorced from "fortune-telling". *

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Good point Firemaiden...I like that concept.

trismegistus said:

it's a moot point

the major publishing houses are already going with the trend by marketing artistically pleasing tarot cards with broader appeal.

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Trismegistus...you are so exactly right in what you said about the publishing houses...

But, it's not just the artistically pleasing factor...

Take Julie C-Watts Blue Moon deck for example...she write in her companion book for the MAAT about how US Games Inc. rejected her Blue Moon deck because they felt was not suitable for their 'clientel'...so she set out to publish on her own.

My fear is that as publishers continue to push Tarot forward in the mainstream, the artistically pleasing factor will be used to stifle the creativity of the creators...if the artwork is not socially accpetable to the mainstream the creator of the deck will either have to conform or publish on their own, which I am sure not easy...

Another example, the Buckland Romani is no longer published because of artistic differences between the publisher and the creator....I find that very sad.

Gayla said:

My fear is that as publishers continue to push Tarot forward in the mainstream, the artistically pleasing factor will be used to stifle the creativity of the creators...if the artwork is not socially accpetable to the mainstream the creator of the deck will either have to conform or publish on their own, which I am sure not easy...

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this is not such a terrible thing because there are small entrepreneurial indviduals and comapnies who will reap the benefits of publishing the better works rejected by someone like U.S. Games.
there will always be a market for the more unusual and unique creations.

but this is a double edged sword because it means costs must go up for both the small publisher and their clientelle. that has always been the reality of the boutique business model in any field, whether it be furnishings, fashion, jewellery, accessories, chocolates and yes, tarot cards.

Yes...and as a student of the tarot, I prefer an unihibited, self published deck..it's a much more challenge to study and read with...but, as a consumer, these deck are more expensive...and while they are certainly worth every penny...it's harder to obtain them because they cost more and they are usually limited in the number of prints.

Classic example, I want the Buckland Romani so bad I can hardly stand it...but it's $300 on Amazon right now...

To answer your question Major Tom- I believe that Tarot is a tool for growth in all areas of one's life- I spend a lot of my time making Tarot acceptable in everyway. I think a deck should be given to every high school child both male and female, or at least explained some way in the curriculem. It can open so many doors in our minds... like a driving licence for your life. It will not lose its mystery. I think 'Mainstream' is not exactly the right word though; Commonly acceptable would be better. ~Rosanne

I think tarot is becoming somewhat "mainstream" in the sense that it's getting to be more popular for people to take up the practice. Just like back in the Urban Cowboy days when it was "in" for people to wear cowboy clothes and western hats with crimped up sides and big fuzzy foofies on the ends of the ties of their hatbands. And then for awhile it was "in" to try to find Native American roots whether you had them or not. (Might still be, for that matter.) And then there was the disco era. These things were really fads, in reality.

But then when the frenzy dies down, the people who weren't serious tarot practitioners and devotees will fall away and it won't be mainstream anymore. I don't believe it's ever going to be truly a mainstream practice and I don't think I'd want it to be.

At least, by my definition of "mainstream". What is your definition of "mainstream"?

Lyric said:

What is your definition of "mainstream"?

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Good question, as its hard to identify to what scope mainstream encompasses.

In the community where I live and read - tarot and any form of Spiritual practise is regarded as something ordinary - what has come from that though, is the conflict which I see, is the misunderstanding between one discipline and another - what is better, what works, etc. Only on one occassion have I found this conflict to be of an 'unhealthy' nature - and this was because the terminology was incorrectly used to explain something.
This is another cycle which mainstream seems to take. Which is the most enduring?

As tarot is not in a void, other forms are also making the rise to be 'out there' and accepted. It competes (Id rather say compliments ) other forms of learnings and disciplines, which are also becoming acknowledged and used widely - which maybe considered 'mainstream'.

Blessings Elven x

if the pubishers and the bookstores want to make money from this, there will be of course more delitantes (sp?) but also more people for whom the cards do connect, which is an okay thing, I guess. wary of (5) hierophant.

zb

"While the rest of the world is studying their Malcolm In The MiddleTM Tarots, we weird types will be perusing our TdM's, secure in the knowledge that we are not, and will never be, "mainstream.""

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You know, religion itself has always had this same problem: when something rich and deep, meaningful and helpful becomes popular and widespread, what do you do about it? It's a problem that all the major religions seem to 'encourage' by their proselytizing. In the case of tarot, apparently all the major publishing houses and metaphysical bookstores and psychic faires are doing the promotion.

The solution to the 'problem' has usually been to have two versions: an 'inner' and an 'outer' -- one for the mass consumption, and a deeper one for the more serious inquirer.

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