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Tarot Cards: Themes, Sets & Decks

GNC said:
Can you get a Tarot card smileys deck? Sounds like the perfect accessory for those of us for whom getting our jokes is a serious problem for others IRL.
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I'm not sure there's an off-the-shelf smiley / emoji Tarot deck available for purchase, but ...

I've seen personally constructed Tarot decks incorporating smileys and emoji.

A kickstarter campaign to fund manufacture of an Emoji Tarot deck failed a couple of years ago.

https://www.backerkit.com/projects/699388728/emoji-tarot

Multiple artists have posted images of smiley- or emoji-based Tarot cards, such as:

cdd5697614a50a1e16fefaf39675f48e_large.jpg
https://www.renderosity.com/mod/gallery/smiley-tarot-iv-/1871705/?p

... And there's a digital set used on Twitter for the Emoji Tarot Bot.

1j3O3KkE.jpg

https://twitter.com/emojitarotbot
 
Hmm, they're a bit cheap and nasty, I bet if a real artist set to work on them they'd come up with something a lot better.
 
I find the Death card expressive, and certainly the "Hanged Smiley" card is aptly named.
 
As a direct inspiration from this thread - thanks, @skinny - I went out the other day and was treated to a tarot deck of my own by my OH, who is a pretty nifty reader in her own right. Somewhat to my surprise, there is more than one specialist tarot shop in HCMC, but we chose one in the centre. The deck that leapt out at me straight away - it was literally the first deck my eyes came to rest on as we walked into the shop - was the Wonderland tarot. It's notable that I chose a reworked version of Tenniel's Alice as a visual for my translation website. There's also something about Alice trying to make sense of the goings-on in Wonderland which rings true to me, with my late diagnosis of ASD. I did consider the other decks, and in particular I thought maybe I should go old-school and get a Rider-Waite deck, but in the end I heeded that hint from the universe/personal connection, and went with the Wonderland deck.

WonderlandTarot.jpg


Did my first celtic cross reading today, and even though I have to cross-reference with the guide, I have been quite impressed by how much meaning I have been able to extract. I ran my interpretation past my OH, who is way more experienced with the tarot than I am, and she pretty much seemed to agree, so I am suitably chuffed with my first attempt. (Even though the cards were emphatic that my preferred course of action would not end well: the culmination card was the Devil...) One step at a time, I know, but it looks as though this could be a worthwhile path to follow.
 
Krepostnoi said:
As a direct inspiration from this thread - thanks, @skinny - I went out the other day and was treated to a tarot deck of my own by my OH, who is a pretty nifty reader in her own right. Somewhat to my surprise, there is more than one specialist tarot shop in HCMC, but we chose one in the centre. The deck that leapt out at me straight away - it was literally the first deck my eyes came to rest on as we walked into the shop - was the Wonderland tarot. It's notable that I chose a reworked version of Tenniel's Alice as a visual for my translation website. There's also something about Alice trying to make sense of the goings-on in Wonderland which rings true to me, with my late diagnosis of ASD. I did consider the other decks, and in particular I thought maybe I should go old-school and get a Rider-Waite deck, but in the end I heeded that hint from the universe/personal connection, and went with the Wonderland deck.

View attachment 19408

Did my first celtic cross reading today, and even though I have to cross-reference with the guide, I have been quite impressed by how much meaning I have been able to extract. I ran my interpretation past my OH, who is way more experienced with the tarot than I am, and she pretty much seemed to agree, so I am suitably chuffed with my first attempt. (Even though the cards were emphatic that my preferred course of action would not end well: the culmination card was the Devil...) One step at a time, I know, but it looks as though this could be a worthwhile path to follow.
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Fantastic, Krepostnoi! :cool:
 
The Hermetic is a really interesting deck. Has a lot of scope for focus, meditation and such like.
I thought it was better artistically than the Regardie GD tarot.
 
I’m starting to learn tarot.... I have the Deviant Moon deck, which lots of people find really freaky....
 
Comfortably Numb said:
Wondered if this might be of interest - fabulous artwork...

https://www.holisticshop.co.uk/prod...5J39X20AAINZRZ9rVmBvG7sXmn9mip-hoCR3cQAvD_BwE
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I had a very strong negative instinctive response to that deck when I considered it. Could simply have been my reluctance to tangle with Crowley's energy, especially to invite it into potentially vulnerable areas of my life, but the nope was immediate and almost tangible. Mind you, it's not like Carroll is entirely untroublesome...
 
