Weird Trumps
December 29, 2023 1:26 AM Subscribe
This belief in tarot as a revealer of hidden truths is not the survival of some ancient tradition. It’s a modern idea grafted on to something that was originally intended as a bit of fun. Tarot was a card game played in a fairly recognisable way, with the players laying down a card to compete for the highest value in a series of tricks – but with 20 or so ornate picture cards, depending on the set, to complicate the scoring. These were so beautifully crafted, so visually splendid, that their designs now obsess and befuddle people centuries after it was first played by Renaissance courtiers. But tarot is no more mysterious in its origins than Happy Families. from Dr Terror deals the Death card: how tarot was turned into an occult obsession [Grauniad; ungated]
Tarot Mythology: The Surprising Origins of the World's Most Misunderstood Cards [Collector's Weekly]
A Beginner’s Guide to Tarot Cards [The Cut]
Tarot Card Meanings List [Labyrinthos]
A (very skeptical) beginner’s guide to reading tarot cards
[CW: plenty of woo]
[pre vio us ly.]
Tarot Mythology: The Surprising Origins of the World's Most Misunderstood Cards [Collector's Weekly]
A Beginner’s Guide to Tarot Cards [The Cut]
Tarot Card Meanings List [Labyrinthos]
A (very skeptical) beginner’s guide to reading tarot cards
[CW: plenty of woo]
[pre vio us ly.]
As a Tarot aficionado, it drives me bananas when the Death card shows up in media and everyone gets their OH NOES I AM DOOOOOOOMED face on. Y'all wanna worry about The Tower. Or the Ten of Swords.
I know MeFi doesn't do witchy weird stuff well but Tarot--for me and for many--isn't used for divination in the usual sense; it's more used in the Jungian sense, symbols and images that give you options to think about your own actions and outcomes. Tarot doesn't predict the future; it reminds that you have free will, your future is not set in stone. It allows you to consider possibilities for your situation that you may not have before.
Also, there are so many beautiful decks out there. I am on the modest end of the enthusiast spectrum. I have at least 20+!
posted by Kitteh at 4:08 AM on December 29, 2023 [92 favorites]
I know MeFi doesn't do witchy weird stuff well but Tarot--for me and for many--isn't used for divination in the usual sense; it's more used in the Jungian sense, symbols and images that give you options to think about your own actions and outcomes. Tarot doesn't predict the future; it reminds that you have free will, your future is not set in stone. It allows you to consider possibilities for your situation that you may not have before.
Also, there are so many beautiful decks out there. I am on the modest end of the enthusiast spectrum. I have at least 20+!
posted by Kitteh at 4:08 AM on December 29, 2023 [92 favorites]
Weird witchy stuff is one of the large set of things this site cannot hack, but I appreciate this post, and I'm excited to watch Dr. Terror, which apparently features Peter Cushing as a villain and Christopher Lee as a hero?! Oh! I'm there.
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:33 AM on December 29, 2023 [9 favorites]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:33 AM on December 29, 2023 [9 favorites]
Kitten I agree.
I use tarot sort of like EMDR, to create unexpected associations or to get out of a mental rut.
It gets you to ask yourself questions and try to figure out a way to make sense of things.
A certain card in a certain location creates unexpected questions.
"is there something about the way I'm perceived by others (the location of the card in the pattern) that has to do with craving solitude (a particular card) ?"
That kind of thing.
It's also interesting to observe how my tendency to see significant meaning in what is actually random juxtaposition makes some patterns seem more powerful, and to learn more about myself by paying attention to when that happens.
posted by Zumbador at 4:36 AM on December 29, 2023 [15 favorites]
I use tarot sort of like EMDR, to create unexpected associations or to get out of a mental rut.
It gets you to ask yourself questions and try to figure out a way to make sense of things.
A certain card in a certain location creates unexpected questions.
"is there something about the way I'm perceived by others (the location of the card in the pattern) that has to do with craving solitude (a particular card) ?"
That kind of thing.
It's also interesting to observe how my tendency to see significant meaning in what is actually random juxtaposition makes some patterns seem more powerful, and to learn more about myself by paying attention to when that happens.
posted by Zumbador at 4:36 AM on December 29, 2023 [15 favorites]
Yeah, when I do Tarot readings for myself or others, it's not about "here is the future!!!!" so much as it is "these are possible ways to think about the available paths" or a way to get insight/clarity on how I am already feeling (or how the other person is).
For me, personally, it's not tied to any sort of higher power. It's just about me and my mind or my insights into a situation someone else might be in.
posted by edencosmic at 4:43 AM on December 29, 2023 [11 favorites]
For me, personally, it's not tied to any sort of higher power. It's just about me and my mind or my insights into a situation someone else might be in.
posted by edencosmic at 4:43 AM on December 29, 2023 [11 favorites]
MeFi doesn't do witchy weird stuff well
We do it just fine.
posted by Klipspringer at 4:52 AM on December 29, 2023 [13 favorites]
We do it just fine.
posted by Klipspringer at 4:52 AM on December 29, 2023 [13 favorites]
Not really! But I've been here long enough to know when some conversations just aren't worth pursuing. Have a great new year!
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:54 AM on December 29, 2023 [39 favorites]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:54 AM on December 29, 2023 [39 favorites]
As a Tarot aficionado, it drives me bananas when the Death card shows up in media and everyone gets their OH NOES I AM DOOOOOOOMED face on. Y'all wanna worry about The Tower. Or the Ten of Swords.
Or the Happy Squirrel, now a bonus arcana in several reputable decks.
Or the Happy Squirrel, now a bonus arcana in several reputable decks.
Fortune Teller: Now we'll see what the future holds.posted by logicpunk at 4:55 AM on December 29, 2023 [15 favorites]
[turns over a card from a Tarot deck]
Lisa: [gulps] The "Death" card?
Fortune Teller: No, that's good: it means transition, change.
Lisa: [relieved] Oh.
[the Fortune Teller turns over another card]
Lisa: Oh, that's cute.
Fortune Teller: [gasps] "The Happy Squirrel"!
Lisa: [timid] That's bad?
Fortune Teller: Possibly. The cards are vague and mysterious.
It gets you to ask yourself questions and try to figure out a way to make sense of things.
Yup. A friend roped my “but Science!” ass into doing tarot a few years ago. The first thing that struck me was how it called upon intuition to think about your situation in a playful way that would lead to novel thinking. I laughed; it reminded me of all sorts of “games” I’d been involved in in work meetings trying to tap into creative modes of thinking one might normally eschew in the workplace. To the point I wondered if someone could slightly rebrand a deck and sell tarot services to the c*o suite.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 5:24 AM on December 29, 2023 [20 favorites]
Yup. A friend roped my “but Science!” ass into doing tarot a few years ago. The first thing that struck me was how it called upon intuition to think about your situation in a playful way that would lead to novel thinking. I laughed; it reminded me of all sorts of “games” I’d been involved in in work meetings trying to tap into creative modes of thinking one might normally eschew in the workplace. To the point I wondered if someone could slightly rebrand a deck and sell tarot services to the c*o suite.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 5:24 AM on December 29, 2023 [20 favorites]
surely a portent, the cnn style/art section happens to have an article about Tarot cards right now: The secret history of the world’s most popular tarot cards
posted by glonous keming at 5:25 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by glonous keming at 5:25 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
The Empress card is where half of my online handle comes from. Years ago I took this super-dippy "what tarot card are you?" online quiz, and got that answer - and when I read what The Empress is associated with, I realized "hang on - I like that." The Empress is all about appreciating simple pleasures and appreciating their abundance; it's also a sort of nurturing kind of thing.
The Empress would welcome you into her house with some good food and good music, let you vent about the stuff you've got going on so it's not on your mind so much, and then give you a good cup of tea and point out the gorgeous flowers outside. And maybe she'd tell you some really great dirty jokes - or, if you're lucky, and she digs you that way, you might end up cuddled up and making out for a while.
