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Tarot cards are really amazing at figuring out who's a sucker.

S

SillyEskimo

Member
I think Tarot and all the myriad of other pseudo-science and occult stuff is both fascinating and fun. We have an occult library at my house with around 30 tarot decks alone. The book collection covers everything from myths and legends to the occult and pseudo-sciences from all over the world. That's also where we keep our bible, book of mormon, quran, and various other religious books. Lots of books on witchcraft, lycanthropy, vampires, ghosts, demons, ect. You name it, we have at least 2-3 books on the subject.
 
cj_iwakura

cj_iwakura

Member
Prax said:
I love tarot cards! And occulty stuff in general. So cool.

It's hard to find a GOOD deck with illustrated pip cards that also is infused with "correct" or at least some kind of effortful esoteric symbolism. Wish I didn't have to settle for Rider-Waite or Thoth.. Both of which can bit kinda ugly (Thoth is pretty cool looking actually, but not my style).

Anyway, I think tarot readings can be really fun. It's kind of like astrology for me where it puts you into a meditative state so you search for patterns in your life and pluck them out. Like others have mentioned, a kind of spiritual Rosarch test.

I haven't done any readings in a long while. I used to do them for myself and write them down. I wonder if any had "come true" by now. lol
Click to expand...
I have the Mage The Awakening deck, its gorgeous.
 
IISANDERII

IISANDERII

Member
JettDash said:
at figuring out who's a sucker.

Like it is insane to me that people actually believe that it is possible to divine anything from some stupid cards. I have a very hard time understanding how they can get their brains to believe it.

People who make money doing tarot card readings used to completely infuriate me. I mean the whole thing is a fraud and yet at the same time perfectly legal.

Then it hit me, I wasn't mad at them for scamming people, I was mad at myself for not being in on it. Somebody is probably going to take those idiots' money so it may as well be me.

I've ordered a few books on cold reading and some tarot cards to teach myself., hopefully it won't take too long.






Well, I'm not going to do I become a "psychic" though I kinda want to . Pesky conscience.
Click to expand...
Been there, done that. Coming up with a good backstory helps tremendously, like the cards were enchanted by Shaman Uguske and subsequently predicted my wife would leave me after she discovered I impregnated a college student.
 
Chittagong

Chittagong

Gold Member
Chichikov said:
Yeah, I'm going to need you to stop with the clickbait thread titles.
Click to expand...

bill-lumbergh-gary-cole-office-space.jpg
 
1

120v

Member
tarot actually has some interesting precepts behind it, specifically how it pares with kabbalah, if you're not averse to some armchair occultist reading

kind of a shame it's relegated to carnie stand fodder but whatever
 
K

Kwixotik

Member
SillyEskimo said:
I think Tarot and all the myriad of other pseudo-science and occult stuff is both fascinating and fun. We have an occult library at my house with around 30 tarot decks alone. The book collection covers everything from myths and legends to the occult and pseudo-sciences from all over the world. That's also where we keep our bible, book of mormon, quran, and various other religious books. Lots of books on witchcraft, lycanthropy, vampires, ghosts, demons, ect. You name it, we have at least 2-3 books on the subject.
Click to expand...
Would you mind posting a few favorites from your collection? Tarot decks and books both
 
TheRedSnifit

TheRedSnifit

Member
balladofwindfishes said:
The cards are pretty cool looking, though

Aren't there "normal" games you can play with a tarot deck?
Click to expand...

Tarot cards were originally gaming cards, and were developed alongside "normal" 52-card decks. I dunno why it got hijacked by occultism, I guess because it had a lot of face cards.

You need a full 78-card deck to actually play Tarot, and most "modern" decks only come with the 22 major arcana cards (especially in the US). So if you order some fancy artistic deck off the Internet you may not actually be able to play with them.
 
S

SillyEskimo

Member
Kwixotik said:
Would you mind posting a few favorites from your collection? Tarot decks and books both
Click to expand...

That's like asking me to pick a favorite child! Seriously, I have LOTS of favorites, but here is a very small, hand picked selection.

1Zqq31l.jpg

aC5QdzU.jpg

uwppe95.jpg
Click to expand...

