Unpacking my New Light Seer’s Tarot Deck

There are a lot of tarot unboxing videos on YouTube. Watching them offers an extremely helpful way to decide if a new tarot deck is a good fit or a hard pass.

One we have chosen, or been given, a new tarot deck, we get to do our own unboxing, either on or off cam.

What happens after the unboxing?

That’s the question I want to tackle in this post, using my experience with my new Light Seer’s Tarot as an example.

This will not be a deck review. I do love Light Seer’s Tarot enthusiastically. I will give it a proper review one of these days. In this post, though, I want to document my process of adding a new deck to my exclusive group of ‘workhorse tarot decks’.

I have an extensive tarot collection. It is my goal to expand it further. I want it to be so big that it becomes both a problem and an asset for my children after I am gone from this earth.

Yet, of that extensive collection, very few decks become workhorse decks. That is, decks I will use regularly for clients, and quickly wear out from heavy use.

The idea of wearing out my beautiful new Light Seer’s Tarot, a holiday gift from afore-mentioned children, feels a little horrific to me.  Yet, the lovely images and colors spark my imagination and intuition so much that I just can’t resist sharing the beauty and wisdom of these cards with clients.

I will typically, over many years, buy multiple copies of the same deck. I have worn out countless copies of Universal Waite, Hanson Roberts, Spiral Tarot, Robin Wood, Morgan Greer, and World Spirit.

One of the things that bugged me about the majority of those decks is, well, how white, skinny, young, and obviously heterosexual many of the deck characters in most of those decks are.

Long before the importance of representation was something we openly discussed I was painfully aware that the characters in my cards did not generally look like the people at my tarot table.

In the past few years, many tarot artists have been working to remedy this problem, with varying results. Even Light Seer’s Tarot caused a difficult community conversation about one particular card depiction. This taught us all that representation isn’t enough. We need to be conscious about how we represent people of cultures different from our own, and which cultural stories need to be told by which voices.

Chris-Anne, the author and artist of Light Seer’s Tarot, did a good job replacing the card in question and moving forward. Rather than stepping into outrage and pushback, she listened, learned, and allowed her beautiful deck to take its rightful place as one which will surely become a classic. Now, Light Seer’s Tarot is defined by what it has to offer us at the tarot table, rather than by any perceived misstep by its originator.

I have had this deck in my possession for about a month and a half. Over this time, it has remained constantly on my desk, where I do the majority of my client work. It is not the only deck that sits on this deck, but it is the deck I am reaching for more and more often.

Many, many decks end up on my desk. The vast majority are relegated to the collection, to be reviewed, to be used for exercises, and for comparative tarot study.

There is great value in that sort of deck use. The more decks I learn, know, and with which I perform some spreads and exercises, the more I know about tarot as a whole. It is interesting that some decks make the workhorse cut, yet the majority do not.

Virtually all tarot decks come with a guidebook. I appreciate a guidebook that tells us why the artist chose to depict a card the way they did. The thing is, I don’t refer to the guidebook at all when I am first getting acquainted with a deck.  After more than a quarter-century as a full-time tarot professional, I have a good working understanding of tarot archetypes, traditions, and associations. When I first look through a new deck, I am interested and excited to see how the artist chose to express those things. It is only when I don’t understand what the artist was trying to say that I consult the guidebook about a particular card.

With the Light Seer’s Tarot, the card that sent me to the book was the Page of Cups. The flying pig didn’t make sense to me. Even after seeing the artist’s explanation, I don’t love the way the artist depicted that particular card. That is okay, though. I have never loved every single card in any deck.

After first looking through a new deck, my next step is to do a full Celtic Cross for myself and see how it all feels.

I shuffle the deck a bunch and see how that feels.

This is my version of the ‘deck interview’. I don’t do a spread to get acquainted with my new deck, as some people do. I do a spread to see what I see about myself in the cards that appear. In doing this spread for myself I can quickly see if this is a deck I might want to work with professionally.

