Strange Fascinations

[jackofallgeeks]

A part of me feels like it needs to build a Dummy Account so that it can keep track of odd little fascinations like this without elicting side-ways looks from friends and family...

On a related note, does anyone out there know where I might find an aesthetically-pleasing tarot deck?

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Same vein, but more amusing than honestly interesting. Much like the first, it would be mostly useful as source-material for the modern-fantasy stories I'd like to write.

Comments

[dikaiosunh.livejournal.com]

Do friends and family really check up on your reading habits that closely?

Aesthetically, I've always liked my Arthurian Tarot (done by Anna-Marie Ferguson, who did, *ahem* a bunch of art for Magic: the Gathering, back in the day). Given your like of Lovecraft, though, I should mention that H.R. Giger did a partial tarot deck...

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

Actually, no, not really. And, generally, I wouldn't really care all that much -- I figure people who know me would mostly understand my peculiar fascinations. But, as I somewhat plan to use my Amazon Wishlist as a birthday list, I'm a little concerned that my Grandfather might look askance at "Post-Modern Magick", and he's the sort, for example, to ask questions I'd rather not deal with.

A deck by Giger would be cool, but only partial... I guess so long as he had a Three of Swords I might be happy with it, but odds are that 'partial' just means Major Arcana, ne? Where do you (personally) find tarot decks; my usual means of scouring the Internet have been less-than-fruitful.

[metis2be.livejournal.com]

Personally I think the sacred circle and spiral tarot are the prettiest cards. Too bad they're so expensive.

http://www.thepsychicstore.com/spiritual.html

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

Oh wow! I really like that Spiral deck. How much is £18?

[metis2be.livejournal.com]

Around $20.72 according to my cell phone.

[amazonmink.livejournal.com]

The Noble, Where else? ;)

[surichan.livejournal.com]

::seconds this::

Tarot decks.

[tiel.livejournal.com]

There is, for the record, a Lovecraftean tarot deck that has both major and minor arcana. The Geiger deck is major arcana only, and is usually really, really expensive, probably because it has silver gilted edges.

I work in a new age store every few weekends, so I get the benifit of seeing decks as they come in and people open them and in seeing all of the preview catalogs that we order from. If you can define aesthetically-pleasing, I can probably point you in a more clear direction.

Are you looking for traditional symbology? The Hanson-Roberts deck is very pretty with brighter colors, and follows the same general ideas outlined in Rider-Waite. The Art-Noveau deck is similarly pretty, and sticks with the traditional symbology. The Gilded Tarot is very new, and I haven't actually tried to read with it, but I know a lot of people who fell in love with it right away. If you're a fan of the older style art work, which I'm not, the the Medieval Sacpini deck is very nice. If you're looking for a different sort of twist, I'm a big fan of the Celtic Dragon tarot.

The Beholder's Eye

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

-laughs-
Yes, I suppose I should be more specific, as this would be a case of beauty and the beholder's eye, mmm?

most decks I've seen look similar to the Hanson-Roberts and Art-Noveau decks you linked (though I can't see much of the second). there's nothing inherently wrong with them, but that art style just doesn't appeal to me. (Though, I do like a number of These (http://users.rcn.com/rtapley/tarot.html), which do look similar.) A number of other decks look like the Medieval one you linked, which I'm really not a fan of.

I like the look of Jenny's Spiral Deck (http://www.thepsychicstore.com/spiral.jpg), and I also like the Gilded Tarot (for what I can see of it) and Celtic Dragon (as well as the similar Dragon Deck (http://www.wizdem.co.uk/swords.php) I found a while ago), artistically speaking.

I have no intention of trying to read with the deck; I'm fascinated by the symbology and superstition behind it all, so I may very well learn what it is people believe about the cards as much as I can, but... It also seems a peculiar thing that one deck might read better (or at least differently) than another. Still, it's the symbolism that I really like, so the traditional symbology is a must, generally speaking. The deck I currently have is the Mage: The Ascension one that White Wolf put out before, which holds true-enough to the symbology. It seems significantly more true to it than the Cthulhu deck, and for similar reasons concerning symbology I would nix both Dragon decks (though your Dragons seem more traditional than those others I found).

So, yeah -- that clear things up?