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A unique version of Reading Circle for those who would like to work through their collection of decks, participants choose decks from their collections to work with for the week. Some use one deck, others use two or more. Some combine methods: Tarot, non-tarot (e.g. oracle), playing cards, or any other divinatory method is welcome. All we ask is that you use at least one tarot or oracle deck. No collection is too large or too small. The only rules we have are the Tarot, Tea & Me Rules; Be respectful of one other. Please join us! Please post with your choice of deck(s) for the week Chat away about your deck, how you're finding it (or not), etc., it's all up to you Participants may either choose to share their readings here in this discussion thread or opt to have their own journal in the Journals Forum and link it here Yet others may even have an offline journal in paper & pencil/pen form Share as often, as much, or as little as you like. You can drop in and out at any time—reality and life permitting. New to tarot? Long time reader? Come on in! Participants fire cat pickles: Tarot de la Rea Click here for DOTW 484 (10/12 - 10/18)

No Pip decks, no Marseille decks or Thoth decks, I already have a few but can´t read with anyone of them. I want pictures!

AI decks and Pip decks. I need imagery.

My list is pretty extensive, but all I have time to share for now is I dislike Thoth spin-off or, "inspired" decks. There is one Thoth deck. I've never encountered an adjacent, inspired pack that I like even a smidge.

I’m from Manchester 🥰

Thank you🔮

but the Whimsical Tarot....

Thank you @Misterei and @RaeveTheMad for participating with my question !!

I also sometimes think of Temperance in terms of tempering (chocolate, glass, steel). I think it brings together the ideas of everything in moderation (including moderation), Aristotelian happy medium, and alchemy. Alchemy seeks to change from one element to another and while tempering doesn't achieve that, it has to potential to alter the properties and characteristics of a substance, including appearance, texture, strength and structure. While a happy medium is desired, that doesn't mean being obstinate and remaining completely stationary; some movement is good. Tempering is very controlled heating and cooling, not going all the way to extremes. Similarly, everything in moderation, including moderation, recognizes that sometimes moving away from the middle with thoughtfulness and purpose can be beneficial. I see a connection between the Lovers card and Temperance (in the RWS I believe it is the same angel), and I think this illustrates the difference between blending and joining that was mentioned. Lovers I see as the existence of polarities or opposing forces, and the attempt to join them, but advancement through the major arcana cards in between (Chariot, Strength, etc), means that by the time we reach Temperance, that joining is being perfected into the art of blending/tempering/balancing. In terms of correspondences, the Lovers is associated with Gemini which is an air sign, and the angel is depicted in the clouds. At this point it is more of a thought or idea, rather than something that has been accomplished or manifested. Temperance is associated with Sagittarius, a fire sign, and the symbol for fire is depicted on the angel's chest. But as noted earlier, the angel has one foot in the water and one foot on land, which relates to the phase changes between liquid and solid that occur during the tempering process. Fire is the heat or energy needed to facilitate those phase changes. Editing to add: There is also the temperance movement which is about abstaining from alcohol and led to prohibition in the US and other countries. If we think about Temperance in terms of balance and control, alcohol can lead to the loss of balance and control. Temperance can serve as a warning about that loss and the temptations and bad influences coming up in the Devil card.

Two puzzles, and they're the same one from opposite ends. Which card was the question. In your daily, Snake turned out to be yarn — after the fact. Which means the card didn't tell you. You told the card, and it agreed. Every Lenormand reading I've watched get confirmed got confirmed backward. What I can't settle is whether that's the system doing its job (the cards hand you a surface to read your own day honestly) or whether the system is simply never wrong. What a wrong reading would even look like. This is the one that keeps me up. Tarot can at least fall badly — a card in a bad seat, a spread fighting itself. Lenormand's vocabulary is small and fixed, so a reading bends to fit almost any day. I want a worked example of the deck being wrong: you did the thing described, or you didn't, and afterward it was plain the cards hadn't been talking about that at all. I haven't got one. I don't think I've seen one. I read people, not spreads, which is why it bites. Same question applies to me. If nothing can count as a bad read, then "I read people" is a flattering way of saying everybody agrees with me afterward.

AI is definitely out as far as I'm concerned. I have one but it was a gift so it stays in my collection. I'll never read with it. I own one horizontal deck, The Pastoral Tarot by Lisa Hunt. I haven't read with that either. Not because it's awful, or awkward, but because when I looked through it it made me feel sad so I packed it up and haven't looked at it since. I'm put off by artists/authors that whine about cultural appropriation while force fitting a concept onto European tarot cards. Unfortunately, I never find out how they feel until I've purchased the deck kit and read the book that came with it. Vampires are out. I was never a fan of the explosion of vampire tv series and movies. And I loathe bright swirly colors, that's just too much of a distraction and gives me a headache. There are others that just don't interest me. Thankfully, these days a person is spoiled for choice of decks. There's something for everyone who is out there looking.

