WinterRose
Oliver Danni said:
Same here, Oliver!
Gregory - LOL! Should have thought you'd come in here sooner or later...
Why have more than one deck?
Same here, Oliver!
Gregory - LOL! Should have thought you'd come in here sooner or later...
nisaba
Decks are like works of art - hey, they *are* works of art.
Some people can buy one framed canvas for their living room wall, and be perfectly happy. Otherts are happy with blank walls until they get that first one, then buy anotyher for another for another room, than a third one, and voila, they're collecting. I watched "The collectors" tonight, first time in ages I've had time for TV, and Andy Muirhead said that three of anything is where you tip over into collecting: you get one, then you get a second one to go with the first, but there's absolutely no need to get that third, so when you've got the third, you're a collector.
Tarot decks are like clothes, or books, or trees. You can get by with just one in your home. But more than one equals a greater diversity of experience and a greater degree of pleasure.
I fell into collecting - I honestly didn't realise I was doing it.
I learnt on the Rider-Waite. I grew out of it - it stopped fitting. So I bought a couple of others, looking for one that I liked better. Then over a period of several years, I accumulated 24 or 25, and used three or four of them. Then an already-dodgy relationship I was in tipped over into the abusive end of the dial, and I wrapped them all up, stuck them in a box, and hid the box under a collection of dusty detritus at the back of a wardrobe. A couple of years later the police finally got rid of the person and I pulled the box out - to find that they'd reduced in number all the way down to eleven! I was heartbroken. That was a year or two ago: since then I've been buying absolutely as much as my budget will allow and when my budget allows, not to try and return to that state (I've far overtaken it), but to try and compensate the pain of the loss, which still lives with me, thought less and less now.
I am very broke now, and doing no buying, and I haven't replaced all of the ones I lost - I've picked up a large number I didn't even know about back then. There are several still missing that I used to have but really only one I need to replace, the Servants of hte Light Tarot. Unfortunately it's OOP and pricey - it can wait.
I have a feeling that if I get a copy of that, I'll probably ease right back on collecting - it used to be a real character of a deck.
There are a number of benefits in having many decks.
1) You can pick a few decks at your whim to read for other people with, and give them their choice from that selection, and when they come back for another reading later, there will be others on the table.
2) Different decks do different things, and have different strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes I'll choose a definite deck for a particular task.
3) When you look at the same images in the one deck over and over again, you can sometimes reach saturation-point, where you know them too well, where the meaning is stripped out of them. I remember reading an Agatha Christie book years ago, and on one particular page she had used the word "long" over and over again. After reading it several times, it started being weird, meaningless, just occupying paper. I haven't personally had that happen with the images from a deck, but a friend of mine has with one of her two decks, at which point she switched over to using the other one as her main deck - the images just became meaningless to her. With a collection, when that starts to happen, you can just pick up a different deck.
Some people can buy one framed canvas for their living room wall, and be perfectly happy. Otherts are happy with blank walls until they get that first one, then buy anotyher for another for another room, than a third one, and voila, they're collecting. I watched "The collectors" tonight, first time in ages I've had time for TV, and Andy Muirhead said that three of anything is where you tip over into collecting: you get one, then you get a second one to go with the first, but there's absolutely no need to get that third, so when you've got the third, you're a collector.
Tarot decks are like clothes, or books, or trees. You can get by with just one in your home. But more than one equals a greater diversity of experience and a greater degree of pleasure.
I fell into collecting - I honestly didn't realise I was doing it.
I learnt on the Rider-Waite. I grew out of it - it stopped fitting. So I bought a couple of others, looking for one that I liked better. Then over a period of several years, I accumulated 24 or 25, and used three or four of them. Then an already-dodgy relationship I was in tipped over into the abusive end of the dial, and I wrapped them all up, stuck them in a box, and hid the box under a collection of dusty detritus at the back of a wardrobe. A couple of years later the police finally got rid of the person and I pulled the box out - to find that they'd reduced in number all the way down to eleven! I was heartbroken. That was a year or two ago: since then I've been buying absolutely as much as my budget will allow and when my budget allows, not to try and return to that state (I've far overtaken it), but to try and compensate the pain of the loss, which still lives with me, thought less and less now.
I am very broke now, and doing no buying, and I haven't replaced all of the ones I lost - I've picked up a large number I didn't even know about back then. There are several still missing that I used to have but really only one I need to replace, the Servants of hte Light Tarot. Unfortunately it's OOP and pricey - it can wait.
I have a feeling that if I get a copy of that, I'll probably ease right back on collecting - it used to be a real character of a deck.
There are a number of benefits in having many decks.
1) You can pick a few decks at your whim to read for other people with, and give them their choice from that selection, and when they come back for another reading later, there will be others on the table.
2) Different decks do different things, and have different strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes I'll choose a definite deck for a particular task.
