All Activity

Where did you find your companion book for the baba studios Fairytale tarot? I have the deck too but I got it in a trade and don’t have the book. I’ve searched for it a few times in the past few years, but no luck. It’s not too bad because I can just google the stories but I’d like the book. Did you use any specific search terms?

When I was around 22 years old, when I first got my Shadowscapes deck, I heard a tip that if you sleep with a card under your pillow you may dream of it or have interesting dreams. I used to have intense dreams, insomnia, and sleep paralysis so that sounded appealing. I tried it with my favorite card, the Star, and of course when I woke up it was creased 🤪 I went to take a picture of it and it was worse in my memory. I guess it healed 😂 You can mostly see it on the title, which isn’t too bad. If I were to try this again, I’d put it in a book first. I saw that suggestion after trying my experiment. It should’ve been obvious to me, but lesson learned anyway. And yeah, I didn’t stop using the deck, of course.

10 months have passed. I've got more decks, and my favourite have changed. Now my preferred Tarot de Marseille is the François Gassman 1840, reproduction by Yves Reynaud 2020. It is slightly improved compared to the original cards. Black lines are restored to true black while the original drawings were partially covered by the colours. On the other hand, the dark purple of the original has become a more ordinary dark blue here. And the back of the cards is blue instead of white. It has everything we could ask from a TdM : elegant but neutral faces. Bright colours, but no too bright. Good print quality. On top of it, swords and wands are in the italian style, with handles. I haven't seen the reproduction by Scarabeo. My second preferred ones are -Tarot de Marseille - Paris 1890 CA by Scarabeo (but it is actually a tarot de Besançon) -Marseille Vintage Tarot by Scarabeo (but the faces look a bit sad and tired) -Tarot de Marseille by Colette Sylvestre (facsimile of the Grimaud 1930, a bit dim, with the well-known repetitive red/blue hues, and the bizarre page of cups) -Le Véritable Tarot de Marseille, by Kris Hadar -Tarot de Marseille, by Jodorowsky and Camoin (ultra-bright colours) I don't have the Conver-Ben Dov, unfortunately, so I can't rank it. Not my favourites : -Ancien tarot de Marseille, by Grimaud (poor print quality, ultra-bright colours) -Tarot de Marseille, by Mary Packard, drawn by Rachel Klowes after the Pierre Madenié (but with different faces, and faked ancient look on the cards) -Le Tarot Pas à Pas, facsimile of Pierre Madenié's tarot. That's one of the greatest tarot de Marseille, here faithfully reproduced, but the original drawings are extremely worn. It has been restored several times, but no restoration has convinced me yet. -Marseille Tarot, by Scarabeo. No way : -Ancien Tarot de Marseille, by Dusserre. Print quality worse than Grimaud, with some cards discoloured with no reason. -Tarot of Pierre Madenié 1709, by Yves Reynaud 2022. A great tarot, but this particular 2022 version was printed with the brightness setting turned way too high, which caused "crushed highlights" as we say in photography. -Tarot de Marseille édition Millenium, by Wilfried Houdouin. Now I must admit that this one is of very good quality. It's just that I don't like it at all. The ghost-white faces freak me out. -Tarot de Marseille, Nicolas Conver, by Emmanuelle Iger. In itself, it is a very good reproduction of the original Conver. Barely cleaned up (but smaller, and with gilted edges). It's just that I don't like the original to begin with. Side by side with the Pierre Madenié 1709, it can't stand the comparison.

I had the Cook’s Tarot for a year. Image from Tarot Garden. I really liked it. I like colorful decks, it’s diverse, and the color quality of the deck was bold. The guidebook was good too. I also was specifically looking for a food related deck, and this fit perfectly. The cards are big, but that wasn’t an issue (plus apparently some of the images might be cut off? Apparently on one card the guidebook references a dog we can’t see). The issue was the deck was clumpy and sticky. It was a pain to shuffle. I looked up online that unscented baby powder could be used as a substitute for fanning powder, so I tried it. It was alright, but still clumpy. Plus now there was baby powder all over the deck 😂 I brought it to my then local witchy shop for a tarot trade event and warned everyone that I’d used baby powder to destickify the deck but someone was happy to take it anyway and I left with the Cosmic tarot. One deck that is large but ok to shuffle is the Next World tarot. The cards are thin but the colors are still bold. They don’t stick. I side shuffle them.

