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I've been browsing the gold foil decks on Amazon. To my surprise I found that there are lots of them but they're all called Gold Foil so I just figured they were all the same. I was wrong. I've now ordered three more decks, all different patterns and trimmed with all different borders and backs. These are spectacular decks so of course I'm collecting them now. I can't help myself. They're so mesmerizing that it's almost like they're alive. The cards are very slippery so you have to develop your workable shuffling tactics but once you get the hang of it they're nice to shuffle. If you drop cards during a shuffle, you can just scoop them up any old which way and you'll have reversals. Speaking of reversals---I don't like just turning a section of cards upside down for reversals. Then you always have the same cards reversed. I've decided to have the sitter draw cards from a fan, keeping all the cards face down. Once they've drawn their cards, then I'll have them draw X number more from the first cards they've drawn, keeping the cards face down and those will be the reversals for that spread . Once the reading is finished, I'll put all the cards all upright again and shuffle a couple times and then put the cards away till the next reading.

I like the CBD as well, and I find the book very useful. I have a soft spot for Lynyrd-Jym Narciso's Maria Celia Tarot, it's so quirky and charming. Many beautiful Marseilles decks are quite expensive... so I only have cheaper versions like Lo Scarabeo's editions. Their Golden Visconti is quite beautiful. These are the only three of my TdM decks that I have tried reading with.

My first deck was the Thoth, and it's been my teacher - it made the world of kabbalah and the connection between astrology and the tarot accessible for me (and maybe, one day I'll also learn more about alchemy!). It's still my to-go system whenever I read for myself. For me, Thoth really is the easiest way to explore the deeper tendencies of my life and soul. Reading for others, it sometimes reveals too much - it can be pretty brutal. Decks based on the Thoth, like M.M. Meleen's wonderful decks, are great readers for me as well. I never go anywhere without my trimmed little old Thoth or a pocket Meleen deck (Rosetta or Tabula Mundi). They're wonderful for meditation. The RWS came later for me, and I feel it's more down-to-earth. When I was reading professionally, I used an RWS-based deck, and it worked well for me, so now I feel comfortable with both systems. RWS-style decks also worked well when I did my ancestral readings (the Anna K. Tarot was great for that, as was the Mystical Moments Tarot - I combined them and got much insight about my family history). The Colman-Smith deck itself came late into my collection (the Centennial, which I love). For many years, the RWS system was represented by the Morgan-Greer, which is warmer and more accessible than the original RWS. It's an excellent reading deck. I'm a European. When and where I got started with the tarot, the RWS was not as dominant as it seems to be online and in the Anglo-tarotsphere. All the people I knew who did tarot used the Thoth, and it was also the deck I started out with. I have tried reading with Marseilles and other pip decks, using Yoav Ben-Dov's open reading style, but I rarely turn to my pip decks box when reading for myself and others. It's one of my "I should, I should" things. I find many historical decks very beautiful and appealing, but somehow, I don't reach for them often enough. Lately, a lot of decks have come out with systems of their own that take the Big Three Traditions as a jumping board and land somewhere else completely. While it can make reading with them a bit challenging, I appreciate these decks and love getting into them.

My new-to-me Thoth deck just arrived. EEE yipe! 👀 This is going to take a big of doing. Totally unfamiliar stuff for me. Thankfully the little white book that came with the deck was written by Crowley himself, so I'm hoping it will shed some light. I thought it would be easier to understand off the bat than this. It will be a challenge, but I'm up for it. At least at the moment.... The deck is a nice size, though ...printed in Belgium. And the cards are very easy to handle. They're only just slightly larger than ordinary playing cards, so that suits me. It's a pre-owned deck, but in very good nick.

Ordered that just yesterday—and received the Jean Noblet from Artisan the day before that. The clarity and colour of the Noblet is outstanding! I also a deck or two with the linen finish, and Artisan does just that. Beautiful handling and stunning appearance. What’s not to love?!?! 😆

Welcome back @Mi-Shell 😀

November is a good time to pull out the Urban Crow Oracle created by MJ Cullinane. I do love the backings of the cards! My card of the day is "cashing" A crow is hiding quite a few seeds in little holes dug into the soil. So, what am I cashing? Winter wood! Massive large piles of it. All needing to be cut, split and then stacked. Ouuuuw, ouch! My back hurts...... And there is no end in sight......

