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Author Topic: Buying a Tarot deck?  (Read 3831 times)

windywoman

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Buying a Tarot deck?
« on: August 02, 2012, 07:06:30 pm »
I don't know much about the Tarot, but I entered this board because I'm interested in learning more. I am the superstitious type, and I was always told one should not buy their own Tarot deck but wait for one to be gifted. Do you think there's any credence to this? It might sound silly to some of you, I know, but I can't help it that I take superstitions so seriously.

IceAngie

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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #1 on: August 02, 2012, 07:19:31 pm »
Quote from: windywoman;67128
I am the superstitious type, and I was always told one should not buy their own Tarot deck but wait for one to be gifted. Do you think there's any credence to this?

 
You could be waiting your whole life...

I bought all of my decks, and I never had any problems with any of them. I connect especially well with the Egyptian Tarot (by Kier). I bought the Universal Waite last week and the cards seem to talk to me, if you know what I mean.
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Nyktipolos

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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #2 on: August 02, 2012, 07:35:44 pm »
Quote from: windywoman;67128
I don't know much about the Tarot, but I entered this board because I'm interested in learning more. I am the superstitious type, and I was always told one should not buy their own Tarot deck but wait for one to be gifted. Do you think there's any credence to this? It might sound silly to some of you, I know, but I can't help it that I take superstitions so seriously.

 
You might find this discussion from the old board interesting, where SunflowerP asked about this particular idea surrounding tarot cards, why it came to be, and where is it (or is not) prevalent.

http://www.ecauldron.net/forum/index.php?topic=4968.0
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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #3 on: August 02, 2012, 09:23:43 pm »
Quote from: windywoman;67128
I don't know much about the Tarot, but I entered this board because I'm interested in learning more. I am the superstitious type, and I was always told one should not buy their own Tarot deck but wait for one to be gifted. Do you think there's any credence to this? It might sound silly to some of you, I know, but I can't help it that I take superstitions so seriously.

 
The first deck I got, called to me to come get them.  I would not want someone to buy them for me.
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monsnoleedra

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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #4 on: August 02, 2012, 10:01:13 pm »
Quote from: windywoman;67128
I don't know much about the Tarot, but I entered this board because I'm interested in learning more. I am the superstitious type, and I was always told one should not buy their own Tarot deck but wait for one to be gifted. Do you think there's any credence to this? It might sound silly to some of you, I know, but I can't help it that I take superstitions so seriously.


I think your dealing with two different generations in regards to this.

For my generation all I ever heard was you never purchase your first deck for yourself.  It had to be gifted.  For the current generation I do not think that holds true for most anymore.  

I do think part of it though comes from the notion of initation and lineage where you'd be identified for having a gift with them.  Then an elder would not only pass an experienced deck to you but many times oversee your actual training with them.

Queen of Wands

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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #5 on: August 02, 2012, 10:12:26 pm »
Quote from: monsnoleedra;67138
I think your dealing with two different generations in regards to this.

For my generation all I ever heard was you never purchase your first deck for yourself.  It had to be gifted.  For the current generation I do not think that holds true for most anymore.  

I do think part of it though comes from the notion of initation and lineage where you'd be identified for having a gift with them.  Then an elder would not only pass an experienced deck to you but many times oversee your actual training with them.



I think along these lines...while I don't believe that you should have to have the cards given to you, I don't believe in buying a deck until you know what you're doing and what you'll do with those cards. They should be cards that call to you too! Not the first deck you see wandering into the store.

Sulischild

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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #6 on: August 02, 2012, 10:34:50 pm »
Quote from: windywoman;67128
I am the superstitious type, and I was always told one should not buy their own Tarot deck but wait for one to be gifted.


I think it depends what sort of circles you move in IRL, too - if your real-world family and friends don't know about or approve of your tarotish leanings, your odds of getting a decent pack given freely are very different from if you have a wide circle of pagans and readers in your life.

I personally hadn't heard that, but I'm a very solitary sort with few paganish connections so there's a lot of folklore I don't know.

But if it really does worry you, could you make an arrangement with a fellow seeker - I'll gift you, you gift me?

SunflowerP

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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #7 on: August 03, 2012, 02:42:24 am »
Quote from: monsnoleedra;67138
I think your dealing with two different generations in regards to this.

For my generation all I ever heard was you never purchase your first deck for yourself.  It had to be gifted.  For the current generation I do not think that holds true for most anymore.

 
I didn't hear about the gifting idea at all until I was in my 30s, at which time it was prevalent not among my own age group (for whom it was also unfamiliar) but among those a decade or so younger.  (I'm a few, but only a few, years younger than you - pretty much the same generation).  So I don't think it's as simple as that.

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MadZealot

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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #8 on: August 03, 2012, 03:26:31 am »
Quote from: mlr52;67136
The first deck I got, called to me to come get them.  I would not want someone to buy them for me.

 
My first deck... when I was first sniffing 'round "occultism," a friend recommended I pick up the Waite deck for starters.  So I did, thanks to the B&N that had just recently opened in my area.

Then after peeping around teh interwebs, and having long talks with the same wackjob friend, I joined BOTA.  I was poking around within the 'western esoteric tradition' quite a bit so it was inevitable I should bump into 'witchiness'.  So, tarot as 'illustrated psychology' became tarot as a 'divination tool'.  Eventually I moved into practical witchcraft, and it's wasn't until after then that I came across the idea that a deck should never be bought, but rather given or 'acquired.'  

