The Ones that Got Away: Decks You Regret Parting With

Two decks come to mind that I've passed on and now regret. A 2nd edition Alchemical by Robert Place. I have the 4th edition now which I like a lot, but geez I wish I'd kept the other more colorful one too. Also the Hudes which I let go because I didn't like 2 of the cards--the 5 of swords (violent) and the Devil (distasteful)--and you know how if a card you can't get on with surfaces in a reading, well it just messes up you mojo... Sigh. Feel pretty dumb about it now. Hopefully lessons learned.

Jean Bouchard's Masonic Tarot. I found a mint copy with booklet at a local shop for $15. Then I got the bright idea to make high res scans and sell the deck for a profit. Well, the scans turned out great until the flash drive I had them on died. I lost a ton of great scans. Needless to say I now have at least one and sometimes two backups. I did eventually find more scans but it would be nice to have the cards again. Right now it's a question of do I buy a Tarot deck this month or my medication. Not a difficult decision.

I have let a few go, and sometimes I do have regrets, but I know the people who have them now do like them, and they would only have been gathering dust here. Sometimes I am tempted to replace them, but I feel I would just - end up giving them away again. I think I did that with one of my decks, way back. Bought it, gave it away, regretted it, bought it again, said "oh yeah, I remember now why I gave it" - and gave it away again. Some relationships are just not meant to be, I suppose!

The only deck I've regretted was the Glastonbury -- my daughter fell in love with it so I gave it to her. I pined for it for a while, and then bought another copy.

None, to be really honest. Not the correct answer to give in a thread like this I know. But I have traded away decks. Like the Hudes, which I traded it away and then traded back the exact same copy.

The one I always think about when this comes up is Fréderic Lionel's Tarot Magique which came with a book in the 1980s, majors only. I gave it to a girlfriend because it was my least favourite deck at the time. I pine for it a little sometimes simply because it is the only one of all my original stash of decks which I don't still have. I still have all the others - my late 70s/early 80s decks. But it's all a silly illusion because I know that if I still had it, it would be gathering dust because it isn't such an exciting deck. Just sentimental value, nothing more.

What I've noticed is that fabulous new decks are being released all the time. At least two or three a year become indispensible so - with a bit of mindful discipline and concentration - there's always something to take the place of those ones you regret parting with.

Dark Goddess Tarot

I didn't trade it away, but I regret so much that I didn't buy it when it was still in print: The Dark Goddess Tarot. I bought the companion eBook only when the deck was OOP and find it awfully deep and meaningful. That's the one miss I really feel sorry about.

For me it has to be my Wild Unknown deck. Though we didn't know each other well, I can't help but feel that maybe it would have been a great deck for me. However, I also don't regret giving it away per say. I gave it for free to a peer who mentioned really wanting to read tarot cards. Though I miss the deck itself, I do think it was the right thing to do and helped bring another reader into the community.

I've traded many decks in the last two years, and the only one I've missed (for a couple of weeks) was the Paulina Tarot. When I look at it I can still sometimes miss it a little, but at the same time also get that "Ugh way too busy!"-feeling towards it... But yeah, it's really the only one. I think I could let go of quite a few decks in my collection without missing them... I thought I would miss the Crystal Visions, but hmm nope.

I sold about 1/3 of my collection this year... 65 decks... don't miss any of them. Am much more selective now about adding to my collection. That being said, can't wait for Patrick Valenza's Trionfi della Luna (regular and paradoxical) to arrive today! Happy holidays to me! They won't be sold, ever.

A few years ago I sold my Victorian Romantic Deck!! Although at the time I got decent cash for it and needed the money then, I really wish I still owned it - right now I couldn't afford it as its so rare and highly priced!