Tarot for the Modern Reader
The 5 Most Popular Choices for Choosing Your First Tarot Deck
When you are learning to read the Tarot, the very first, and possibly only, thing you need is a good deck. A complete Tarot deck is comprised of 22 Major Arcana cards, as well as 56 Minor Arcanca, also known as "pip" cards. First, let's dispel the myth that your first deck needs to be given to you, or a gift. I can't believe that one is still circulating, but like many myths, the roots go deep! No, you do NOT need to be gifted your very first deck (if so, you could be waiting forever to be a reader!), and more so, it's probably most important that you pick a deck that you resonate well with.
Now with that being said, some people have been given decks by others; fellow readers, close friends, family that has passed them down, and they do wonderful with them, so I'm not saying you CAN'T be gifted a deck and do just fine, simply that it is absolutely NOT the necessity that this old myth says it is.
First you must decide what KIND of deck you want to read with. In the advent of the popularity of Tarot in recent years, the industry has EXPLODED with new decks by the thousands. One look on Aeclectic Tarot will yield you more decks than you could ever view to choose from.
***Important Note: We are NOT talking about other SYSTEMS of cards such as Lenormand, Kipper, Gypsy, Oracle, Angel or standard playing cards for divination. We are ONLY talking Tarot cards***
In the free guide below, I'll give you some picture examples of actual decks of each of the 5 types of decks I'm going to cover and my recommendations for each! Be sure to download it! Now let's get started covering the 5 main deck choices.
Deck Type Number 1:
Most readers start with a standard Rider-Waite-Smith deck (RWS for short). This is what I personally recommend to absolute beginners. Rider is the publisher, Arthur E. Waite the author or creator if you will, and Pamela Coleman Smith, the illustrator of the now infamous and most popular deck. You will sometimes hear of this deck being called the Rider Waite or the Waite Smith for short.
The most common versions of the RWS deck (aside from mini decks, collector decks, or decks in tins ect ect) are the Original, the Universal and the Radiant. One main reason I recommend beginning with an RWS deck is that most LEARNING material features this deck so it makes learning a bit easier because the images directly match your cards.
Personally, I would not recommend the Original. The coloring is very monochromatic, the lines are not sharp, and the detail is lost. The two newer versions, Universal and Radiant, are magnificent by comparison. You cannot go wrong with either one. You can view them online (on Aeclectic Tarot) to see the differences in colors, as well as borders and card name/number placements.
Deck Type Number 2:
There are also the decks in the Marseille tradition, which is a style of decks of French origin colored in the primary colors usually of red, blue and yellow and additionally sometimes green. Traditionally there are no images on the Minor Arcana cards (other than the suit and number of said suit items (for example, the 2 of Cups simply has the image of 2 cups) so there are no pictures to help you with interpretation. You must simply know the meaning of the card or create one by combining the element and number of the given card.
This requires you to either memorize the 56 pips, or be well versed in suit element and numerology to put together cohesive meanings. For this reason alone I do not recommend starting with a Marseille deck, unless you feel called to do so, or have one that has special significance to you. However, there are some exciting exceptions to this style of pip cards that I show in the pictorial example guide!
Deck Type Number 3:
The Thoth deck, but to be fair, this is not a type, but just one deck. There is no duplicate of the Thoth deck. Due to its popularity though with Tarot scholars, historians, professionals and readers however, it must be mentioned. I must say this deck is not for the faint, the imagery is quite bold and very heavy, and again like the Marseille, have no images on the minor, or pip, cards, so unless there is a special interest, it can be a little challenging to start with this deck.
It was conceptualized by renowned occultist Aleister Crowley, who has a very dark history himself. As one reviewer put it, "looking at the complexity of the imagery of the Thoth deck was very much like looking into the sun. In my early Tarot days, I just wasn't ready for it yet." One interesting thing to note about the Thoth deck, Crowley included on each pip card the keyword that was assigned to each card by the Order of the Golden Dawn, to which both he and Waite belonged.
Deck Type Number 4:
An RWS inspired deck, sometimes called an RWS clone. The images are similar to that of the RWS deck but different in style. For example, Card 0, The Fool, always shows a fool or jester or a person starting off on a journey in some manner. The Two of Cups always shows two people together. Again with a click over to Aeclectic Tarot, you can find RWS style decks in any theme you like practically, from decks featuring cats, to fairies, to fairytales, to baseball, vampires and more. There are some lovely pagan themed decks that stay very close to the RWS traditional images as well that are quite popular, as well as some with more traditional pagan names but similar images.
Deck Type Number 5:
Lastly, there are some other decks that don't closely follow the RWS system. The card names may be similar or close but the images are quite different, and this presents a steep learning curve, your best resource would be the book that accompanies it if there is one. I don't mean the LWB (little white book) that accompanies all decks; some deck creators actually create books to go with their decks.
