#Kalira's cartomancy decks

[kalira]

Last night I was having a stress breakdown, bad enough I went to crash a friend's for the evening (you know, when being alone with your thoughts will only make things worse? maybe friend can't fix it, but letting things out and having supportive company . . . it helps).

I took two of my tarot decks this time (I often throw one in my bag when I'm going to hang at her place, and not uncommonly in general unless I'm just running errands), and I asked her if she could guess which ones before I pulled them out, after some time to get through distress and start calming down.

One was easy, of course - The Barkana:

It's not only a very pretty deck with a nice story (the deck was created and watercolours painted by a disabled, queer artist, and many of the dogs featured are actually service dogs - including the artist's own), it is hands-down the nicest deck I own in terms of readings. I reach for it especially when I'm having a rough time because it's gentle about things, looks into the positive, and is very encouraging.

It can be a nice bit of soothing reassurance, in really turbulent states, and even the harsher readings are gentled somewhat by a hopeful feeling - and even if things are rough, the dogs are there for you, right?

(The artist is Calion, and there's a now-quiet Instagram still visible for the deck, which is out of print.)

On the flipside, I also brought The Corrupted Tarot:

It's quite striking (with work from a large number of artists), but it is not a nice deck in terms of readings. The deck is designed off the inverted meanings of the cards (thus corrupted), though of course can be read with reversals (which makes tracking it tricky; 'okay this is inverted, and it's the Corrupted, so the meaning is inverted to begin with, so this is functionally the upright meaning. . .'), but beyond that, it is a gut-punch of a deck to read with.

I like it though, and one reason is that while it delivers a gut-punch with just about every reading, it is always constructive, not just for the hell of it. Don't reach for it if you're not prepared to have it point out your own worst tendencies and the things you try to avoid, but it gives you that sharp shock to push you to insightful guidance.

(The Corrupted Tarot was put together by Wyrmwood Gaming and is still available.)

The combination honestly wasn't bad for such a stress-distress time, but it also has me thinking again how much difference the moods of my different decks can make a difference when I reach for them.

(I do actually have a deck that is just mean, too - if the Corrupted is a gut-punch that follows it up with therapy levels of examine yourself and do better while you're gasping for breath, that deck is chucking a brick at your face and laughing at you in the aftermath. I don't reach for that one often. >.> And of my decks? It's nooot the one you'd guess would be like that by looking at them. XD)

And sometimes, like last night, I don't necessarily need the way forwards advice (or predictions) so much as . . . the exercise of thinking them through can help in itself.

#Kalira speaks #cartomancy #tarot #Kalira divines #The Barkana #The Corrupted Tarot #Kalira's cartomancy decks