Tarot Cards

For those who use Tarots as your primary vehicle for Readings, what cards do you use? (Link, if possible please) And for any particular reason? (Such as cohesion with your presentation or simply due to the art)

While I do not own a set myself, after a little searching I've settled for the Tarocco delle Vetrate. The art is incredibly striking and I believe enough to captivate any audience member presented with them. The Italian titling allows for a clever story to be weaved about their origin or of when and where the performer acquired them while retrieving the cards from a pocket!

Scapini, the artist behind this little jewel, is an art historian who specialized in Medieval art and has created some other beautiful Tarots as well. Check them out in the above link.

Marcus Nogueira wrote:

While I do not own a set myself, after a little searching I've settled for the Tarocco delle Vetrate. The art is incredibly striking and I believe enough to captivate any audience member presented with them.

I have that deck too and I agree the art is very nice. I have quite a large number of decks and my own preference is for older (pre-20th century) designs. Most 20/21st century decks use the symbolism of the Rider-Waite so, while many of them are very nice works of art in their own right, the symbolism can be a bit repetitive. Also, I just think the 20th Century is a bit too modern for my tastes. The decks rarely have the dark and gruesome pictures of older decks - for example, in many old decks the Fool is a wretched man being bitten by his dog rather than a smiling youth taking the dog for a walk; and the Tower is, in some decks, a burning building showing a devil-like arm stretching out to pull the fleeing people back inside...

If you want older decks, the Marseille or Swiss decks are nice but they don't have elaborate illustrations on the pip cards. the Sola Busca (Illuminated Tarot) does have all cards illustrated and many of the designs seem to have inspired the Waite designs but the pictures are unlike other tarots (lots of Roman characters for some obscure reason). If you can manage to deal with a larger deck than the normal Tarot (97 cards) the Florentine Minchiate is the one to go for. I also just like its name - "The Florentine Minchiate" - it sounds like something from an M R James ghost story.

I did a review of tarot decks a few years ago for The Green man Review which you may find of interest. The article also has links to two other tarot articles I wrote for them: http://www.greenmanreview.com/book/essay_toptentarot.html

Bear in mind that The Green Man Review is a celtic/arts/new age sort of site so the articles are not intended for quite the same audience as Alchemy Moon members ;-)

When doing readings for the lay public, I prefer to use the Rider-Waite because the artwork is easy to interpret and it is one that the average person would associate with the 'occult', having been seen in horror films and such like.

One deck I really like (though only really use for darker, more bizarre magick performances) is the Deviant Moon Tarot.
I am a huge fan of the art of Hieronymous Bosch and the images seem to be inspired by it.
It's a beautiful but dark deck....

Freddie Valentine wrote:

When doing readings for the lay public, I prefer to use the Rider-Waite because the artwork is easy to interpret and it is one that the average person would associate with the 'occult', having been seen in horror films and such like.

I think that is increasingly the case (sadly) in America and the UK. It used to be the case, back in the '70s, that the Swiss deck was probably the most widely used in the UK. I think that was due to Waddingtons doing a version. In France, it is still the case that The Marseille is the most widely used. I've discussed Tarot decks with a French friend and she really dislikes the Rider-Waite as she says the cards look far too 'light' by comparison with the Marseille. It seems to me that the main advantage of the Rider-Waite (and those that followed it) are the illustrations throughout the deck. But for my tastes the artwork looks far too modern.

Oh, I forgot to mention, there are also some good Etteilla decks. These are based on 18th century designs by a chap called Alliette who decided to reverse his name to make it sound more mystical (well, why not?). I have two different versions of this deck. One is called The Book Of Thoth (it has nothing to do with Crowley's Thoth deck) and the other is called the Grand Etteilla. I think The Book Of Thoth deck is nicer as it looks older and darker.

I saw a Medieval Tarot deck on Amazon once that looked interesting and the Card Shark one does look like it could be worth a look (if quite pricey).
I find the Rider-Waite easy to read, and though there are many deck designs which I personally like, I always use RW for paid, full length readings. I have used some of the more fancy decks in other situations.

I have heard good things about The Witches Tarot (though the Tarot of The Witches is awful).

There's certainly room in the market for an aged deck which looks like it could have come from the 1700-1800's with the correct images for the time and the right kind of card.

I would, however, avoid this one: http://www.tarot.com/tarot/decks/index.php?deckID=74&cardID=0

I'm using the Lo Scarabeo Secret Tarot a lot as well as a French version of Arcus Arcanum. I love the artwork on the AA. Here's a link:

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/arcus-arcanum/

I agree with Freddie on two points.
There is no better deck than the colman/waite deck for working with lay public - it is the deck they are most likely to have seen before - it put them into a psychological context and this confers to you, authenticating you as a reader - somehow, using a more modern design makes you look somewhat bogus. The other main reason for the colman/waite deck being so well known, was that it was the first deck to fully illustrate the minor arcana (I think?). The images are both simple (i.e. easy to intuitively both by psychic and sitter) and evocative.