Welcome back @Bodhiseed! That sounds terrible 😕

Thank you Fire cat! Ack, I'm trying to get health insurance and sign up for SS and Medicare while the government is shut down! I'm in this week with the Rohrig Tarot paired with the Master Tarot (used as an oracle). One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do. ―Henry Ford The usual Seven of Wands shows a person standing up to others, fighting for what he or she thinks is right. But as this illustration shows, sometimes what we must stand against is not external, but a deep chasm of self-doubt. This ravine usually opens when we must face a challenge or change that alters our lives in a major way. We might try to bury ourselves in collecting knowledge, but at some point, we need to make a leap. As Dale Carnegie reminds us: "Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy." The Prophet is John the Baptist, the man who saw Jesus for the extraordinary person he was. This card encourages us to seek out those people who can recognize our skills and talents, those who will remind us that we have what it takes to deal with the unexpected paths we must walk.

Orphalese is good; install it (free) - there are a few built in decks and it will do your spread and you take it from there.

Very interesting to see her art on a deck other than RWS. Thank you for sharing these.

I'm back with more unboxing since I was given 2 Japanese decks based on Pamela Coleman Smith's art in "The Golden Oracle" and "The Lenormand Deck". LWB are in Japanese. I trimmed the keywords off the oracle before I thought to take a picture. (Titles were either unnecessary, like 'The Raven of the Key' for a picture of ... a raven with a key. Or misleading, like 'The Ancient Tree of Runes' on a card without runes.) Regardless, I do like it post-trim. It's about 10 cm x 7 1/2 cm now. The Lenormand is easy to quickly identify and is the usual size. I don't know if someone recently drew some of these in a similar style inspired by her, or if this is all from parts of PCS's art?? One of the oracle cards has her signature on it, but most don’t.

6 of Cups The second decan of Scorpio, a decan ruled by the Sun Post at TabulaMundi.com - DECAN WALK: SCORPIO 2, SIX OF CUPS – Part I – Tabula Mundi Tarot Excerpt: "Death, the card for Scorpio, and The Sun, card for (obviously) the Sun, ruler of the decan. Together they provide pleasant, sensual, and fertile Sun-warmed waters. The decan usually contains the cross-quarter holiday Samhain, and All Saints or Dia de los Muertos, around November 1st, when the doorways to the underworld open and the veils are thin. Offerings are made to nature spirits and faery beings, as well as the souls of the dead, seeking the grateful blessings of kin beyond." Tabula Mundi Tarot Related cards: Death for Scorpio The Sun for the sun Prince of Cups (for the last decan of Libra and the first two decans of Scorpio)

Oh thanks! I didn't even think to check older threads TBH, sorry about that.

This terminology was invented by the pseudonym Paul Christian, actually Jean-Baptiste Pitois (1811-1877), in his book Histoire de la Magie (1870). His two expressions, Major Arcana and Minor Arcana, have been highly successful. You will not find this terminology in 18th century books and earlier. Since the Rider-Waite-Colman-Smith deck didn't exist until 1909, and Wirths trumps didn't exist until 1889, Christian only knew the marseille deck and Soprafino-adjescent Italian decks.

@Symph you might like these older discussions on the forum with similar discussions to this (it's fine to start a new discussion on this, but these might also be worth a browse)..... BTW most phone apps and websites are not AI, they have algorithms for random picking with stored interpretations. It's not the same as AI, there are tarot chatbots and sites out there and people use ChatGPT and all the others but again this is not the same as programmed software for reading. My advice is to use a digital deck for shuffling and picking the cards but interpret the reading yourself.

A good place to start could be to do a daily recap. Draw one card at the end of the day, asking beforehand, "how did my day go" or "what lesson can I draw from the day?" Something like that, instead of asking advice from the cards. (I can't take credit for this, not sure where I learned this from, just picked up on it here and there.) As far as trusting electronic tarot apps. My opinion: really like a digital version of a dice roll. No different to me, really, and just as reliable. A really good one is Galaxy Tarot.

You and I are on a similar page it's like, I suppose if I have no other method it can work but it just doesn't really feel right and it's hard for me to trust it. I'm a bit odd in the sense that while I love Tarot and want to become very good at reading it to have a strong regular personal practice, I also have trouble figuring out what to use it for. I'm not a curious person, I don't wonder about a lot of things, I don't have much drama in my life, so often times I'm like "I feel like reading some cards!" And then I sit there for 30 minutes going "but what do I want a read on?.... no I don't really need to know that, don't need to know that..." And then I just give up and go "well I'm not gonna FORCE a question I don't actually feel compelled to ask.." So yeah, kinda weird.

Welcome back @Rachelcat 🙂

I've used the facade web page, and as someone who holds the public view of it's a good parlor trick coupled with a bit of cold reading it's one half dozen ot the other. On a personal note, I only use digital decks I physically own. The reason behind this is if I need to draw cards to clarify. However, I feel no connection to the draw and being a bit of a luddite, I prefer cards. In a more serious note, if you need to have the cards fo whatever reason, digitsl is better than none. I've been in a similar position as you though. My ex refused to let the cards in the house because he noticed I could use them and center myself to where the abuse didn't get a reaction because I could meditate on the cards (my mom let me keep them in her house). In that case, facade was a lifesaver, and this was before all the apps came out.

