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Author Topic: Tarot - OK to use more than one deck?  (Read 3811 times)

theistgal

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Tarot - OK to use more than one deck?
« on: March 09, 2012, 03:01:56 pm »
Hi! I've only posted a few times, then work got in the way so I've been dealing with that. But here I am, ready to expand the pagan side of me! :ange:

My question is about Tarot. Many years ago I acquired a breathtakingly beautiful Tarot deck called the Healing Tarot by Rev. Jennifer Moore.

I love it, and have clung to it even through my bouts of fundamentalism. :(

So now I'm returning to it and want to start learning again how to read (mostly for myself), but here's the problem: the cards are really thick and almost impossible for my arthritic hands to shuffle!

So what I'm wondering is, is it OK to use another, more shuffle-able deck to use for readings, and just keep the beautiful Healing Tarot deck for my own enjoyment?

Or - could I pull the cards from the shuffle-able deck, and then get the same cards from the H.T. deck and use them for my reading?

I'm assuming these things are A-OK but you know the old saying about "never assume"! ;)

Thanks!:)

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Re: Tarot - OK to use more than one deck?
« Reply #1 on: March 09, 2012, 03:09:00 pm »
Quote from: theistgal;45369
Hi! I've only posted a few times, then work got in the way so I've been dealing with that. But here I am, ready to expand the pagan side of me! :ange:

My question is about Tarot. Many years ago I acquired a breathtakingly beautiful Tarot deck called the Healing Tarot by Rev. Jennifer Moore.

I love it, and have clung to it even through my bouts of fundamentalism. :(

So now I'm returning to it and want to start learning again how to read (mostly for myself), but here's the problem: the cards are really thick and almost impossible for my arthritic hands to shuffle!

So what I'm wondering is, is it OK to use another, more shuffle-able deck to use for readings, and just keep the beautiful Healing Tarot deck for my own enjoyment?

Or - could I pull the cards from the shuffle-able deck, and then get the same cards from the H.T. deck and use them for my reading?

I'm assuming these things are A-OK but you know the old saying about "never assume"! ;)

Thanks!:)

 
You can use as many decks as you want for whatever purposes you so desire.

I have plenty of decks that are just lying around because I loved them, but couldn't find a connection to use them.
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Marilyn/Absentminded

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Re: Tarot - OK to use more than one deck?
« Reply #2 on: March 09, 2012, 04:55:50 pm »
Quote from: theistgal;45369


So what I'm wondering is, is it OK to use another, more shuffle-able deck to use for readings, and just keep the beautiful Healing Tarot deck for my own enjoyment?

 

As far as I know, there is absolutely no prohibition against using more than one deck.  It would be like confining yourself to one pencil or one dictionary for the rest of your life.

I find that some decks are best for introspective readings, some for certain types of questions, and some that seem to be just made for reading all and sundry whenever the subject comes up.

When I was reading professionally I had a kit I would take to parties.  It would have handouts for people to check out while waiting for their turn, examples of how to phrase questions, diagrams of different spreads, and five or six decks.

Most of the decks would be different, and I would use them for different types of questions.  I always had one duplicate (normally the Morgan Greer, since it's so versatile) for double deck readings and couple readings.

I also have decks for their sheer beauty, whether or not I can get sensible readings from them.  One day (that wonderful someday when I have ambition and time both at once) I plan to make photo albums from those ones, so I can just flip through them conveniently whenever I want to just look.

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Rhyshadow

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Re: Tarot - OK to use more than one deck?
« Reply #3 on: March 09, 2012, 05:39:28 pm »
Quote from: theistgal;45369

So what I'm wondering is, is it OK to use another, more shuffle-able deck to use for readings, and just keep the beautiful Healing Tarot deck for my own enjoyment?

Thanks!:)


I use two decks myself

The Herbal Tarot - beautiful drawings of various plants
The Robin Wood Tarot - one of the finest artists out there, wonderful imagery

Switch back and forth if you want, or keep the pretty one for show - it's all up to you.  The Tarot Deck is a tool, just like any other - if it speaks to you, then it'll work, so go with what works

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Re: Tarot - OK to use more than one deck?
« Reply #4 on: March 09, 2012, 07:13:31 pm »
Quote from: theistgal;45369
So what I'm wondering is, is it OK to use another, more shuffle-able deck to use for readings, and just keep the beautiful Healing Tarot deck for my own enjoyment?

Lots of people use different decks for different purposes, so I sure don't see any problems with switching to a deck you can shuffle.
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SunflowerP

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Re: Tarot - OK to use more than one deck?
« Reply #5 on: March 10, 2012, 05:14:25 am »
Quote from: theistgal;45369
... but here's the problem: the cards are really thick and almost impossible for my arthritic hands to shuffle!

So what I'm wondering is, is it OK to use another, more shuffle-able deck to use for readings, and just keep the beautiful Healing Tarot deck for my own enjoyment?