I do a simple reading once a week as a sort of "what's my general vibe these days" meditation, and I'm always happy when The Empress shows up. I sometimes take it as a reminder that when I'm caught up fretting about other things - well, strawberries still exist and are pretty damn great, and so is music and so are good books and that watching clouds is calming, and I can do any of that any time and that's a kind of wealth.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:26 AM on December 29, 2023 [27 favorites]
The Empress would welcome you into her house with some good food and good music, let you vent about the stuff you've got going on so it's not on your mind so much, and then give you a good cup of tea and point out the gorgeous flowers outside. And maybe she'd tell you some really great dirty jokes - or, if you're lucky, and she digs you that way, you might end up cuddled up and making out for a while.
I do a simple reading once a week as a sort of "what's my general vibe these days" meditation, and I'm always happy when The Empress shows up. I sometimes take it as a reminder that when I'm caught up fretting about other things - well, strawberries still exist and are pretty damn great, and so is music and so are good books and that watching clouds is calming, and I can do any of that any time and that's a kind of wealth.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:26 AM on December 29, 2023 [27 favorites]
I’ve long been surprised that I don’t see illustrated fancy versions of Oblique Strategies.
posted by aramaic at 5:36 AM on December 29, 2023 [26 favorites]
posted by aramaic at 5:36 AM on December 29, 2023 [26 favorites]
Regular Tarot users: Marseilles or SRW?
(I have more variations on the SRW than I do Marseilles. I am not immune to a good pip deck though.)
posted by Kitteh at 5:41 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
(I have more variations on the SRW than I do Marseilles. I am not immune to a good pip deck though.)
posted by Kitteh at 5:41 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
I've quoted this before but it bears repeating: Michael Dummett on the history of Tarot:
Intellectuals, scholars and other serious-minded people are prone to consider playing games a trivial occupation on which no one would expend any genuine effort .. Hence, when they contemplate an artefact as beautiful and intricate as the Tarot pack, they cannot bring themselves to believe it to have been invented for play: it must have been intended for some serious purpose such as predicting future events. I think their estimate wrong, both in itself and historically. Attempting by non-rational means to divine what is to happen is one of the most absurd of human activities. Devising and playing games, on the other hand, is a manifestation of ingenuity and of delight in order, an art form as worthy of respect as that of the dance.
posted by verstegan at 6:00 AM on December 29, 2023 [24 favorites]
Intellectuals, scholars and other serious-minded people are prone to consider playing games a trivial occupation on which no one would expend any genuine effort .. Hence, when they contemplate an artefact as beautiful and intricate as the Tarot pack, they cannot bring themselves to believe it to have been invented for play: it must have been intended for some serious purpose such as predicting future events. I think their estimate wrong, both in itself and historically. Attempting by non-rational means to divine what is to happen is one of the most absurd of human activities. Devising and playing games, on the other hand, is a manifestation of ingenuity and of delight in order, an art form as worthy of respect as that of the dance.
posted by verstegan at 6:00 AM on December 29, 2023 [24 favorites]
Slightly weird question while we're talking Tarot-- my primary use case for Tarot decks has always been as a prompt for art, and I've started (but never finished*) a number of my own Tarot decks over the years. Is this a common impulse or am I the weirdo here?
*with the exception of a mini-deck that was explicitly All Bad News
posted by phooky at 6:23 AM on December 29, 2023 [7 favorites]
*with the exception of a mini-deck that was explicitly All Bad News
posted by phooky at 6:23 AM on December 29, 2023 [7 favorites]
I'm more RWS than Marseilles. I like a breadth of decks with imagery that may stray far from the source. Because I use it more for thinking (whether about myself or fiction in progress), I prefer decks that lend themselves to intuitive readings. Pips by themselves just don't cut it for me.
For any other Pamela Colman Smith fans out there, a good book came out a couple years ago. I have a long term interest in her, and I've read most of the books about her, but few have close to as much depth.
(And, yes, I agree that MetaFilter has a terrible record over the years about discussing faith or spirituality broadly, let alone magick or mysticism. It's gotten better of late, I think, but it used to be that people would regularly drop by to vent about their truly horrible experiences with religion and/or to Atheist Snarkily.)
posted by cupcakeninja at 6:37 AM on December 29, 2023 [9 favorites]
For any other Pamela Colman Smith fans out there, a good book came out a couple years ago. I have a long term interest in her, and I've read most of the books about her, but few have close to as much depth.
(And, yes, I agree that MetaFilter has a terrible record over the years about discussing faith or spirituality broadly, let alone magick or mysticism. It's gotten better of late, I think, but it used to be that people would regularly drop by to vent about their truly horrible experiences with religion and/or to Atheist Snarkily.)
posted by cupcakeninja at 6:37 AM on December 29, 2023 [9 favorites]
Also, thank you for the post, chavenet!
phooky, it's not just you! I see tarot-based visual art all the time, and I think it's gotten even more common of late. Used to be, I'd browse aeclectic.net, and the decks were all from the major publishers, but lately I see a lot more indie. Ditto Kickstarter!
posted by cupcakeninja at 6:39 AM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
phooky, it's not just you! I see tarot-based visual art all the time, and I think it's gotten even more common of late. Used to be, I'd browse aeclectic.net, and the decks were all from the major publishers, but lately I see a lot more indie. Ditto Kickstarter!
posted by cupcakeninja at 6:39 AM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
surely a portent
Surely PR for Taschen.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:14 AM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
Surely PR for Taschen.
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 7:14 AM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
While playing-card divination exists in multiple cultures, the use of the tarot for fortune-telling originated with Romani people and was borrowed, or appropriated (like lots and lots and lots of other things) by Spiritualists. It's a pretty big thing for that Guardian article to breeze right past. This is a big subject, but Jezmina Von Thiele, a Romani tarot reader and activist, always opens her monthly readings at Bustle with a brief history including links.
posted by Nibbly Fang at 7:18 AM on December 29, 2023 [8 favorites]
posted by Nibbly Fang at 7:18 AM on December 29, 2023 [8 favorites]
Phooky’s use of the cards as art prompts, without ever finishing a deck, is pretty common. There’s a certain vibe that putting a Major’s name across the top of bottom of a drawing creates.
My advice for finishing a deck is don’t just start with all Majors, it’s super easy to decide you’re Done when you finish those and never move on. Draw a few Minors as well so that you look at this project with most of the Majors and a scattering of Minors/Courts and it is very clearly Not Finished, and you feel a pull to get all 78+ cards done. (I say 78+ because a few cards outside the traditional set will start showing up in your sketches around halfway through. At least that was my experience with drawing the Silicon Dawn.)
posted by egypturnash at 7:27 AM on December 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
My advice for finishing a deck is don’t just start with all Majors, it’s super easy to decide you’re Done when you finish those and never move on. Draw a few Minors as well so that you look at this project with most of the Majors and a scattering of Minors/Courts and it is very clearly Not Finished, and you feel a pull to get all 78+ cards done. (I say 78+ because a few cards outside the traditional set will start showing up in your sketches around halfway through. At least that was my experience with drawing the Silicon Dawn.)
posted by egypturnash at 7:27 AM on December 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
Y'all wanna worry about The Tower. Or the Ten of Swords.
Rider-Waite-Smith, 2020 edition.
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 7:31 AM on December 29, 2023 [21 favorites]
Rider-Waite-Smith, 2020 edition.
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 7:31 AM on December 29, 2023 [21 favorites]
can't forget
"...in any reading of the Tarot it is the Fool who asks and the Fool who answers every question." --Bill Butler, Dictionary of the Tarot (1975)
& (weird factoid)
The Royal Fez Moroccan Tarot deck i have was made by the founder of MENSA.
posted by graywyvern at 7:54 AM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
I use the Aleister Crowley deck, because it's trippy. I've read people's cards for... wow, it's literally 40 years now. There's nothing mystical about it: just archetypes, mixed together, and I'm up front about that. I get the person talking, we put cards down, work it through. It's fun.
