Bottom of the Deck Survey

"BOTTOM OF THE DECK" Results

an informal survey of opinions, submitted by members of

the online tarot world, describing the worst tarot packs

they have purchased, used, or examined.

February 2, 1997

Total number of survey entries received: 31

Thanks to all the tarot enthusiasts who participated. My

thanks also to Michele Jackson for filling in some authors

and for building a Web site that provided me with useful

resources.

I've included most of the commentary that accompanied

survey entries. Only a few participants asked not to have

their comments published. Phrasing inside parentheses is

from the individual participants. Bracketed comments are

from your Editor.

Decks are listed by alpha. The title is followed by the

author, designer, or creative team. The numeral represents

the number of times the deck was mentioned in lists

submitted by survey participants.

The Top Five Or Six Loathsome Decks are listed at the end.

All "GIMMICK" TAROTS (you name it, this person hates it)

ALL "LOVE" or "LOVERS" TAROTS (same person hates all

these, too) 1

AQUARIAN TAROT, by David Palladini 2

A. All such "flavor of the month" decks are variations on

the theme that what's suddenly socially acceptable

REQUIRES a new deck (interpretation). Yuck!

ART NOUVEAU, by Matt Myers 2

A. Way too "sweet and cute"

BARBARA WALKER TAROT, by, er, Barbar Walker 1

A. Once I started looking into her research, I saw that

both the research and the deck based on it was so bad and

so biased that I refused to use it and I no longer own the

deck.

CONNOLLY TAROT, by Peter Paul Connolly 1

A. This one, also, is way too "sweet and cute"

DALI UNIVERSAL TAROT, by Salvador Dali 1

A. Horribly ugly.

DAUGHTERS OF THE MOON, by Ffiona Morgan 2

A. Not EVERYONE is a lesbian (thank the godess!)

B. I found the book totally offensive. It's things like this

that have forced me to stop defining myself as feminist.

Every possible opportunity taken to be anti-male and anti-

heterosexual, not to mention that horrible tokenistic six of

pentacles.

DRAGON TAROT, by Peter Pracownik and Terry

Donaldson 2

FANTASY SHOWCASE, various artists, coordinated by

Bruce Pelz (see Michele Jackson's Web site for a link) 1

A. You ask 78 'fantasy' artists to draw one card each.

What a mishmash! It's probably as PoMo [postmodern] as it

gets. A total disregard (almost) for tarot symbolism, coupled

with inconsistent and sometimes really ugly artwork?

GOLDEN DAWN, by Robert Wang and Israel Regardie 1

A. How such magical adepts could have such a poor

sense of asthetics is beyond me. Kick 'em in the binah.

HAINDL, by Hermann Haindl 2

A. Didn't like the colors, too many eyes in the pictures

(thought the artist was severely depressed or paranoid).

B. Looks like it was painted with mud.

HANSON-ROBERTS, by Mary Hanson-Roberts 4

A. Not really *that* bad, it's the Cotton-Candy Tarot.

B. So cute I can't stand it.

C. If dolls played with tarot cards, this would be the deck

they'd use.

D. I dislike all Rider-Waite clones, but this one has

particularly lame cutesy artwork.

HARRIS/CROWLEY THOTH, by Frieda Harris and Aleister

Crowley 8

A. Don't like the border, don't like the fact that the

*meanings* are written there -- some people have a

problem when they see some of the *negative* terms, (their

opinion, not mine). I saw a deck where someone had

trimmed the border, and liked it much better -- will do that to

mine when I have the time and feel *precise* enough to not

hack it.

B. I can't stand the vibes on this one - very negative!

C. I always get weird feelings when I try to do readings

with this deck.

D. I can read it, but it makes me feel like I've had too

much espresso, perhaps with very bad LSD thrown in...

E. I have always thought (these cards) were quite

beautiful, but I got the most horribly menacing readings from

that deck! It is hands down my least favorite deck!

F. I keep coming back to it, then getting discouraged

because of its dark and complicated Nature ... the usual

complaints.

G. It's the explosive character of the imagery in Thoth I

don't like. Especially in the Minor Arcana. Bold and vivid

colours, in many cards a striking imagery, but on the whole -

it's simply isn't my cup of (Yogi) tea at all.

HEINZ FOODS (promotional novelty deck) 1

A. The number one crappiest, craziest idea for a tarot's

got to go the the HEINZ people for their HEINZ tarot. Pass

the ketchup please, and please pass on this one.

HERBAL TAROT, by Micael Tierra and Candice Cantin 1

A. If one were to use it fully as designed, one would be

practicing herbal medicine without a license (often without

good safeties built in). I also object to the use of laxative

herbs without warning and for its calls for "spiritual cascara.

ISIS TAROT, by Ishbel (?) (Couldn't definitely find this one.

Might be IBIS, by Josef Machynka?) 1

LONDA, by, er, Londa 1

A. Anorexic Goth Elves with blue skin. All style, no

substance.

MARSEILLES, [traditional, many variants available] 1

A. Ugly! Cheap! Non-communicative!

MEDIEVAL SCAPINI, by Luigi Scapini 1

A. Overpriced, to say the least!

MERLIN TAROT, by Miranda Gray 1

A. Very flat vibes.

MORGAN-GREER, by Bill F. Geer and Lloyd Morgan 1

MOTHERPEACE. By Karen Vogel and Vicki Noble 3

A. It doesn't do a darn thing for me visually- the washed

out colouring makes me feel that way when I look at them. I

don't even like people to give me a reading with them, much

less use them myself. I don't like the symbolism or the

artwork.