🤣🤣🤣 Technical difficulties trying to download photos!!! 😂😂😂 I'm still trying... my mobile is temperamental for this tonight apparently & presently I can't download photos on my laptop...

LOL Did you forget something? Or, are you saying you don't own any Halloween decks?

In my hemisphere it's the time of year when the veil draws to it's thinnest & it's time to dance with the dead 🍷. My favourite time of the year. I love the coulours of autumn, the magick of diamond dew drops on orb spider webs at dawn, & the low lying mists that are "the breath of the dragon" ( Ouroborous - the qoute is from Excalibur - the original movie with Helen Mirren). I was thinking of all my "Halloween" Tarot decks & wanted to share. These are mine: **OOPS! technical difficulties... presently I can't download the photos. It may be a battery power issue, so I'll do some charging and then try again - but this means my photos may end up in an additional post instead of here. Meantime - I'll list the decks: 1) Halloween Tarot ~Kipling West 2) The Witches Tarot ~Deborah Blake 3) All Hallows Eve & The Halloween Waite Tarot combo (Tarot collectibles by Battersby) - I've made one deck from my favourites from both these decks. 4) Buffy the Vampire Slayer Tarot ~ Insight editions 5) Game of Thrones Tarot ~ Liz Dean 6) Sacred Witch Tarot ~ Wyspell 7) Murder of Crows Tarot ~Corrado Roi (I have the limited editions which has some red colour in it. It's mostly black and white). This deck has fairly disturbing imagery so I wouldn't use it to read for others. Just for myself. (Shadow work - if you like). And lastly, I bought this deck this year with great excitement... got rather busy and shoved it in a Tarot bag under my chair... and have only just taken it out again - and Re-discovered the EXCITEMENT. Except... to use it, will take some study because I need to become more familiar with Voudoun (i.e. - there are a huge amount of characters in the deck, that I need to look up and learn about 🙃): 8) Voodoo Tarot Spirit Box ~ Fabio Listrani I absolutely LOVE the artwork in this deck. What are your favourite Halloween Tarot decks? (DO ENABLE ME!)

Too-large decks are a problem for me ...although they can sometimes be altered by trimming ...which I don't hesitate to do! I've created quite a few usable decks out of ones I was unable to handle before. I have never mastered the hand to hand shuffle. I always use a gentle riffle shuffle and/or the face down smear method ...or a combination of the two, in order to get random reversals. So ...what I can't work with are card stocks that are thick and cardboard-y or—worse yet—cling together while shuffling. Unfortunately these include several decks that I really love otherwise. (The most irritating one is The Everyday Enchantment Tarot by Poppy Palin. I LOVE that deck, but find it very very hard to shuffle—size, cardboard-y stock AND clingy surface—so I don't use it as often as I want to. It's my dream that some day it will be re-issued in more usable card stock.) I am not keen on horizontal decks, although the only one I had I DID get rid of...but for other reasons. However, I found the horizonal layout a bit strange to use. I wouldn't have got rid of it for that reason alone, though.

I think that tarot, like all things witch-ish and spirit-ish and magic-ish and pagan-ish, has become commodified. And many people no longer really care about learning the "language", or doing the actual thing authentically… What matters is looking witchy for the camera, reviewing a huge their collection of decks (which they get for free from the publisher to generate content), and preaching to others that "ACKSHUALLY Death isn't AKCSHUAL death you know…". And it makes sense that people who have an aesthetic connection to the idea of tarot (or witchcraft, or paganism) will prefer decks that are just about the aesthetic. Generated, not created. Especially since they can be generated to match one's very particular taste, so if your online self is, I don't know, a Goth House Cthonic Witch who likes Cats you may actually find a Gothic Cat Hecate deck just for you. <shrugs> Aside from the absolute soullessness of these decks, what also saddens me a bit is that there's no more trying to engage with the artists' imagination, by trying to imagine why they chose to portray a certain card like this and not like that… It meant opening yourself to another's unique creative vision, while somehow also making it your own so that you could read the deck in your own special way. All in all, I think it boils down to what @Misterei said - it's all meant to look cool for your online avatar, or for you to join the hype and be part of the conversation. I don't have many issues with the size, if I happen to really like the deck! I have tiny hands, so many decks end up being a bit big for me… Thankfully, 25 years of deck shuffling have helped keep my hands flexible so most of the time it's not an issue. I think I only had two or three decks I found hard to use due to size, but size alone would not make me give up on a deck. Lamination, on the other hand… I'm VERY annoyed by sticky lamination! Thank goodness it's not as common anymore as it used to be. And I get hung up on decks that are too thin, papery and fragile, because I feel like they will bend or get dog-eared if I shuffle them properly. I like to riffle shuffle, so uncoated/non-laminated decks are a bit of no-no in my collection.