Maybe 20 years ago, a friend of my wife's had a booth rented at a big local festival so she could sell her artwork. She had some kind of family emergency come up and couldn't be there one day, so I took over her booth, put on a three-piece suit and did The Rational Tarot. It was a smashing success: I made $1700 for letting people talk out their problems. I purposefully didn't put up a price list, so I'd be the first person who'd actually listened to some spoiled rich housewife in years (literally ALL the clients were women), and then be like "that will be $100, please", and she'd be like that was cheap at twice the price. I ended up doing it for a couple of more years and it was just free money, but the festival changed the rules so that it was for selling products only, not services (because someone was doing table massages and reportedly it turned into a sex work thing, which I'm like whatever makes you money) so I've not done it in a long time.
About five years ago, my wife talked me into going to a "burn" (do NOT do this, it's awful) and I set up the table and did it for free, walking topless hippie girls through why going no-contact with their abusive exes was probably a good idea.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 8:05 AM on December 29, 2023 [26 favorites]
Maybe 20 years ago, a friend of my wife's had a booth rented at a big local festival so she could sell her artwork. She had some kind of family emergency come up and couldn't be there one day, so I took over her booth, put on a three-piece suit and did The Rational Tarot. It was a smashing success: I made $1700 for letting people talk out their problems. I purposefully didn't put up a price list, so I'd be the first person who'd actually listened to some spoiled rich housewife in years (literally ALL the clients were women), and then be like "that will be $100, please", and she'd be like that was cheap at twice the price. I ended up doing it for a couple of more years and it was just free money, but the festival changed the rules so that it was for selling products only, not services (because someone was doing table massages and reportedly it turned into a sex work thing, which I'm like whatever makes you money) so I've not done it in a long time.
About five years ago, my wife talked me into going to a "burn" (do NOT do this, it's awful) and I set up the table and did it for free, walking topless hippie girls through why going no-contact with their abusive exes was probably a good idea.
posted by outgrown_hobnail at 8:05 AM on December 29, 2023 [26 favorites]
Heh, outgrown_hobnail, I have considered doing a variant of that I wanted to call “the skeptics tarot”, perhaps I will. I just only do occasional enough that I have few cards and fewer spreads memorized.
posted by [insert clever name here] at 8:11 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by [insert clever name here] at 8:11 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
People think that I'm more of a tarot person than I am because I like weird pictures, so I have a few decks I've received as gifts (the only divination I attempt is of the why does my finger hurt I should definitely see if the Mayo Clinic website thinks it's cancer variety). I do like trump-taking card games, so this reminds me that I should get some people together and actually try to play the game.
posted by thivaia at 8:13 AM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by thivaia at 8:13 AM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
From Samuel R. Delany's NOVA (1968):
"...the 78 cards of the Tarot present symbols and mythological images that have reverberated through forty-five centuries of human history. Someone who understands these symbols can construct a dialogue about a given situation. The Book of Changes, even Chaldean Astrology only become superstitious when they are abused, employed to direct rather than guide and suggest."
posted by aught at 8:18 AM on December 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
"...the 78 cards of the Tarot present symbols and mythological images that have reverberated through forty-five centuries of human history. Someone who understands these symbols can construct a dialogue about a given situation. The Book of Changes, even Chaldean Astrology only become superstitious when they are abused, employed to direct rather than guide and suggest."
posted by aught at 8:18 AM on December 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
Regular Tarot users: Marseilles or SRW?
robin wood tarot
posted by pyramid termite at 8:19 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
robin wood tarot
posted by pyramid termite at 8:19 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
Most of these decks are beautiful. I'm not a believer that it can predict or rule your world, but like the I Ching, it's a way to think about interactions. I just did an online reading. So general! This man I'm about to meet.... Couldn't it have predicted a woman?
EmpressCallipygos, I would like to meet your Empress (sigh)
posted by BlueHorse at 8:23 AM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
The Tarot is a tool. I’ve used it for years for myself and for others as a focus for guiding conversations about what is going on. The images and the associated massive symbol systems that have been accreted on to the images gives a lot of ways of looking at and discussing what is going on. And because my friends kept asking me to read their cards, it appears that whatever was happening was beneficial for them. And yes, it’s one of the best ways to exercise your intuition. And from my own experience, it’s probably as effective or more than standard talk therapy which seems to be based on as much real science as the Tarot. I use the Crowley/Harris deck because the artwork is amazing. I started with the SRW. The vast majority of decks out there, and there are a lot, are mostly rip-off’s of the SRW deck. I’m waiting patiently for the upcoming printing of the Austin Osman Spare deck. He was an amazing artist and mystic.
posted by njohnson23 at 8:29 AM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by njohnson23 at 8:29 AM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
At the bookstore where I used to work, we had to keep the Tarot decks under lock-and-key because otherwise the shrinkage (loss of inventory) would be untenable. The story told to me at the time was that there was a tacit taboo against purchasing a first Tarot deck for oneself—either it had to be gifted to you or else procured in some other non-transactional way (i.e. shoplifted).
Is this an actual tradition in Tarot world, or just something made up by a bunch of bored 20-something retail workers?
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:55 AM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
Is this an actual tradition in Tarot world, or just something made up by a bunch of bored 20-something retail workers?
posted by Atom Eyes at 8:55 AM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
Is this an actual tradition in Tarot world, or just something made up by a bunch of bored 20-something retail workers?
It's one of those hoary old tropes that gets trotted out every time someone new gets interested in Tarot. There is no tradition of that. You hear things like: "sleep with your new deck under your pillow for a week/moon cycle", "keep your deck wrapped in a cloth/special box," etc. Much like any cultural group, Tarot readers/enthusiasts run the gamut of personal superstition re: their decks.
I keep whatever deck I am working with that month on my altar with a quartz on top, but that's about as special as it is treated.
posted by Kitteh at 9:08 AM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
It's one of those hoary old tropes that gets trotted out every time someone new gets interested in Tarot. There is no tradition of that. You hear things like: "sleep with your new deck under your pillow for a week/moon cycle", "keep your deck wrapped in a cloth/special box," etc. Much like any cultural group, Tarot readers/enthusiasts run the gamut of personal superstition re: their decks.
I keep whatever deck I am working with that month on my altar with a quartz on top, but that's about as special as it is treated.
posted by Kitteh at 9:08 AM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
I don't use tarot in any meaningful way (autoharuspexy is the only form of divination I trust and I already suffer from too much fucking perspective on my life, so tarot serves neither occult nor psychological benefit to me) but I would like to wish everyone here at MetaFilter a 2024 that is a little less Tower and a little more Three of Cups.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 9:13 AM on December 29, 2023 [12 favorites]
posted by Parasite Unseen at 9:13 AM on December 29, 2023 [12 favorites]
Is this an actual tradition in Tarot world, or just something made up by a bunch of bored 20-something retail workers?
Tarot decks fit into the important nexus between "teenagers who are delving into fun mysticism" and "just the right size to fit in your pocket if nobody's in that aisle at the bookstore," so...I mean it's not wrong, I guess? (Perhaps the age of skinny jeans put an end to that tradition.)
posted by mittens at 9:23 AM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
Tarot decks fit into the important nexus between "teenagers who are delving into fun mysticism" and "just the right size to fit in your pocket if nobody's in that aisle at the bookstore," so...I mean it's not wrong, I guess? (Perhaps the age of skinny jeans put an end to that tradition.)
posted by mittens at 9:23 AM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
This is the first time I've heard of Happy Families, but this thread is making me want to commission an overwrought version of it, attach some occult meanings to the cards, run some workshops on it, and see how many years it takes for Some Mefites to complain unprompted that Metafilter Doesn't Do Happy Families Well.
posted by Reverend John at 9:26 AM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by Reverend John at 9:26 AM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
I think this is going pretty great for a "woo" subject on MeFi. I note that Amy Schneider's book has a chapter on "why I'm into tarot despite being an atheist" if anyone's into that idea.