Or - could I pull the cards from the shuffle-able deck, and then get the same cards from the H.T. deck and use them for my reading?

 
I concur with everyone else about using more than one deck (especially - as usual:)! - with Marilyn's points), but want to address a couple of other things.

First, that if the arthritis is severe enough, you might also want to consider smaller-than-standard decks.  This will limit your selection quite a bit - the Rider-Waite-Smith comes in several sizes, including a standard-playing-card size and a mini size (the latter of which is too small - about the size of miniature or "travel" playing cards - for seeing much detail, so I usually don't recommend it, but it'd be ideal for a shuffle deck as per your idea), and there are a handful of decks that are designed/printed in a smaller size.  Here's a link to the small-size decks list at Aeclectic Tarot - note that several of these are major-arcana-only art/collector decks and/or super-tiny novelty decks; only about five or six are full 78-card decks large enough to be shuffleable.

Second, that it's not just okay but can be a really useful technique to lay out the matching cards from a different deck alongside the ones you originally dealt in a spread.  It can make for a more multidimensional reading, or illuminate a seemingly-nonsensical one.  And comparing (with or without a spread) the details of how particular cards are rendered in various decks can be an excellent way to deepen your understanding of that card, and/or get a stronger sense of how decks differ in tone (and from that, what sorts of things they're especially suited for).

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Kylara

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Re: Tarot - OK to use more than one deck?
« Reply #6 on: March 10, 2012, 11:17:30 am »
Quote from: theistgal;45369

So what I'm wondering is, is it OK to use another, more shuffle-able deck to use for readings, and just keep the beautiful Healing Tarot deck for my own enjoyment?

Or - could I pull the cards from the shuffle-able deck, and then get the same cards from the H.T. deck and use them for my reading?


 
I have five decks now, and I use them in different instances.  Two were gifts from friends, and the others were ones I bought myself.  One is an oversized deck that I find very inconvenient to shuffle, so I rarely use it, but I love the art, and it makes a neat deck to meditate on.  My other three decks have very different art and focus, so I find they appeal to me on different levels.  I'll be drawn to different ones at different times.  I have never had a problem having and using multiple decks.

You could also try table mixing your deck.  Lay the cards all out face down and slide them around to shuffle them.  It sounds like it's the bending that is hard for you to do, so you could also use a modified cutting method:  start with all the cards in one stack, and then separate them out into a number of piles, and then gather them all up one pile at a time (in a different order), and repeat as necessary.  If you are doing a reading for someone else, and don't mind them touching your cards (some people do some people don't), you could also have them shuffle the cards for you.
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theistgal

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Re: Tarot - OK to use more than one deck?
« Reply #7 on: March 12, 2012, 02:44:31 pm »
Thank you so much to all who responded! :)

I bought a very "shuffle-able" Universal Rider-Waite deck this weekend – as well as a set of “oracle” cards with birds on them.

Will be “playing” with the latter a lot, I suspect. I do love me some birdies! :lub:

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Re: Tarot - OK to use more than one deck?
« Reply #8 on: March 12, 2012, 05:08:29 pm »
Quote from: Kylara;45453
It sounds like it's the bending that is hard for you to do...

 
The bending used in a riffle shuffle is hard on the cards, too.

The Wikipedia article Shuffling (which I checked mostly to get the names of shuffles straight; I didn't expect such a variety of methods) describes several other methods, including the ones you mention, Kylara.

I've always preferred what Wiki calls a weave shuffle (but which I've always known as a poker shuffle) - it's common enough in tarot that it didn't occur to me that theistgal might be using any other shuffle.

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cigfran

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Re: Tarot - OK to use more than one deck?
« Reply #9 on: March 12, 2012, 06:00:18 pm »
Quote from: theistgal;45369
So what I'm wondering is, is it OK to use another, more shuffle-able deck to use for readings, and just keep the beautiful Healing Tarot deck for my own enjoyment?

Or - could I pull the cards from the shuffle-able deck, and then get the same cards from the H.T. deck and use them for my reading?


The more Tarot decks you use, the less there are for me to acquire, so no... you may not use more than one.






:whis:

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Re: Tarot - OK to use more than one deck?
« Reply #10 on: March 12, 2012, 06:43:08 pm »
Quote from: cigfran;45640
The more Tarot decks you use, the less there are for me to acquire, so no... you may not use more than one.

:whis:

LOL. You know they print them in hundreds or thousands of copies these days. It's this printing press thing. :yikes:
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theistgal

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Re: Tarot - OK to use more than one deck?
« Reply #11 on: March 12, 2012, 07:05:43 pm »
Quote from: cigfran;45640
The more Tarot decks you use, the less there are for me to acquire, so no... you may not use more than one.






:whis:


Ha ha, sorry, you don't get my Healing Tarot or my birdies! :p  ;)

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