Pros and Cons Thread #2 - Enabling and De-Enabling

Animal Wisdom

Obsydian said:

How about some enabling or de-enabling thoughts on the Animal Wisdom Tarot?
It seems gorgeous and I love how the book looks too!

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http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/animal-wisdom/

I like it! It fills the spot in my collection for an animal deck very well. I like the one animal per card organization. And the attributions make sense to me, or they do once I check the book for the reasoning.

Not too many bugs is a plus for me. (I'm looking at you, Tarot of Reincarnation http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/reincarnation/. And don't even get me started on the Victorian Steampunk. http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/victorian-steampunk/ Why did it have to be BUGS?)

I probably would have preferred more realistic animal artwork, but the art is good in its own way, light and uplifting, and consistent through the deck.

In comparing it to the Animism Tarot http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/animism/, I like the (more realistic?) artwork of Animism better, but I like the attributions of Animal Wisdom better.

(I have provided links for enabling purposes! )

journeyinghome said:

I think you need the Waking the Wild Spirit. It will round out your pagan/nature sub-collection nicely! Given the other decks you have, I'm sure you'd love it. I certainly do! And I know many others here are big fans too. Just the card backs alone are utterly gorgeous! I find it to be a no nonsense deck, much like the Tarot of the Sidhe, and I often use the two decks together

There's also the lovely but sadly OOP Tarocchi Celtici by Laura Tuan.

(Never enable about just one deck when you can enable about three! )

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jillkite said:

I really really like it, apart from her take on The Lovers (Soul Mates in this deck, if i remember) card which is, unfortunately IMO, more about co-dependency than love...

I love her blend of magic and nature, there are sooo many stunning cards in this deck.

It is quite different from the other decks that you have. I agree with journeyinghome, i think you do *need* it

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Mission accomplished with the enabling, journeyinghome and jillkite! I had a feeling this might be a special deck, and I'm so glad to hear that it is. (My credit card, mmmm, not quite as glad. ) Waking the Wild Spirit is on its way to me!

RiverRunsDeep said:

Mission accomplished with the enabling, journeyinghome and jillkite! I had a feeling this might be a special deck, and I'm so glad to hear that it is. (My credit card, mmmm, not quite as glad. ) Waking the Wild Spirit is on its way to me!

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journeyinghome has used her enabling skills well this week as I just purchased the Transparent Oracle as per her suggestion for an oracle to pair up with the Tarot of the Sidhe

Bohemian Gothic?

Care to share any thoughts on the Bohemian Gothic? I've been on the fence for so, so long....

Mary-El or Japaridze?

Was looking up the Japaridze on google images and Mary-El's stunning hermit card popped up randomly in the results to set me off on a whole other tangent. I really must NOT buy both (think if I say it enough I'll believe me?) but I love the challenge of both these decks.

Would love some enabling and de-enabling on these if anyone's in the mood. Particularly if there are any cards in there that make you want to hide under the duvet... they look like those kinda decks

Bohemian Gothic

Totally go for it! I've had mine for about 2 months. It is an amazing deck. I have been interested in exploring the shadow side of some of my struggles and decided to give this a try. I find it to be a complex deck that for me is not as dark as I was planning. The companion book is wonderful if you can get your hands on it - thank you again MoonGypsy - but even with out it does follow traditional RWS meanings. I also find its a great deck for intuitive readings. Good card stock. I just ordered 2 decks without boxes for back ups and they arrived super quick although my first deck was stuck in customs for a while. I really have NOTHING bad to say about this deck. I see this deck being my working, primary and only deck ofor the foreseeable future.

sweetscarlet said:

Care to share any thoughts on the Bohemian Gothic? I've been on the fence for so, so long....

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for Obsydian

rachelcat said:

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/animal-wisdom/

I like it! It fills the spot in my collection for an animal deck very well. I like the one animal per card organization. And the attributions make sense to me, or they do once I check the book for the reasoning.

Not too many bugs is a plus for me. (I'm looking at you, Tarot of Reincarnation http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/reincarnation/. And don't even get me started on the Victorian Steampunk. http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/victorian-steampunk/ Why did it have to be BUGS?)

