Did you buy your tarot decks or were they gifted

[Cyrianne]

I am just curious about that. A friend of mine maintains that if you buy your tarot card deck the power is severely diminished.

Anyone got more than one deck and was one gifted. Noticed any difference between that and bought?

I just have one deck - a Minor / Major Arcana my aunt gave me on my  20th birthday so have no reference for the buying aspect. But the deck is old & I'd rather tuck it away for safe keeping than use it.

[RecycledBenedict]

I am just curious about that.

I have very distinct experiences of, and opinions about, which decks I am able to read with and which I am not able to read with. If I don't buy them myself, I could end up with a useless deck.

For instance: The Rider-Colman-Waite is pretty, but some of the scenes on the suit cards run so much counter to the traditional divinatory meanings, that they disturb my readings. The Marseilles decks are so much better in that regard: No distracting scenic suit cards.

[Tom]

I am just curious about that. A friend of mine maintains that if you buy your tarot card deck the power is severely diminished.

Anyone got more than one deck and was one gifted. Noticed any difference between that and bought?

I just have one deck - a Minor / Major Arcana my aunt gave me on my  20th birthday so have no reference for the buying aspect. But the deck is old & I'd rather tuck it away for safe keeping than use it.

 
How good I am with a deck depends less on if it was bought or gifted and more if the symbolism and the art connects with me. The majority of my decks have been bought because I never really put much store in the gifted rule (because the first one that was given to me didn't work for me anyways and confused me since it used Thoth deck correspondences more than the more common Rider-Waite). The decks I primarily use are all ones that I bought myself. I've also bought decks that just don't gel with me as well.

I wouldn't mind receiving one as a gift, but I would rather it come from someone who knew something about tarot cards than from someone who didn't and when I was younger, I didn't really know anyone who knew that much about tarot cards in person.

[SunflowerP]

I am just curious about that. A friend of mine maintains that if you buy your tarot card deck the power is severely diminished.

 
As well as the responses you get in this thread, you might also find these older threads on the topic to be of interest.

Sunflower

[Cyrianne]

As well as the responses you get in this thread, you might also find these older threads on the topic to be of interest.

Sunflower

Thanks.

Such is interesting though.

The friend I mention is a Roma, aka Gipsy to the English, from Moldova where my great-grandfather is from and well her family has been using tarot cards for a very long time. Her mother has phenomenal foresight having made more than a few very accurate predictions. Including an accident in a neighboring town long before it ever happened or for that matter construction even began.

[MadZealot]

How good I am with a deck depends less on if it was bought or gifted and more if the symbolism and the art connects with me.

What Tom said.  

I own several decks, and bought em all myself.  I like a couple in particular because their symbol sets work for me.  And there are those where the symbolism doesn't quite click, but the artwork is gorgeous.

[Jenett]

I am just curious about that. A friend of mine maintains that if you buy your tarot card deck the power is severely diminished.

This is widely considered by Tarot practitioners to be a myth, and a highly unproductive one.

There are a number of posts on Tarot-focused forums (the one I've read the most is Aeclectic Tarot, which is fabulous on the topic) from people who let that particular myth get in their way, and now regret not having gotten started with Tarot sooner, or not picking up a particularly interesting deck while it was available. I didn't do an extensive forum search, but this thread on tarot myths, this thread on buying and receiving decks, and this thread on tarot 'rules' all have some great discussion.

Personally, I've always bought mine, and I have no problems doing meaningful, helpful, informative readings (which, really, is the point, unless you're getting them simply to be visually attractive.)

For anyone curious in other myths that get in the way of reading, Mary K. Greer (an extremely well-known and prolific author on the topic) has a great roundup of myths and commentary and some other useful links.

[Jenett]

Double post due to computer glitch.

[Jack]

The friend I mention is a Roma...

I know there are definitely traditions that are of that opinion, but I've received decks as gifts and I've bought decks myself, and my experience has been similar to folks upthread, where finding art and symbolism that speak to me intuitively has more of an effect on my success with a deck.

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[Jack]

I know there are definitely traditions that are of that opinion, but I've received decks as gifts and I've bought decks myself, and my experience has been similar to folks upthread, where finding art and symbolism that speak to me intuitively has more of an effect on my success with a deck.

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Actually, the thing that has made the most difference to me has been the act of creating my own deck. I know it's a significant amount of work, but in terms of having an intimate connection to a deck and the symbols therein I think it's worth the investment for someone who has the time.

