Talk:Tarot cards

Argh! I was going to upload an image from the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, published in 1909, which should be in the public domain. Well, according to [1] it is in the public domain in the US, but is still under copyright in the EU and UK. Not wanting to step on any toes, I decided not to upload it. If MiSuBa thinks it's OK, I can still upload it, since as far as I can tell this site is hosted in the US and mostly used by folks in the US, but I don't know exactly how that would affect UK readers (how do they determine who violated copyright in cases like this?). Why is it that copyright is becoming eternal? — Lambda 22:06, 6 May 2005 (GMT)

Although readers in the EU and UK might not legally be allowed to download and reproduce those tarot cards, if your cards are in the public domain in the US, you can host your card images on a site in the US. If somebody in the EU or UK wants to mirror this site, they may need to be careful what they import, that's all. I say upload. -- Rootbeer 15:07, 7 May 2005 (GMT)

Favorite Tarots

Just thought I'd ask around and see what other Icehousers' preferred Tarot decks are. Do you use different decks for Zarcana and Gnostica? Or just one for both?

In my case, I use the Universal Waite Tarot, which is the same deck as the traditional Rider-Waite Tarot, except that it has been re-colored. I find it's a lot more visually interesting than the Rider-Waite, but still has the same general look and feel (which I grew quite used to when learning to play Gnostica with a Rider-Waite deck). How about the rest of you? -- Jeremiah 02:28, 7 May 2005 (GMT)

Hey, can anyone with access to a tarot deck and a camera show us what any of these tarot decks look like by uploading a photo of a deck being used in a game? Or a few cards arranged to show some interesting fronts and backs. Even if the deck itself is copyrighted, a photo like that should qualify as "fair use" or something similar (but I am not a lawyer). Thanks! -- Rootbeer 04:47, 7 May 2005 (GMT)

You can see samples of tons of tarot decks at the Aeclectic Tarot page. My favorite is the Aleister Crowley Thoth Tarot deck, which also happens to be the top rated deck on that site right now. It's so nice looking that I really felt bad about putting a set of Gnostica stickers on it. It has a few differences from the Rider-Waite deck that Gnostica was designed for, but they're easy enough to deal with. I've never played Zarcana, so I can't say if I would have any different preference with that deck. I do like the Aquarian Tarot deck the Looneys recommend for Zarcana. And I have to agree that the Universal Waite deck is much better colored than the original Rider-Waite-Smith, which I think had some awful coloring. — Lambda 07:43, 7 May 2005 (GMT)

I don't have stickers on my Tarot. I didn't want to sully the cards in any way, so I just do without them. That said, I've not found it to be a problem with Gnostica. There's only the occaisional time I don't remember what a particular Major Arcana does, and in that case I just look it up. A close friend of mine has two decks - an old Rider-Waite with stickers which he uses for teaching Gnostica to others, and another deck (can't recall which one) without stickers that he uses to play when everyone is familiar with the game. — Jeremiah 14:51, 7 May 2005 (GMT)

Yeah, the problem is that the Thoth tarot is just different enough from RWS that it's helpful to have the stickers. Also, while the Thoth cards are beautiful, it can sometimes be hard to tell the suit of the pip cards, so the stickers are helpful. And I have few enough friends who play Gnostica that just about every game I play I'm teaching someone. — Lambda 19:18, 7 May 2005 (GMT)

I agree. No stickers, no problem. But while I'm certainly a fan of the Crowley-Harris Thoth deck, I wouldn't use it for Gnostica anyhow. For that I like the Fergus Hall deck: originally The James Bond 007 Tarot and still available as The Tarot of the Witches. Take a look and see if it isn't ideal for Gnostica. --Carthoris 21:22, 3 January 2012 (UTC)

One fun thing to do is get one of the round Tarot decks and try playing Zarcana or Gnostica on a hex grid instead of a rectangular grid. We did this once a long time ago. It's very difficult to hold onto territory because you can be attacked from so many different directions. --Eeyore 17:33, 9 May 2005 (GMT)