Top Pic:

Justice League Tarot is just plain fun. Artwork is pretty cool too.

Book of Runes came with the bag of runes. It's easy to draw a rune and look up its meaning in the book. Fun at parties or for a really quick reading.

Darkside Zodiac is one of our absolute favorites. Ever notice how everything is usually so nice and simple when it comes to tarot? Well, this is all the shitty stuff. It's all very bad and a lot of fun. Very colorful and entertaining to play around with. There are several in this series, including Darkside Zodiac of love and one that is work related, lol.

Deamon Tarot deck is very dark indeed. Just a freaky feel to the whole deck, which is always fun!

The Myths&Legends book is full color with beautiful artwork from front to back. Covers pretty much everything out there in terms of monsters, myths and legends from all over the world. It's a good cliffs notes book on all that stuff. My kids love it, which leads me to my next 3...

Monster, Zombies, Vampires and More is a must own for people with kids. It has amazing art and explains each monster in detail, discussing how they came to be created as well s what "real life" happenings helped inspire them. It's a really, really fun book. This is another one my kids love.

D'Aulaire's books on Greek & Norse mythology are what inspired me as a child to have an open mind. Truth be told, these books planted the seeds of doubt in organized religion because whenever we talked about stories from the bible, all I could see was the parallels between these 2 books. It is filled with original art that bring the stories to life. This book breaks down the stories and characters in the myths in a more detailed, yet simpler to understand ways. I was reading these at around age 8.

I included a real crystal ball and one of our favorite Lego minifigs, the tarot card reader.

The next 2 pics are of collections. I highly, highly rate both of these.

First is The ______ Bible Collection. This covers pretty much every pseudo science you can think of, each in exhausting detail. The books are beautiful with full color pictures and artwork from front to back. We have the whole collection (not all are pictured here). They also look very pretty on a shelf!

Last up is the Element Encyclopedia series. We also own this entire series, but it is a mix between Hardcover and softcover. Much like the "Bible" series, each book is a deep dive into a specific subject. While not being as colorful and amazing in presentation as the Bible series, it is still a great collection to own with its strength being in it's detailing of every subject and ease of use. I believe this series has been discontinued.

I would take a pic of my wife's nightstand if it wasn't so cluttered with her other stuff right now. It had a little shrine with buddas, prayer beads, chinese bells... you name it. It's really cool to see it all together the way she has it.
 
K

KojiKnight

Member
No joke... I learned to do basic readings for fun, went to my work and told every single person there i did NOT believe in the cards. I'd start by doing a real session then half way through of just make stuff up based on their reactions or personal knowledge (say, i know Sam is having relationship troubles, and suddenly i say the cards show "you're having tough times in a personal relationship. A close friend or lover.") Watching their faces, and then having them ask serious questions like "is he cheating?" And hanging on my every word kind of scared me. I think one girl even broke up with her fiance as that was the last straw.

You can tell people to their face you're playing them and they still believe you half the time.
 
O

Occam

Member
KojiKnight said:
No joke... I learned to do basic readings for fun, went to my work and told every single person there i did NOT believe in the cards. I'd start by doing a real session then half way through of just make stuff up based on their reactions or personal knowledge (say, i know Sam is having relationship troubles, and suddenly i say the cards show "you're having tough times in a personal relationship. A close friend or lover.") Watching their faces, and then having them ask serious questions like "is he cheating?" And hanging on my every word kind of scared me. I think one girl even broke up with her fiance as that was the last straw.

You can tell people to their face you're playing them and they still believe you half the time.
Click to expand...


Works with 49% of the US population.
 
A

AlexFlame116

Member
Only tarot cards I've seen are the ones in The Princess and the Frog as well as the Persona series.

Only physical cards I own are the ones that came with Persona Q and Persona 4 Arena Ultimax.

Other than that I stay faaaaarrrr away from them. Something feels off about them.
 
M

Media

Member
I read tarot cards, and yes, it's all about cold reading. I've never charged for it. I usually use them as a chance to have deep personal discussions with friends. It allows me to say things that they might need to think about more without offending them.


BTW the Vertigo Tarot is the best deck ever.
 
T

The Kree

Banned
The good psychics always tell people they see them going to school or something like that. If you're gonna give someone a prophecy to fulfill at least make it a productive one.
 