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[Kylara]

Thanks.

Such is interesting though.

The friend I mention is a Roma, aka Gipsy to the English, from Moldova where my great-grandfather is from and well her family has been using tarot cards for a very long time. Her mother has phenomenal foresight having made more than a few very accurate predictions. Including an accident in a neighboring town long before it ever happened or for that matter construction even began.

 
I wonder if this is a sort of self-fulfilling prophecy....they have been told for so long (and from such an early age) that it is so, and so they believe it and make it so for themselves.

For me personally I bought my first deck, was gifted a second, bought some more, had two re-homed to me (they were gifts, but I was not the original owner), and had some (divination sets:  rune/symbol sets specifically) that I made and some that were made for me.

I definitely find it is the deck itself that determines what I use it for and how well it works.  And some decks have turned out to work better for certain things..if I try to use them outside their area of expertise so to speak, they do not work as well.

I do think that the emotional attachment from receiving a heartfelt gift from someone who is meaningful to you can add power to a deck.  But I think it boosts what is already there...if a deck is not a good fit for you, it might make that seem even worse.

I have actually re-homed decks that were not a good fit for me, both one that was a re-homing gift and one that I had bought.  I tend to hold on to things that people give me for years even when they aren't a good fit, but I finally realized that I absolutely never felt drawn to use this deck at all, and it would be much better to let it go to someone who would find it useful.

[Bayoread]

I am just curious about that. A friend of mine maintains that if you buy your tarot card deck the power is severely diminished.

 
I've always bought my own Tarot decks and though I believe they all have their own personalities, I don't think the buying/gifting thing makes a difference.

My latest deck is the Tarot of Delphi and I LOVE it.

[Emma Eldritch]

I am just curious about that. A friend of mine maintains that if you buy your tarot card deck the power is severely diminished.

Anyone got more than one deck and was one gifted. Noticed any difference between that and bought?

I just have one deck - a Minor / Major Arcana my aunt gave me on my  20th birthday so have no reference for the buying aspect. But the deck is old & I'd rather tuck it away for safe keeping than use it.

 
I was given my very first deck as a Christmas present from my mom. It was $12.99 from the bargain bin, and it was hideous.

I have bought every other deck since, with the exception of a reprint of the Vertigo deck which a friend bought for me because he knew I was scared of wearing out my old ones.

[Scales]

I am just curious about that. A friend of mine maintains that if you buy your tarot card deck the power is severely diminished.

Anyone got more than one deck and was one gifted. Noticed any difference between that and bought?

I just have one deck - a Minor / Major Arcana my aunt gave me on my  20th birthday so have no reference for the buying aspect. But the deck is old & I'd rather tuck it away for safe keeping than use it.

I've heard of it, and while I don't think it's much of a difference I was gifted my first couple (I was younger, so didn't have much buying opportunity anyway).

I haven't seen anyone mention reasons in this thread yet, so I thought I'd share what I have heard (acknowledging that it could be complete BS and I can't recall who it came from).

What I've heard is that your first deck is meant to be gifted or stolen*, but that is, as a used deck. More than because luck of purchasing it or not, it was so that one's very first deck already had an energy to it, and was, I guess, 'activated.'

*logically, this makes the same sense as the gifting option, but rather than tradition may be an added detail based on the stereotype of Roma people as thieves/scammers (edit- because I am 99% sure I heard it as an old g**** tradition)

[Merlick]

I am just curious about that. A friend of mine maintains that if you buy your tarot card deck the power is severely diminished.

Anyone got more than one deck and was one gifted. Noticed any difference between that and bought?

I just have one deck - a Minor / Major Arcana my aunt gave me on my  20th birthday so have no reference for the buying aspect. But the deck is old & I'd rather tuck it away for safe keeping than use it.

 
To be honest, I've never actually heard of something like that before but it's an interesting concept.

Since I've bough all of my decks myself I can't really tell if there'd be a difference but I've had the chance to work with a few pretty odd ones including one that came as a gimmick with a comic book and one which was included in the collector's edition of some computer game.

Strangely enough, they were all pretty acurate, so I suppose the whole power thing has less to do with the cards but more with the person interpreting them. If I can't feel a connection between myself and the cards it's no use trying to read anything. If they're calling out to me, no matter if it's an old fashioned deck, a modern one, an artistic one or something else, then I can feel the power flowing.