I think some of the AI deck popularity is driven by social media and cosmetic surgery. There is a youtube tarot reader I watch from time to time. Sometimes just to visually absorb her style and set. She used an oracle deck that looked awesome in her videos. Like a copycat, I bought the deck on etsy--only to realize it is AI art with all pretty people. Natural human faces are no longer good enough. Witness the explosion of cosmetic surgery amongst younger people who want to have an instagrammable face. Can we be surprised that real art showing real people might not appeal to this younger cosmetically enhanced demographic? [not trying to single out young people. Older women of a certain type always got facelifts. Likewise a certain type of younger women always got breast augmentation. But it is a new phenomenon that 18 year olds are getting facial procedures and breast implants aren't just for strippers and actresses] I used to think that yoga gals would avoid surgical enhancements as unnatural. Yet modern yoga influencers have breast augmentation and facial procedures. It's normalized amongst the modern yoga demographic. Likewise when tarot was the provence of hippies, weirdos, and historical art nerds. Now? That influencer with the fake breasts and fake face wants a fake tarot deck to align with her brand aesthetic. I was pretty horrifed with the AI deck but couldn't return it. And learnt something about getting influenced by influencers. This youtuber made it all look so good. *sigh* I definitely prefer smaller decks as large decks are difficult for my hands. But unlike the size of the male member--the size of a tarot deck is something I'm willing to overlook. I have big decks which I hate shuffling but love the art. I have a couple tiny decks which are so small I can barely read them--but they are great for travel or small spaces. The decks I use most often--my daily drivers--are definitely moderate size. Not too big not too small. I hate the crap cardstock on a couple of my favorite decks [I'm looking at YOU Legacy of the Devine and Devine Deco] but I overlook the crappy cardstock and still consider these 2 of my favorite decks.

Looking at all your answers, I can only wonder why AI decks seem to be so successful. Either they are really not, and they are offered to non-buyers.... or we are a highly sophisticated bunch of idealists disconnected from sordid reality ;-) Or the truth is somewhere in the middle. Especially on Etsy, I find the abundance of obviously AI-generated decks nauseating. AI literally takes ideas and inspiration from existing artworks, as mentioned above. Concerning cartoony decks... I'm not a big fan but I have had some surprisingly insightful readings with the LoScarabeo Fey Tarot (trimmed, it somehow looks much better). Maybe it worked for me because I really liked the guidebook which tells about the collaboration and interaction between a tarotist and a commercial artist with a quirky style. Oh, quirky doesn't sound good, but the Fey Tarot has a certain weirdness which counteracts the cutness and cuts through it. Somehow, this works much better for me than the smooth, competent watercolour style of the Lo Scarabeo Tarot (the one that "unites" Marseilles, RWS and Thoth). Cartoony decks like the Fey are not usually my style but somehow, it found its way to me, trimmed and edged already, so I would say, cartoony decks can work for me. Sometimes. What about formats? Are there people who would never by a deck because it's too small or too large? Cardstock preferences? How do people get along with horizontal (landscape) format decks? I get along well with cards of all sizes but I know that's not true for everybody. And now I really have to get the Gummy Bear Tarot!!!

Hello @MoonHermit welcome to the TT&M Family.

What about the water/liquid flowing from one cup to the other at an awkward angle? I've always regarded that as attempting the impossible.

@fire cat pickles I'm so glad you spoke up! Often people who enjoy the talents of others don't realize the heavy cost of time and effort expended! ❤️

AI decks - definitely not in my house. Aside from the ethical issues around them, there is just something about the “artwork” that makes my skin crawl with uneasiness. I’m also not a fan of cartoony decks, or sickly saccharine sweet decks that are overly positive. I like my decks to have a darkness to them as well as that is a truer reflection of reality in my opinion.

Hi everyone. My name is Michael and I’ve been interested in tarot since the early 1990’s. The original Mythic tarot was my first deck. I have a keen interest in all branches of tarot (rider Waite Smith, Thoth, tarot de Marseille etc). I live in Cairns Australia.

I so agree with you about artwork that is difficult to SEE, or distinguish between cards while reading. (Especially important because I usually read with reversals ...if a card is hard to distinguish upright, it's more or less impossible to read when it's reversed.) I know what you mean about Lisa Hunt in this direction. In fact, I gave away one of her decks simply because when I laid out the cards, they didn't give me an overall picture. Just soft colours, and all of them pretty same-y. Nothing wrong with her interpretations in my view, but 'in my view' was a problem! I may initially like these kinds of decks ...but I don't use them for readings after the first initial tries. I also agree with @Misterei regarding the unsuitability of cartoony decks for serious readings. A good point. It probably wouldn't matter if the querent never sees the cards during the reading, but still....

Ohhh but this a VERY cool deck! I like it! I mean, I can understand it when a deck is meant to be a whimsical homage to a cultural thing. The Gummy Bear, which I love, is kinda like that. This Elvira tarot has a similar feeling. I have more of a problem when the deck follows the 'trendy, cartoony, cute' aesthetic but takes itself more seriously than it should. Or when it's just more or the same, to grab money from Tiktok baby witches and whatnot.