3) When you look at the same images in the one deck over and over again, you can sometimes reach saturation-point, where you know them too well, where the meaning is stripped out of them. I remember reading an Agatha Christie book years ago, and on one particular page she had used the word "long" over and over again. After reading it several times, it started being weird, meaningless, just occupying paper. I haven't personally had that happen with the images from a deck, but a friend of mine has with one of her two decks, at which point she switched over to using the other one as her main deck - the images just became meaningless to her. With a collection, when that starts to happen, you can just pick up a different deck.
Aulruna
When I got started, almost 25 years ago, I studied symbolism. Back then, there were fewer decks around, and many had a truly distinct "flavour". I also found it interesting to analyze and compare the artistical views and concepts.
So when I started to read some years later, I already had about 20 different decks to pick from, and I soon found that the different decks "responded" differently. Some are blunt and to the point, others bring out my gentler, counselling side more (after all, it's me who reads, not the deck itself). With some, I neede to learn the system and symbolism, from others I got intuitive message just by looking at the images.
This lasted until I got about 60-70 decks, and then the collectors' bug bit me, and well... the joys of collecting are manyfold, but that's no requirements for using the cards
So when I started to read some years later, I already had about 20 different decks to pick from, and I soon found that the different decks "responded" differently. Some are blunt and to the point, others bring out my gentler, counselling side more (after all, it's me who reads, not the deck itself). With some, I neede to learn the system and symbolism, from others I got intuitive message just by looking at the images.
This lasted until I got about 60-70 decks, and then the collectors' bug bit me, and well... the joys of collecting are manyfold, but that's no requirements for using the cards
gregory
Well - I mean - I do feel rather ODD when people ask....CelticDruidess said:Gregory - LOL! Should have thought you'd come in here sooner or later...
And I really do mean - why not ? It's a bit like that Mount Everest thing ? Why do you want to climb it ? Because it is there.....
And I do get a lot out of them all, honestly !
HearthCricket
I don't think there is anything wrong with having more than one deck, or having lots of them, for that matter. To me tarot is like owning a library of art. I love seeing the ways different artists portray the same card and shed new light on the traditional meanings. It is a constant learning procedure. Various systems, various symbolism, not to mention an extremely fun way to dip into various cultures and belief systems. Having this at my fingertips is quite exciting, imo. I do not like reading the same book over and over again, nor watching the same movie over and over again. I like to grow, and using various decks allows for this. I like wonderous variety.
ilweran
When I was given my first deck, the Cat People Tarot, I didn't realise how many others were out there.
Then one day I saw the Ancient Egyptian.
Then the Chinese. Followed by the Courtney Davis Celtic.
And so on
I can't say why except that I liked them. Back then I didn't realise anyone else collected tarot decks and only knew one other person who owned a deck, so it seemed a slightly odd thing to do but luckily I've never much cared about being seen as slightly odd.
I have cut back on the buying now due to other priorities, but that's ok as I have most of the decks I want.
Then one day I saw the Ancient Egyptian.
Then the Chinese. Followed by the Courtney Davis Celtic.
And so on
I can't say why except that I liked them. Back then I didn't realise anyone else collected tarot decks and only knew one other person who owned a deck, so it seemed a slightly odd thing to do but luckily I've never much cared about being seen as slightly odd.
I have cut back on the buying now due to other priorities, but that's ok as I have most of the decks I want.
Alan Ross
Having more than one deck has certainly been bad for my bank account. But I agree with what Oliver had to say:
Alan
I love the variety in artwork and personality among my decks. Having just one deck would also be like having only one friend. I appreciate the different quirks, the different perspectives, the different attitudes and beliefs incorporated into each deck. But I also love that all of these individually unique decks are bound by a common theme, the theme of Tarot. It's like owning the pictorial equivalent of a musical set of variations on a theme.
Alan
choirqueer
With regard to the bank account issue...I would rarely spend more on a deck of cards than I would on a book, for instance. A couple of movie rentals or a new pair of pants would easily cost as much as a Tarot deck. A nice meal at a restaurant and a visit to the movie theater...well, I'm not your average American in the dating pool, but I'd sure prefer to take a new deck of Tarot cards to the park and have a picnic and play with the cards. I can get books and movies for free from the public library, and I can get my pants from the thrift store...and honestly I will not enjoy a single one of those things as much as my Tarot decks!
Having lots of decks also means I have more options when reading for someone else. I sometimes read for free and sometimes for pay, but whether the investment is paying itself back in cash or in connections with other people, it's always well worth it.
Having lots of decks also means I have more options when reading for someone else. I sometimes read for free and sometimes for pay, but whether the investment is paying itself back in cash or in connections with other people, it's always well worth it.
WinterRose
I think you're all absolutely right, especially about reaching the oversaturation point when you stick with one deck. I've used nothing but the Sharman-Caselli for quite a few months, and now the Robin Wood deck has arrived, and I've just done one reading - everything came through much sharper and clearer than it did with the S-C, because I'd reached that saturation point. I'm also on the lookout for another deck to supplement these two.
gregory
And I frequently just go upstairs and wait for a deck to scream, use me - it may be that I don't use the same one twice for quite a while....