The Tower card follows me around. I seem to have a streak of chaos going on or following me around or something because well, y'all have seen my posts.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:08 AM on December 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
The Tower card follows me around. I seem to have a streak of chaos going on or following me around or something because well, y'all have seen my posts.
posted by jenfullmoon at 10:08 AM on December 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
I'm delighted to see this topic here--thanks for posting it! I don't have strong opinions on it, just a few observations:
First, if you haven't played French Tarot, Tarokk, Taroky, etc., it's pretty fun, and people certainly play it today. You can order a French Tarot deck with regular suits plus trumps for about the same price as any Tarot deck. The scoring is complicated enough that the easiest way to learn is probably not reading the rules at Pagat but rather just watching a tutorial on YouTube, which IIRC recommends iOS implementations with free and paid options.
Anyone interested in the history of playing cards (including Tarot cards) would probably enjoy browsing Gallica's online collection, which has some amazing Tarot cards, e.g. if you drill down into the 15th C. portion of their collection. But it's generally full of fun things to see.
I happen to have Dummett et al.'s A Wicked Pack of Cards: Origins of the Occult Tarot, but I've only skimmed it! It does look like it makes an excellent case for dismissing a ton of 18th/19th C. speculation about Tarot. Like, whatever the truth may be, it has also been clouded by a whole bunch of mess. At the same time, just glancing at it and maybe overlooking something, I can't find any reference to Marcolini's beautiful fortune book Le Sorti, which used cards for divination ca. 1540 I know Dummett wrote or co-wrote a much longer text on the history of the game of Tarot too, so maybe there's something in it that talks about other forms of divination with cards pre-dating their 18th/19th C. mythologization.
That said, I guess Marcolini's idiosyncrasies represent a question for divination with Tarot too. Like, it seems like people in Europe definitely re-invented divination with dice and cards and whatnot on several occasions just for fun. IIRC no one exactly knows how to play the fortune games Ragemon le bon and Le Jeu d'Aventure, which use string, or Le Jeu d'amour which uses dice, but Serina Patterson's online dissertation Game on: medieval players and their texts explains them pretty well. Early fortune games she also describes that you can play for yourself with 1d6 and 1d12 include the Chaucerian game Chaunce of the Dyse and the 14th C. (attributed; earliest text I can find is 1581) game of The Dodechedron of Fortune.
For Chaunce of the Dyse, you roll a 1d6 three times, noting the order of the results, and you look up your fortune in this long poem. For The Dodechedron of Fortune, the process is more complicated. First of all you browse the manual for it until you find a question you want it to answer (appropriate to your situation) from those found grouped into twelve "houses" at the beginning of the manual. On the table of the twelve houses, find the house's row and the starting cell with its matching Roman numeral. Counting that cell as "1," count one cell to the right until you reach the question's number, wrapping around to the left if necessary. Then roll 1d12, and counting the current cell as "1," count one cell downward until you reach the number on the die, wrapping around to the top if necessary. Finally, turn to the page indicated in that cell and look up the number on the die to find the answer, bearing in mind that "if it chance that he doe tell a lye, / That is the sport, for thee to laugh out right."
And, like, I can't stress enough that both the French introduction ca. 1581 and the translator's preface in 1613 were very clear the latter game attached divinatory meaning to game equipment just for fun and amusement, so in any other situation going on at the same time where people were taking divination with game equipment seriously, it's for sure that people were also throwing things into the mix just to enjoy themselves. I'd bet sometimes even the same people.
posted by Wobbuffet at 10:13 AM on December 29, 2023 [13 favorites]
First, if you haven't played French Tarot, Tarokk, Taroky, etc., it's pretty fun, and people certainly play it today. You can order a French Tarot deck with regular suits plus trumps for about the same price as any Tarot deck. The scoring is complicated enough that the easiest way to learn is probably not reading the rules at Pagat but rather just watching a tutorial on YouTube, which IIRC recommends iOS implementations with free and paid options.
Anyone interested in the history of playing cards (including Tarot cards) would probably enjoy browsing Gallica's online collection, which has some amazing Tarot cards, e.g. if you drill down into the 15th C. portion of their collection. But it's generally full of fun things to see.
I happen to have Dummett et al.'s A Wicked Pack of Cards: Origins of the Occult Tarot, but I've only skimmed it! It does look like it makes an excellent case for dismissing a ton of 18th/19th C. speculation about Tarot. Like, whatever the truth may be, it has also been clouded by a whole bunch of mess. At the same time, just glancing at it and maybe overlooking something, I can't find any reference to Marcolini's beautiful fortune book Le Sorti, which used cards for divination ca. 1540 I know Dummett wrote or co-wrote a much longer text on the history of the game of Tarot too, so maybe there's something in it that talks about other forms of divination with cards pre-dating their 18th/19th C. mythologization.
That said, I guess Marcolini's idiosyncrasies represent a question for divination with Tarot too. Like, it seems like people in Europe definitely re-invented divination with dice and cards and whatnot on several occasions just for fun. IIRC no one exactly knows how to play the fortune games Ragemon le bon and Le Jeu d'Aventure, which use string, or Le Jeu d'amour which uses dice, but Serina Patterson's online dissertation Game on: medieval players and their texts explains them pretty well. Early fortune games she also describes that you can play for yourself with 1d6 and 1d12 include the Chaucerian game Chaunce of the Dyse and the 14th C. (attributed; earliest text I can find is 1581) game of The Dodechedron of Fortune.
For Chaunce of the Dyse, you roll a 1d6 three times, noting the order of the results, and you look up your fortune in this long poem. For The Dodechedron of Fortune, the process is more complicated. First of all you browse the manual for it until you find a question you want it to answer (appropriate to your situation) from those found grouped into twelve "houses" at the beginning of the manual. On the table of the twelve houses, find the house's row and the starting cell with its matching Roman numeral. Counting that cell as "1," count one cell to the right until you reach the question's number, wrapping around to the left if necessary. Then roll 1d12, and counting the current cell as "1," count one cell downward until you reach the number on the die, wrapping around to the top if necessary. Finally, turn to the page indicated in that cell and look up the number on the die to find the answer, bearing in mind that "if it chance that he doe tell a lye, / That is the sport, for thee to laugh out right."
And, like, I can't stress enough that both the French introduction ca. 1581 and the translator's preface in 1613 were very clear the latter game attached divinatory meaning to game equipment just for fun and amusement, so in any other situation going on at the same time where people were taking divination with game equipment seriously, it's for sure that people were also throwing things into the mix just to enjoy themselves. I'd bet sometimes even the same people.
posted by Wobbuffet at 10:13 AM on December 29, 2023 [13 favorites]
Phooky, Tarot inspired art is absolutely a trope in fanart circles! And canon art circles - my first acquaintance with the Tarot was actually through the X/1999 manga which had every volume come with a Tarot card of one of the characters as a major arcanum. I still use them as interpretation shortcuts.
posted by I claim sanctuary at 10:17 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by I claim sanctuary at 10:17 AM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
I don't believe in cartomancy at all, but I love Tarot-based art, from Dali and Carrington to modern designs. I have nearly a dozen decks.
Calvino’s novel The Castle of Crossed Destinies is also a fun read, especially with the two decks on hand to get a better idea of the imagery. (The images reproduced in the novel are not great.)
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:15 AM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Calvino’s novel The Castle of Crossed Destinies is also a fun read, especially with the two decks on hand to get a better idea of the imagery. (The images reproduced in the novel are not great.)
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 11:15 AM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Like the Meyers Briggs test and an Ouija board I've found that Tarot Cards can be useful to get people to open up and have a conversation they would otherwise be uncomfortable having. You do a little ritual like a bullshit test and then let the Forer-Barnum effect lead people to think that they are receiving wisdom from what is actually just a little cold reading and free association.
posted by interogative mood at 11:31 AM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
posted by interogative mood at 11:31 AM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
My biggest complaint is that the Rider–Waite deck is so much the standard Tarot deck that you still have a bit of a difficult time finding anything that isn't either just that or a slightly different skin on that.