However, at the moment I use the Golden Tarot (which has been mentioned here), as the images conform to the colman/waite symbolism, but are quite beautiful and complex. They are very good for engaging and exploring the visual imagination of the sitter (questions such as, what do you think is further up the path that is on the card? Who lives in the Castle? etc.).

I also agree with Freddie that there is a real need for a deck that looks like it really could come from a past era of mysticism. I may make this deck!
At the moment I am making a deck that gives me a better tool for the method I use for reading - which is totally intuitive. The aim is to use traditional tarot imagery, but make the images themselves more ambivalent; allowing the sitter to dream into the cards more, and thereby make a stronger connection to their own inner psychology.

As an artist myself, there are many , many decks I hate. A lot have been mentioned here . Sorry teaguejb really don't like the deck you put up, it looks like a British comic from the 60's - I really expect to see Roy of the Rovers turn up. Hey, Freddie, you could use these! However, it really is just a matter of taste in the end, and there are no rights and wrongs, just stuff that does or does not work for you!

(interesting thread)

If you want something a bit different, there are also the LeNormand decks. She was reputedly the fortune teller to the Empress Josephine and there are two LeNormand decks now available. The Petit LeNormand is a 32 card deck a bit like the "Gypsy Sybils" that are sometimes sold with simple meanings written on each card. The Grand LeNormand is totally different. A very strange looking deck with huge cards containing numerous images - each card shows a scene from mythology, a constellation, some other symbolic scene, some pip marks from a standard deck and so on. I have a book on how to interpret these (the only book I know of is written in French) but it is so damn' complicated that you might just as well make it up as you go along Then again, the good news is that nobody you do a reading for will ever have seen the cards before so whatever you say they mean you are most unlikely to be contradicted!

Incidentally, if you are looking for unusual tarot decks, this is the place to go: http://www.alidastore.com/

They have a fantastic range. I've bought from them several times and have always been very happy with their service.

What a FANTASTIC site!

I use the cosmic tarot as its the deck I used when I read full time and it has a couple of movie stars copied into it which always makes me smile also because I read intuitively I prefer a deck which is quite heavy with symbolism.

I love the other decks that people use and I can see the benefits of the other decks too but I think it's down to what you feel comfortable with.

Dean

I use Rider-Waite mainly. I like the symbolism and I reckon it was that side which drew me to tarot over other systems of divination. I have a number of Rider-Waite variants. Of them the Robin Wood is probably the one I like the most even if the illustrations are a bit cartoony. For pre 20th century I use Marseille and have recently got several old packs of Swiss. I'd really like the Victorian Romantic to get reprinted as I really like the look of those, but none for now.

I use the Medieval Tarot by Card Shark, as well as the Carnie Tarot.

How do you get on with the Carnie Tarot? as I have a couple of sets of thease but have never used them due to all the clowns.

Dean

I've my own tarot cards...

Carnie Tarot? Should be called 'The my first attempt at cutting and pasting Tarot'.
Rick should have drawn the faces on!

When I use Tarot cards, which is on very rare occasions, I use the "Prager Tarot".

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One interesting fact about this deck is, that it is delivered with one frontside blanc card. It has the backdesign but no pic at the front. Opens some interestring possibilitiies.

Further advantages:

It has a one way backdesign.

There are different numbers and letters on the cards.

I second your thoughts on the carnie tarot but I would like to use them one day as I have two sets sitting here.

D.

I came close to buying the Carnie tarot, but I bought the witches Almanac which had a few of the cards with it. That was enough to put me off. I bought the raider Waite instead.

After the Enrique Enriquez workshop I am gung-ho on the Jean Dodal Tarot of Marseille.




The Jean Noblet pictured here, but they are very similar


And I'm beginning to read them "Enrique-style" which is very interesting, and very refreshing.

The Jean Noblet are lovley and the colours look fabulous as I had not see n this deck before.

Dean

I've been tempted with the carnie tarot, but I'm now put off if the pictures are as bad as you say. Does anyone have the Flemish variant they make? Are they any better?

I tend to stick to playing around with the Original Rider Waite, though I'm really tempted at the moment by the Tarot of the New Vision - this is the one where the artist has stayed true to the Rider art style and drawn each card from the perspective of the subejects in the cards.

I'm not going to even open them when they arrive this month, but I'm still drooling over the limited edition of the new 2nd edition Bohemian Gothic deck. Limited to only 1,000 copies, each card has a pewter/silver gilded edging and there's an extra limited edition card in the pack.
See them here: http://www.bohemiangothic.com/

My fave at the moment are the beautifully illustrated Druid Craft. Stunning artwork.

So many Tarot decks, so little time to collect them all!

I love the Bohemian Gothic deck and I have just written to them to see if I can purhase a deck as they are fabulous and it looks like a deck I can use.

Thank you very much for the link.

Dean

Dean, they'll be releasing a standard version of this new edition, which should be available soon after the limited edition and for a lower price too. I can't wait to see them. I'm going to buy a standard deck to use so I don't have to open the limited one.