When I shuffle, I can feel how the deck responds to my hands, and to my energy.

What I am looking for in a deck is easy readability, easy spiritual connection and an enjoyable process. I am also looking for a certain otherness which is hard to explain. I know it when it is there, and when it is not.

If shuffling and a Celtic Cross goes well, I will keep the deck in arm’s reach at my work desk. At some point, when beginning a client reading, if I feel like reaching for the deck, I will.

There are some decks that sit on my desk untouched for a while, and eventually make it to the shelved collection.

In the case of the Light Seer’s Tarot, I reached for it quite a few times in the first few weeks. Then, I let it sit for a while, untouched. This process, of either reaching or not, is entirely instinctive and intuitive. I don’t think about it, I just do it.

In the past week or so, I have been finding that my fingers are itching to work with Light Seer’s, and my eyes are craving its colors. More and more, I have been choosing it for client readings. The readings have been successful, easy, fun, flowing, deep and healing. Those are all the things I want professional readings to be.

A few nights ago, some images from Light Seer’s Tarot crept into my dreams, giving me a deeper understanding and connection to those cards, and to the deck itself.

The cards I dreamt of were the Two of Pentacles, and the Lovers. The personal message I took from that was about finding balance in my life and my work.

When a deck starts speaking to me in my dreams, it is time to acknowledge that deck as a true working deck.

I have only incorporated two new decks into my professional toolbox in the past decade. One was Crystal Visions Tarot, the other was Tarot Grand Luxe.

Ten years later, I am adding the Light Seer’s Tarot to the toolbox. My process of unpacking the deck allowed me to feel that this deck will work with me in a way that will help me serve my clients well.

I am not a tarot animist. I do not believe that my cards are alive in any real way. Yet, this process of unpacking a new tarot deck has made me ponder tarot animism a bit more than I did before. Did I choose to work with this deck after a period of getting to know it?  Is it possible, rather, that I gave The Light Seer’s Tarot the opportunity to choose to work with me?

Let Me Justify Your Massive Tarot Collection

In many social media tarot groups, we joke about our ‘tarot addiction’ as we cheerfully order decks and show off pictures of our new decks as they arrive to our homes.

I don’t love the term ‘tarot addiction’, for a couple of reasons. First, psychic addiction is a real thing, and something that we professional readers need work to identify and discourage in our clients. Second, actual addiction to drugs and alcohol is grievous and life-destroying. Tarot deck collecting is joyful and healing.

Yet, sometimes we feel a bit guilty about the time and money we spend on our collections. Sometimes well-meaning loved ones might try to discourage us. I would argue that tarot-deck collecting can be relatively inexpensive, fun, meaningful, and healing.

So, here are nine reasons to justify loving and growing your tarot collection. You’re welcome!

Building Collections is a Popular Hobby

No one bats an eye at people who collect figurines, concert tee shirts or beer steins. We collected trading cards, collectible card games, Barbies, Bionics and Littlest Pet Shop sets as children; collecting tarot is simply the adult version of what brought us such joy when we were young.

Tarot Supports Artists

So often we bemoan the lack of support artists receive in our society. When you buy a new tarot deck you are very often supporting a living, breathing artist who needs and appreciates that support.

Tarot Supports Small Business

Even the larger tarot publishing houses are typically family-owned small businesses. When you buy a tarot deck, you are usually supporting a small business, or an independent entrepreneur.

Tarot Decks are Inspiring

Each tarot deck is a set of seventy-eight unique works of art. Most of us have in our collection many more decks that we actual use in readings. This is a reason that our loved ones might discourage us from buying decks, or that we might scold ourselves for buying decks we ‘never use’. Yet, there are many ways to use a tarot deck. Even if we rarely read with a particular deck, looking at its images may inform or inspire us.

