How do you feel about it? Got a deck? Which one?
Other thoughts comments and concerns ;-P

I think it's great, especially how it has evolved over the years.

I personally have several decks. I had to get the original Rider Waite deck just for the basic reason that it has historically been the most popular deck (if only as a matter of practical convenience).

Two of may favorite commercial decks are The Mystic Faery Tarot

Here's an example with the Death Card in this deck. I love this deck, it brings out my inner child wonderfully.



Another one I have and like is the Llewellyn Deck.



Partly because of the artwork, but also because it follows close to a Welsh tradition and instead of having a devil card it actually has a Horned God Card. And the interpretation of that card is slightly different from the standard Devil card. It still has basically the same meaning, it just helps me to view these things from a totally different perspective.

For me personally the best Deck I've seen thus far is the Infinite Visions Tarot Deck by Gloria Jean.

Here is here Devil card which I also like:



You can see her entire deck here:

http://www.infinitevisionstarot.com/index.html

I don't yet have this deck but I would like to get one someday.

As far as using Tarot, I use it quite a bit, but not in the ways that people normally associate with Tarot.

Yea I do all my readings on intuition the layouts the meanings all of it. I tend to stop readings half way through which irritates people but my gut says stop so I follow it haha, hell i even made a drinking game with my decks

I see life as a dark forest in which people must light the way.

So my two tarot decks are the darkest imagery I could find.

The tarot of dark grimoire.

And

The Tarot of Necronomicon.

Favorite card is the hanged man, for dark grimoire, the man is litterally being hung and trying to get out in his last breath. I warning on making sure you change your views before you end yourself.

The death card is very cool in the that faery deck, i like how the skull is bringing new life.

I have a couple of decks, but haven't managed to get the feel for tarot in general. I usually do better with the oracle type decks, animals, goddesses, and faeries.

Celtic Dragon's Tarot and the Shapeshifter's Tarot by DJ Conway, a couple by Monte Farber and another random one. I love the images on Conway's. There are other decks that I like and may get eventually, even if I never get the hang of them specifically.

That's an interesting perspective and one that is certainly reflected well in the decks that you've chosen. I just looked at some of the imagery and it is very beautiful and magical artwork, but as you say it also has a 'dark' psychic flavor to it.

This is the magician card for the Necronomicon deck.



Here's the World card for the Dark Grimore deck. And it certainly even makes the world appear gloomy.

The Shapeshifter artwork is interesting



The Celtic Dragon Deck is nice too.



I have a Dragon Tarot deck too, but it's just dragons only.

This is from my Dragon Deck:



Here are some from some other types of Dragon Decks:





And below is one from an Oracle Deck of the DragonFae which really doesn't have many images of dragons, if any at all. It's not really Tarot though, it's a different kind of Oracle Deck but it looks interesting:

i get some pretty interesting reads from it, but i love the artwork for dark grimoire ;-)

what exactly is the difference between tarot and oracle? ive never had someone actually explain the oracle to me

An "Oracle deck" is basically a catch-all term for any type of card deck that is similar to Tarot in it's use, but doesn't follow the standard theme and conventions of Tarot. Oracle Decks usually have their own Theme.

For example the Oracle Deck of the DragonFae uses only 43 cards, and doesn't contain the same type of organization of 22 Major Arcana and the four set of pip cards, Pentacles (or Coins), Swords, cups, and wands, like Tarot does. In fact, Oracle decks aren't typically divided up into major and minor arcana.

You can create an Oracle Deck based on any theme at all. People make them up all the time.

You can browse through all the different Tarot and Oracle decks available at the following site. There may be some decks not listed here, but they keep this up pretty good, they even have Gloria Jean's Infinite Visions Tarot Deck listed and illustrated.

When you go to view the cards, you can also click on a review to read more details about what theme each deck is based on, whether it be Tarot, or some other Oracle thesis.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/list.shtml

Right Abra.

As examples...

My Animal Medicine Cards are a pretty design or the individual animal and a link to the meanings of that animal and has a neutral Native American viewpoint about it. The Druid Animal Oracle by Phillip Carr-Gomm has a Celtic view on the animals.

Susan Boulet's Goddess Knowledge Cards are beautifully done with various world Goddesses. A short description of what the Goddess represents, and what it might mean to you if that card is pulled.

I tend to use those decks as a focal point for meditation.

I also have a couple of rune sets, one out of stone, and one I made out of wood dowels. I'd like to get more into the Ogham and the I-Ching as well.

This Dragon deck is one I keep eyeing, but haven't picked up. Eventually, though!

Hey, do you make bags for yours?

No, I haven't made bags for them. That's something that's become a permanent item on my 'to-do' list.

