on NOT buying decks

I was enabled twice by the de-enabling thread :-D

Everything people said about the decks was true, and I like them nevertheless (Holy Light and Holy Grail, two decks who are not very popular).

But sometimes, yes, de-enabling works. Quite often in the enabling threads, though. For me, the words "cute", "pretty", "positive", "big eyes" etc do it.

I'm weird like that.

I have five decks - one RWS and four clones. I need to go on a fast because I'm going to school in September and money is tight. The trouble is that now that I've discovered Nisaba's timing method I need to buy a timing deck. So even when I try to fast I'm stymied.

Each deck that I have has a specific purpose though. As long as I keep them to their purposes I should be okay... right? I'm not really a collector of anything (I move around a lot) so space and portability becomes an issue.
I don't find tarot any more addictive than tattoos and I'm able to limit myself to a new tattoo every few years. So I should be able to limit my new decks... it's hard though.

AnemoneRosie said:

I have five decks - one RWS and four clones. I need to go on a fast because I'm going to school in September and money is tight. The trouble is that now that I've discovered Nisaba's timing method I need to buy a timing deck. So even when I try to fast I'm stymied.

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You can do Nisaba's timing method just using two packs of regular playing cards - just write the majors on 22 of them, and add the pages, you're all set and it is cheap!

@Nemia, I understand. The words "big eyes" lose me every time. And "cute" is equally dis-enabling! (though "dark" loses me as well...) Thank goodness there is a huge range of decks for every taste!

To stay on topic, I find even those decks I do like - even a lot - are just not tempting enough to part with $$$ for. I found myself buying decks at the beginning of the year that everyone was all hot and bothered for, and I did love them, till I got them...And postage these days slays me!

Oddly enough one thing that has really curbed my buying is - thegamecrafter. There are so many - really rather awful decks on there that I don't buy even though I am A Collector - and in a weird sort of way that has made me think harder about all of them...

Sulis said:

I don't really buy decks any more...
I just don't feel that I need any new decks and like you Nisaba and Le Fanu, if I feel like exploring a deck that isn't one of the 3 decks I usually read with, I go to my box of decks and pick something from there.

I think I probably buy one or two decks a year nowadays and honestly, when I get them I'm usually disappointed because they just don't gel with me and they end up unused in the box under the bed...

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This is true for me, as well. I use mainly one deck, and don't really feel the need to go afield. I actually buy less than Sulis, one every few years and that's if it it really special, unique and can't be missed. Special, new Thoth decks. That's not a burgeoning field, and when an extra special deck comes out, is an event.

I like the Decks section and discussing different decks, though, even ones I know I'll never buy.

Hemera said:

Having said that, however, I am really looking forward to that pocket sized Morgan-Greer and I will purchase one or two of those.

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Is there really going to be a pocket Morgan Greer? I'm gonna have to get one if they do make one.

But I'm actually on the same path as others who say they're going back to decks they already have instead of buying anything new. There hasn't been anything new that has interested me for a long time now. I've been given a few decks as gifts and those have been fantastic to add to the ones I already have but most of the ones I see coming out just aren't that great that I feel like I have to have them.

Having lost most of my decks in the last year or two---two, probably---I'm now replacing the ones I lost that I really liked but hadn't spent much time with. The Russian Tarot of St. Petersburg is one I recently bought that I had lost. That's what I'm using right now and it's amazing, both for the history in the book and the added meanings I'm finding for Tarot in general.

There are a couple of decks I really want. One of them is a mass market edition of the Illuminati and the other is a bootleg smaller sized Buckland that I had but lost. Other than that, I'm just letting decks find me, mostly. I'm getting back books for decks that I really love but lost the books for. My wishlist on that is dwindling as I replace them. The Llewellyn is one I've gotten back and the book to Waking the Wild Spirit is on its way to me now. The only one I can think of that I don't have the book for is the Ancestral Path. I saw a reasonably priced one on the Amazon used sellers, but at the time I saw it, I had no money for it so I just have to wait and want for awhile on that one.

I have slowed down a lot lately. After buying a number of Rider clones I seldom use, I decided to only buy decks that I know I am interested in working with. I am still looking out for esoteric and Kabbalistic decks but only if they will add something to my Tarot experience.

I was looking at the Haindl Tarot recently and was really tempted to buy it but it was easy to talk myself out of it in the end as there are certain things I really don't like about it. The same is true for a number of other decks such as the Parrott Tarot.

My buying goes in ebbs and flows. I have connected with most of the decks in my collection though I don't get to use them as often as I would like. But I've recently started pairing decks which is fun and also pairing Tarot decks with Oracles and that is allowing me to use them more albeit in a non-traditional way.

I tend to let decks sit on my wishlist for a while before buying because often after about a month 3/4 of them no longer interest me. If they still do then chances are it's a deck I'll do well with. The de-enabling thread de-enabled me big time of the Victoria Regina which was quite helpful as it's OOP and $$

I seem to be unusual in my buying habits! I looked through nearly every single deck in the database as well as sifting through the tarot deck subforum quite a bit, and my teensy tiny wish list contains every deck I saw that I would consider spending money on.
(Well, those and the unnamed RWS style one that that one thread was about.)

The main reason for that is that I'm really, REALLY picky when it comes to art... and while the few decks I'd buy are of course not the only gorgeous ones there are, the rest doesn't appeal to me and I wouldn't like reading with a deck I find visually unappealing. I don't think I'd bring myself to use it much.

I'm on a not-buying trend myself right now. A strange thought occurred to me recently. I don't NEED any more tarot decks. Tarot is not a necessity, like food or clothing or shelter or even rock'n'roll. I don't need to be constantly buying decks. I do keep an eye out for new things, but now I only buy when I really like something a lot, and only if I can get a good price. Or else, I can do without it. In the past I've bought decks for good money, but I just don't see the point in that any more. After a while, I just had to say, Hey, it's only a tarot deck.

Not buying new decks also gives me the chance to get to know what's already in my collection. It's not a huge one (relatively speaking), but I think I'm at the point where I have just what I need. I have variety, but I don't need to have a separate room to store all those boxes in.