Do you have that too? That one deck that looked so cute and promising online, and you loved the art and the concept and everything but then, when the deck finally got to you, you just ... couldn't connect with it at all?
Shopping for decks online (which is the only place I shop for decks because I don't live near a local seller) always feels a bit like online dating. While the profile looks neat when you first spot it, and you seem to get along sooo well in your fantasy, reality and the first blind date just don't come close.
I had a number of those disappointments, because with decks (unlike people), I fall in love quickly and don't pause to second-guess my adoration.
Real life example:
The Magic and Manifestation Affirmation Cards by Christina Re and Stella Woods. Looks great, right? The box is to-die-for. It's gorgeous. It's thick. It's GILDED. The illustrations are beautiful. I loved them online, and I still love them.
The edges are gilded too (lovely and glossy!), and the fronts of the cards also have gilding! It's a beautifully produced deck.
However, when I got this 33-card deck into my hands and shuffled through them, even though I liked the pictures, it all felt disjointed and awkward to me. I did try some 3 and 5-card spreads, but the meanings of the cards (a bunch of colorful dots - "Creativity") were too simplistic. Each card seemed to represent only the one idea that was written upon it. There was no nuance, no ambivalence, no room for interpretation. I just couldn't really connect.
At the same time, the cards still held their whimsy beauty. It really irritated me that I couldn't use this deck the way I would have a normal Oracle deck. And the fact that I once again threw out money on a futile project also grated on me. I considered gifting the deck to someone else or selling it, but felt it was too soon. While the deck appeared shallow to me, I also remembered the pains I took to procure it (it was sold out on etsy at the time and I had to go through the seller and everything!).
The other day, when I was once again lamenting all the decks I was wrong about, I whipped out the magic and manifestation cards again, shuffled through the cards and reconsidered. How could I best put these cards to use?
Since I have been immersing myself into Lenormand in the last few weeks and I had been doing Grand Tableaus nearly every day, it occured to me, quite suddenly, that I could just spread out all the cards in one Tableau and do what I call a "soul-screenshot". The Magic and Manifestation cards don't lend themselves to readings about others, or even love or health. Rather, they reflect your own inner wishes and desires and your very self. While this led to confused 3 card readings, this is useful in a Tableau.
The soul-screenshot I did with my deck (all 33 cards!)
The simplistic nature of the images and meanings lend themselves beautifully to Lenormand-style readings. Instead of viewing the cards on their own, I now face an entire constellation of all the cards, where the unique parts (like Creativity, which ended up cozying up to Grace) don't stand on their own but rather are interpreted together in combination or by placement (being near or far from a certain other card).
This method of laying out the Magic & Manifestation Cards is still on beta-trial with me. I haven't decided whether reversals are fine or not (I think they are, because it gives the Tableau more depth) and whether this is even a useful way to lay the spread. Since there is no significator card, I just read whatever comes to mind first, but possibly disregard some vital information because all the cards could relay to me. That being said, I do believe that this method is better and more useful when it comes to the M&M deck and I will be trying it out a few more times to see if I can gain some major insights.
Blessings and balance ~
Peachess
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