For me the 4s seem to think they're the end product of the suit. We've arrived. There's a plateau now, and mighty Jupiter rules all the 4s (via Hermetic Qabalah) as well as this decan. The 3s have expanded. (The 3 of Cups Abundance is now the 4 of Cups Luxury, for instance) but... it's all about to crash and burn in the 5s. Libra wants to keep the balance, but the King of the Gods keeps expanding. This 4 of Swords seems like a topical card, at least in the way Crowley viewed it. "It represents a refuge from mental chaos, chosen in an arbitrary manner. It argues for convention... Minds too indolent or too cowardly to think out their own problems hail joyfully this policy of appeasement." Normally I'd talk about how Crowley had no patience for compromise or restraint. I think he liked energetic force of will, and anything else seemed like weakness to him. But current times being as dramatic as they are around the world, his quote denouncing truce reminds me of a number of political situations (that I won't discuss since it's not allowed - which I support). There's always the question of what to do when we're pushed, even just at work or by a stranger at a stadium. We draw a line between letting little things go to be "the bigger person" vs knowing when to stand up for others and/or ourselves when it's important. Real harm. Personally, I have to be aware of my dislike of conflict. It's helpful in many cases; I'm not a drama llama, that's for sure. 😅 But I have to counterbalance that when it would be cowardly not to stand up for others and/or myself. Reddit lately is full of people talking about what has and has not worked during this 4 of Swords Truce throughout history. I don't have the answers; we're stuck with choosing what we think is the least bad option in a bad situation. I just thought of these things when this card came up and all the sword points are momentarily balanced, tips aimed toward one another. In the Thoth, at least, this card is about to give way, one way or the other. The RWS looks relaxed by comparison. Waite says, "Vigilance, retreat, solitude, hermit's repose, exile, tomb and coffin. It is these last that have suggested the design. Reversed: Wise administration, circumspection, economy, avarice, precaution, testament."

That sounds like a fine way to spend time with each of your decks and keep track of what you’ve got. 😀 I’m doing something similar, going in order through my idiosyncratic list and pulling a card a day. I actually started a year and a half ago but stopped, so I’ve resumed where I left off. Happy to help 😜 *insert Fabio gif here* lol

I don't know the references you cite. But the idea of casting a chart for the moment of the question is similar to Prashna.

This is an interesting idea! In my collection I have what I consider 97 "usable" decks that I am currently rotating over the next 97 weeks in the Deck of the Week group. I am using a random number generator to choose the deck each week, so I could keep a separate list to keep track of which decks I've used. Even if I don't get around to actually using the deck for that week at least I get the deck out and look at it. It's a way to keep track of my inventory!

I’ve just updated my list! It’s in an idiosyncratic order that can only make sense to me, but it’s only 27 decks, plus some oracle cards.

Looking at 4 and 7, i.e. Position 4: Future. Emerging developments or potentials. THE DARK FOREST (5 of Chalices) The dark web Optional Position 7: Seed card. Representing what can be cultivated or tended to today to support future transformation. REWILDING (Knave of Chalices). I'm thinking of underhiggledygroundpiggledymovementalities leading to 7.

Well, hello there, Lovebird! You must have used another name on AT because I don't recognize this one. On the other hand, I'm in my senior moment era, so I may have just forgotten. LOL I'm intrigued by this deck and since I'm a Pollyanna by nature, I'm just looking at this as a good reason to start using reversals. It's really hard to get shuffling done without having to pick the cards up and there are lots of reversals in the picking them up, so I've decided to just pick them up and not worry any that are reversed. To add to this, I serendipitously bought the Holistic Tarot by Benebell Wen at around the same time and it has a section on reversed cards, so that plus these slick cards, I'm all set. I don't agree with Benebell on everything but I've found that she does add lots of information and ideas that are interesting and worth thinking about and trying out. Maybe I can interest a few other people in getting the deck and book so we can all get together and have a study and/or discussion group. I'll make a club for it. Gosh, my dog just "shuffled" the deck for me. I'm sitting on my bed using my laptop and she stepped near the deck----reversals galore.🤨

I haven’t tested that out since the tariffs took place and the last thing I want to do is have officials on my doorstep. That probably sounds silly but nothing feels certain anymore. I’ll just wait. I saw that it could be preordered on Thriftbooks too at a much cheaper price but I have less experience with them.

