Can I make a suggestion? (discussion on impact of deck used:moved from Your Readings)

[Grizabella]

I know this forum is called "Your Readings", but I want to make a suggestion that I think would be very helpful to those asking for help with their card spreads.

I've noticed that lots of people forget to tell us what deck they've used for their spread. It can make a big difference in interpreting your reading if we know the deck, so you'd get much more pertinent help if you'd tell us what deck you've used. Many of us have the same decks and we can put the spread out in front of us, for one thing, and for another, some people (like me) don't use all the kinds of decks. I stick to the RWS clones, so Thoth and Marseilles spreads I just leave to others to interpret. If I give input on those, I'd probably not be very helpful. But if I don't know those decks were used, I wade right in and give my RWS version, which might not be as accurate as the ones given by those who actually use those decks.

 

[gregory]

Amen to that - it is even a "requirement" within this forum that people asking for help say which deck was used.

Look !

 

[Muir Aingeal]

It is a requirement but I don't think many people have been listing their deck used. I believe I have been guilty of that in past as well.

It does make a difference on interpretations unless you don't mind just a generic spin on the cards.

So I second Grizabella's suggestion,thank you, your post serves as a good reminder.

 

[Aladdin]

A very good idea.

 

[willowfox]

Personally, I never look at the cards people have selected, so what deck they have used is not a factor in my interpretations. I believe that each card has a set of meanings which never change, no matter what deck is used.
So, some of the new decks are so exotic and extreme, it is hard to even call them tarot cards anymore, they look more like some kind of outlandish, alien oracle. Many of these modern artists are going to great lengths to make their tarot decks "different" , on a par with Frankenstein's monster and I for one am against this trend because it makes them impossible to read with. If you like pretty pictures, then fine but if you want to read them, then not fine.
Also, many of these new age artists have no feeling or even idea what the cards are supposed to be about, pretty pictures do not make a good oracle. Therefore, when somebody says they have used the Alcohol deck or the UFO deck, then how on earth is someone meant to relate to these.

My mind is full of RWS pictures and that is where I find my inspiration.

 

[goddessof1967]

My mind is full of RWS pictures and that is where I find my inspiration.

So what about when people read with a deck that has a different system, like Mareilles or Thoth? How do you read those throws or do you leave them?

 

[Debra]

Ah ha. This explains why often my view of a reading differs so much from yours, Willowfox. I do look up the decks to see the pictures.

I believe tarot is a visual language, so the images matter more than the Rider Waite "standard" meaning from the book. The tarot cards ARE a book, and each deck is a bit different.

I can't see the point of having pictures and ignoring them!

Lots of decks have pictures that I think convey too much of the artist and too little of the deeper meaning, or the deeper meaning is so veiled it becomes like a game to decipher each card, which makes them less useful for divination.

 

[thorhammer]

Again, a great reminder. I hope that I've not been guilty of it, myself; I do take pains to ask if the OP doesn't state what deck it is.

I lie somewhere between Debra and willowfox - further toward Debra. I like to follow the system of the deck used, which is why I state so vehemently that I'm using this or that deck (usually the Thoth). I get overwhelmingly frustrated when someone decides to plaster RWS meanings on my beloved Thoth! That's WHY we all use different decks, to an extent, isn't it? To use different *takes* on the cards??

They are not all one system. They are not all interchangeable.

\m/ Kat

 

[willowfox]

So what about when people read with a deck that has a different system, like Marseilles or Thoth? How do you read those throws or do you leave them?

I read all cards because all cards stem from one initial source, so there are no systems in my universe only cards. So, Marseilles and Thoth are really just brothers and sisters, Thoth has gone extreme but at the end of the day they are still family.

 

[thorhammer]

I read all cards because all cards stem from one initial source, so there are no systems in my universe only cards. So, Marseilles and Thoth are really just brothers and sisters, Thoth has gone extreme but at the end of the day they are still family.

And that one initial source is widely - one could just about say universally - regarded to be the TdM, not the RWS.

. . . . . . . . . TdM ("1") . . .

. . . . . RWS ("2") . . . . . . . .

. . . . . . . . . . . . .Thoth ("3") . . .

NOT

RWS > TdM (Thoth)

Diversity is a big part of this forum, and the forum's reason for being appears to be Tarot, so one would be forgiven for thinking that acceptance of diversity in the structures of different Tarots would be a virtue. Particularly in the Your Readings forum, frequented as it is by so many "newbies" and those seeking to broaden - not further narrow! - their interpretation toolkit.

\m/ Kat