That idea never sat well with me.  It was stated in a "when the student's ready, the teacher will appear" kind of way... as if the Universe would place a deck in my path when, and only when, I was ready to receive its hidden wisdom.  Well, maybe I put the applecart before the ass, and maybe not.  The way I see it, thanks to the Universe I had a job which provided me with enough (thankfully) to meet my material needs and have some left over to spare, so the Universe already gave me the tools to acquire it.  All I had to do was take the initiative.
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Tana

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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #9 on: August 03, 2012, 04:59:14 am »
Quote from: SunflowerP;67160
 So I don't think it's as simple as that.


I bet it was a line somewhen, somewhere written in a popular 101 book.
Because it sounds sooo 'authentic and mysterious'.

There is a German version of $RW who had a calender in which I read (no kidding):
On full moon all witches gather in the woods or on the meadows.

In a matter-of-fact voice.
So if someone comes across such a thing as brand new and impressionable it might stuck and circulated around. *shrugs*
\'You had to repay, good or bad. There was more than one type of obligation.
That’s what people never really understood.….Things had to balance.
You couldn’t set out to be a good witch or a bad witch. It never worked out for long.
All you could try to be was a witch, as hard as you could.\'
Terry Pratchett \'Lords and Ladies\'

Confuzzled and proud. :p

monsnoleedra

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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #10 on: August 03, 2012, 08:05:45 am »
Quote from: SunflowerP;67160
I didn't hear about the gifting idea at all until I was in my 30s, at which time it was prevalent not among my own age group (for whom it was also unfamiliar) but among those a decade or so younger.  (I'm a few, but only a few, years younger than you - pretty much the same generation).  So I don't think it's as simple as that.

Sunflower


Your probably right there.  

Sitting here trying to place a date frame on it I would place it in the mid to late 1970's.  I went into the military in 1978 so it was well before that date.  I was average at best with a deck so was never pushed that much for me nor did I in turn promote it.

In print I vaguely recall the late 1970's with Hans Holtzer being one of the first I read talking about it.  But ole Han's is sort of the Silver Ravenwolf of the day in lookinig back on it.

I wonder now if that was not one of those things that also moved from California eastward.  Sounded good and was picked up as a new rule of thumb.  What's bad is I can't even ask my grand-parents and such as none are left alive now.

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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #11 on: August 03, 2012, 08:26:22 am »
Quote from: SunflowerP;67160
I didn't hear about the gifting idea at all until I was in my 30s, at which time it was prevalent not among my own age group (for whom it was also unfamiliar) but among those a decade or so younger.  (I'm a few, but only a few, years younger than you - pretty much the same generation).  So I don't think it's as simple as that.

I did not hear it until long after I had bought my first deck. None of the 1960s era tarot books I bought to learn tarot (purchased before I managed to find an actual deck to buy) mentioned anything about not buying your own deck. I bought my own in the mid-1970s when I finally found one and had the money at the same time. It has served me well all these years.
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Fiach Dubh

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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #12 on: August 03, 2012, 08:29:39 pm »
Quote from: windywoman;67128
I am the superstitious type, and I was always told one should not buy their own Tarot deck but wait for one to be gifted. Do you think there's any credence to this? It might sound silly to some of you, I know, but I can't help it that I take superstitions so seriously.

 
I think we can choose the tarot deck ourselves or they can make their way to us.

These have been my experiences so far. A friend gave me my first tarot deck, a Rider-Waite one years ago. I never connected well with them. I bought the DruidCraft Tarot which work very well for me. I also won an Egyptian Tarot deck and I have a surprisingly good connection with them. I wouldn't have picked these out and bought them myself.

Lula

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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #13 on: August 04, 2012, 11:17:04 am »
Quote from: windywoman;67128
It might sound silly to some of you, I know, but I can't help it that I take superstitions so seriously.

 
I knew about the superstition of getting a deck as a gift, but I bought my own anyway.

I wonder if the "gift thing" is like other posters said, a way to wait for a teacher and guidance in tarot. Well, in this age of internet and free information, I guess one perhaps doesn't need a specific tarot teacher in person to be able to use the cards sufficiently.

Somehow putting "tarot cards" on my birthday wishlist and waiting for someone to send me a pack from amazon doesn't seem like it would invoke a deeper spiritual connection between myself and the cards. On the other hand, getting a well-loved deck passed on from a practicing friend would be very meaningful. My mother gifted my little sister one of her old RW decks and taught her to use it... But I just went ahead and got my own!

nadkins733

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Re: Buying a Tarot deck?
« Reply #14 on: August 05, 2012, 02:21:05 pm »
Quote from: windywoman;67128
I don't know much about the Tarot, but I entered this board because I'm interested in learning more. I am the superstitious type, and I was always told one should not buy their own Tarot deck but wait for one to be gifted. Do you think there's any credence to this? It might sound silly to some of you, I know, but I can't help it that I take superstitions so seriously.



This is interesting  news to me.. When I was 15 I got my first deck from a family member, and I still use it.  my family is Christian but they openly accept my path so this gift was special to me. So I think it's kinda neat that tarot cards should be something received not bought yourself.
« Last Edit: August 05, 2012, 02:24:04 pm by nadkins733 »

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