Tarot Decks Help Us Become Better Tarot Readers

Tarot readers tend to divide into three categories. There are those who read with one deck and one deck only. There are those who read with multiple decks and allow each deck to speak with its own voice. Then there is the category into which I fall, where we allow each deck we know to inspire our readings, regardless of the deck we happen to be working with at the time.

Whichever category you fall into, the more decks you see, the more you will understand tarot, and the better your readings will be.

There are Multiple Tarot Traditions

Tarot breaks into three primary traditions, and several sub-traditions. While we may prefer to read decks that honor a particular tradition, collecting decks that represent all the traditions of tarot can help us understand tarot history, and tarot as a whole.

There are Other Cartomancy Decks

Why stop at tarot? There are oracle decks, Lenormand decks and Kipper decks. For those of us who love cartomancy, art, and mysticism, there is no end to the inspiration we can find as we enjoy the images and discover their meanings.

We are Always in Search of the Quintessential Deck

While it is fair to say that most of the decks we collect will not become a favorite reading deck, once in a while a new acquisition will earn that rare position in our hearts. We are always in search of that special deck, just as we may have searched for the rare Pokémon card as kids. Are we disappointed when a new deck doesn’t grab us the way we had hoped? Sure, a little. But that is part of the fun of collection-building, isn’t it?

Tarot Decks are Tradable and Sellable

If we end up with a deck we really don’t care to have as part of our collection, we can easily trade or sell it. When we do that, we might make another tarot enthusiast very happy, and we might make a new friend!

Twenty-First Century Tarot

Joe Mabel GFDL or CC-BY-SA-3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

PREVIOUS BLOG | MASTER LIST | NEXT BLOG

 Welcome to the Spring Fling Tarot Blog Hop 2015, wrangled by Ania M. She’s given us a theme that is near and dear to my heart. Here’s our assignment.

The standard Tarot deck is over 500 years old and the cards are very much a product of that time, particularly the Major Arcana and Courts. So I am asking you to consider which cards you think need to be updated, removed or added to reflect our modern society?

Are there any glaring omissions? What is redundant? Which card has you scratching your head wondering where it fits in today? Or do you think that archetypes are so universal that there is still a relevant place for all, be they Hermits, Pages, Knights or Emperors?

You can focus on a single card or overhaul the lot if you wish. You can be academic and serious or utterly frivolous, rename the cards in modern context or create a completely new one or several, the choice is yours.

Some of my fellow tarot bloggers know that I ponder this topic often. I’m interested in the way tarot reflects culture, both artistically and mystically.

Classic tarot reflects the values of its time and place of origin in its images, and its interpretations. Tarot is, by birthright, sexist, classist and racist. We find evidence of this sad fact in the very structure of the hierarchal court, and in more subtle and disturbing ways throughout the deck.

 I’ve always felt that the more negative interpretations for the Moon and the Queen of Swords were born of the misogyny of the medieval era. Who wanted a smart woman who spoke the truth, like the Queen of Swords? It would be simpler to see her as a bitch, rather than as the wise woman the Queen of Air should be.

The moon has always been the symbol of feminine spirituality and women’s mysteries. No wonder the tarot Moon traditionally carries a warning of treachery and evil magick afoot.

In the past fifty years, tarot artists and authors have made many attempts to make tarot more politically correct for our present times. The early feminist decks, like Motherpeace and Daughters of the Moon, paved the way for more gentle decks that depict people of all races sharing power, like World Spirit Tarot and Gaian Tarot.

Many modern tarot authors have offered newer interpretations of the cards in ways that help us see the wisdom of tarot through a more modern, inclusive lens.

Other modern tarot decks, like Chrysalis Tarot, have tried to transform some of the cards whose energies feel particular problematic, such as the Hierophant. Still other decks have tried to transform tarot itself, creating new tarot-like decks that use the structure of the tarot to express concepts like sacred geometry, as in Tarot of Transformation. Some deck creators erroneously suggest that they are actually returning tarot to its “original form” by adding to its structure.