Hi everybody! Hope all is going well for you! This week for me will be Vintagia: I Ching Oracle for Psychogeography and Creative Discovery. It’s a Kickstarter that’s kind of out there, but I had to have it because it’s an I Ching deck! It’s 64 cards for the 64 I Ching hexagrams. The illustrations are photos from DOCUMERICA, a US EPA project of the 70s to document everyday life and environmental conditions of that time and place. Cards also have “VCR panel” icons: record, rewind, play, fast forward, etc. The box looks like a videotape box (but card-sized). The I Ching base is the Wilhelm translation, I think. The booklet has MANY sets of interpretations: “vector drifts,” “psychogeography and intuitive walking,” and “prompts for creative discovery” (containing separate prompt sets for active imagination, fiction and poetry, journaling, music composition, music performance, fine arts, and philosophy). That’s a lot! (And to be honest, it all seems a bit pretentious. But that might be because I’m not understanding it yet.) I’m not sure how I’m going to use this deck. I’ll probably start with spreads in the booklet and then try to move on to some I Ching spreads I’ve used before. And I’m going to have to keep my magnifying glass handy! In the meantime, interview! What is your most important characteristic? 61. Inner truth, silence reveals the real voice The deck is an extra pair of glasses to help me see further within. What is your strength? 49. Revolution (molting), erase to reinvent The deck isn’t shy to recommend out with the old in order to welcome the new. And the world revolves. Your weakness? 27. The corners of the mouth, tend the whole like a garden Meta: The deck might be weak in aligning traditional I Ching meanings with its key phrases. What can you teach me? 64. Before completion, let an edge fray, leave an open space Last card in the deck isn’t about completion, but its opposite. Similar to 49, but more open. Everything is always new if we leave space for it to enter. How can I learn it? 10. Approach, move closer to a crackling edge Crackling? Same as a fraying edge above? I can learn about staying open by not just leaving an open space, but actively moving toward it. What will be the outcome of our work together? 39. Obstruction, where the path blocks, the soul walks I won’t get much out of it this week, but I will be encouraged to return to it later for more study (for my soul to walk through it). Ok for now. I’ll get into the VCR panel thingies next time!

Yeah I can't lie, I just did a spread and sort of, tested it by asking the same question different ways and prying into it to see if I'd get contradicting answers, nope, it was 100 percent consistent in how it read. I don't however like having to read this hodge podge of different decks so I guess I'd need to buy one of their decks to actually have one I can intuit more from, and it's hard for me personally to be as umm.... I dunno my brain goes "Well yeah but it's just an app" But I mean, if it says the same thing every time.... It really is odd to me though, I'm shocked it still works honestly.

@Symph I feel ya. It is a lot less physical, but I found the shuffling feature a nice substitute. It’s just an animation (tied to a randomizer) but I could imagine you could project your energy into it that way. For me, so long as the cards are shuffled and random, I’m happy, though I do appreciate the animation because it gets me in the mood and makes me think I’m influencing the shuffling more. I think Fools Dog (minus their sampler pack) is pretty good at keeping in app purchases out of their apps, though it’s been a while since I’ve used them. Plus you get the guidebook in the app, if there is one. As for whether you can get accurate readings, I never had a problem with that. The cards I got were on point. Plus the journal feature helped me look back at the spreads I’d done and review/add to their entries. I don’t know if you can export your journal though, something to keep in mind. No problem! Hope you enjoy. Let us know how it goes for you.

Well I kept pondering it afterward, and like, if the app were to not use any kind of digital intelligence, but just be a card randomizer, why couldn't one's own consciousness bond with it and get accurate readings? Still sounds weird to me though, no cards to shuffle, no cards to pop out of the deck by chance, you know what I mean? So much like... physical energy is involved in Tarot. Anyway... As far as the apps I was seeing it was like Labyrinthos, Keen, Daily Tarot Card Reading, like I dunno, they don't all mention AI or anything, maybe I should have titled the thread "can an app give an accurate reading". I mean at the end of the day, you either trust your reading or don't, I just see like "in app purchases!" and it feels much less... sacred? But if you have had good experience with TFD I'll at least give it a shot. I'll ask some light questions to see if it feels accurate or intuitive, thanks for the recommendation! I

What apps were you looking at? I had good experiences with The Fools Dog tarot apps back when I used tarot apps. I looked up one deck by them and I didn’t see mention of AI. You can use their spreads or make your own.