Favorite Tarot Deck

[hufflee]

I know this was done on the old board, but it's interesting to see what everybody says. What's your favorite Tarot deck?

Mine at the moment is The Robin Wood deck.

[evewitch]

I know this was done on the old board, but it's interesting to see what everybody says. What's your favorite Tarot deck?

Mine at the moment is The Robin Wood deck.

I am just now starting to actively read tarot again. I always loved the Tarot of the Witches. (At least I think that's what it was called - the one from the James Bond film.) My deck disappeared in one of my past attempts to declutter my house. Sigh. I haven't been able to find another one.

Now I have The Gilded Tarot, which I am slowly getting used to. I think I like it.

I also tried some Celtic tarot thing (not sure of the name) which I did not like.

[Juni]

I know this was done on the old board, but it's interesting to see what everybody says. What's your favorite Tarot deck?

 
The Shadowscapes deck, definitely. Law has been one of my favorite artists for a very long time, and I just adore the artistry.

[RandallS]

What's your favorite Tarot deck?

I have two: the "standard" Rider-Waite deck and the Arthurian Tarot.

[acidrica]

The Shadowscapes deck, definitely. Law has been one of my favorite artists for a very long time, and I just adore the artistry.

 
Another vote for the Shadowscapes deck. I also love the H.P. Lovecraft Tarot Deck (the out of print one).

[SunflowerP]

I have two: the "standard" Rider-Waite deck and the Arthurian Tarot.

 
Oh, that Arthurian.  That makes more sense as something you have, than the one that first came to mind (Legend Arthurian).

I'm a little surprised that you don't have an Aquarian deck - sometimes it seems as if everybody and their familiar who was Pagan in the '70s/very early '80s acquired one at some point, whether they use it/connect with it or not.

Sunflower

[veggiewolf]

I know this was done on the old board, but it's interesting to see what everybody says. What's your favorite Tarot deck?

Mine at the moment is The Robin Wood deck.

My favorite, right now, is the Tarot of the Sweet Twilight.

[RandallS]

Oh, that Arthurian.  That makes more sense as something you have, than the one that first came to mind (Legend Arthurian).

I can't stand the Legends Arthurian deck.

I'm a little surprised that you don't have an Aquarian deck - sometimes it seems as if everybody and their familiar who was Pagan in the '70s/very early '80s acquired one at some point, whether they use it/connect with it or not.

The only deck I could find back then was the Rider Waite -- and it took me long enough to find one of those. That's why I can read playing cards.

[AlisonLeighLilly]

The Shadowscapes deck, definitely. Law has been one of my favorite artists for a very long time, and I just adore the artistry.

 
Another vote for the Shadowscape deck from me! It's pretty much the only deck I've ever been able to get consistently good readings from.

Though I will say that one thing that also helped me in learning to work with the Tarot was reading some of Robert Place's stuff. My partner has his Buddhist-based deck (name escaping me at the moment), and we also have his History and Symbolism of the Tarot book in which he talks about various approaches to doing readings. I really like his "energy flow"/story-line approach, in which the cards are basically used as a storyboard.

--Ali

[SunflowerP]

I can't stand the Legends Arthurian deck.

While I didn't necessarily suppose you'd feel that strongly, my first reaction was, "Randall has a what now? What misguided soul gave him that?" - but there are at least those two, and I seem to recall more, decks that could refer to, so I checked your link.  Cognitive dissonance sorted.

The only deck I could find back then was the Rider Waite -- and it took me long enough to find one of those. That's why I can read playing cards.

 
That's approximately why so many people do have the Aquarian - if they couldn't find, or didn't like, the R-W-S, Aquarian was often the only alternative.  I was just a little late for that (or maybe it's just that Calgary was really underserved with esoteric shops) so I didn't have a "bought" deck at all for years - mainstream bookstores were the primary source, with three or four decks to choose from, and they never seemed to have either R-W-S or Aquarian in stock, at least not at the same time as I had money.  Nor anything else I connected with at all - that was my motivation to keep going with my self-designed deck (full of "placeholder" cards, very gradually replaced as I did up "proper" ones one at a time); I was convinced that I wouldn't find a "bought" deck I could connect with.

Then someone I was circling with turned up one day with a Robin Wood deck, it immediately clicked better than my homemade ones (especially since it was complete - and there I was only maybe a third done and already the older ones didn't connect so well.  Moral: don't start designing your own deck in your teens, unless you can draw fast; you'll grow past them too quickly), and since by then there were esoteric stores with much wider deck selections, I was able to get one of my own soon after.  And that's been my go-to ever since.

I've since made sure I had both a R-W-S and an Aquarian, partly because I'd discovered that there's a lot of meat in comparing the differences between R-W-S and its derivatives, and partly for sheer Old School Cred.

Sunflower

[Thorn]

I know this was done on the old board, but it's interesting to see what everybody says. What's your favorite Tarot deck?

Mine at the moment is The Robin Wood deck.

 
I collect decks for the art, but there are three that I actually use:  Crowley's for esoteric questions (these don't come up very often these days), Vertigo for personal readings, and plain old Rider Waite when I do readings for other people.

The Vertigo Tarot I bought as a novelty - it's based on a line of comic books - but the artist is one of my heroes and the imagery/symbolism of the deck feels like it was made just for me.  It's my favorite by far.

[RandallS]

Nor anything else I connected with at all - that was my motivation to keep going with my self-designed deck (full of "placeholder" cards, very gradually replaced as I did up "proper" ones one at a time); I was convinced that I wouldn't find a "bought" deck I could connect with.

I thought of doing my own deck, but as I have no artistic talent and I had a couple of books that talked about reading playing cards, I choose the latter.

[Marilyn/Absentminded]

I've since made sure I had both a R-W-S and an Aquarian, partly because I'd discovered that there's a lot of meat in comparing the differences between R-W-S and its derivatives, and partly for sheer Old School Cred.

Sunflower

My first deck was Rider-Waite, given to me in '81 by my first teacher.  I've since bought many decks of my own, but Aquarian isn't among them.  Looking through them now I see that mine are almost all R-W based and almost all boldly coloured.  Pale decks have never appealed to me - I think I find them too wishy-washy and 'pretty'.

Also, all of my decks are standard 78-card Tarot decks.  I've never had a use for Oracle cards, and never liked just-majors partial decks.  No Aquarian, in spite of when I started, And only one (Mythic) is a 'theme' deck.  I use Morgan Greer for teaching, and the one that lives in my purse is Mary Hanson Roberts, both R-W based.

Absent

[live oak]

What's your favorite Tarot deck?

I also use the Shadowscapes deck, though it's the only one I've worked with. I'm looking to expand soon.

[Palemoon]

I know this was done on the old board, but it's interesting to see what everybody says. What's your favorite Tarot deck?

Mine at the moment is The Robin Wood deck.

 
Without a doubt, it would have to be "The Wildwood Tarot".