I have two problems with some of the modern decks that change tarot substantially from its earlier form. First, while tarot images and interpretations may change, I believe the tarot archetypes are firm. A Hierophant is a Hierophant, whether you want to call him a High Priest or a Shaman doesn’t really matter, he still needs to carry the specific complex nature of the Hierophant as originally defined by his inspiration, the Roman Catholic Pope. Many of these types of modern decks morph tarot archetypes into something else, sometimes even saying they are creating “new archetypes.” That sounds like an oxymoron to me.

My second problem is operational. As lovely of the images of some of these modern tarot-oracle hybrids are, they aren’t fixed solidly enough in their archetypes for me to get a good reading out of them without learning a whole new system. I don’t mind learning a new system if it has real value. However, to me, many of these decks feel like watered-down tarot sprinkled excessively with unicorn dust.

Whether we look at tarot as a series of images, archetypes or interpretations, it’s important to understand that while tarot is truly a product of its time and place in history, tarot evolves to reflect the current culture of the times in many important ways. That this miracle happens is evidence to me of tarot’s special mystical abilities.

Tarot evolves with each new deck and book. The Nine of Pentacles shows an interesting example of how this happens.

Many of us learned key words for the Nine of Pentacles such as "security" and "inheritance". Some of the new research regarding the Waite-Smith Tarot may shed new information about our historical understanding of this card. However, I learned that the woman in the Nine of Pentacles is of nobility. She is under her father’s protection, and therefore at leisure to be alone and unmolested.

Modern interpretations of this card don’t often discuss the antiquated concept of a woman’s security based on her father’s money and social standing. Often, we now see the Nine of Pentacles described as “confidence”, “being security in oneself” or the state of being “comfortably alone”. While the earlier Nine of Pentacles was secure because of her father’s protection, the woman in the modern Nine of Pentacles doesn’t need a man to provide her security; she is secure in herself.

No one person decided to make this change. What happened, as I see it, is this. As the culture changed, the way we see the card changed with it. The archetype of the Nine of Pentacles remains intact as the “woman securely alone.” Her backstory changes to accommodate the new paradigms of social norms in our culture. Modern tarot authors reflected the changes they saw in their own interpretations.

Another great example of the way individual cards retain their archetypes and yet morph over time is the Chariot.  While automobiles did not control the society of Italy 500 years ago as they do now, the vehicle card, the Chariot, has always had a primary role on the Fool’s Journey. How convenient for us in the automotive age, who need this card to help us keep track of all the many joys and traumas that our cars cause us!

I’ve also seen tarot morph in local culture. I was a reader in Putnam, Connecticut, as the huge casinos, Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun, were being built. Once they opened, the Wheel of Fortune began appearing in readings more than it ever had before. Now we had a casino, we had casino employees and gambling addicts. The Wheel of Fortune would appear to indicate both those conditions, where there had been no need for it before.

Rana George speaks of this phenomenon in her book, “The Essential Lenormand.” She poignantly shares that the Coffin card does not so often predict actual physical death now that she reads and resides in the United States, as it did when she resided in war-torn Lebanon.

My perspective on five hundred years of tarot is this. Tarot will always reflect its current culture in its art and interpretation. Although this happens, the archetypes of tarot remain largely unchanged. To me, the archetypes are timeless and perfect.

Our relationships to the archetypes change over time. Our understanding of the archetypes changes over time. The archetypes themselves don’t change, and never need to. The archetypes are universal and sacred. The tarot archetypes naturally adapt to the culture and circumstances of the reader to give us the divinatory symbols and language we need in any century.

Who knows? Maybe centuries from now the Chariot will typically appear to discuss our frequent interplanetary travel.

PREVIOUS BLOG | MASTER LIST | NEXT BLOG                                                                                        

How Sacred are Tarot Archetypes?