Amibguous Cad

Amibguous Cad

Member
Like most diviniation, Tarot is just a more interesting Rorschach test. what you see is a reflection of you, not outside reality, but it's still interesting to see where your brain immediately jumps to.

You ever flipped a coin trying to figure out what decision you should make, and while in the air, you knew which decision you were hoping would win? Tarot's kind of like that.
 
T

Tomita

Member
SillyEskimo said:
Snip
Click to expand...

Really appreciate you posting this! If you can think of any other great books, let us know.

Unfortunately I don't have the funds to start a tarot collection, but I'd like to have a small one. I find a good deck to be absolutely beautiful. When I was younger I got gifted a "cat" deck, which basically has this made up mythology of some ancient civilization that kinda worshiped cats (like Egypt), and you get the feeling that every single card (all 70-whatever) have a backstory to them. That's what I love about tarot: you kind of get "lost" in the cards, with your imagination spinning with ideas.

Absolutely don't believe they have actual power or anything, don't get me wrong. But, like people said previously, using tarot can be a cool way to work through a problem. You aren't using divination to summon some godly wisdom; you're instead mentally working through the problem as you go through the cards. It's like when you have a dilemma in your life, but then after having some wacko dream some solution to the problem hits you. It also helps you talk through a problem with someone. You can look at the situation in a different light that helps you see another type of solution.

Not that I've had much opportunity to play much tarot, unfortunately. But I'd like to again. It's fun to play pretend for a while and let the imagination run wild. It's like how I watched too much X-Files as a kid and thought aliens were literally going to land and kill us or something...and now I realize that's completely bonkers, but sometimes I still like to read creepy alien stories and, like, pretend to get spooked out or whatever.
 
Prax

Prax

Member
cj_iwakura said:
I have the Mage The Awakening deck, its gorgeous.
Click to expand...

Not.. pretty enough...!

I thought the art for the Art Nouveau tarot was very pretty so I bought it (cuz who doesn't love Mucha-esque stylings):
0b9c9b91e8f6301587c7f572a7de111a.jpg


But overall the images are probably fairly shallow. haha Also what up with that "devil" image? :T lol

SillyEskimo said:
That's like asking me to pick a favorite child! Seriously, I have LOTS of favorites, but here is a very small, hand picked selection.

Top Pic:

Justice League Tarot is just plain fun. Artwork is pretty cool too.

Book of Runes came with the bag of runes. It's easy to draw a rune and look up its meaning in the book. Fun at parties or for a really quick reading.

Darkside Zodiac is one of our absolute favorites. Ever notice how everything is usually so nice and simple when it comes to tarot? Well, this is all the shitty stuff. It's all very bad and a lot of fun. Very colorful and entertaining to play around with. There are several in this series, including Darkside Zodiac of love and one that is work related, lol.

Deamon Tarot deck is very dark indeed. Just a freaky feel to the whole deck, which is always fun!

The Myths&Legends book is full color with beautiful artwork from front to back. Covers pretty much everything out there in terms of monsters, myths and legends from all over the world. It's a good cliffs notes book on all that stuff. My kids love it, which leads me to my next 3...

Monster, Zombies, Vampires and More is a must own for people with kids. It has amazing art and explains each monster in detail, discussing how they came to be created as well s what "real life" happenings helped inspire them. It's a really, really fun book. This is another one my kids love.

D'Aulaire's books on Greek & Norse mythology are what inspired me as a child to have an open mind. Truth be told, these books planted the seeds of doubt in organized religion because whenever we talked about stories from the bible, all I could see was the parallels between these 2 books. It is filled with original art that bring the stories to life. This book breaks down the stories and characters in the myths in a more detailed, yet simpler to understand ways. I was reading these at around age 8.

I included a real crystal ball and one of our favorite Lego minifigs, the tarot card reader.

The next 2 pics are of collections. I highly, highly rate both of these.

First is The ______ Bible Collection. This covers pretty much every pseudo science you can think of, each in exhausting detail. The books are beautiful with full color pictures and artwork from front to back. We have the whole collection (not all are pictured here). They also look very pretty on a shelf!