I have a pack of Tarot cards myself. I seem to recall it's called the Golden Tarot.
I also used to have a computer-based 'multimedia tarot' program, but it was pretty corny.
I've also got a pack of 'medicine cards', which I think are a superior design. Example here:
medicinecards-01603.jpg
 
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Krepostnoi said:
I had a very strong negative instinctive response to that deck when I considered it. Could simply have been my reluctance to tangle with Crowley's energy, especially to invite it into potentially vulnerable areas of my life, but the nope was immediate and almost tangible. Mind you, it's not like Carroll is entirely untroublesome...
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Yes, the Thoth deck does tend toward more negative (or perhaps say "intense") interpretations.
 
Whenever I read anything about or by the Golden Dawn alumni off that era, I consider the fact that they were raised in Victorian England, and had to grapple one way or another with the fears and restrictions that were probably instilled in them. I'm no expert, but it seems like there's either a fair amount of rigidity or defiant misbehaving in their behavior and written work.
 
Why "far too good" Mrs Migs?
 
This is real. You can buy it.

Ikea Tarot Pack

Unlike the classic four suits of the minor arcana, wands, cups, swords, and pentacles, the Ikea Tarot is divided into four suits that play into the Ikea brand: sofas, lamps, dowels, and allen wrenches, as well as a full set of major arcana.

You’ll see some familiar aspects of traditional tarot however, but with an Ikea spin. For instance, “The LLovers shows two people standing next to a messy sock of unassembled furniture materials, and The Towr shows someone attempting to climb up the side of an Ikea bookshelf with a giant “X” through it—not a wise decision, of course.
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IbisNibs said:
Does anyone need a three of dowels?
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I guess it depends on whether or not they're looking to expand their friend network, or take the next step in a romantic relationship.
ikeatarot.com said:
Dowels
The suit of Dowels is joins and connections: friendships, family, relationships, weddings. Reversed, dowel represent the opposite: partings, rupture, conflicts between people. Dowels hold things together, but when put under pressure the wrong way, they can split. Sometimes you need a hammer to get a dowel into place.
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IbisNibs said:
I could use a sofa, but I don't think I want any more allen wrenches. And dowels? Does anyone need a three of dowels?
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I used a lot more than three putting together my IKEA chest of drawers... the mood that put me in wouldn’t have been conducive to relationships. Maybe the 36 of dowels means you’re going to realise after an hour that one of the bits is upside down and you’re going to have a stinking row over nothing?
 
Wildwood and Greenwood all the way, for me. Greenwood is about to be reissued by Mark Ryan (Nasir from Robin Of Sherwood - a great tarotist in his own right).

Greenwood only had one edition iirc and was everywhere for a while then nowhere. I could kick myself for seeing it a hundred times in the 1990s and not buying it because it looked too shamanic for my then taste. Now copies go for hundreds of pounds and it was so sought after there was a huge demand for a reprint. But that couldn’t happen because..,

In a Fortean twist, the original artist, Chesca Potter, went missing in the 1990s which is why Mark Ryan had to come up with Wildwood, as she was uncontactable, royalties uncollected etc. Those who knew her said she had changed her name and she has since had the original Greenwood deck and her own notes to it put online for people to download for personal use.

She was, allegedly, officially listed as a missing person.
Meanwhile, the Greenwood is about to be reissued by Mark Ryan who will have her royalties held in trust. He has a FB group, Greenwood Tarot but if you want to delve into the fascinating story, there’s another FB group that appears to have contributions from Chesca’s sister. Chesca Potter Fan Art Club...

It’s a rabbit hole I spent a day or two down during illness.

Chesca’s downloadable images :
https://voicewithinthecards.wordpress.com/greenwood-tarot-book/
I have a real love for the later incarnation, Wildwood, too.

Another beloved deck is Ray Buckland’s Romani Tarot. That too was going for stupid prices til reprinted. Some of yous will be familiar with Mr Buckland’s famous Big Blue Book...

Forgot to say but Wildwood and Druidcraft (both illustrated by Will Worthington) now available as apps with the full text of the deck books... brilliant apps!
 
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Well this piqued my curiosity big time! How easy is it to just vanish when so many well intended people want to find you? Unless a very horrible thing has happened, and your body is chucked into a vortex of some kind where wild beasts, fish or bacteria can eat up all the evidence. Some people thought Chesca Potter had joined an Evangelical Church, but apparently it was someone else who did. In any case, would that mean you had just vanished, even from all current public records?
There are some rather poignant 10 year-old posts from fans, friends and family looking for her here:
http://mark-ryan.blogspot.com/2010/01/chesca-potter.html
 
Thanks for the posts, this is the first time I have read of Chesca Potter and her Unexplained disappearance. Thought I would find out more but there appears to be very little on the internet so I put her name through a podcast search and it came back with no results. Looks like a splendid subject for a Fortean podcast?
 
I've just checked and there isn't a commercial Tarot deck designed by Mabel Lucie Attwell, so I guess the Rider-Waite stays - at least there's a book that goes with it for beginners.
 
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