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Welcome back @Rachelcat!

Whelp! I was going to start working through my remaining historicals, starting with Eteillas, but shopping happens when I’m not busy at work; therefore, I might or might not have ordered 4 decks on Amazon (with 2 more tucked away in my save for later). So I’m back on the new deck train! This week will be Tarot of the Unexplained: A Deck of Cryptids, Ghosts, UFOs & Other Urban Oddities. I have two fun cryptid oracles, so of course I needed a tarot too! But this turns out to have few cryptids and mostly urban legends. But let’s give it a try anyway. Suits are knockers (bigfoot’s sticks), portals, ghosts, and saucers. The suits don’t have separate creatures or stories, but they do have constellations and moon phases. (The author might not be aware that constellations and signs are now not aligned. But it makes sense to use constellations that we can see.) Courts are fans, hunters, advocates, and skeptics. Wash, shuffle, and go! What is your most important characteristic? 4 of Portals First quarter moon, I don’t know what the constellation is. The portal is a cube that reflects the ocean it is above. The deck can be a portal to new ideas and understandings, but it is static. Once I get it, it’s done. What is your strength? 9 of Knockers Waning gibbous moon and Sagittarius The deck is good at defending itself against naysayers. Like bigfoot, it does what it does and doesn’t ask for validation. Your weakness? 6 of Saucers They look like boomerangs or stealth planes. The deck is more of an artistic or physical success, less of a spiritual or helpful success. What can you teach me? 3 of Ghosts Libra It can teach me about teaching and learning about loss and mourning. How can I learn it? Fan of Ghosts By being a fan of the deck and of learning things I usually don’t learn about. What will be the outcome of our work together? Hunter of Ghosts Is this also Libra? Booklet says she is an initiate using her esoteric hand signals and summoning a powerful ghost. I will graduate from learning to understanding the deck and some of its bases. No majors but all four suits represented. Well, we’ll see where all this goes!

Welcome back @Bodhiseed 😀

Thank you to the next set of folks also I am currently experimenting with the majors from Botanica Tarot by Kenvin Jay Stanton, as a daily draw. I can't use the deck anyway - right now it's just beautiful floral pictures that don't spark anything for me so this is a way to start learning them i.e. which plant the image is supposed to be, and why that plant might be representing a particular card. For folks info - I have been reading several decades, but no, I'm not a Thothite, no, I don't use astrology, yes I sometimes use pip decks with a set of attributions created with input from an AT thread years ago and no, honestly, I don't want to have to be linking them back to associated minors or any other thing like that. That's just adding layers of complication I can't handle. What I guess I was really seeking was a way to "step down" from only seeing their most over-arching MAJOR attributions, into something more everyday-ish, so when, like today, I get the Devil, I can find small connections that fit my day, rather than worriedly barricade myself in the bathroom Yes, "Not Normal R Us" LOL

Thank you Fire cat! I'm in with the Touchstone Tarot paired with the Waterhouse Oracle. Touchstone Tarot, Happy Squirrel; Waterhouse Oracle, Windflowers You be greater than your feelings. I don't demand this of you - life does. Otherwise, you'll be washed away by feelings. You'll be washed out to sea and never seen again. ― Philip Roth I had forgotten all about the Happy Squirrel card until it turned up this morning. Originally from an episode of "The Simpsons" many years ago, it is a satirical look at fortune-telling (how rigidly and grimly some folks read the cards). Kat Black describes it this way: "Lighten up. Do not take yourself, or anything, too seriously. There are no simple answers, life is very complicated and the most important thing is to take joy in the journey." Windflowers, sometimes called Windswept, shows a woman and a field of flowers buffeted by gusty winds. It is a caution about letting our emotions sweep us away without questioning the validity or perspective behind them. We don't have to attempt to squash our feelings, but neither do we need to self-identify with them either. This is just a moment in our lifetime, not an era.