And add me to the people who use it as a sort of free association aid.
However, I do think that the diceless TTRPG Everway had a pretty nifty pseudo-Tarot with their Fate Deck. I mean, how can you not like a deck of cards where Striking the Dragon's Tail is an option completely with an illustration of a clueless person trying to whack what they think is a snake and not noticing the giant ass dragon rearing up and looking grumpy?
posted by sotonohito at 11:57 AM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
And add me to the people who use it as a sort of free association aid.
However, I do think that the diceless TTRPG Everway had a pretty nifty pseudo-Tarot with their Fate Deck. I mean, how can you not like a deck of cards where Striking the Dragon's Tail is an option completely with an illustration of a clueless person trying to whack what they think is a snake and not noticing the giant ass dragon rearing up and looking grumpy?
posted by sotonohito at 11:57 AM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
Metafilter's own egypturnash is here, I'm so glad I ventured into this thread! Tarot of the Silicon Dawn rules <3
The most resonating description of tarot I've encountered is that it's a deck of stories. I think I got that from Rachel Pollack but it's certainly reiterated in a number of places.
I've been imagining how to make a Magic the Gathering deck that's both a viable divination tool and actually playable in a game, to combine both my cardboard loves, but I haven't gotten there yet.
posted by Tesseractive at 11:58 AM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
The most resonating description of tarot I've encountered is that it's a deck of stories. I think I got that from Rachel Pollack but it's certainly reiterated in a number of places.
I've been imagining how to make a Magic the Gathering deck that's both a viable divination tool and actually playable in a game, to combine both my cardboard loves, but I haven't gotten there yet.
posted by Tesseractive at 11:58 AM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
The tarot world seems to be in a really interesting space over the last few years. There's been a huge surge in interest, and accompanying surge in the creation of interesting indie decks, especially ones that reinterpret the cards.
From my perspective, there are two high-level schools of tarot. Apologies in advance if I annoy someone with my names -- they're how I refer to the different patterns I see as I figure out my own relationship to tarot, not any sort of studied or deeply considered system. There's "psychic tarot" which tends to be the school of predicting the future and of much more fixed card meanings. Then there's "intuitive tarot" what tends to view tarot more as a tool for thinking that can be read and interpreted in whatever way works for the reader. I think a lot of the superstitions around tarot (you can't buy your first deck, you need to cleanse the cards before you use them, etc) comes from the first school, and the second tends to encourage people to adopt whatever of those practices works for them, and ignore the rest. Most of my favorite deck creators and readers tend to be in the second camp, and that way of approaching it really opened up a way into something that I'd long found fascinating but couldn't really square with my personal lack of belief system, or lack thereof.
I tend to like decks that reinterpret the tarot and have a strong and unique voice. There are a lot of decks out there that are essentially redrawings of the SRW deck with some alternate theme, and while some of them can be really pretty, and some of them fill a real gap for people who don't see themselves represented in traditional decks, the thing that really gets me excited are decks that totally reinterpret things. I love experiments with renaming cards and suits, and decks where you can really feel the artist's personal relationship with tarot. One of the earliest decks in my collection is egypturnash's Tarot of the Silicon Dawn, and I really enjoy the extra cards and different slant. I have a frankly unreasonable collection of cards, but I just love seeing the different interpretations and how they can change the voice of a reading. I don't think there's anything happening outside of my head and some pieces of paper, but I love seeing the different facets of these archetypes and how they combine and reinforce or undermine each other.
One of my favorite decks right now is the Ritual Tarot, which is analog collage deck composed largely of images of ancient sculptures, with some paintings and some landscape photos as well. The artwork is dense and layered, and I feel like I'm always finding new things in it. It's a bit like you put the Smithsonian and National Geographic in a blender and an amazing tarot deck came out. It's very different from the aesthetic than what I'm usually drawn to, but it's incredibly well-crafted and expressive, especially once you start layout the cards out -- the figures often seem like they're looking at and reacting to each other. One of the other things I love about it is that there are no titles or ranks on any of the cards, which lets me use my own system of names drawn from various different decks I like, especially for the court. Most of the names I use (and the book I reference most frequently) are from the Slow Holler deck, which was a limited run Kickstarter a few years back with an amazing queer reinterpretation of the cards, and is one of my favorites in a lot of ways even though a lot of the art never quite clicked for me. The Slow Holler replaced all of the gendered card names, which was a revelation to me. The ranks of the court are student (page), traveller (knight), architect (king), and visionary (queen) which I find much more expressive, in addition to avoiding the gender baggage that can trip me up. I enjoy the way the nameless cards have opened up a space for me to make the deck much more my own, and it's been my primary reading deck since I got it early this year.
For other folks with a tarot practice, I'd love to know what decks you enjoy and what draws you to them. I'm always interested in how other people approach the tarot and what their relationship to it looks like.
posted by duien at 12:04 PM on December 29, 2023 [10 favorites]
From my perspective, there are two high-level schools of tarot. Apologies in advance if I annoy someone with my names -- they're how I refer to the different patterns I see as I figure out my own relationship to tarot, not any sort of studied or deeply considered system. There's "psychic tarot" which tends to be the school of predicting the future and of much more fixed card meanings. Then there's "intuitive tarot" what tends to view tarot more as a tool for thinking that can be read and interpreted in whatever way works for the reader. I think a lot of the superstitions around tarot (you can't buy your first deck, you need to cleanse the cards before you use them, etc) comes from the first school, and the second tends to encourage people to adopt whatever of those practices works for them, and ignore the rest. Most of my favorite deck creators and readers tend to be in the second camp, and that way of approaching it really opened up a way into something that I'd long found fascinating but couldn't really square with my personal lack of belief system, or lack thereof.
I tend to like decks that reinterpret the tarot and have a strong and unique voice. There are a lot of decks out there that are essentially redrawings of the SRW deck with some alternate theme, and while some of them can be really pretty, and some of them fill a real gap for people who don't see themselves represented in traditional decks, the thing that really gets me excited are decks that totally reinterpret things. I love experiments with renaming cards and suits, and decks where you can really feel the artist's personal relationship with tarot. One of the earliest decks in my collection is egypturnash's Tarot of the Silicon Dawn, and I really enjoy the extra cards and different slant. I have a frankly unreasonable collection of cards, but I just love seeing the different interpretations and how they can change the voice of a reading. I don't think there's anything happening outside of my head and some pieces of paper, but I love seeing the different facets of these archetypes and how they combine and reinforce or undermine each other.
One of my favorite decks right now is the Ritual Tarot, which is analog collage deck composed largely of images of ancient sculptures, with some paintings and some landscape photos as well. The artwork is dense and layered, and I feel like I'm always finding new things in it. It's a bit like you put the Smithsonian and National Geographic in a blender and an amazing tarot deck came out. It's very different from the aesthetic than what I'm usually drawn to, but it's incredibly well-crafted and expressive, especially once you start layout the cards out -- the figures often seem like they're looking at and reacting to each other. One of the other things I love about it is that there are no titles or ranks on any of the cards, which lets me use my own system of names drawn from various different decks I like, especially for the court. Most of the names I use (and the book I reference most frequently) are from the Slow Holler deck, which was a limited run Kickstarter a few years back with an amazing queer reinterpretation of the cards, and is one of my favorites in a lot of ways even though a lot of the art never quite clicked for me. The Slow Holler replaced all of the gendered card names, which was a revelation to me. The ranks of the court are student (page), traveller (knight), architect (king), and visionary (queen) which I find much more expressive, in addition to avoiding the gender baggage that can trip me up. I enjoy the way the nameless cards have opened up a space for me to make the deck much more my own, and it's been my primary reading deck since I got it early this year.
