LWB - How much detail is needed?

[52ravens]

Hey everyone

 

Let me start by holding my hands up and saying that I am not a tarot card reader. Some of you may have seen my deck creation post here on the forum, but for those that haven't I'm creating my own art deck, following the RWS symbolism (loosely) ;D 

 

I'm now at the point where I want to start creating the LWB to go with the cards and wanted to get your thoughts. Do you think that keywords for the card, upright and reversed, is enough? Does each card really need a page of explanation to get the feel and meaning across?

 

I can see people rolling their eyes ::) at these questions, but I'd really like to know what you think. Will keywords be enough to give a gentle push to the reader for them to interpret the card with the feeling they get from it?

 

Thanks

[TheFeeLion]

I’m the kind of person that wants as much information as I can get. I have nothing against keywords but find they can frustrate me. I’d rather have a description of the card and it’s symbolism: we each have our own store of visual imagery so I like to have an idea of where to start deciphering someone else’s.

 

I suppose though, it all depends on how “loosely” based on RWS your cards are. The more they diverge from the standard the more I would want to know about your choices.

[DanielJUK]

This really depends on how much you want to give. I mean a lot of Lo Scarabeo and US Games decks just have that multi language paper LWB with a small bit of text for each card, maybe just keywords and the reversals if you are lucky. Some people really use what comes with it, some readers never read it ever, you won't please everyone with it. A lot of decks have a small part of text in a LWB and if the deck becomes a good seller, they later publish an accompanying book with pages on the cards. Most new decks coming out there probably won't have a huge book with it due to the time and cost for the artist / publisher.

 

You can publish a small LWB with it with a concentration of information. I personally like to read them to understand the artist's intention of the card and symbols used. Recently I bought the Enchanted Tarot 25th Anniversary tarot and it came with a big book inside. I am not sure originally if you got the book with the deck, they might have been sold as separates. The book sets out the theme and intention of the deck (each card is mean to be a dream which connects with Jung's "collective unconscious") and then has info on every card, there is a colour picture on one page with a quick information, the quick message of the card and the quick information of the card, then on the other page it has "the dream", this is a description of the card in text. A golden feather in the picture represents your passion (just an example) and then "the awakening" what is it's meaning and then finally "the enchantment" which is like a intention or spell to change something. It also has a affirmation. The book is 200 pages long though and the original deck was a huge best seller but it's the best tarot book with a deck I have ever owned! But like Feelion, I want as much as possible, especially if the cards have unique and different imagery / meanings.

 

I think questions for yourself about this.....

 

- how much do you want to give?

- do you want to use a keyword (s) chosen by you to help the reader

- do you want to explain your deck and it's intention / explain the cards and their symbols. Why is this symbol there?

- do you want to give a meditation / thought/ spell / affirmation with each card meaning, this works well with spiritual type decks

- Wild Unknown Tarot / Animal Oracle have LWB's which actually say when you have learnt the "essence" of each card, leave the book behind and go forth on your own :) You might want to provide the minimum if it's a intuitive deck.

 

I really like when an artist / creator explains in text the card, this symbol represents this and the sun sitting in the background represents this. That and keywords would be the best (for me), more important than a page of actual meanings.

 

I write all that and I have to say I have yet to buy a deck for the LWB, I always go for the card art! It's just a nice surprise when it's a good LWB! also you can always do a small compact LWB and have a website for more meanings or a ebook online to buy / download. Just some ideas, good luck with your deck 52ravens  :)

[aleatoryEpiphany]

I LOVE tons of text! long text descriptions explaining the symbolism, to me, are almost necessary. My first ever deck was the Shapeshifter Tarot, and it's the only deck I have until this coming Friday. There is over two hundred pages in Shapeshifter's LWB (or rather big blue book XD) and while eighty one of the pages are the picture of the card in black and white with the card name, traditional name (if applicable) and keywords, the rest of the pages are filled with description. The "prophecy" (card meaning) can take up to half a page, but almost never more than that and usually a good bit less. At least a quarter of the time I find as much meaning relevant to my reading in the description more than the prophecy part.  So I'm with DanielJUK[/member] and TheFeeLion[/member] - I like tons of description and explanation of my cards!

[52ravens]

TheFeeLion[/member] - DanielJUK[/member] - aleatoryEpiphany[/member] - Thank you all very much for your useful replies.  ;D

 

Though I'm following RWS I'm sure that some of the cards wont feel as obvious tie-ins with that decks meaning, so maybe a small paragraph of text and the keywords are the way to go for me, not being an experienced card reader.