Let’s begin by dispelling the old myth circulating the Tarot community, that one must be gifted their Tarot deck, rather than purchase one for themselves.
This myth stems from the fact that back in 1400s Europe, when Tarot decks began to appear, they were hand painted by artisans, and consequently expensive and hard to come by.
Therefore, many early Tarot enthusiasts were unable to acquire a deck, other than by either inheriting, or being given one by relative or friend. This situation continued until Tarot decks began to, not only be printed and mass produced, but also made available for purchase in bookstores and curiosity shops.
Fortunately, today there‘s no reason to wait to be gifted a deck that has been chosen by another, as there are a plethora of Tarot decks available in local shops and online. These include decks published by large publishing houses, as well as “Indy” (Independant) decks self-published by their creators.
The vast array of Tarot decks for purchase, include the classic Rider-Waite-Smith deck with it’s Medieval themed characters and scenery, but also many modern whimsical themed decks featuring fairies, butterflies, dragons, crows, dogs, cats, mermaids, wizards, witches, pagans, elves, animal totems, Disney cartoons, Anime, Manga, classic literature, and more.
10 Important Considerations When Selecting Your Own Tarot Deck
Besides, personal taste, there are a few other important things to consider when selecting and purchasing your own Tarot deck.
1. Is it a Tarot Deck, or an Oracle Deck?
Don’t be confused with the Oracle decks sharing the store shelf with Tarot decks. Oracle decks are not meant for giving readings. Rather, they are meant to offer words, or phrases of positive inspiration and encouragement.
Conversely, Tarot decks offer the positive and negative of what may be coming up for the Querent (reading requestor) regarding the situation they are inquiring about. See our blog post, Tarot Cards vs Oracle Cards – What’s the Difference?, March 2022, in the Archives
2. Your Tarot Experience Level
If you are a Tarot novice, I advise that you purchase and learn the traditional Rider-Waite-Smith deck and its card meanings before purchasing another deck that may appeal to you more.
Since most of the Tarot courses, books, and internet resources utilize the RWS deck, it’s extremely advantageous for a Tarot newbie to learn this deck first, before branching out to other decks.
Additionally, most of the modern themed decks are based on RWS card meanings, along with the actions of characters pictured on the RWS cards.
Therefore, once you’ve learned the RWS deck, you will be able to read all of the beautiful and whimsical modern themed decks that are based on the RWS deck. Happily, this includes the majority of decks currently on the market.
3. The Deck’s Style
Where the RWS based deck has an allegorical scene pictured on each of its Major and Minor Arcana cards, the Thoth and Marseilles based decks do not.
Rather, these two deck styles only picture allegorical scenes on their Major Arcana cards. Their Minor Arcana cards picture only a number of the suit’s emblem (Cups, Wands, Swords, Pentacles) to match the card’s number. For example their 7 of Cups only pictures 7 cups floating on the card, with little, or no other scenery.
This is a pet peeve for me. I don’t wish to purchase a deck that doesn’t have scenery on every single card. I feel this is necessary for me to recognize the RWS card meaning that I’ve learned, or to spark my own intuitive meaning in the reading.
4. Can You Find Pics of Most of the Deck’s Cards Online?
If scenery on every card is important to you, being able to find pics of a deck’s Major and Minor Arcana cards before purchasing, will prevent ending up with a deck with no scenery on its Minor Arcana cards.
Another, advantage to seeing pics of a large selection of a deck’s cards before purchasing, is in case the card(s) shown on the deck’s box is the only appealing card in the deck. The rest of the cards’ artwork may be lame in your view.
Pics of a large selection of a Tarot deck’s cards can often be found online as part of an Amazon customer’s review, or a Tarot blogger’s review.
5. Does the Deck Match the Type of Readings You’ll be Giving?
The type of reading you’ll be giving is determined by the Querent’s reading question. Although, all decks can be used for many reading topics (career, relationships, personal growth, etc.), some decks are particularly suited to specific reading topics.
While the Osho Zen Tarot deck is especially suited for Spiritual Path, Life Purpose, and personal growth readings, there are other decks especially suited for love relationships, or career readings.
6. Are You Comfortable With the Deck’s Level of Nudity?
There’s always been a small amount of nudity in Tarot decks, which stems from the renown nude paintings of the Renaissance period.
