"Defacing" Decks

Gemyndig

I'm just wondering if i'm the only person who has altered or defaced any decks of cards to suit themselves over the years. In the past I've altered the following decks:

Fournier Marseilles - My first ever deck, I wrote little keywords on the pips because I kept forgetting the meanings! It worked anyway though I'm now treating myself to a brand new deck, minus my scribbling!

Witchy Tarot - I rearranged some of the cards in the suits by blotting out the number at the top with white correction fluid and then carefully writing in the one i felt better suited the imagery. For a couple of cards I even changed the entire suit. The deck now has a completely different feel and makes more sense to me.

Das Germanische Gotterorakel - I carefully blotted out Voenix' German keywords at the bottom of these cards because I couldn't understand some of them (they weren't even in the dictionary!) and wanted to assign my own meanings anyway. The blottings don't look too bad since I used careful strokes of a black marker pen which dried very quickly and "toned in" with the colours on the rest of the card. I have a list of keyword meanings now on a separate piece of paper.

The Rune Vision Cards - I cut the border off these because it made them too big to shuffle and the border didn't serve any purpose really. There's teensy-weensy bits of wonky cutting on one or two cards but nothing that spoils the lovely artwork. The cardstock now seems more sturdy as well following the modification, since it used to bend in my hands before.
 

rwcarter

I know someone who has decorated various decks with stickers and the like. As part of a group of decks I bought was a used Universal Rider Waite on which someone had written keywords and notes on most of the cards.

One deck in my collection that darn near demands some altering is the Luciferian Tarot. I don't know if it's intentional or just poor proofing, but there are duplicate numbered Majors and oddly numbered Majors and Minors.

I'd be interested in hearing exactly which cards you changed in the Witchy.

I'd also love to remove the keywords from the Navigators Tarot of the Mystic SEA. While I understand and agree with most of them, some of them make no sense to me. Giving the deck a borderectomy would make it way too small for my tastes. So I just gotta find some kinda way to cover the black text keywords with white (the color of the border) that doesn't add appreciable thickness to the cards....

BTW, you can only "deface" the deck if it's not yours. If you've paid for it, you can do what you like to it. So those would be enhancements.... ;)

Rodney
 

lark

>I border cut two Druidcraft decks....
>I wrote lightly in pencil the names of the characters on the Jane Austen Tarot..really bothered me that there were no names on the cards so I put them on myself.
>Pasted the meaning from the LWB on to the backs of a Hanson Robert deck...that was a disaster...the deck was lopsidded and about ten inches high...:rolleyes: and the meanings were stupid and useless...
>Put eyes in the heads of all the people on my Sacred Rose deck.
Love them now....they have some life and character to them.
Not all artists ideas are good ideas...:lightbulb
>Drew a pair of shorts on the Ten of Pentacles from the World Spirit deck...oh, and also a wreath of flowers on the bottom of the woman in the Devil card...sheesh a little to avaliable she was.
>Put a banana sticker on the Lovers guy in the Robin Wood deck...but took it off when I came home...his manliness was bothering a client so I covered it up with what was avaliable...thanks Chekeeta. sp?

I think that's it and with the exception of the stupid idea with the Hanson Robert deck I've been very happy with the changes I made.
But I never considered what I was doing as defacing a deck...just making it more mine. ;)
 

Scarlet27

I once got a TdM (argentinian edition by Joker publisher) which had been used for study-only purposes, and the previous owner had written the astrological association on each Major Arcana, and had put a "+" on the corner of the minor arcana which were symmetrical to know where was the "top" of the card, since she read with reversals.

Dunno, never was a TdM fun so I sold it *lol* and since that one I never got another written or modified deck.
 

Gooneybird

good to see I'm not the only one who made cosmetic adjustments to a deck! :p

The deck I altered was the Lord of the Rings tarot. I was bored one day, and painted all the flames- hearth, candle, and solar- plus several other yellow/orange accents (such as sword hilts/goblets) a bronzey-gold metallic using acrylic paint. It now glimmers subtly under lights. I had never noticed how many flames there were in the deck till then- faaar more than the wands suit could contain!
 

peridot

lark said:
>I border cut two Druidcraft decks....
>Pasted the meaning from the LWB on to the backs of a Hanson Robert deck...that was a disaster...the deck was lopsidded and about ten inches high...:rolleyes: and the meanings were stupid and useless...


I too glued meanings to my Universal Waite deck... yeah, a big fat stack of flashcards... great.

lark said:
>>Drew a pair of shorts on the Ten of Pentacles from the World Spirit deck...oh, and also a wreath of flowers on the bottom of the woman in the Devil card...sheesh a little to avaliable she was.


Oh man that's funny!!
 

tarotberry

lark said:
>Put eyes in the heads of all the people on my Sacred Rose deck.
Love them now....they have some life and character to them.
Not all artists ideas are good ideas...:lightbulb


oooo! what a great idea! i have this deck for sentimental reasons ~ it was the deck used by a really close friend in high school and it's stuck around because it still makes me think of her.