Last up is the Element Encyclopedia series. We also own this entire series, but it is a mix between Hardcover and softcover. Much like the "Bible" series, each book is a deep dive into a specific subject. While not being as colorful and amazing in presentation as the Bible series, it is still a great collection to own with its strength being in it's detailing of every subject and ease of use. I believe this series has been discontinued.

I would take a pic of my wife's nightstand if it wasn't so cluttered with her other stuff right now. It had a little shrine with buddas, prayer beads, chinese bells... you name it. It's really cool to see it all together the way she has it.
Click to expand...

I love this whole post and I wanna own these books now.

This it my limited collection:
img_20170724_1725125_by_meibatsu-dbhj50f.jpg
img_20170724_1725019_by_meibatsu-dbhj4zc.jpg
Click to expand...

The Western and Eastern Mysteries ones are just.. a lot of info.. correspondence tables and the like. But that is the sort of stuff I am into anyway.
 
N

norm9

Member
Read a book recently about tarot reading. Seems like a fun, social thing to do, but I wouldn't hold it as gospel.
 
A

Aske

Member
Guys, you're probably not aware of this, but actually, the Death card doesn't mean you're going to die; it actually signifies change actually
 
G

g11

Member
About as laughable as the people that believe astrological signs mean a goddamn thing. Like how are you going to think everybody born in any given ~29 day period all share the same traits and fates?

yutRrqm.gif
 
T

Therin

Member
Yeah, I had a friend in college who believed in that stuff & one time we were on a trip to Salem MA, she paid $20 for a reading. I got to sit in & observe. The reader literally made shit up for the whole time. Nothing even remotely applied. I was so mad lol.

On the other hand, as a fan of occult paraphernalia, I enjoy the lore of tarot cards & always love it when they feature in videogames & such. I bought the Tactics Ogre remake collectors edition just because it came with a Akihiko Yoshida illustrated tarot deck.
 
Theonik

Theonik

Member
Aske said:
Guys, you're probably not aware of this, but actually, the Death card doesn't mean you're going to die; it actually signifies change actually
Click to expand...
If you're trying to ruin Monkey Island 3 that's part of that particular gag so THERE.
 
H

Hoo-doo

Banned
This thread actually got me interested in buying a deck of tarot cards and learning how to do a basic reading. Mostly because of the rad designs of the cards. Note that I do not believe in any higher powers or any of that.
And frankly, like horoscopes and similar nonsense, I think it's kinda fun to speculate and think about one's life when represented by a bunch of randomly drawn cards. Like a good conversation starter, opening up avenues of personal reflection.

The assumption that anyone that owns tarot cards is a weirdo that believes in earth magics and higher powers is pretty foolish in itself.
 
M

Media

Member
Hoo-doo said:
This thread actually got me interested in buying a deck of tarot cards and learning how to do a basic reading. Mostly because of the rad designs of the cards. Note that I do not believe in any higher powers or any of that.
And frankly, like horoscopes and similar nonsense, I think it's kinda fun to speculate and think about one's life when represented by a bunch of randomly drawn cards. Like a good conversation starter, opening up avenues of personal reflection.

The assumption that anyone that owns tarot cards is a weirdo that believes in earth magics and higher powers is pretty foolish in itself.
Click to expand...

Like I said before, I've been reading tarot for most of my life. Also don't believe it's anything magical, but it IS a great way to help friends open up about shit that's bothering them. I have tarot sessions with my friends for either come to Jesus moments or deep personal problems that talking out might give them perspective. I have to tell them they are fucking up, out come the cards, and I don't get blamed because it was the cards that said it, not me lol
 
A

Attack You

Member
Media said:
Like I said before, I've been reading tarot for most of my life. Also don't believe it's anything magical, but it IS a great way to help friends open up about shit that's bothering them. I have tarot sessions with my friends for either come to Jesus moments or deep personal problems that talking out might give them perspective. I have to tell them they are fucking up, out come the cards, and I don't get blamed because it was the cards that said it, not me lol
Click to expand...
WokvzLE.jpg

But, yeah, that's pretty much how I think they should be used, too. I'd get more readings done if I wasn't so full of myself most of the time. Better than full length mirrors.
 
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