Hot damn, Rusty! I hope that's going to happen.
Rachel, thanks for sharing that. I can understand Place wanting to wait for a way to sell the deck without getting screwed by some greedy corporate entity. These days, there are so many creative works I hesitate to buy because I know how little of it goes to the actual artists.
Music, for example--at their most expensive, CDs cost a little over $1 to make, including the booklet. Charging $20 for a new CD is unconscionable, and most of it goes to the bigwig execs in the record companies. It's greed-driven. And the companies wonder why people don't buy music as much any more? People
like shopping. People
like having the "actual" CD. Listening to music online actually makes me want to go get the CD more than anything else. But people aren't as willing to buy a CD when it costs twice what it used to cost.
So when we buy a tarot deck, how much of that is actually going to the people whose creative vision brought us those cards? Hard to say. I hope that if the Alchemical does get republished, Place will get a good deal with a good publisher.
Some words from Aleister Crowley on the folly of stinginess (from
"On Meanness" in
Magick Without Tears)
Firstly (dearly beloved brethern) meanness is flat contradiction to the Teaching of The Book of the Law. For "The word of Sin is Restriction...." and meanness is plainly a most flagrant case of Restriction. Also, there is nearly always an element of Fear in meanness; at least, I would like to bet that 95% of mean people originally became so because they foresaw a friendless and penniless old age. And fear is particularly forbidden in the Book: II, 16 "...fear not to undergo the curses...." Waxing in wrath, III, 17 goes on: "...Fear not at all; fear neither men nor Fates, nor gods, nor anything. Money fear not, nor laughter of the folk folly, nor any other power in heaven or upon the earth or under the earth...." Then pretty well all the positive injunctions imply reckless enthusiasm. "Beauty and strength, leaping laughter and delicious languor, force and fire, are of us." (AL II,20)
What's more, meanness does not even pay! I propose to tell you why this is, and how things work out.
What is money? A medium of exchange devised to facilitate the transac- tion of business. Oil in the engine. Very good, then; if instead of letting it flow as freely and smoothly as possible, you baulk its very nature; you prevent it from doing its True Will. So every restriction (that word again!) on the exchange of wealth is a direct violation of the Law of Thelema.
How stupid is this tightening of the purse-strings!
...When I first landed in the U.S.A. (1900) I noticed instantly that practically everybody seemed to have money to burn, defying statistics. "Oh, that's simple!" explained a banker to whom I mentioned it; "in this country we reckon that money circulates 9 times as fast as in England. One dollar does the work of nine." Then, a year later at San Francisco, everything seemed very dear." Why? In S.F. one hardly ever saw a copper coin; the nickel (2 1/2d) was the smallest in practical use. Going on to Honolulu, it was twice as bad; and there the dime (5d) was the smallest coin one ever saw. Somehow, it made for stickiness. When one hesitates to pay money out, one cannot expect other people to feel otherwise. So everything becomes increasingly constipated. I am not denying the virtues of thrift, but it's a long and tedious business; and all the big fortunes are made by shrewd gambling. Even if your policy be "small profits," it is a failure unless it ensures "quick returns." This is the deeper meaning of the proverb "time is money."
Then, isn't there a little Bonus? Isn't it worth something to have a pleasant life, and to have people like you. It leaps to the eye if one is a "tightwad;" the Saturnian constriction shows itself in a myriad ways. "The liberal soul shall be made fat; and he that watereth shall be watered also himself."
Now, then expand your thought; from he consideration of money (which we chose merely for convenience of discussion) apply these principles to the spheres of all the other planets. You will very soon heighten the enjoyment of life beyond all measure and belief!
I agree with Crowley. His vision of generosity versus "meanness" is very in line with Buddhist ideas of generosity, which assert that it is only "when giving and receiving are in harmony" that things flow freely. We can be "mean" with money, with time, with wisdom, with emotional attentiveness, and so on... And when we do, the whole system becomes "constipated." When we hoard, everyone, including ourselves, ends up with less. That's just the objective reality of the dynamic system.
The nature of an auction is that the price rises with the demand. It's not a matter of fault or blame that the Alchemical sells for so much. It's the result of a dynamic situation; there is high demand for an item of limited number. People are willing to pay high prices. This is not an instance of "meanness" in my opinion. The area where I start drawing moral question marks is the inability to access the information in other, less expensive forms. In Buddhism there is the teaching that it is not in harmony with the Tao to be withholding, especially regarding spiritual wisdom.
But then, can we say it really should follow that everyone should have unhindered access to any and all tarot art? That does not seem right either. Can we really say that a particular tarot deck has some wisdom which should be accessible to all? Where do we draw the line between priceless, ineffable teachings, and the material and cultural realities of tarot? These are interesting questions, and I can't say I have answers to any of them.
grrrrr