My two favorite and most used decks, Mystic Faery and Llewellyn came with nice gold cloth bags with rope pulls to close them. So I have bags for those.

On the Use of Tarot

Just to address the topic of the thread a bit I thought I'd mention a few things of how I use Tarot. This is purely a personal reflection of what Tarot means to me and most certainly isn't intended to be carved in stone or apply to anyone else. It's my belief that Tarot is what you make it. And therefore however you use it is right for you.

My Historical Perspective on Tarot

To begin with, I fully recognize that Tarot is nothing more than a man-made deck of cards. From what I've studied it wasn't even originally designed to be used for divination (although that's obviously open to controversy). The precise origins are not known with absolute certainty. Some people believe they originated from Egypt and the Thoth, others (including many historians) feel that they most likely originated in Italy. Mixed versions of these even exist that suggest that the pip cards came from Egypt (as an Egyptian card game), and then the Major Arcana cards (the Trump cards) were added to that game in Italy.

Most historians seem to be convinced that the cards originated at a game and became associated with divination afterward.

That's totally unimportant to me since I understand that anything can be used for divination, not just a deck cards. Although because of the fact that the Tarot decks is based on the human condition and contains artistic renditions of just about every emotion and situation a human can imagine getting themselves into, it has actually become a very useful means of divination. So regardless of how it came to be, it's usefulness for divination cannot be denied.

So with that being said, I don't view the cards themselves as being anything other than a deck of pictures. My spirit (my consciousness) is the source of the divination, not the cards. The cards are merely the physical tool that is being used to seek divination. There are many other ways to also seek divination. Tarot is merely one method that can work.

Divination vs. Fortune-Telling

I personally believe in divination. Divination being defined as an ability to get an intuitive feel for how things may unfold given that a particular choice or path is taken. All humans do "divination" even without any cards or tools. If you've ever been in a situation where you've just intuitively felt that you shouldn't go with someone, or do something, or anything like that, then you've experienced divination. In short, you could say that divination is nothing more than your intuition. Even a pure atheists recognizes that we have intuition. Whether or not our intuition is actually worthy of heeding is open to much controversy obviously. But I think most people will agree that if you feel uneasy about doing something it's probably best not to do it.

Well, what many people believe, including myself, is that if you meditate (consciously focus) on your plans for the future you can gain some intuitive insight into how that future may unfold. In other words, you can actually call upon your intuition before you reach the point where you need to actually make the decision.

Using a deck of cards that contains pictures of the most common human emotional and physical situations can be extremely useful toward this end.

The idea is to meditate on the path or choice that you are considering. Shuffle the cards during the mediation and then lay them out in a predefined spread where each position has a predefined meaning.

Then view the pictures on the cards in the context of the meanings of the place where they lay. By doing this you can experience intuition about each facet of this path. You can know whether taking this path will be an easy pleasant path, or if it will be wrought with emotional danger and filled with many difficult choices.

Again, this is my own personal view. This is how I view Tarot for the most part.

This kind of divination is not exactly "fortune-telling". It only tells you whether a certain choice or path will be easy (i.e. usually Good), or emotionally difficult and wrought with dangerous choices (i.e. Potentially not Good).

Is this "fortune-telling", well in a sense I supposed it could be viewed as such assuming that you're going to take this path or make this choice no matter what. However, that's just the point. The very reason for doing the divination in the first place is to allow you to decide to not make this choice, and not go down this path.

In other words, it's not "fortune-telling" if you decide not to make that choice. It's also not exactly "fortune-telling" even if you decide to go head with a potentially dangerous choice. All it's really telling you is that the choice or path will be dangerous and that you will need to make many instantaneous choices during the course of that path for which you will most likely not have time to consult divination techniques.

So this is how I personally view Tarot and divination in general. Although I also use the Tarot deck for things other than divination, but that's a whole other story.

My Greatest Use of Tarot

What I use Tarot for mostly is for divination on doing magick. I meditate on the query, "What will be the result if I use magick to obtain a particular goal".

Then I read the cards. The cards will tell me how things will unfold if I use magick to achieve the determined result at that particular point in time. If the divination is wrought with danger I simply don't perform the magick at that time.

In fact, I may be able to perform that same magick to achieve that same goal at another time when the divination is better. Divination changes and isn't carved in stone. There may be other times when using magick to achieve the very same goal will produce very good results. So divination used as such is almost like a 'weather forecast" for doing magick. It tells you whether the magick will be stormy or clear sailing.

Also, I never ask a question like, "Should I do this?", because that's wrong kind of question. The question should always be of the form, "What will be the results if I do this?". That's the information you are seeking. Whether you chose to do it or not is up to you. You make that choice on your own after you've seen the information revealed by the divination.

The Inner Child

Almost all spiritual traditions recognize that childlike innocence is the closest thing to divine consciousness that humans will ever experience during their physical life.