OK. So initial immediate impression now they're in position is water and air. The Knight of Swords is next to the Queen of Swords - in an ascending position. There is some communication going on between them - he's sort of deferring to her. Obviously this isn't the same as typical tarot, just immediate impressions. Take with a grain of salt. The Water / Cups are all along the same side, like a waterfall but with some feedback from 4 up to 5. I know from my studies there's a global water crisis. There's only a certain amount and it gets recycled, yet what always concerned me was a lot of it was being used for industry not life. For example, Pepsi has a factory using groundwater in Mexico - a place with high-dense population, increasing deforestation (leading to landslides etc), and poverty - no water supply - a lot of people in shanty towns get water trucked in. The extraction of groundwater is leading to subsidence. You can see the buildings on the street sinking. The Swords and the Tower are all consecutively placed. Rather big conflict here. The people falling from the Tower are generally nobility and/or church. The Wheel of Fortune is abutting those first three, so all are together here. The spinning wheel of BS, but also a Wheel of Fate. That's it from me for the moment. Obviously looking further into the background info regarding the socio-political elements of the cards is required, too.

Thanks @gregory I've put cards into spread position with description (see below). Not sure if one will be able to see content clearly but they can refer back to larger images you provided above. I'll have another look/comment a bit later, because I can't see what the image looks like until posted.

Order from amazon UK ?

5.0 isn't out in the States, yet. I've preordered it but it won't be out here until March 2026.

I keep my cards in a sort of dresser’s shelf. The oracle and miscellaneous decks are on the sides. I have them in a particular order that makes it easy to find them. There’s 27 tarot decks, 5 oracle decks, 2 playing card decks, and 2 therapy card decks. I hadn’t used the therapy cards much. I need bags for a few of them and am looking into getting some. edit: old but up to date pictures of my tarot deck collection

My favorites are Shadowscapes’ Star card (and World, but image limit), Numinous’ Emperor, and Tyldwick’s Emperor. The first two images are from the artist’s websites, the last is from TarotCake’s blog. Sorry for the large images, it wouldn’t let me resize them in the editor.

4 of Swords The third decan of Libra, a decan ruled by Jupiter Post at TabulaMundi.com - DECAN WALK: LIBRA 3, FOUR OF SWORDS – Part I – Tabula Mundi Tarot Excerpt: "Surprising that the card is merely "truce" and not something more beneficial, with the Greater Fortune (Jupiter) and Lesser Fortune (Venus) involved. [Venus rules the sign of Libra] But in the first card below the Abyss in the Swords suit, we merely get a compromise or rest from strife. The suit of Swords is notoriously troublesome, just like the mind itself the suit represents. The Air element of the Swords suit is inherently turbulent, as the offspring of the two opposing elements Fire and Water." RWS, Thoth, Tabula Mundi Other related cards: Justice/Adjustment for Libra Wheel of Fortune/Fortune for Jupiter Prince of Cups (for the last decan of Libra and the first two decans of Scorpio) Telos Tarot of 777

Thanks @FindYourSovereignty and @JoyousGirl! (At this point I'm mostly just trying to catch up on work and my energy level. My dogs get their walks, no excuses! 😅) And, @JoyousGirl, yes, you really feel the Saturn in this card. As you said the sword cuts both ways, which goes along with Libra's balance. Part 2 went up at Tabula Mundi , and I'm about to post Libra 3.

Oof. That one doesn't work for me at all. Reminds me of lower level Hollywood talent scouts scanning photography portfolios sent in by wannabes.

