Decks You Wish You Hadn't Bought?

My first deck, the Quick and Easy Tarot. The Amazon reviews for it are good, and I didn't know about this forum at the time so I didn't have a good grasp of what I wanted. Having the meanings accompany each card appealed to me at first then I realized there isn't just one interpretation so they became restrictive instead of helpful. I also realized how important the images are which I couldn't see clearly because of how small they are.

The 3D tarot. Am just not that impressed with the quality of the 3D images. Maybe if it had been the whole deck I might feel different. I was so looking forward to better moving pictures then what it turned out to be.

Tarot of the Silicon Dawn. Lots of superfluous extra cards, and the art reminds me of Invader Zim.

Neuzeit Tarot

I'm a collector and had over 70 decks at one time. I collect because each deck is like an art gallery representing similar concepts as expressed by different artistic styles and spiritual disciplines. In some way, I identify with all of them and each of them piqued my curiosity enough that I explored them more deeply. That being said...

Of all the decks that have passed through my hands, there is only one I wish I hadn't bought: the Neuzeit Tarot. In fact I'd only notice it missing from my collection because it always seems to be in the way. Please ... no disrespect intended to deck or creator -- it's just that for whatever reason, I get 0 resonance.

Tansey Ella said:

Anna K, b/c I feel like I'm getting smacked with a nun's ruler when I read with it.

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OMG this was too, too funny!!!!!!!!! And actually, kinda the reason I never got the deck, though so many love it...but Tansey put it far better than I ever could! I felt that way a bit about the Hudes, as well. Everyone so sad - and everything so saintly...not for me. Both decks kind of smack of "martyrs r us" to me <ducks and hides>

Seriously, there is a reason there are so many decks out there - so many different tastes. And a deck for each one Popularity is not the only reason one should get a deck!

ETA I am off topic - ok - another deck I wish I had not bought - tarot of the dogs. It is super cute, but the readings feel meaningless. I wanted to use it to read for and about my dogs, but it just couldn't get me there

dead_moon_night_ said:

Tarot of the Silicon Dawn. Lots of superfluous extra cards, and the art reminds me of Invader Zim.

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I will totally take it off your hands This one reads like a charm for me!!

I wish I hadn't bought the Golden Tarot of Klimt. Luckily, I traded it away for a deck that I can read and feel connected with!

The Ten of Swords popped up for me every time that I used the Tarot of Klimt, and I freaking hated that damn card. Altogether just not something I got along with easily.

Unfortunately, I wish I hadn't bought Le Veritable Tarot de Marseille because the deck is too long for me (and I can't riffle shuffle for the life of me).

I prefer pocket sized decks

So I will have to sell it.

You know, I have a few decks in my collection that I really don't use and I don't feel they resonate. I could even part with them, but I never wish I hadn't bought them- except for one.

The only deck I ever bought and opened it up and said OMG I want to send this back right now was/is the Witches Tarot by Ellen Dugan. I wanted so much to like it, I even look at it from time to time to see if something's changed and I just cannot stand it.

I went through about 8 or 9 decks (bought in rapid succession, then passed on to other people) when I first started reading Tarot back in the early 90s, just because the shops I bought them at didn't have opened ones to look through and you couldn't look up the images online.

1. Aquarian (depressing)
2. Some Kabbalistic thing with Tree of Life diagrams and colour attributions and not much else (Turns out I didn't know *that* much about Kabbalah)
3. RWS (I thought it was butt-ugly. Still do, actually.)
4. Sacred Rose (bleah)
5. Motherpeace (Drove me crazy because I kept spending ages trying to line the cards up straight.)
6. Tarot of the Witches (*double* bleah)
7. Llewellyn Witches Tarot (1992 version) (Dropped out of Wiccan scene shortly after buying it.)
8. Karma Cards (too simplistic)
9. Rune Cards (crappy book)

Current decks I wish I hadn't bought:
1. Elisabetta Trevisan's Crystal Tarot (Gorgeous cards, but I really wish I'd paid more attention to the fact that the elemental associations for swords and cups are switched, because every time I read with this deck it bugs the hell out of me.)
2. Mantegna Tarot (Love it for the historical value, hate it for the Muses, who deserve better depictions than they get here.)
3. The Necronomicon Tarot (Which was actually a gift, so I have a bit of a sentimental attachment to the wretched thing. Lovecraft and Tarot are two great things that are really kind of crap together.)

Electric Maenad said:

2. Some Kabbalistic thing with Tree of Life diagrams and colour attributions and not much else (Turns out I didn't know *that* much about Kabbalah)

3. The Necronomicon Tarot (Which was actually a gift, so I have a bit of a sentimental attachment to the wretched thing. Lovecraft and Tarot are two great things that are really kind of crap together.)

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That Kabbalistic thing with Tree of Life diagrams is the Kabbalistisches Tarot, or Tree of Life Tarot. It's worth a decent chunk of change if it's in good shape. I have a copy, too, and it's probably the. most. BORING. deck in existence, but I don't want to sell it atm. It's worth anywhere from $90-175 base depending on condition.

I have to agree with you on the Necronomicon Tarot. I do like the art, but for me, it's just not a reading deck. Nor is Dark Grimoire which is very much in the same vein.