For other folks with a tarot practice, I'd love to know what decks you enjoy and what draws you to them. I'm always interested in how other people approach the tarot and what their relationship to it looks like.
posted by duien at 12:04 PM on December 29, 2023 [10 favorites]
(oh no I accidentally wrote a novel. oops)
posted by duien at 12:07 PM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
posted by duien at 12:07 PM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
There are a number of board games that play with the mechanism of interpreting cards with vague meanings and gorgeous illustrations. I'm a fan of Dixit and Mysterium. Might scratch the same itch as Tarot if you're looking for a way to make an evening out of it.
posted by echo target at 12:10 PM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by echo target at 12:10 PM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
I have a couple RWS decks of varying sizes, an oversized Thoth deck, and a couple of weird ones that I've picked up along the way (The Postmodern Tarot, The Mythic Tarot, the one w/ Arthur Rackham art). Most recently I picked up The White Cats Tarot deck from a hippie sellin' random stuff at a festival. All the figures in all of the cards are white cats, with the exception of The Fool, who is a dog. No explanation was included.
If anyone is into a pretty great pulpy kinda magical-realist thriller, check out Last Call by Tim Powers - it centers around a poker game played with tarot cards on a houseboat on Lake Mead, where the prize is inheriting the powers of Bugsy Siegel, the Fisher King.
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 12:46 PM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
If anyone is into a pretty great pulpy kinda magical-realist thriller, check out Last Call by Tim Powers - it centers around a poker game played with tarot cards on a houseboat on Lake Mead, where the prize is inheriting the powers of Bugsy Siegel, the Fisher King.
posted by Pickman's Next Top Model at 12:46 PM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
Anybody who's interested in Tarot and looking for a good introduction to the subjection could do a lot worse than to read Josephine McCarthy's book, "Tarot Skills for the 21st Century", which is available for free at her website.
posted by Ipsifendus at 1:10 PM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
posted by Ipsifendus at 1:10 PM on December 29, 2023 [5 favorites]
My first tarot reading was at a party and the reader was very experienced and sharp at reading people/situations. I am not great at that, so - something something indistinguishable from magic?
I have a couple decks now, the ritual and the art and the storytelling aspects all appeal to me. As does the variety in both artistic interpretations and written guides. I've done spreads as part of annual goal-setting (Suzannah Conway's Unravel Your Year workbook), and mostly use it as an adjunct to journaling.
posted by mersen at 1:40 PM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
I have a couple decks now, the ritual and the art and the storytelling aspects all appeal to me. As does the variety in both artistic interpretations and written guides. I've done spreads as part of annual goal-setting (Suzannah Conway's Unravel Your Year workbook), and mostly use it as an adjunct to journaling.
posted by mersen at 1:40 PM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
Any good sites to explain the difference between the deck types?
posted by St. Peepsburg at 2:00 PM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 2:00 PM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
Second question (since this saves me an askme!) does anyone know of a deck, released in the 90s, that had large ish cards wish images that looked like photograph images all photoshopped together.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 2:23 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by St. Peepsburg at 2:23 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
St. Peepsburg, there are several deck types commonly identified as tarot decks, and this page covers three of them. Here's a page with a little discussion of historical decks, plus representative examples of various kinds. These days there are also many "oracle decks" (they go under other names, as well) that aren't much or at all like tarot. Aeclectic.net has been around for a long time and has many reviews, but I don't know if it might be considered either old or outdated now, as there are so many other sites and tarot video channels, social media accounts, etc.
There have been various photomontage cards, and I don't know the one you mentioned off the top of my head. Sorry! Looking for something from the 1990s or before, I would probably search for images you remember, along with major deck publisher names as keywords, maybe adding "oversize" as a search term. There weren't many micro-publishers, one-offs, or crowdfunded decks back then, so that should be a help.
posted by cupcakeninja at 3:42 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
There have been various photomontage cards, and I don't know the one you mentioned off the top of my head. Sorry! Looking for something from the 1990s or before, I would probably search for images you remember, along with major deck publisher names as keywords, maybe adding "oversize" as a search term. There weren't many micro-publishers, one-offs, or crowdfunded decks back then, so that should be a help.
posted by cupcakeninja at 3:42 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
The big collage deck of the 1990s was probably the Voyager Tarot. Photoshopped commercial decks were just starting to happen then (i.e. I remember when the Golden Tarot, which is shooped from Renaissance art, was very much a work in progress). There weren't a ton of collage decks from major publishers, because of the rights to the images being used, but a lot of people did make their own collage decks that weren't professionally published.
It could still be something else! But Voyager is the most mainstream guess.
posted by verbminx at 4:05 PM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
It could still be something else! But Voyager is the most mainstream guess.
posted by verbminx at 4:05 PM on December 29, 2023 [4 favorites]
My two current favorite decks:
This Might Hurt Tarot -- I love Isabella Rotman's artwork (I knew of her work before she did the Kickstarter for this deck) and I just find this deck so open and welcoming. It's inclusive in a way that feels personal to her but also engaging to its wider audience. It never tells me anything I don't already know, but that's sort of what I like about it. It's so supportive, honest and clear.
Silhouettes Tarot (the moon/dark version) -- I was looking for something a bit darker and more abstract but still something I could connect with (tastes are personal so it was a tough one!). This deck is bit more "tell it like it is" and I have to dig deeper into my feelings and sometimes that's too much, but other times I need that. I really like this one for those circumstances.
I read less with Siolo Thompson's The Linestrider Tarot even though I love it. It's a complicated deck and requires a lot of focus for me. Sometimes I just don't want to do that work but I know it's there for me when I want to.
(I tend to read with This Might Hurt for other people, but I give them the choice. I really don't read for other people a lot, though.)
I'd also love to see other people's favorite decks. I get this is a personal thing but I always want to discover new ones.
posted by edencosmic at 4:12 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
This Might Hurt Tarot -- I love Isabella Rotman's artwork (I knew of her work before she did the Kickstarter for this deck) and I just find this deck so open and welcoming. It's inclusive in a way that feels personal to her but also engaging to its wider audience. It never tells me anything I don't already know, but that's sort of what I like about it. It's so supportive, honest and clear.
Silhouettes Tarot (the moon/dark version) -- I was looking for something a bit darker and more abstract but still something I could connect with (tastes are personal so it was a tough one!). This deck is bit more "tell it like it is" and I have to dig deeper into my feelings and sometimes that's too much, but other times I need that. I really like this one for those circumstances.
I read less with Siolo Thompson's The Linestrider Tarot even though I love it. It's a complicated deck and requires a lot of focus for me. Sometimes I just don't want to do that work but I know it's there for me when I want to.
(I tend to read with This Might Hurt for other people, but I give them the choice. I really don't read for other people a lot, though.)
I'd also love to see other people's favorite decks. I get this is a personal thing but I always want to discover new ones.
posted by edencosmic at 4:12 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
I love tarot decks, and I'm building up a little collection.
So far The Binding of Isaac tarot has got to be one of the coolest decks I've played with. It's surprisingly well done, especially for being based off of a video game.
The Homestuck tarot was the most disappointing deck. It just wasn't cohesive.
The Chubby Bunny tarot is another gooder, even if it is more SRW-but-with-cute-bunnies. It does legit have a "Happy Squirrel" card, which is trump 23 leaving a hole for 22.
The Bumbleberry Hollows deck is very adorable and I love it to pieces.
My working decks were either the Osho Zen tarot, which is colorful and friendly (and honest); and the Voyager Tarot, which... It served me well, and it's very much of a time.
If you want off-the-wall ... Try the Alleymans Tarot. Shuffling that is a beast however! I don't have a deck, but I am considering it.
My favorite thing to do is to play a solo rpg with a tarot deck. Of you draw a trump, just draw again until you get a pip, and let the number and kind of trump help tell the story. (You're on your own for the Knights).
posted by jonnay at 4:34 PM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
So far The Binding of Isaac tarot has got to be one of the coolest decks I've played with. It's surprisingly well done, especially for being based off of a video game.
The Homestuck tarot was the most disappointing deck. It just wasn't cohesive.
The Chubby Bunny tarot is another gooder, even if it is more SRW-but-with-cute-bunnies. It does legit have a "Happy Squirrel" card, which is trump 23 leaving a hole for 22.