Well, to add to your confusion, OP, there are many readers who associate swords with fire (steel is forged in fire to make a sword), and wands with air (they're made from trees which need air/oxygen to live), especially if they initially learned the associations through Wicca or witchcraft. Others who agree with that say that the "original" associations were changed by Waite and the Golden Dawn. Some say Crowley switched them. And apparently, historically, there were other ways to associate the suits with elements, depending on who wrote about it. To me, it makes more sense that swords would be fire, and wands air. Or possibly even swords as fire, wands as earth, and pentacles as air. I recently started seeing the swords suit as being mostly about conflict, challenges, aggression, and physicality. The wands seem, to me, more about growth, stability, and steadiness. But most of the time I don't even consider the elemental association. I mean, why does that even matter? It may be better to associate a card with whatever element makes sense intuitively for that specific reading. I basically read by seeing what the imagery will tell me. Some articles, blog posts, and discussions on this: (Scroll down the page a bit to read this one): https://www.tarotcardmeanings.net/tarot-playingcards.htm https://www.darkdaystarot.com/single-post/why-i-associate-wands-with-air-and-swords-with-fire-in-my-tarot-decks https://autumnsunrise.wordpress.com/2008/07/05/tarot-elements-seasons/ https://www.tarotforum.net/threads/fire-versus-air-the-swords-wands-controversy.303593/ https://www.tarotforum.net/threads/wands-are-fire-swords-are-air-or-maybe-not.266456/

I like to bring one to public readings because I never no what kind of surface the venue will provide. Otherwise, I use solid or neutral-colored cloths for taking pictures of my spreads, either for blog posts or sending to remote clients.

I use John Frawley's methods but also picked up ideas from William Lilly. Frawley works with the Regiomontanus house system. The chart is cast for the instant the question is understood using the astrologer's coordinates.

Here is one for the spiritual mystics and pendulum users to play around with. AUTHOR'S NOTE: All of the spirit-contact methods I'm aware of assume that we're going to encounter precisely the entity we're seeking (ancestor, god-form, elemental figure, spirit guide, etc.) whenever we ask. But I've never been convinced that disembodied beings are lurking at the threshold of the Astral Plane, just waiting for us to reach out, nor are they necessarily sympathetic. Here I'm postulating that three spirits of diverse disposition will be "enlisted" for our rendezvous, one cooperative, one uncooperative and one impartial (maybe they're near the portal at the time and by chance there are three roles to be filled: "good cop," "bad cop," and "unbiased arbiter"). The one we engage will depend on the random spin of a board-game dial. For those who want to use a pendulum instead of a spinner, this pattern lends itself to that approach. (All images are from the Retro-Thoth Tarot, privately published.) Begin by placing a board-game spinner at the center of the reading surface. (Invoke any psychic protection you normally use before continuing.) Concentrate on what you want to know while shuffling a tarot deck (reversals are permitted), then deal three cards face-down above the spinner in any order, being careful to place them in a way that eliminates overlap by the pointer. Next deal three cards below the spinner in the same manner, and two cards into the "Interlude" positions. Spin the dial, continuing to concentrate, and turn the card it points to face-up. Find the card diametrically opposite that one and turn it face-up. This pair will represent the nature of the contact ("Spirit-end") and the contents of the message ("Seeker-end"); the latter always travels from Spirit to Seeker regardless of which way the arrow is pointing. If you want to create an expanded narrative, add two more cards to the "message" position (unless it has already confirmed a "disconnect" as in the example reading's "loss of signal"). When the pointer lands on one of the "Interlude" positions, it means that the contact has not yet been made. If it is a "Helpful Interlude," spin again for a connection. An "Unhelpful Interlude" advises stopping for now and trying again later. It may be useful to examine your state-of-mind before doing so, since you could have been confused or indisposed the first time around. Close the psychic channel in your usual fashion. Here is an example. The reversed Ace of Cups indicates that the spirit is intensely private and emotionally disinclined to cooperate, while the reversed 9 of Disks conveys mundane interference at the seeker's end (the dog is barking, the kids are screaming, motorcycles are drag-racing in the street, etc.). Had I been asking about an investment of some kind, I would have just been shouted down. If this were a real scenario, I would break the weak connection and come back at a quieter time.