How to Choose a Tarot Deck

© Copyright 2024 Fran Carey, All Rights Reserved.

Buying a tarot deck really isn't as complicated as it might at first seem.

We often field the question of is it bad luck to buy your own deck. No, it isn't. This is a hold-over from the times when everyone learned in person from a more expierienced reader, who would gift you a deck when you "graduated the class". My opinion is it is always better to get someone else to spend their money on you, and it's lovely if someone wants to give you such a meaningful gift, but I have bought most of my decks myself with no ill effects.

There are thousands of decks on the market, so how to choose? Most instructors recommend beginners start with something based on the Rider Waite Smith. The reasons for this are two-fold. One, it has the most universal symbol set, so it is the most intuitive and easy to interpret at a glance for those of us who grew up in the Western world in the Twentieth and Twenty-First centuries. Two, it is the deck used to illustrate most tarot books, so it's easiest to find a book to go with it. There are also deck and book sets available with these images.

You can start with any deck that catches your fancy, but you may be in for a much steeper learning curve, as some decks used images specific to certain magical traditions, or personal to the illustrator. That doesn't mean it won't work for you, just that many of the books won't contain those pictures or the cards won't contain the specific symbols the books discuss.

Once you get your feet under you, you can branch out into the seemingly endless variety of decks available. Here's where you go down the rabbit hole. Usually the illustrations on the box are consistent with the artwork within. If possible, get a look at card samples or photos of them. www.isisbooks.com has scans of many of the decks we carry, and, if you are lucky enough to make it into the store, we have a huge collection of binders which contain printed scans and sample cards of the decks. We aren't the only store who has something similar. Ask if your local store has this service. The worst they can say is no!

You may also decide to get a deck based on a specific mythology, animal, or tradition, or one that highlights a feature of the cards such as astrology or kabbalah. There are Norse, Celtic, Orisha, and Greek decks, decks with cats, dogs, and gummy bears, Wiccan decks, Golden Dawn decks, and a Jungian one. Read the back copy, if any, or ask your friendly bookstore employee. The worst that can happen if you do that is you wind up with a dozen or so decks to look at.

Most readers and students of tarot history, symbology, and psychology wind up with more than one deck. Many of them have collections numbering in the hundreds. Each deck offers something a little different, a different way of looking at the situation, different decks for different clients, or different question categories, or just a fresh art style to wake up the mind, subconscious, and intuition of the reader and the client.

Dozens of new decks come out every year, so shop your local store for that hands-on experience, and ask them if they can get any decks you don't see. They try to stay on top of things, but sometimes a really cool deck sneaks by them.

Don't be surprised if the deck you have used for years suddenly doesn't do it for you anymore. Give it a vacation and find a new deck. Maybe your practice or outlook has changed and you need something new. Or maybe the two of you just need a break from each other. Get a deck just because you fell in love with the images. There's something there for you, even if only something nice to see. Buy a deck because you love everything that author/illustrator has ever done. Get one because it contains your favorite animal. Unless you plan to harm someone, there is no wrong reason to buy a deck, and, really, no wrong deck to buy. Maybe you don't like to read with it after you got it. Maybe you want to use it for spellwork or meditation instead. Or as a learning tool to see new things you never noticed in your other decks. Something caught your attention. If all else fails, give it to someone else down the line. There's a deck out there for pretty much everyone interested in tarot. Seek and find.

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