The Bumbleberry Hollows deck is very adorable and I love it to pieces.
My working decks were either the Osho Zen tarot, which is colorful and friendly (and honest); and the Voyager Tarot, which... It served me well, and it's very much of a time.
If you want off-the-wall ... Try the Alleymans Tarot. Shuffling that is a beast however! I don't have a deck, but I am considering it.
My favorite thing to do is to play a solo rpg with a tarot deck. Of you draw a trump, just draw again until you get a pip, and let the number and kind of trump help tell the story. (You're on your own for the Knights).
posted by jonnay at 4:34 PM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
Since we're getting into decks...
I mainly use this deck, something I got back towards the end of college when I was in a serious new-agey phase. I still use it most.
Two other decks I have mostly for the kitschy nature of the art -
The Housewives Tarot, which is all retro 1950s imagery
Movie Tarot, which features characters from films as some of the trumps (Forrest Gump as the Fool, Ellen Ripley as Strength, Donnie Darko as Death, etc.).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:39 PM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
I mainly use this deck, something I got back towards the end of college when I was in a serious new-agey phase. I still use it most.
Two other decks I have mostly for the kitschy nature of the art -
The Housewives Tarot, which is all retro 1950s imagery
Movie Tarot, which features characters from films as some of the trumps (Forrest Gump as the Fool, Ellen Ripley as Strength, Donnie Darko as Death, etc.).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 4:39 PM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
I covet Alleyman's Tarot and Mary-El.
I have a small collection, but repeatedly come back to Morgan-Greer. It was the first deck I ever bought (though I no longer have my original copy), and for some reason, it's just the coziest and friendliest to me. I feel the most connection to it and I've tinted the edges of my cards. (When I do tarot, though, my approach is 100% the "intuitive" one outlined above, regardless of how cozy and friendly a given deck feels.) I also like the Game of Thrones tarot, and for oracle decks, Madame Endora or Woodland Wardens.
Some decks I have and like for their aesthetics: Nigel Jackson (rebranded as Medieval Enchantment), Wild Unknown, The Last Unicorn, the Halloween Tarot by Kipling West, the Arthurian tarot by John and Caitlin Matthews, New Palladini, Vertigo (from Vertigo Comics).
posted by verbminx at 4:43 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
I have a small collection, but repeatedly come back to Morgan-Greer. It was the first deck I ever bought (though I no longer have my original copy), and for some reason, it's just the coziest and friendliest to me. I feel the most connection to it and I've tinted the edges of my cards. (When I do tarot, though, my approach is 100% the "intuitive" one outlined above, regardless of how cozy and friendly a given deck feels.) I also like the Game of Thrones tarot, and for oracle decks, Madame Endora or Woodland Wardens.
Some decks I have and like for their aesthetics: Nigel Jackson (rebranded as Medieval Enchantment), Wild Unknown, The Last Unicorn, the Halloween Tarot by Kipling West, the Arthurian tarot by John and Caitlin Matthews, New Palladini, Vertigo (from Vertigo Comics).
posted by verbminx at 4:43 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
this tarot using disney imagery is my all time favorite. i may or may not have figured out how to print a few decks for myself and friends.
posted by bruceo at 4:44 PM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by bruceo at 4:44 PM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
Some tarot card references from Gravity's Rainbow, both Weissmann and Slothrop have descriptions in terms of tarot cards.
"Moving in, before him, comes a feast of cups, a satiety. Lotta booze and broads for Weissman coming soon. Good for him — although in his house he is seen walking away, renouncing eight stacked gold chalices. Perhaps he is to be given only what he must walk away from."
As for Slothrop: "His cards have been laid down, Celtic style, in the order suggested by Mr. A.E. Waite, laid out and read, but they are the cards of a tanker and feeb: they point only to a long and scuffling future, to mediocrity (not only in life but also, heh, heh, in his chroniclers too)."
posted by Metacircular at 4:55 PM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
"Moving in, before him, comes a feast of cups, a satiety. Lotta booze and broads for Weissman coming soon. Good for him — although in his house he is seen walking away, renouncing eight stacked gold chalices. Perhaps he is to be given only what he must walk away from."
As for Slothrop: "His cards have been laid down, Celtic style, in the order suggested by Mr. A.E. Waite, laid out and read, but they are the cards of a tanker and feeb: they point only to a long and scuffling future, to mediocrity (not only in life but also, heh, heh, in his chroniclers too)."
posted by Metacircular at 4:55 PM on December 29, 2023 [3 favorites]
So here's an odd bit of coincidence... The linked Guardian article mentions the Caravaggio painting "The Cardsharps" for including an example of the early version of our modern playing cards. And only a few hours after reading the article, I found myself standing in front of that very painting, as it's currently on loan to the Art Institute of Chicago for a small exhibit. (Only til Sunday, 12/31, though. I got there just in time!)
posted by dnash at 6:13 PM on December 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
posted by dnash at 6:13 PM on December 29, 2023 [6 favorites]
Voyager tarot! That’s it ! Thank you :) A friend gifted it eons ago saying “you should never buy your own deck” and in the years since then I think it grew legs and wandered away.
I enjoy tarot as a “what’s bouncing around my subconscious today” tool and oddly enough pulling my own cards seems a little meh but whenever other have pulled the cards for me, it’s like they peeked into my half thunk thoughts (I never tell them this though).
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:14 PM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
I enjoy tarot as a “what’s bouncing around my subconscious today” tool and oddly enough pulling my own cards seems a little meh but whenever other have pulled the cards for me, it’s like they peeked into my half thunk thoughts (I never tell them this though).
posted by St. Peepsburg at 7:14 PM on December 29, 2023 [2 favorites]
Lastly, since I’ll never undertake this project, but I’d love to see a modern tarot deck taking from 20th century imagery: history, iconic persons and movies. Something that speaks to gen X beyond, easily understood by generic person using “darmak and jalad at tanagra” kind of short hand. Like Luke Skywalker for a card representing destiny/family/journey; Obama for even temper, Einstein for breakthrough revolutionary creativity, or whatever.
Or! Tarot using internet memes!
posted by St. Peepsburg at 9:29 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Or! Tarot using internet memes!
posted by St. Peepsburg at 9:29 PM on December 29, 2023 [1 favorite]
Tarot Based Narrative Generation (Anne Sullivan, PROCJAM 2018) [16:45]
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 4:17 AM on December 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
posted by polytope subirb enby-of-piano-dice at 4:17 AM on December 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
I’m so happy this thread exists, and that it hasn’t turned into drive-by commenters who feel the need to Skeptic Harder about this.
My wife has gotten really into Tarot, and I am kind of now starting to see how it can be useful as a tool for self-reflection and growth.
The deck of hers that I love is The Light Seer’s Tarot by Chris-Anne. I particularly love her take on the Two of Swords.
posted by snortasprocket at 8:42 AM on December 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
My wife has gotten really into Tarot, and I am kind of now starting to see how it can be useful as a tool for self-reflection and growth.
The deck of hers that I love is The Light Seer’s Tarot by Chris-Anne. I particularly love her take on the Two of Swords.
posted by snortasprocket at 8:42 AM on December 30, 2023 [5 favorites]
Oh, I was wondering if this would get into decks.
The deck that is the one I've used the most is the Cosmic Tribe Tarot, which is a neo-hippie photoshop masterpiece designed by a queer man affiliated with the Radical Faeries. I find its images really resonate with me.
The most cruel deck I have ever used, and I will never use it again, is the Medieval Scapini Tarot. Brutal and cutting. Too many lives taken into sideways directions based on suggestions from that deck. I will not even link it.
I do want to mention egypturnash's Silicon Dawn deck which was gently mentioned here. I think it's out of print now, but it's one of the more interesting decks I own. Along with having its own of modern take on the imagery, there is a layer of gloss print applied over the cards which provides an extra layer of symbolism beyond what you can see just by looking. Actual images in the gloss layer and stuff. It's pretty magical.
