what you absolutely cannot stand in any deck

[GryffinSong]

I don't care for a certain kind of, for lack of a better word, sexist nudity. That's perhaps putting it too strongly, but where only the women are nude in the deck, and they're all white, young, and look like they've had breast implants. Gag me.

Artwork that is not to my taste. Totally subjective, of course, but if I don't want to look at it, I don't care how readable the deck is supposed to be. There are SO many decks out there that are both readable and to my taste that I'm not going to waste my time.

 

[videojob8]

That would be something I couldn't stand ! Death is my favourite card in a deck, and while I can accept some decks changing it for some reason, that would be TOTALLY inappropriate in most of them.

Why on earth would you want that ?

Because Death name has a scary connotation to most people perhaps?

 

[tarotbear]

Because Death name has a scary connotation to most people perhaps?

If the word "Death" scares you - or them - then you shouldn't be using Tarot. Tarot is not here to 'Be Pretty'; Tarot is a tool. Pretty is for decks of 'Authors' and 'Old Maid.' A circular saw is a tool; no one wants to use a pink glitter circular saw.

There are lots of nasty cards in a Tarot deck; they are there for a reason. I would not want a deck with 78 World cards in it. Sometimes you need to know things are going to get nasty. Tarot is Truth; sometimes the Truth is not pretty.

 

[videojob8]

If the word "Death" scares you - or them - then you shouldn't be using Tarot. Tarot is not here to 'Be Pretty'; Tarot is a tool. Pretty is for decks of 'Authors' and 'Old Maid.' A circular saw is a tool; no one wants to use a pink glitter circular saw.

There are lots of nasty cards in a Tarot deck; they are there for a reason. I would not want a deck with 78 World cards in it. Sometimes you need to know things are going to get nasty. Tarot is Truth; sometimes the Truth is not pretty.

Death name does not scare me but I still think Transformation is a better name for that card than Death.

 

[lark]

Any deck by any deck creator who starts a sentence with....
"I have only been into tarot for 2 and a half minutes never the less I feel qualified to create a tarot deck and sell it to you.....duh...I'm not buying or using that deck...

I like boobs, but any deck that looks as if the women need to carry tire pumps in their purse to maintain their clevage...I'm not using it.

Any deck that has cards in it that look like photo's of my uncle Bob, or sister Sally or any known human that I have encountered in my life time...not using it.

Wishy, washy, fairy, airy, watercolor art that as no strong lines and just blends and swirls and makes me feel like taking a nap...or humming Kumbaya ....I'm not using it.

The Thoth

 

[tarotbear]

Death name does not scare me but I still think Transformation is a better name for that card than Death.

I am hereby revoking your right to read Tarot! {crosses arms and nods head once to the center in reverence to Barbara Eden} Shazzzam!

 

[Chiriku]

1. Winged creatures --especially FAIRIES/FEY and including fluttery, whimsically-drawn insects and animals such as butterflies, dragonflies, flying horses, probably dragons, too, while we're at it. I don't have a problem with serious, zoologically-correct renderings of insects and animals (such as in the Celtic Druid Oracle), but those are few and far between in tarot and oracles.

2. "Prettiness" --a far cry from beauty. The best example I can think of off the top of my head is Crystal Visions Tarot. Ditto the gross offender from the 90s known as Tarot of a Moon Garden. A yawning, paralyzing boredom grips me when I see the streams of flowing hair on maidens surrounded by butterflies and unicorns against a frosted lavender twilight.

3. RWS-Heavy decks for self-readings -- same "yawning, paralyzing boredom" from above. In a newly-produced deck, I believe this to be unacceptable and will only consider the deck if I think it would be good to read for a certain niche of querent. My eyes glaze over as I flip through the usual suspects dolled up in their (often flimsy) respective themes: the Wands gentlemen staring out at their horizons; the beggars outside the house of worship; the two kids exchanging flowers; the indelible pierced heart...

4. Lo Scarabeo's Multi-lingual titles

5. Images that are too small for the intricacy of the artwork . Small images are fine for Tarot of the Trees or the African Tarot, but for Sweet Twilight, Shadowscapes, Paulina--no, no, and no.

6. Digital/CGI art that tries to look painted/drawn as opposed to blatantly collaged -- you knew it was coming, didn't you?

But here's something you should know about me. I never, ever say "never" and, unlike what our culture teaches us, I believe open-mindedness is something we all have to work towards, day in and day out. It is not a natural state of being for most people.

To that end, I recently purchased Legacy of the Divine, several years after inaugurating the Gilded as the first and only tarot deck I've ever sold or traded away. (And not only did I buy Nathalie Hertz's Faerie Tarot and force myself to use it this spring, but I am still going to give it another go at some point in the near future, winged creatures and prettiness and all.)

Here's to teaching ourselves how to turn "absolutely cannot stand" into "don't much care for but can live with."

 

[Chiriku]

I am hereby revoking your right to read Tarot! {crosses arms and nods head once to the center in reverence to Barbara Eden} Shazzzam!

Also, more amusingly, a reference to the Jambi fortune-teller head on Pee Wee's Playhouse.

 

[tarotbear]

Oh - 'Shazzam!' must be spoken like Jim Neighbors doing 'Gomer Pyle, USMC.' {Sha-ZAYAM!}

 

[Chiriku]

Even more amusing!