B. This must be the worst artwork ever devoted to a tarot.

C. Another art issue. Don't like the colors, don't like the

*art*, don't like what some of the cards imply by the artwork.

MYTHIC, by Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene 2

A. By far is the crappiest deck/book I have had the

misfortune of owning. The book fell apart, the cards are thin,

and the [reading diagram] cloth was a joke. With a little effort

they could have made it worth using.

B. It is a shame that after taking the time to create a deck

and write a book they skimped on quality.

NATIVE AMERICAN, by Megda and J.A. Gonzalez 1

A. Disappointing. It is a nice deck for reading, but I think

it could have been so much better.

NEW ORLEANS VOODOO, by Louis Martinie and Sallie

Ann Glassman 1

A. Are the Orishas offended yet?

NEW GOLDEN DAWN, by Sandra Tabitha Cicero 1

NEW PALLADINI, by David Palladini 1

OSHO-ZEN, by Ma Deva Padma 1

POETS' TAROT, by Jesse Cougar 1

A. The artwork isn't so bad but the poems are dreadful,

and I think it's a truly stupid idea not having a back [design]

at all.

POMO TAROT, by Brian Williams 4

A. While the art is not that bad, in my limited experience

this deck simply doesn't work. My readings with this have

always been atrocious. Moreover, I get a "look how clever I

am" feeling from the creators of this. And...it's just plain

snobbish!!

B. I'd be ashamed to use this in a reading, except of

course for a two year old. PoMo OhNo.

ROBIN WOOD, by, er, Robin Wood 3

A. That Wheel of Fortune card has got to go. Puh-lease.

It looks like a 1965 ad for Barbie.

B. Reminds me of 70s Marvel Comics superheroes, and

hence, boring "cartoony" art. Furthermore, the great majority

of the cards look like she just ripped-off the Rider Waite

images.

C. Insulting lack of regard for human anatomy, especially

genetalia.

SMITH/WAITE (all popular variations of the

seminal Rider deck including Universal, Golden, Giant, and

Albano) 7

A. I find it so intensely ugly I could never use it. I

especially hate the colours.

B. I get no feeling from it, it's classic their medieval

origins, and I always know a "newbie" reader when they

swear by it.

TAROT OF THE CAT PEOPLE, by Karen Kuykendall 3

A. My pussy rips this one to shreads and uses it for kitty

litter.

B. It works beautifully on readings for others, but in

personal readings only gives me dismal, dire messages that

are extremely irrelevant to the matter at hand.

TAROT OF A MOON GARDEN, by Karen Marie Sweikhardt

A. Wizards and Unicorns and Bubbles, Oh My! Even

gooeyer than the Hanson-Roberts tarot deck.

B. Only scorn.

C. Too fluffy-bunny-white-light for my tastes

TAROT OF THE CLOISTERS, by Michelle Leavitt 3

TAROT OF THE OLD PATH, by Sylvia Gainsford and

Howard Rodway 1

A. This deck's minor arcana weirds me out. I love the

majors and aces and absolutely hate the rest. So ugly and

lacking in profundity. Can't believe they're done by the

same person.

TAROT OF THE WITCHES, by Fergus Hall (007 film) 7

A. My ABSOLUTE LEAST favorite deck.

B. The artwork sucks and I always get vague readings

from it.

C. Every figure on it is deformed. The first versions even

had 007 on the back to show they were designed for a

James Bone [sic] movie.

D. Artwork makes my skin crawl.

E. As art, it's odd. As a tool it is sadly lacking.

THELEMIC, [I could not find a definitive source but Michele

Jackson looked it up: "Per Kaplan, it was done in

1977 by an unknown artist and published in 1977 by

Baphomet Press."] 1

A. The Major Arcana as black & white prints. Supposed

to be an improvement and re-interpretation (at least for

some cards) of the Thoth deck by a guy whose drawing

skills are definitely not above kindergarten level. A riot!!

UNICORN TAROT, by Liz Hilton and Suzanne Star 3

A. I've collected unicorns since long before they

became popular, and I wouldn't add this deck to my

collection.

B. Pointless.

WILLIAM BLAKE TAROT, by Ed Buryn 1

A. I can understand the idea and thoughts behind it but

it differs too much from my own, quite strong, ideas about

the arts.

WITCHES TAROT, by Ellen Cannon Reed and Martin

Cannon 6

A. The artwork is atrocious, not to mention a lot of trendy

"witchy-poo" stuff. On the other hand, I get good readings

from this ... so go figure.

B. The art is just too freaky for me and I don't like Wands

as Air and Swords as Fire.

C. There's no explanation of the spheres (cabbalah???)

[sic], and *way* too many body builders and bimbos. The

Ace and 10 of swords, Strength and the 2 of pentacles are

particularly heinous. Marvel Comics might do better!

D. Artwork makes my skin crawl. I can't relate to her

ideas about kaballah either.

Listed in order of Perceived Loathsomeness

The Winner:

HARRIS/CROWLEY THOTH, by Frieda Harris and Aleister

Crowley with 8 votes

Tied for Second Place:

TAROT OF THE WITCHES, by Fergus Hall with 7 votes

SMITH/WAITE with 7 votes

Third Place:

WITCHES TAROT, by Ellen Cannon Reed and Martin

Cannon with 6 votes

Tied for Fourth Place:

HANSON-ROBERTS, by Mary Hanson-Roberts with 4 votes

POMO TAROT, by Brian Williams with 4 votes

TAROT OF A MOON GARDEN, by Karen Marie Sweikhardt

with 4 votes

>>> End of document <<<

David Bogie

tarot enthusiast and stampmaker

Boise ID