The original RWS deck includes the largely acceptable, or maybe just tolerated nudity depicted in the Lovers, Death, Star, and Sun cards. The nude figures in these cards are seen at a distance, and are more artistic than realistic.
However, there are newer decks that have added nude figures to additional cards, that had not previously depicted nude figures. More concerning though, is when the nudes are depicted as full-frontal close-ups that are so realistic they are like photographs.
Ah, there’s the rub! Nude paintings are considered art, while nude photos are considered porn. Subsequently, overly realistic nudes on Tarot cards begin to make people uncomfortable.
Personally, I’m not comfortable holding up an ”in your face” type nude card to the camera for my face-time Tarot reading Client (Querent) to view. Additonally, I can’t have a reading using one of these decks lying around when my granddaughter is over. Since I read both professionally, and for myself, I do usually have a reading or two laid out at any given time.
Fortunately, most decks have only the traditionally accepted amount of nudity. And, if you’ll be reading in a family environement with children, there are several decks that have no nudity at all. The Tarot in Wonderland, Everyday Witch, Mystical Medleys, and Anime come to mind as decks that possess no nudity.
7. Are You Comfortable With the Harshness of the Deck’s Negative Cards?
All Tarot decks include traditional negative cards, i.e., the Death, Devil, Tower, 3 of Swords, and 10 of Swords cards. Even though these cards rarely mean actual disaster, depending how gruesomely they are depicted, they can frighten your Querent.
If these cards make you nervous, as well, or you’ll be reading in an environment with children, look for a deck that tones down the messages of its negative cards, like the Tarot of Wonderland, and Everyday Witch decks.
8. The Deck’s Quality
Since, you will want your deck to hold up from continuous shuffling over time, look for a deck whose cards are of decent thickness, and glide easily when shuffled. Some unavoidable fraying of edges will occur over time, but it’s not a good sign if your new cards start peeling on their first few shuffles.
Some of the modern decks have a sheen on their cards’ surface that causes them to come stuck together. Gently separating each card before using them the first time is usually all that is needed. Once separated and no longer compressed by the packaging, they won’t stick together again, and can be easily shuffled.
9. Are You Ok with Card Borders?
In recent years the big publishing houses have been putting out borderless decks, with card images running all the way to to the cards’ four edges. Additionally, they’re removing the borders of previously published decks in their updated reprints.
The long-time practice by Tarot Readers hand trimming the borders off their cards with scissors, sparked deck creators to create borderless decks.
I personally love, love, love this borderless deck trend! Once you’ve read with borderless cards, it’s hard to go back to cards with an old school card border.
10. Do You Desire a Larger Companion Book?
Another pet peeve of mine, are the tiny companion books (Little White Books) with tiny writing that have traditionally come with decks. I can’t begin to read the tiny print in these booklets that measure the same dimensions as their deck.
If you desire a companion book that’s large enough to actually read, (and why wouldn’t you?), look for a deck that’s been published in kit form with a box large enough to accommodate a larger book with larger writing. The bigger the Tarot deck’s box, the bigger its companion book.
The new decks being published by Llewellyn, often come in the larger boxed kit form, and some other publishers are also jumping on the kit bandwagon. I love, love, love this trend too!
Summing Up
As you’ve surmised here, there are many concerns to consider when choosing a deck for yourself. By determining where you fall in the above considerations, you can determine your personal criteria for rating a deck candidate.
Then, by searching for reviews with pics of a deck’s cards online, you’ll be able to weed out a deck that doesn’t meet your personal criteria. Better to do your due deligence, than to purchase a deck that doesn’t measure up and will, forever, remain unused in a drawer.
Those residing in Virginia Beach are super fortunate to have a local metaphysical shop within the Edgar Cayce A.R.E. that carries a large selection of Tarot (and Oracle) decks and a demo deck for each one. Thus, customers are able to peruse all of a deck’s cards before purchasing.
Once you’ve chosen and purchased your perfect deck you need to know how to care for it. For this see our blog post, Care and Feeding of Your Tarot Deck, May 2022, in the Archives.
I hope the above 10 Considerations will assist you in selecting a Tarot deck that’s just right for you, and you’ll love reading with for many years to come. Happy Taroting!
Note: To book a professional Tarot reading with Jeannette see our Book a Reading page.
Leave a Reply