Changing the Tarot cards?

[I, Brian]

I remember years ago, when I was much more into using Tarot, that I felt like not simply creating a new deck, but adding and subtracting from the deck. I'm not quite sure what my plans and arguments were then - I never got around to ever creating my custom pack.

However, I would like to raise the question - in it's own thread - as to whether there has been any historical tendency to alter and shape the Tarot Deck in specific ways, and whether there are variations that change the actual cards present to create a different set of symbols and symbology to work with?

[brucegdc]

I don't know how historical it is, but walk into any "woo-woo" (as my friend Bill calls them) shop, and you'll see a massive variety of changed Tarot decks. My favorite deck, actually, is one that is slightly modified - the Shapeshifter deck, which added IIRC, 4 new major arcana, moves the goddess/queen to the top of the order, and added some symbolism to all cards (not to mention removing the meaning of "reversed", since the authors (and I think rightly) argue there is enough variation within the deck as it is to cover all territory needed. Looking at the symbolism of various decks, you can also see how the portrayals differ, sometimes significantly. There's a deck out there which is called the comparative tarot, IIRC - each card has 4 miniature cards from 4 different decks on it, which offer a variety of interpretations.

I find I will work differently with different decks, keying off the symbolism within the deck - one of the reasons I like the shapeshifter is the detail on the pictures and keywords, which gives a rich symbolism, and sometimes I see symbolism on a card that doesn't match the description, but is more appropriate for the situation.

As someone else said in another thread, reading tarot is in a lot of ways using it as a key to yourself - the cards of themselves are meaningless - it's what the symbolism means to me.

[Sacredstar]

Dear Brian

Oh so many and too many to mention, but two that ring in my ears are the

the Osho Zen and the Inner Child cards.

Intuitive cards - the new Crystal Ally are really 5th dimensional....

Love beyond measure

Sacredstar

[I, Brian]

Thanks for the comments - much appreciated.