A question comes up often amongst tarotists about what denotes a tarot deck. Tarot author Diane Wilkes has created a helpful term to describe card oracles whose structure is tarot-based, but whose adherence to the traditional archetypes is too loose to be tarot. She calls them “taroracles.”

There are many opinions, and many arguments, about whether there is a “one true tarot,” and, if so, which tarot tradition that might be. When we look at the three primary tarot traditions, Crowley-Harris-Thoth, Rider-Waite-Smith and Tarot de Marseilles, we see that, although the differences between these decks are vast, the basic concept of each archetype remains fairly consistent.

In contrast, many modern deck artists and authors rename the Major Arcana cards. The Devil becomes “Chains” or “Materialism.” Judgment becomes “Rebirth.”  Death becomes “Transition,” or “Release.” The Tower becomes “Life Experience.” The Hierophant becomes “Faith.”

Some deck creators may have a desire to replace words that are not in our daily vocabulary, like “Hierophant,” with words that are. To me, this seems like an unnecessary “dumbing down” of tarot. It should not be a stretch for a budding tarotist to have to learn a few new words.

Some deck creators are “softening” the darker images. They may want to appeal to tarot readers and clients who would prefer not to see dark and dire images, or have to confront words like “death.”

There are two questions we need to ask.

Does the dumbing down or cheering up of tarot make tarot less effective? 

Does the re-imagining of tarot archetypes make a deck any less a tarot deck?

I think the answers to both of these questions are entirely subjective. Different tarotists will have different opinions. Perhaps acquiring enough tarot knowledge to formulate an opinion is what qualifies us to claim a title like “tarot expert.”

I find value in the darker cards, and in the traditional titles. I wince a little when I see a tarot deck that seems watered-down, or that clearly does not adhere to traditional archetypes.

However, I do not think that such decks harm the body of tarot overall. I worry that new readers may get a skewed understanding of tarot if they begin with a non-traditional deck. On the other hand, I think non-traditional decks bring some people to tarot who would not have otherwise been open to the cards.

In the end, I think every tarot deck, even those I don’t personally enjoy, brings value to the body of tarot knowledge, and to our community.  The tarot archetypes are indeed sacred. However, no true damage is done when an artist chooses to express them in an unusual way. There will always be enough traditionalists in the world to preserve the historic and original integrity of tarot.

That some people are inspired to create a next generation of tarot art is testament to tarot’s ability to be a constant and fresh source of creative and spiritual inspiration. There are decks I don’t like. There are decks of which I do not approve. However, there is no deck that could be created that would not, in some way, add value to the world of tarot for someone.

My Favorite Tarot Decks

People often ask me about my favorite tarot decks. The truth is, if it is a tarot deck I am likely to love it, no matter what. I love tarot unconditionally.

But, if you ask me which are my favorite reading decks, that’s a different story. The list of decks I like to use for professional reading is actually quite short.

Want to see them? Here they are.

The Rider Waite Smith
There are actually numerous versions of the Waite deck that are acceptable to me, including the Universal Waite, the Original Rider Waite and the Pamela Colman Smith Commemorative edition. Try them all.

Hanson-Roberts
I have a friend who calls this the “Campbell’s Soup Kids Tarot” because the people are sort of roly-poly and cheerful. Still, it’s a lovely and useful tarot deck.

Morgan-Greer
This is like the Rider Waite Smith, but a bit cooler and sexier.

Spiral Tarot
Mystical, mythical and magickal, while still absolutely readable.

Robin Wood Tarot
If you are a Pagan who works with the Rider Waite Smith, try this instead.

Crystal Visions Tarot
This is the new kid on the block for me. Crystal Visions is a modern fantasy deck that is absolutely understandable and loveable.

Gilded Tarot
Ciro Marchetti is one of the greatest tarot artists of all time. His Gilded Royale is amazing, but the original Gilded is pretty great, too.

There are plenty of other decks that I have and will read with professionally from time to time. But, so far, these are the decks I depend on without question and without fail.