BUT those sightless white eyes are mad creepy. i'm so digging for a fine tip black sharpie now...thanks! :)
 

Gemyndig

rwcarter said:
I know someone who has decorated various decks with stickers and the like. As part of a group of decks I bought was a used Universal Rider Waite on which someone had written keywords and notes on most of the cards.

Fancy selling a deck with scribble all over it - did they tell you it was written on? Sheesh!

I'd be interested in hearing exactly which cards you changed in the Witchy.

Well the first thing i did was make the deck a "swords are fire and wands are air" deck, so the broomsticks now correspond to wands and the flames to swords - this instantly made a lot of the imagery match up better with the suit numbers IMO. Next, I went through all the suits to see if there were any cards which i just couldn't reconcile even slightly with standard meanings. These are the ones I changed (I'm afraid i can't recall what the original numbers were on some of them, but i will describe the pic!)-
*The cauldron card with all the witches feasting at a table with the animals serving drinks became the 3 of cauldrons.
*The cauldron card with the donkey throwing the witch off his back and knocking over a cauldron became the 8 of cauldrons (as in the 8 of cups sense of "abandoning a situation/path" - I though this was a dramatic expression of that!)
*The one with the young witch putting on her make-up (old 5 of cauldrons i think) became the 6 of cauldrons (it did reflect a feeling of childlike innocence and nostalgia i felt since it reminded me of when i was a kid and did the same thing!)
*The one with the witch sitting on a branch over the yukky green swamp with the tipped over cauldron in it became the 5 of cauldrons.
* The one with the girl sitting on her skater boyfriend's knee feeding him some yukky yellow stuff from a cauldron became the 4 of cauldrons - for me it was suggestive of attempts to stave off apathy.
*the 5 of boulders (a couple in a circle kissing at night) became the 2 of cauldrons, whilst the 2 of cauldrons became the 6 of boulders (the girl feeding the animals milk at the crossroads looked more 6 of coins-ish than 2 of cups-ish to me!)
*The boulder card (the 6 i think) where the girl slips off the rock became the 5 of boulders/coins, since it definitely suggested hardship. Actually though, i'm tempted to adjust this card again to become the 2 of boulders, and i'll make the 2 the 5, since the girls fighting over possessions in the 2 might suggest lack, whilst the falling girl could suggest imbalance.
*The cauldron card with the girl clutching the poppet visiting the witch in the cave made me think of the 9 of cups, as in fulfilment of wishes.
*The broomsticks card with the two witches looking at a broomstick with a beaming light in the centre and apples underneath them became the 3 of wands - it made me think of the need for positive thinking, taking opportunities and not letting others' jealousy and negativity (represented by the witch in the green outfit) get in the way.
*The broomstick card with the 2 witches in aerial combat with leaves swirling around them became the 2 of wands, since it seemed to indicate a need on the part of the lower witch not to let the other one bully and dominate her, to take control of here own "airspace" as it were!
*The broomstick card with the 2 witches sat on toadstools weaving a knotted cord became the 4 of wands, as in good results coming from honest labour and teamwork.
*The broomstick card where the girl is sitting crying over a broken broomstick became the 7 of broomsticks/wands, because it reminded me of a need to be bold and keep going, despite setbacks or opposition.
*The flames card with the girls having a midnight feast in front of the roaring fire became the 6 of swords (tenuous i know, but it did make me thing of "better times to come after hardship")
*The flames card where the nearly-naked girl is having her clothes handed to her by her familiars was reminiscent of the 10 of swords for me - it suggested the end of a period of low fortune, torment and loss.

Some of the remaining cards still don't really match the more conventional meanings, but i can link them in if i stretch it a bit. For instance, the 3 of flames shows a young lady flying to meet her boyfriend who's sat on a toad - not very reminiscent of the heartbreak of the 3 of swords. However, the skull lantern she is holding did make me think of loss, and perhaps she is flying in on her bold green dragon to break things off with him. Likewise, the 9 of flames shows a girl in an attic reading an old spellbook surrounded by cobwebs, spiders etc. Not much there to suggest the fear and anguish of the 9 of swords, but maybe this girl is confronting her fears by holding up a candle to them? (The skeletal ribcage lectern definitely looked spooky to me anyway!)

All in all i doubt this deck will ever be a "normal" one whatever i do with it, but i've found it does function quite well when i get the urge to use it. It's quite an uplifting deck really and i doubt i'll part with it now i've "enhanced" it!
 

Gemyndig

btw - I'm really glad "deck-enhancement" is more common than i thought. Gooneybird your LotR tarot sounds fab!
 

Le Fanu

Well if writing on the cards is good enough for Mme Lenormand it´s good enough for anyone I guess. Witnesses say she used a pack of cards with writing on them.

But - trimming borders aside - I would find it really difficult to write "meanings" on cards. I just don´t think that´s the way forward for tarot reading. The whole point of tarot is that you respond to images. Why not just write meanings on cards and shuffle those? I had a "Starter Tarot" years ago when I was learning, a Marseilles deck with upright and reversed meanings. But it just didn´t feel right. Too restrictive to. You just stop looking at the picture...

But each to his own and - yes - if you´ve paid for them, then you´re free to do whatever...