Otherwise, you either need to know the meaning of that card already, or understand the additional or slightly different meanings that creator had in mind for those cards. Learning materials would not be as directly helpful. The other way to read of course is based off of your intuitive meaning of the card and images! Feel free to give this a whirl if you truly feel called to a particular deck, and are prepared for the learning curve you would be taking on. Some of these are the most beautiful decks!
So to recap, my personal recommendation for new students is a Universal or Radiant Rider Waite Smith deck, for no other reason than ease of learning. If you would like to get a non-RWS deck but want to get a clone that is very similar in imagery so that the learning curve is lessened, there are some very lovely close comparisons, such as the Connelly, the Morgan Greer and the Hanson Roberts.
The only real requirement for choosing your first deck is choosing one that you love. Choose one that the imagery speaks to you, that you want to look at every day. It is perfectly fine to choose a non-RWS deck, just be aware that you'll have a slight learning curve since the majority of learning material favors the RWS system at this time. If you truly feel called to the Marseille, Thoth or some other non-RWS deck, you should absolutely follow that calling! It is important that you seek out the necessary learning materials to accompany them to be successful.
As a final consideration, I would also make a note of the deck size. Tarot decks are generally larger than a deck of playing cards. They come in many different sizes. If you have smaller hands, you may want to take dimensions into account as you are making your selection, to ensure you can shuffle with ease.
Most decks can be found on Amazon. Chances are you will find many a deck to love, happy choosing!
Your CHALLENGE: If you don't have a deck yet, start window shopping and make a list of the ones that really speak to you, then narrow it down to one. If you are already reading, tell us in the comments below, WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST DECK? How did you choose it?
Did you like this content and find it useful? If so, please help us spread the word by spreading the (social) love! We'd LOVE it if you'd Like and Share below! Tweetable: "Finding your Perfect First Deck"
I'm Liza, professional Tarot reader, writer and mentor, and this is Tarot Liza. Everyday we're working to bring our mission of delivering more value and Tarot education to the Modern Reader to life! Welcome! Read more...
S02 E041 Announcements, a Blooper and the True Samhain Portal
We’re now in the window of the true Samhain portal. Tune in to this week’s episode and pickup the ritual I left out of last week’s episode (oops!), as well as why you might want to do these rituals again (or for the first time), this week! But hurry- the portal won’t be open long. I also share a few announcements for the podcast for the coming month!...Read More »
S02 Ep040 Rituals for Halloween (and beyond!) for Tarot Readers
Halloween and rituals go hand in hand. Although we have turned Halloween into a night of spooky fun, complete with costumes and candy for children, it is really a special night to honor those who are no longer with us, and based on the much older pagan sabbat of Samhain. It's a great time to communicate with those who have passed over, or any of our spirit guides, as the veil is much thinner not only during Scorpio season in general...Read More »
S02 Ep039 The Death Card: Death and Rebirth- Letting Go During Scorpio Season
Death, rebirth and letting go, these are the themes that let us know that Scorpio season has arrived! This is the time of year that we are prime to look into the deepest darkest corners and excavate the things that are no longer serving us. The things that are holding us back. Things that have long outlived their usefulness. Some of these things go all the way back to our childhood, and some are just outdated and outworn patterns of behavior...Read More »
S02 Ep038 The Shadow Self: How to Own and Heal Our Shadow Qualities
The Shadow Self, what is it and where does it come from? How is it formed, and how do we heal it? Why do we have it in the first place? These are all questions that come up when we begin discussing the shadow. No discussion about the shadow is complete without a dive into mythology, as all things related to the shadow are naturally related to the Underworld, which is the domain of Pluto (who in the Tarot, rules the Death card). Join me in this episode to learn how to identify your shadows, and join us on a 13 day Shadow Work Challenge!...Read More »
S02 Ep037 Your *Already-Written* 3 Card Tarotscope for Every 10 Days for the Rest of Your Life
Want to know what's in the cards? Look no further than the stars! What if I could share with you a cool way to use a 3-card-reading, every 10 days, that you don't even have to draw yourself, that could accurately forecast your next 10 days? What if we could do that for all of the 10 days of the rest of your life? And you don't have to be an astrologer to do it either! This technique also works retroactively- so you can look back in time at the forecasts for significant times in your life to see how they match up! Join me this week...Read More »
S02 Ep036 Contracts and Sorrow- Gifts of the Three of Swords
The decans and their forecasts, are determined by their astrological associations- so while we may look at the imagery in this card and think it would be a terrible predictor of our week, it's astrology tells a different story. The association for the Three of Swords is Saturn in Libra, and that's the association we need to keep in mind, when we are considering the energy that we are going to be experiencing during this card's reign or tenure. Saturn is cold, dark, heavy, wet, dreary…. Hence the rain in the Rider-Waite-Smith card behind...Read More »