Thus, I believe if we seek divination (divine inspiration), we will obtain the best results if we can return to our childlike psychic perspective.

So when I perform divination, or even magick orchestrations, I do so from the psychic perspective of a very young child.

For me, the Mystic Faery Deck helps to place me in a child-like consciousness. I do believe that the Mystic Faery Deck was actually designed for children. It contains many pictures of very young fae doing child-like play. So it helps to bring me into that conscious state of mind as well.

The Llewellyn deck actually transports me back in time to previously lives. It also helps me to attain a child-like consciousness from that perspective as well.

Of course, child-like innocence is not required for either divination or doing magick. I'm just sharing my perspective.

Doing Readings for Others

I do not consider myself to be a "psychic". I will not read Tarot for other people because I don't feel that I can read for them. Some people are psychic and can feel the emotions and intuition of other people and therefore can read for other people in a meaningful way. I'm simply not capable of doing that I see no value in pretending that I could.

However, what I have done for others is to walk them through a divination process. I begin by explaining about tarot (similar to what I've stated above). Then I help them get into the proper meditative mindset and focus on their path or choice they seek divination on. I have them shuffle and lay out the cards (I had already helped them chose a spread and explained how that works).

Once they have the cards laid out I help them to interpret them by offering various things that the cards can represent. It's up to them to decide if any of these things hold intuitive meaning for them. They are the ones who are doing the divination, not me. I just ask as a guide on how to go about it.

I use Joan Bunnings Book for Tarot card meanings, especially when helping someone else do a divination. She's not specific, she just gives keywords in various settings so that a person can go down the list and find what best matches the intuition they are currently having for a particular card in a particular position.

http://www.learntarot.com/cards.htm

We go through each card in the spread, and then they return to look at the "Big Picture" of what the entire spread it telling them intuitively. It's up to them to "see" any divination in that.

Basically when they are done, they have just learned how to use Tarot for divination on their own and they no longer need my assistance.