I probably would have preferred more realistic animal artwork, but the art is good in its own way, light and uplifting, and consistent through the deck.

In comparing it to the Animism Tarot http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/animism/, I like the (more realistic?) artwork of Animism better, but I like the attributions of Animal Wisdom better.

(I have provided links for enabling purposes! )

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Have to agree with all of that. I received mine today (a birthday gift!) and really, I quite like it! Some of the cards are a bit odd-looking, but overall it is quaint and cute. I like the way the deck is ordered by elements.

The kit is wonderful - heavy-duty box with magnetic clasp, containing book and cards. The book is well-written, and the card stock is thick and slick.

My only beef is that the cards had to be pulled apart one at a time, due to the gilding process. All in all, a wonderful deck and kit! (Animal Wisdom Tarot)

Scarlet Woodland said:

Was looking up the Japaridze on google images and Mary-El's stunning hermit card popped up randomly in the results to set me off on a whole other tangent. I really must NOT buy both (think if I say it enough I'll believe me?) but I love the challenge of both these decks.

Would love some enabling and de-enabling on these if anyone's in the mood. Particularly if there are any cards in there that make you want to hide under the duvet... they look like those kinda decks

Click to expand...

The Mary-El is the sort of deck that comes around once in a decade, if what I've heard is to be believed (I own it but haven't been around tarot for a decade!). The Japardize is nice but not as 'important' of a deck, IMO. The worst card in the Mary-El is the Hierophant. If you can make peace with that card, the rest of the deck will be fine for you. If you're looking for challenge, again I'd go with the Mary-El. The main downside of the Mary-El is its thick, laminated cardstock. It really is an amazing deck, though. As for the Japaridze, I considered it but finally decided against it because of a few cards I didn't care for (The Fool, Temperance, The Emperor renamed War). I felt like many of the images of the Japaridze were made abstract without actually adding anything really meaningful to the meaning of the card (at least that appealed to me). You'll find many people who like that deck, though. The Mary-El transcends traditional tarot imagery on a much deeper and more thought-out level, IMO.

Sophia77 said:

Totally go for it! I've had mine for about 2 months. It is an amazing deck. I have been interested in exploring the shadow side of some of my struggles and decided to give this a try. I find it to be a complex deck that for me is not as dark as I was planning. The companion book is wonderful if you can get your hands on it - thank you again MoonGypsy - but even with out it does follow traditional RWS meanings. I also find its a great deck for intuitive readings. Good card stock. I just ordered 2 decks without boxes for back ups and they arrived super quick although my first deck was stuck in customs for a while. I really have NOTHING bad to say about this deck. I see this deck being my working, primary and only deck ofor the foreseeable future.

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Thank you for this! I did go ahead and order it, so I've had it now several days. I got it to kinda dip my toe into shadow as well. I love that it's not dark enough to freak me out, just dark enough. And I love the card stock. So yeah, I totally agree with you so far, this deck was definitely not a mistake.

Scarlet Woodland said:

Was looking up the Japaridze on google images and Mary-El's stunning hermit card popped up randomly in the results to set me off on a whole other tangent. I really must NOT buy both (think if I say it enough I'll believe me?) but I love the challenge of both these decks.

Would love some enabling and de-enabling on these if anyone's in the mood. Particularly if there are any cards in there that make you want to hide under the duvet... they look like those kinda decks

Click to expand...

I'll echo GlitterNova here; the Mary-El is special, and definitely unique. It has a very singular vibe about it. I'm quite enamored with it, although I haven't read it a whole ton. I love to even just go through and look at all the cards. To me, it seems like a deck that you'd need to spend lots of time getting to know, more of a 'serious study' kind of deck, nice and juicy with lots to sink your teeth into.

Mary-el

I'll echo Glitternova here. The Mary-el is transcendent, visceral, difficult and gorgeous. I resisted for a long time, mainly because of the Hierophant, but I have made peace and now consider it one of the most important and beautiful decks ever created. The cardstock doesn't bother me as much as the uneven borders throughout - but after 3 times trying to get consistent borders I now consider them part of the challenge of Mary-el. Get it.