06/02/26
it's been interesting to observe just how differently i respond to each of the decks. spending a month with two at a time gives some variety and a lot of time to really get in there and figure out how we vibe with each other.
so far the best one was january's shadowplay. i hardly ever put it down, kept finding ways to use it. granted, january was also when i finished reading two tarot books but neither were particularly revolutionary (in fact one was a bit of a slog). i used the other january deck (the tarocchi '23) precisely once, when i actively thought "well, i should at least try and give this one a chance". it was a perfectly fine reading, but i wouldn't have picked the deck up without that external "rule" of "having to" use both. shadowplay wins.
in february i've seen a drastic decline in tarot interest. could be that's the stage i'm in, it can't be 200% tarot all the time. could be it's up to the deck selection. i'm working with the enchanted tarot (25th anniversary edition, trimmed and foiled for durability) and my majors only candyfloss arcana.
it very quickly became clear that i don't care for the diy deck. it's very nice to look at but i generally don't read with cutesy decks. and the fact it's not a full deck isn't helping. i'm coming up with things to try, but unlike with the shadowplay it's not things inspired by the deck, it's things that i'm hoping will unlock something, make the deck work, and it's just not going right. i have a fun french book that goes into a lot of detail about reading majors-only (for love and relationship readings) and at this point i'm more likely to just read the book than use it in tandem with the deck.
the enchanted tarot is doing a little better, but nowhere near as well as the shadowplay. i have my usual complaint of the images being too dang dark - it's difficult to make out details, the values are all off. but there is a certain dreaminess to the images. they're... idk "baśniowe". which is the polish word for "fairy tales" except the connotations are kind of... legend, mystery. deities in the woods or maybe the tales from 1001 nights. less "little pixies". so it does in a way feel transportative and properly magical. it's just that it lends the deck a bit of a theme or mood, which requires an extra layer of interpretation, which i'm not always up to.
(i've also been thinking about what counts as a "neutral" enough deck for me. like... i don't mind if it's modern photography - it's what we see in the world with our eyes, it's immediately relatable and neutral. i do not like illustrative/painted decks that represent modern life - that's too clashing. but also completely historical decks count as neutral - they're so far removed from regular life that i don't have to strip anything away when reading. idk it's a work in progress).
i'm putting away the candyfloss and taking shadowplay back out. maybe i need a little shelf where i can arrange the used decks in order of how much i liked them? so far my little cart is holding the decks in planned chronological order. i'll juggle things around to fit both.
to summarize, so far the ranking is:
1. shadowplay
2. enchanted
3. tarocchi '23
4. candyfloss