Transparent Tarot by Emily Carding

[Grizabella]

I first owned this deck when it was a new publication. I didn't use it much because frankly, it's been a learning challenge and I've just been caught up in so much else over the years that I didn't have time or energy to really devote myself to it. At one point, I lost my deck in a storage fiasco and only recently have been able to get another.

 

What I'm wondering is if there are others here who use the deck. I asked on another forum and didn't get much response. I think maybe the deck is more of a collectible because of its innovative and unusual nature but that it might also present a challenge to other readers so they haven't delved into it much.  Is there anyone here who would be interested in starting a study of it? Not the usual description of images and card meanings study but an actual "learning by doing" sort of study. I'm not quite sure how we'd structure it, but if there are any others interested, please let me know.

[Little Fang]

I remember when it first came out, and I was so intrigued by it.  I wish I had gotten it long ago.

[katrinka]

I don't have it. It looks like it's fairly straightforward RWS, a friend sent me this not long after it came out:

 

So it looks like 3C, 9S, 10C, but when you have them combined into one image, you lose the card order. Card order could make a huge difference with those three. I guess you could just lay them in a line, but then you might as well use RWS?

[Rodney]

I have consistently used a double Transparent deck since the day it came out. There are a few threads over at AT where I was a major participant. I was even dubbed the "Transparent Tarot Mad Scientist" I believe by Emily Carding herself. I also created a number of brand new spreads for the Transparent and updated existing spreads to be used with the deck that can be found at http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?t=203788. 

 

katrinka posted what we called a Combined or Composite Image (CI). I'm not sure if the image is flipped or if the cards were in Mirror Image (MI) format since in standard format, the numbers are on the left and the suit symbols are on the right. When I first started, I had one of my two decks in standard format and the other in MI format. More than once I've had the same card show up in an image. At first, I didn't include reversals, but in the last few years they've crept into my double deck, so now as part of my shuffling process, I both mirror image and reverse the cards in the deck.

 

My avatar at AT was a CI of the 2 Cups, Temperance and Magician:

 

What I do a lot of right now are either 7 card or 9 card filmstrips (FS), like this one. I will change the orientation of any cards that the querent doesn't like to see how that changes the interpretation. I'll often also bring the cards into a CI and hold up to the light to see  what additional insight can be gleaned. I did a FS reading for Barbara Moore's wife at a Tarot Rumpus last year.

 

I once went to do a reading about a work situation and accidentally ended up with a Jumbled Image (JI) that accurately depicted what was going on:

 

The Moon and Justice both appeared twice in the reading and appropriately highlighted the two main themes of the situation - confusion and punishment.

 

I could easily go on and on about this deck. If you have any questions Griz, just let me know!

[Grizabella]

I remember your AT avatar Rodney. I was going to do it in beadwork on a bag for you but I never did get it done. I was still raising grandchildren at the time and having some health issues and I just never could get it done. The grandkids are both grown now and one has an 8 year old son and published a book and the younger one has a combined family of 3 children and one on the way. Her fiance had a boy and girl by a previous marriage and then she has a son who is 14 months old and a baby girl on the way due on November 3rd. They have wonderful co-parenting skills that I'm very proud of and they have the older two kids most of the time, but my grand-daughter is an awesome mom and loves every minute of it. 

 

Anyway, it's good to know you've worked so much with the Transparent deck and I'll be looking forward to hearing about your experiences. I never thought of trying a double deck with the Transparent. Maybe I'll eventually try that, too. I'm going to save the photo of your avatar and once I get my cataract surgery over with, I'll still make you that bag. (Don't tell me no----I'd love to do it as a gift for you. ) I had to re-schedule the surgery because of the covid-19 thing but I'm going to call this week to re-schedule while it's still kind of at a lull, although cases are picking up again I hear. I'm hoping to get the surgery all done fairly soon. They'll do one eye and then two weeks later the other eye, so if I can schedule it for July, I should be all done by August, I think. They do a lazer version now with recuperation only for 3 days and no eye patch or anything, so it sounds like it's going to be a piece of cake.

 

The film strip and the jumbled image you've shown here are awesome. I really love this deck and find it to be fascinating to work with. I have much more time for using all my cards now that the kids are all gone and I live where it's so secluded. 

 

Oh, and exciting news! Even though this is a very tiny RV park, we have a new lady here who also uses the cards. Crys (my daughter) is now friends with her. The lady said she used to have the Spiral deck and it was lost along the way somewhere, so she wants another one. I told Crys to tell her that it's out of print now and she probably won't have much success finding one. I lost mine, too but I'd give it to her if I still had it. My other daughter has one but it's her favorite deck and the one she learned on, so no chance of getting that one from her.  lol 

[Grizabella]

On 5/30/2020 at 4:03 PM, Little Fang said:

I remember when it first came out, and I was so intrigued by it.  I wish I had gotten it long ago.

It's still in print. I got mine on Amazon. I think for awhile it was out of print. You might want to grab one while it's still available. I thought I'd never get another copy because once out of print, I didn't think it would be back. 

[Grizabella]

On 5/30/2020 at 7:02 PM, katrinka said:

I don't have it. It looks like it's fairly straightforward RWS, a friend sent me this not long after it came out:

 

So it looks like 3C, 9S, 10C, but when you have them combined into one image, you lose the card order. Card order could make a huge difference with those three. I guess you could just lay them in a line, but then you might as well use RWS?

At this point, I keep track of the card order when I put three cards one on top of the other because it does make a difference somewhat the way I read them. In time, I may get more relaxed about that because there's so much that can be done with this deck. To start with, the first time I had the deck, I was having some health issues and raising grandchildren and it was just too much for me to get my head around. Then I lost it in storage and it's taken me years to get another copy. Now I live alone up on a mountain with lots of time to devote to it and I'm enjoying it.

[Rodney]

I bought 7 copies of the Transparent when it was released. I only have 4 copies left - my double deck and 2 backup decks. I remember sending one through the Nonny program at Aeclectic, and I must've done trades with the other two. Em was at the Bay Area Tarot Symposium after the deck was released and I got her to sign the two Schiffer cards, which I have added into my deck. Originally I thought they would represent the artist, but then I realized that for most artists, especially with their first deck, the card is more about compromise and conformity since the publisher will want the artist to make changes to fit how the publisher does things.

 

Thanks for making the bag whenever you get around to it. Right now I have my double deck in a white bag because the purple bag I had it in started to bleed onto the white cloth that comes with the deck.

 

FYI, the Spiral is still available (available again?) on the US Games website.

[katrinka]

18 hours ago, Grizabella said:

Now I live alone up on a mountain with lots of time to devote to it and I'm enjoying it.

I would say that at this point I need a mountain more than I need yet another deck. 😄

[MichaelH]

I've just got this deck today and will be using it as my deck of the week next week. I had a yearning for this since I first read about it so finally decided I was going to get it. It looks absolutely lovely, and the book with it is good too. Looking forward to playing around with it.

 

I normally do a card a day but because of the layering options here I plan to do a three card draw and then layer them and see what images emerge.

[Rodney]

Enjoy your journey with the deck @MichaelH!