I've never done a reading with that deck, I bought it mostly as an artwork, but maybe I will do a reading with it at some point. I have several decks I only own as art, but that one does keep tempting me to try it out sometime.
posted by hippybear at 6:55 PM on December 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
The deck that is the one I've used the most is the Cosmic Tribe Tarot, which is a neo-hippie photoshop masterpiece designed by a queer man affiliated with the Radical Faeries. I find its images really resonate with me.
The most cruel deck I have ever used, and I will never use it again, is the Medieval Scapini Tarot. Brutal and cutting. Too many lives taken into sideways directions based on suggestions from that deck. I will not even link it.
I do want to mention egypturnash's Silicon Dawn deck which was gently mentioned here. I think it's out of print now, but it's one of the more interesting decks I own. Along with having its own of modern take on the imagery, there is a layer of gloss print applied over the cards which provides an extra layer of symbolism beyond what you can see just by looking. Actual images in the gloss layer and stuff. It's pretty magical.
I've never done a reading with that deck, I bought it mostly as an artwork, but maybe I will do a reading with it at some point. I have several decks I only own as art, but that one does keep tempting me to try it out sometime.
posted by hippybear at 6:55 PM on December 30, 2023 [2 favorites]
Oh, here's silicon-dawn.cards, which shows the printed cards but not the glossy spirit realm overlays. One per reload.
posted by hippybear at 7:03 PM on December 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 7:03 PM on December 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
Here's a better link for The Cosmic Tribe Tarot, although one without the ability to purchase the deck. Links across the top for suits, under that for cards. Legacy website; not secure, still functional.
posted by hippybear at 7:08 PM on December 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by hippybear at 7:08 PM on December 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
There is a link on egypturnash's site to high resolution images of the cards all in one convenient zip file, but it's slightly buried near the bottom of https://egypt.urnash.com/tarot/ in a link labeled "the images the Twitter bot uses". I'm not sure of the etiquette of linking directly to the zip, so I'm going to refrain, but going to the link above and finding the text will let you right click on "the images the Twitter bot uses" and save it to get a copy.
posted by sotonohito at 9:28 PM on December 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by sotonohito at 9:28 PM on December 30, 2023 [1 favorite]
autoharuspexy is the only form of divination I trust
Honestly, if you're cutting out your own liver then you probably don't need any sort of fortune-telling skills to know that the immediate future is Not Good.
posted by jackbishop at 7:27 AM on December 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
Honestly, if you're cutting out your own liver then you probably don't need any sort of fortune-telling skills to know that the immediate future is Not Good.
posted by jackbishop at 7:27 AM on December 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
Yeah, it’s reliable like that.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 7:50 AM on December 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
posted by Parasite Unseen at 7:50 AM on December 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
Also, there are so many beautiful decks out there. I am on the modest end of the enthusiast spectrum. I have at least 20+!
This is so true. My habit of browsing kickstarter shows that creating decks of various kinds (not just Tarot, but other types as well) is a way that some artists are putting really beautiful work into the world.
I don't own any decks at the moment, but one of my adult children is very into Tarot, and the proliferation of gorgeous decks, including decks with no people, or gender-neutral/gender-fluid decks, makes it very easy to buy them nice presents.
posted by Well I never at 3:37 PM on December 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
This is so true. My habit of browsing kickstarter shows that creating decks of various kinds (not just Tarot, but other types as well) is a way that some artists are putting really beautiful work into the world.
I don't own any decks at the moment, but one of my adult children is very into Tarot, and the proliferation of gorgeous decks, including decks with no people, or gender-neutral/gender-fluid decks, makes it very easy to buy them nice presents.
posted by Well I never at 3:37 PM on December 31, 2023 [2 favorites]
Also, if you live in the US, you might not know that even just regular playing cards can be wildly different elsewhere. I remember when I first encountered a deck of playing cards in Germany I was astounded because, well, DIFFERENT!
I have no idea what other countries or regions might have markedly different card designs for the standard 52-card deck, but the cards in the US are SO standardized even across different makers, it was surprising to youngster me.
posted by hippybear at 3:43 PM on December 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
I have no idea what other countries or regions might have markedly different card designs for the standard 52-card deck, but the cards in the US are SO standardized even across different makers, it was surprising to youngster me.
posted by hippybear at 3:43 PM on December 31, 2023 [3 favorites]
Phooky, Tarot inspired art is absolutely a trope in fanart circles
I made the same adult kid I mentioned in my last comment squeal at Yule with a sticker of Aziraphale and Crowley as The Lovers.
posted by Well I never at 3:46 PM on December 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
I made the same adult kid I mentioned in my last comment squeal at Yule with a sticker of Aziraphale and Crowley as The Lovers.
posted by Well I never at 3:46 PM on December 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
I don't use tarot much any more but this has been a walk down memory lane. Some of the decks are really lovely. One of my favorites, which I have not seen linked yet, is The Cosmic Tarot, which has gorgeous art.
dnash, we're members at the Kimbell, where The Cardsharps usually lives, and we were very aware it was out of town because it's Mr. Epigrams' favorite painting. Strongly recommend anyone visiting the DFW area go visit the Kimbell because its permanent collection is free and it's amazing. To bring this back around to Tarot, while scanning through some decks I noticed that there are a lot of decks using art that's now in the public domain, which is ... interesting but I'm not sure how well I'd read from them.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 6:31 PM on December 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
dnash, we're members at the Kimbell, where The Cardsharps usually lives, and we were very aware it was out of town because it's Mr. Epigrams' favorite painting. Strongly recommend anyone visiting the DFW area go visit the Kimbell because its permanent collection is free and it's amazing. To bring this back around to Tarot, while scanning through some decks I noticed that there are a lot of decks using art that's now in the public domain, which is ... interesting but I'm not sure how well I'd read from them.
posted by gentlyepigrams at 6:31 PM on December 31, 2023 [1 favorite]
My current favorite decks:
posted by sazanka at 2:25 PM on January 2 [2 favorites]
- Gaian Tarot - I love the PNW imagery and the compassionate/kind/soft vibe. Sometimes the heavy environmental leaning has me turn to:
- Universal Waite Pocket Size - RWS in a convenient travel-sized tin! I do need my reading glasses to use it, though.
- Sasuraibito Tarot - This deck speaks to my Japanese/martial arts soul, and it is a gorgeously produced deck. Some cards I love (The Fool, 9 of Wands, King of Cups, 3-4-5 of Swords, 8 of Pentacles), and some I don't quite grok. Stasia includes a handy LWB which explains her thought process, which is helpful. When I have read with this deck, it's been remarkably accurate.
- World Spirit Deck - Multicultural and woodblock print-esque. The Sibyl (Queen) of Swords peers directly into your soul.
- Running Press "Tarot Kit" - Tiny mini tarot deck based on RWS, but with a fun minimalist style. It was sold as a novelty in bookstores for $7.95 back at the turn of the century, but AFAIK is now out of print (Amazon has it for $36 now).
- Peanuts - I only seem to find the occasional image of a card.
- Sanrio (mostly Hello Kitty) - not the Kawaii deck, but the hand-drawn one I saw on Aeclectic Tarot years ago.
posted by sazanka at 2:25 PM on January 2 [2 favorites]
Artist Shing Yin Khor just last year illustrated the Strange Beast tarot deck, which they shipped out with a book of essays about tarot and new games to play using tarot, mostly written by their friends and common travellers in art and RPG spaces.
I've also been getting prints of the deck in the mail from their patreon, often with idle thoughts, fortunes, or recipes on them. It's very cute, silly, brutal, and all around beautiful as an art series.
posted by fomhar at 5:46 PM on January 2 [1 favorite]
I've also been getting prints of the deck in the mail from their patreon, often with idle thoughts, fortunes, or recipes on them. It's very cute, silly, brutal, and all around beautiful as an art series.
posted by fomhar at 5:46 PM on January 2 [1 favorite]
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posted by phooky at 3:53 AM on December 29, 2023 [16 favorites]