They usually run out and buy a deck of their own after that.

~~~~

So that's my perspective on Tarot. I'm sure it may have a totally different meaning for someone else. I'm only interested in how it works for me and how I use it.

I personally feel that even a complete atheist could benefit from using Tarot. If for no other reason than it will naturally cause them to think about their choices and path decisions in far greater depth and detail than they might otherwise consider.

very valid and interesting abra ;-)

could you give an example of the spread you use? just out of curiousity.

For exp. I create a different spread nearly every time, and shuffle my deck to cause reversed cards, even with the deck of dark grimoire which isnt reversable I still force it to be reversed.

As to what tarot can be used for, I see it less as divination so much as warnings, I do agree about information seeking for exp, Which path to decide. But in a plain spread, I see it as warnings of what will happen on your -current- train of thought, and path.

If you like reading gritty fantasy check out Steven Erikson's Garden of the moon, * the first in a series of I believe 12 books currently *
no worries this is related haha, I mention Erikson's book because in it there is a tarot deck sort of object. Called the deck of dragons. They use this deck not to tell the future, though it can be for used for immediate future, but often on current events. Such as what is hood's, the god of death, assassin doing right now.

Furthermore there is a character named fiddler who appears to be god touched, because when he does the reading, he does it as a drinking game and his predictions are to a t on the line. An interesting read if it strikes your fancy, this is a small part I have humbly and likely inadequately explained about Erikson's genius.

Back to the topic at hand =)

To the part of the inner child, I find the only way for me to reach a state of intuition to do a 'true reading' is being buzzed, helps to clear the mind enough to flow. Again this works for me and I wouldn't recommend it to others because it could potentially cause a different energy or bring out the suppressed emotion in you and cause a different reading then you might want. Want being ask for, not mentally wanting something.

My thoughts so far on your post, very well written by the way. ;-)

V

I too use a lot of different spreads. I enjoy the different perspectives and will often do multiple divinations on a single question or idea using several different spreads. Because each different spread can give different insights into the same concept.

Since most of my work is associated with creative processes I use the Creative Process Spread quite often. It's a five card spread that uses the following format:



It's pretty straight-forward. I use this one as a seed for anything that I'm creating. This isn't intended so much for choices and paths as I mentioned earlier, this is more for simply helping to generate creativity in everything I do. This can then often lead to using other spreads associated with specific choices and goals I may need to achieve to bring the creation to manifestation.

I use another five-card spread called the Fourfold Vision spread for getting reads on people and social situations. There's also an eight-card Chakra Spread I use for that purpose as well.

There are a couple spreads I use for "Path Journey" work. Basically helping me to get from point A to point B where these "points" are usually abstract facets of life.

I also use the Cross and Triangle Spread which I like a lot for analyzing complex situations.

And then of course, the Celtic Cross and Staff which is the very first spread I learned and probably the most popular of all.

I use a lot of other spreads as well, in fact I have a book called Power Tarot that explains over 100 different spreads. I won't hesitate to look up a spread that best suits the question or concern that I wish to look into.

Some people prefer to stick with just one spread and become very closely attuned with that one format. And I can understand their reasoning for that. But I've always enjoyed options.

I made a decision early on to ignore reversed cards. I keep my decks all facing one way, and I usually shuffle them to that they always come out upright. If for some reason I get a reverse, I just turn it around and ignore the reverse. That's just a personal decision that I made. My reason is quite simple. I feel that the Tarot deck is complex enough without having to double the meanings for all the cards. So I'm content with just ignoring the reverse cards. I seldom get a reversed card anyway because of the way I shuffle.

Garden of the Moon sounds like an interesting book. I might see if I can find a copy and take a look at it.

I no longer use drugs, but there was a time when I did. I agree with you fully on the idea that it works better for some people than for others. I personally feel that drugs worked well on me.

They were never a problem other than the simple fact that they are illegal. Of course I'm just speaking of marijuana here, or hash. I've even done opium, but fortunately that wasn't too easy to obtain, I think I could have become addicted to opium, it was great!

It could have potentially become addictive if I had done more of it. I don't know. I only experienced it a few times and in every case it was a very pleasant experience. Really not all that much different from marijuana, just far more profound in potency. At least that way my experience with it. But yes, I've know people who get crazy on drugs, or even become violent or irrational. That never happened to me. On the contrary, if anything I became even more laid back and relaxed when getting buzzed.

I have a theory that the drug just basically amplifies a persons true nature. I'm not sure if there's any truth that one though.

I haven't done any drugs for a couple decades now. If I were to smoke a joint it would probably be quite profound now just because I haven't experienced it for such a long time. I do have some friends who still smoke it. If I wanted to I could easily grab a joint. I just haven't had any interest in doing that lately. I'm pretty happy with my natural imagination and consciousness.

I've always had the ability to get lost in imagination even without drugs.

Yeah a couple came with bags, and I have one deck in a pretty box that has the Nile style Goddess on it. It's also on my permanent to-do list to make some bags. LOL! Mom got a new, supposedly easy to use, sewing machine and danged if I can't figure out how to thread it. Mutters

Liked the thought you mentioned Abra of using the Tarot to clarify divinations. I wonder if that might help open my thoughts up to them more specifically? Hmmm, something I'll have to work on.

I use various and assorted spreads and make up my own. LOL!

Erikson's final book is coming out in hardcover shortly. I've been collecting the books but holding off till it did. Now that I know, I'll get into them. Thanks for the heads up on the oracle deck in them V. Should be interesting.

I've found drugs make it easier to slip the chains that bind, so to speak, but have also found it works just as well with meditation and intention. May take a bit longer, but works the same, if not better because you don't have to try and figure out what is from any drugs or what is from you specifically.

That said, I'd still like to try peyote. Mushrooms were interesting, but since then I've gotten the same effects without any of it. Marijuana doesn't do anything.

Oh, forgot to say, a friend of mom's is agnostic, and she uses the cards in her physical therapy, to help folks open up and talk. Works well, discussing meanings and such, used neutrally without offending anyone's beliefs. Can't remember what deck she uses.

And yes, as an atheist, the oracle decks in general work nicely for me.

That is a very interesting concept, about your mums friend using them for thereapy I never thought of using em for that. Learn something everyday.

And thats probably for the best, that way you arnt like the rest of us irritated and waiting for the last one hahah.
His books are rather depressing though heh, two people that are going to depress you in his series is ; Toc the younger, and Coltaine.

Youll learn about em in I wanna say the 4th book.

For as odd as this might sound, and this comes from someone I knew a few years ago who was WAY into tarrot and actually was pretty accurate, "Go with the deck that talks to you." Now there are several accepted methods of using the decks available and different layouts but there are two basic schools of Tarrot, one where the person being read must touch the deck and the ones where no one but the reader must touch the deck.

If your deck cannot be touched it must be purified and tuned to you and even then decks are like cats, don't assume you can just buy that kind and expect it to work right. Some of these decks are assumed to have their own spirit(s) and they all have different personalities.

For the decks that can be touched usually they only require to be tuned in. Frankly all methods are subjective to the user. No one style fits all. Find what feels right and what allows you the clearest answers, not one that leaves you to a lot of guess work and speculation. Some styles actually require you perform numerology as well to determine the layout of the cards you need to use person for person. So it all boils down to how committed are you to the art and also how deep you want to immerse yourself in it.

BTW, some decks are so willful they are actually deceptive. Who said all spirits are helpful, aye?