The Margarete Petersen Tarot

Farzon

A few days ago I dropped by my local esoteric shop.... they're a bit short ob Tarot decks, but I've already found the Quantum there. So as I was looking for an interesting deck for my collection am oversized package in elegant grey-golden design caught my eye. I googled for some images and though I was a bit skeptical about the abstract minors, bought the deck.

So it's surrealistic in the Majors very abstract in the Minors. Close to no RWS references. I wondered how it would read and for the first times it has done very well. Anyone else has it? I'd love to hear opinions on it!
 

Nemia

I have this tarot. Had to have it. I love the art - it's expressive, radiant, beautiful but not cute. But it's one of the decks I haven't read with after a few times in the beginning. I guess I'd have to invest much, much more time and effort to work with this deck... but I'm content to look at it, to compare it to other decks, and to use it as jumping board for my own thoughts about the cards.

If you read with it, start with few cards and use shapes and colors, don't look for RSW symbols too hard ;-) And some cards are so abstract that they give me only vague vibes, not "proper" card meanings.

It's an art deck that is original, personal and interesting. How close it is to tarot tradition? Not very close. Sometimes I think it might have been a perfect Majors only deck. It really invites you to build your own rapport with the deck.

It resembles the Haindl deck - but the colors and inner light are happier and clearer. Both are very personal decks, and you'll probably get farther with intuition than with a universally recognized system.
 

BodhiSeed

There are a lot of beautiful art tarot decks available that I can't read with, but this isn't one of them. There's not much recognizable tarot structure on the surface, but as Nemia said, it has "vibes." :) This is one of those decks I use to speak out loud what I see and how I feel when I see it. And though there's no real visible tarot foundation in the cards, those vibes often lead me back to at least one solid brick. :D
 

Farzon

Nemia said:
If you read with it, start with few cards and use shapes and colors, don't look for RSW symbols too hard ;-) And some cards are so abstract that they give me only vague vibes, not "proper" card meanings.

It resembles the Haindl deck - but the colors and inner light are happier and clearer. Both are very personal decks, and you'll probably get farther with intuition than with a universally recognized system.
Click to expand...

Interesting! I often find RWS limiting because the images focus on only one aspect of the card which makes it difficult to apply the meaning to specific situations. Therefore I like decks with pips. The MP hasn't even pips sometimes but somehow the Minors succeed in triggering the proper meaning in my head - and I'm not an intuitive reader usually. But these "vibes" (a great description btw) somehow get the fitting aspect of the card across. I didn't think it would work that good for me.

I also thought of the Haindl immediately [emoji1]
 

Hedera

I don't know if posts that old are still accessible, but back when the deck was new, there was quite a bit of discussion about it on the study forum; I think Firemaiden used it a lot.

If you look closely, actually it is pretty RWSsy, if you want it to be... ;-)

I like it a lot although I rarely use it - but that has more to do with the size of the cards than the content.
I find myself admiring the artwork in larger decks, then grabbing a handy, easy-to-handle small deck (like my trimmed Spiral, trimmed Robin Wood etc..) for actual readings.

I also have a book (in German) about the deck, bought in Berlin a few years ago; it looked good but I haven't actually read it yet. So many books, so little time!
 

BodhiSeed

I actually trimmed the top and sides of mine to make it more manageable. :)
 

AJ

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rwcarter

Hedera said:
I don't know if posts that old are still accessible, but back when the deck was new, there was quite a bit of discussion about it on the study forum; I think Firemaiden used it a lot.
Click to expand...
The Study Group is still accessible - Margarete Petersen Tarot

I have both English and German versions in a cream colored book. I believe that's the second edition of the deck as I don't have the one with purple borders. I believe the borders on my decks are both gray. Seeing BohdiSeed's trimming job, one of my decks might need to get a borderectomy one of these days....

Rodney
 

Hedera

Ah, thank you for linking, Rodney!

BodhiSeed, wow, they look great trimmed.... May have to get out the guilloutine cutter for them too some day!
 
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