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: Conver Ancient TdM Bodhiseed: Touchstone Tarot paired with the Waterhouse Oracle Rachelcat: Tarot of the Unexplained; A Deck of Cryptids, Ghosts, UFOs & Other Urban Oddities Click here for DOTW 455 (3/23-3/29)

@PathWalker I use my Majors Only Piedmontese deck with a 1926 version of Tirage en Croix--a traditional majors-only spread. [although there are options to add minors] I use this spread fairly often with Majors Only Here is an example from my personal journal of doing a Majors Only Tirage en Croix [French Cross] Here is @akiva post about how he does french cross / tirage en croix. I will add to his post that this version was published by Oswald Wirth in 1926 but Wirth learnt it from Peladan who had been using it for years before. I have an instructional video for Tirage en Croix / French Cross posted on my YT channel but self-promotion is prohibited here -- it's out there should you wish to find it. I also have one Majors only deck that I purchased JUST for the artwork. Arcani I Gatti cat Tarot by Il Meneghello. I never read with it--but ADORE the art work and just thumb through the cards to cheer me up every once in a while. As you mention, many old school TdM readers only used the majors and didn't particularly bother with minors. I also ended up with a "majors only" deck b/c I have a deck which i liked the Trionfi but detested the Courts. So I ended up throwing away the minors and keeping only the Majors. Et voila! A majors-only deck 😉 Exactly. I use my majors only deck with French Cross. All in all, I tend to avoid Majors-only decks. Even with French Cross I like the option to use minors for clarification if necessary. Yet, there is a real simplicity to throwing a French Cross with all majors. It usually gives a direct and unambiguous answer.

Oh what a great idea. I love this as a writer. I often use tarot when I'm in writing slump and this really sounds fun and informative

I have a number of Majors-only decks, and I use them just as I would any other deck. Each Major has a lot of information anyway, and if you know you won't have any minors, you can consider the more "mundane" aspects of the Majors as well. And if you know your cards well, you are aware that most Majors are connected to Minors. In order to remember which is associated with which, you should know the astrological associations and of course the elements. All Majors associated with cardinal signs (Aries: the Emperor; Cancer: the Chariot); Libra (Justice); Capricorn (the Devil) are associated with the Two, Three and Four of their elements. The Queens are also associated with the cardinal signs. All Majors associated with fixed signs (Taurus: the Hierophant; Leo: Strength; Scorpio: Death; Aquarius: the Star) are associated with the Five, Six and Seven of their elements. The Knights are also associated with the fixed signs. All Majors associated with mutable signs (Gemini: the Lovers; Virgo: the Hermit; Sagittarius: Temperance; Pisces: the Moon) are associated with the Eight, Nine and Ten of their elements. The Kings are also associated with mutable signs. So if you're stuck with a Major that doesn't tell you anything, you might think about the Minors that go along with it, and maybe find an echo there, a pattern or a theme. Another, more remote or difficult possibility to find echoes of Minors in the Majors is the planetary ruler. Let's say you have the Tower, ruled by Mars. If you are a Thothie, you probably know the Minors ruled by Mars: Two of Wands, Three of Disks, Five of Cups, Seven of Wands, Nine of Swords and Ten of Cups. Does any of these echo with you? Well, that would mean throwing your net out pretty wide... and it's probably less practical than the zodiac associations, which are so easy to remember. Anyway, the Majors and Minors are connected in many ways, and even when you work "only" with the Majors, the Minors are still there as a quiet presence, and you can call them to help you when you feel you're stuck. However, you won't usually need that anyway. I sometimes do Majors Only readings with full decks when I want to focus on deeper issues. Another possibility is to divide the deck and do a "split reading". Let the Majors tell you about root problems and destiny; the Courts about people and character traits; the Minors about how it all plays out. I did that in some of my ancestral readings and it gave me very clear answers.

Feedback -- Questions and comments are welcome. This reading gives us insight into energies that we can focus on during specific days of the upcoming week as well as throughout the entire week as a whole This week's reading will use the Förhäxa Tarot created by MJ Cullinane. Here are focal points for our meditation: Sunday: How Can I Express Generosity: Six of Swords 'Movement' 'To Do' list for America trip. Monday. How Can I Set the Emotional Tone for my Week? Six of Wands Netzach 'Victory' Share about new dream category. Tuesday: What Do I Want to Manifest? Ace of Waters 'Compassion' Try reflexology treatment here in Nyuh Kuning Wednesday: What Wisdom is Coming to Me? Seven of Cups 'Imagination' K'li Hanecha for America trip. Thursday: What Do I Want to Develop? Four of Pentacles 'Conception' 2-Card spell with study deck. Friday: How Can I Connect with Romance, Friends & Nature? Three of Wands 'Expansion' Pray: study runes or mahjong divination? Shabbat: How Can I Rest? Two of Pentacles 'Balance' Take a nice nap.

Sounds about right. Unless your 78 card decks don't include Empresses and Towers.... (DV decks don't count on that one.)

Thank you all for your input. I think I may be being hijacked by my linear thinking pattern. As in, I learnt with a 78 card deck, therefore a 22 card deck is something COMPLETELY different!

Many Marseilles readers, only use Majors spreads and readings. There are many spreads out there for use with Marseilles but I think you could adapt them for whatever Majors decks you want to read with. Philippe Camoin has the Spread of Le Mat (or Spread of the Pilgrim) he published. From his blog.... https://en.camoin.com/tarot/Three-Card-Spread.html It's 3 cards. and it's the classic past, present and future. He says it's an essential spread for majors readings. "The part of the path that is behind him, is his past. The part of the path where he finds himself now, is the present. And the part that he has not reached, his future" Jodorowsky took that 3 card spread and made a more complex 7 card thread which uses maths. From Mary Greer's blog.... https://marykgreer.com/2009/09/04/jodorowskys-three-card-theosophic-sum-spread/ Just some spreads to try before making any decisions 🙂

Read them as usual. Do not even think about the minors, they are not there.

@PathWalker has, I think, been reading for long enough not to rely on books. And anyway - if you are reading only with majors, there's no mileage at all in whether they are more important than minors - if the majors are all there is, that argument falls ! But my big thing is still - what reason is there NOT to use them ?

I agree, about reading with only Majors, if that's what you want to do. Try doing it, and see how it works for you. Ask yourself: Do you get a result that turns out to be accurate after events have played out? Do you get a reading that's understandable when you do the reading, so you can apply the reading to upcoming situations? See what works. You can also use reversals, which can help increase the tarot's vocabulary. Just experiment. I would add, what others said earlier, though. Be aware that tarot books, etc, tend to regard Majors as more important—even pivotal—moments. So...be careful not to 'catastrophise' the results of a reading. Death ...omg, somebody's going to die? Erm, no, probably not. But perhaps you have finally finished a task and won't be returning to it again. Stuff like this.

I love colour and find it difficult to read with black and white decks. Something is missing if there's no colour 🙃. So... I only have... 1 black & white deck. Sentimental because I knew the person who made it. (Goodness... perhaps I should look at black and white again...). I may sometimes read colour in terms of colour therapy/5 elements alla DanielJUK & I don't follow deliberately colour coded cards.

Errrr... why do you need persuasion? Some people learn majors only methods of reading. I am ingrained into an RWS format as that is what was around and what I 1st learned with. But I do use my Next Generation Tarot majors only - because I can't read pip decks, and was so disgusted that they didn't bother with the minors I removed them. LOL.

I use them as I would any other deck. Shuffle, draw and read. What reason is there NOT to read with them, @PathWalker ?

So - from a few years ago, I am reviving this thread. I have just counted my majors decks and there's "quite a few" LOL Off to check out the links from above, but anyone got anything new to add. Persuade me why I should keep and use them? Thanks PathWalker

I love colourful decks and I do try to remember to notice colours when reading. Like what colour(s) are prominent and is there a message there? I use colour therapy ideas, like a lot of red in every card, could that be a message about anger or fire energy? So it can be an interesting symbolism in itself. That is looking for repeating colours though but maybe a colour in a card stands out when reading. It's something I notice. It's interesting when decks are re-coloured, they can bring entirely different, interesting readings from the well-known traditional colours in the cards. Some decks use colours for beginners and / or to represent the suits. I find that really annoying to deal with. I never use those decks enough to remember a blue border means this or yellow means this and have to look it up every single time. Stick to a symbol for the suits. So colours can be useful symbols in a reading but colour coding the cards can be annoying to remember what they represent, especially when a deck has it's own system 🙂 .

I should have added to my above statement that colour also helps me recognise cards quickly. As I often read in dim light and do use reversals, a colourful deck helps with my orientation. Nothing more frustrating during a reading than realising, later on, that I've assumed a card is one thing, when it was another. Many cards can get mixed-up visually in an RWS-based deck. How many times I've mistaken an Empress for one of the Queens, especially when reversed ...ditto the Emperor for one of the Kings ...! Colour can help to distinguish one from another, depending on how the artist used it.

Despite my own strong orientation to color in a deck... I really do like black and white, also. I recently bought the El Goliath deck. I love looking at the images and the guidebook is particularly good. So black and white is its own thing. I have several others on my wish list. Also my number one deck on my wish list is the OWP deck the Ironwing Tarot which is black white and a coppery color.

@DanielJUK Thank you! I shall try to clean my cache, but I´m not good at computers, so I have to see what hapends later.