What deck do you connect most with?

[SunshineMoon]

I just found my second deck, Light Seer's tarot. I am so in love with this deck! What is your favorite deck and why? How do you choose which deck you use for your readings?

[DanielJUK]

I've moved this thread into the Tarot Decks section 

[SunshineMoon]

@DanielJUK Thank you! I am still working on finding my way around every now and then!

[Esclarmonde]

For me it's difficult to choose a favourite, because all the decks I have (20+) are ones I bought because I liked them and felt I could connect with them. My "personal" deck, i.e. one that I use for readings for myself only and never for others, is the Alchemy England 1977 - it's a deck that resonates with me perhaps more than others. Other decks I really like are the Renaissance, the Pre-Raphaelite and the Barbieri. But I have no real favourite that I like more than others. 

The Light Seer's Tarot is beautiful; I handled it and looked through it and I love the artwork. I've been vacillating about getting it for ages, but I've got many decks and I don't just want to keep buying more just because they're appealing. That doesn't stop me from having loads of decks on various online shop wishlists.😁 

 

As for choosing a deck for readings - I have no rules for that; it's just whatever deck I want to use. Even for my own readings - I would use the Alchemy for the more serious stuff, but for easier questions I'd use any other deck. 

Edited January 22, 2023 by Esclarmonde

[BradGad]

Like a lot of us, I have several "favorites" or almost-favorites... but I connect most with the Conver TdM deck.

 

I was using the Ben-Dove version, and quite happy with it, but about a week ago I received the Yves Reynaud version. It didn't blow me away at first, but I started feeling pulled toward it. And yesterday (which happened to be a new moon... a new super moon in fact) the pull became much stronger, almost irresistible. I got out of bed about midnight and went to get the YR version. I sat up in bed for hours -- like midnight to 5:00 am -- immersed in the cards. And so many ideas and new observations were popping off in my head... seeing new things I didn't don't think I ever would have gotten to with the CBD.  Somewhere around the 2:00 am mark I was hit by a super strong sense: this is my deck.

 

It doesn't hurt that it's a numbered limited edition, with a signed card addressed to me by Reynaud. Adds to that feeling of specialness.

 

First thing I did this morning when I got up (not draggy as you would think, given how late I stayed up) was to do a spread asking the deck to tell me about our relationship. I'm not going to tell you what the answer was (it's private between me and her), but it was as precise and as positive as possible.

 

(I'm a TdM guy... in RWS, I quite like The Original Tarot by Da Brigh, but find the Universal to be the most accessible and clear-speaking (also just plain pretty). I don't have many non-traditional decks, but I started off tarot with the Robin Wood and still have fond feelings about it: that deck got me off to a positive, gentle start.)

 

(I realize talking about something that happened just this morning could make me seem flighty, but I'm really not: I stuck with the Robin Wood and the CBD -- stuck with in the sense of consistently being able to say "this is my favorite" -- for a couple years each.)

 

 

Edited January 22, 2023 by BradGad

[Niobium]

As silly as it might sound, I still connect most with my Hello Tarot (the Rosales one). Fyodor Pavlov, Shadowscapes, and Idiosyncradeck are all close contenders for that title, but thus far Hello Tarot remains unseated. I suppose it's partly because it was the second deck I ever got, and remains the one I've had the longest.

[akiva]

The one deck I always seem to go back to is the noblet tarot (a tdm). It always reads true for me. I love its fool card for it's unashamed and funny nudity, quite surprising for a deck of that era which was 1650 I believe.

 

The animal attacking the fools privates also looks like my maine coon Tinker, so there's that too 😂

I do use others aswell, like my mini conver and burdel, but they dont quite feel the same. 

 

Another deck I feel really connected to is my piquet deck of playing cards, it's just a cheap pack of playing cards I wrote the meanings on a while back when first learning. For some reason it just beats all others I've used hands down.

[SunshineMoon]

@Esclarmonde I will have to look up the decks you mentioned! I have not heard of them. I love how you just pick which deck you want to use and don't have a specific way to pick. I think you should get the Light Seer's Tarot to add to your collection. I love the energy of it so much. There is something just so special about it, for me! 

 

@BradGad I love this story of you being pulled to your new deck and it is so cool that some cards are signed for you! I am so happy when you asked your relationship with the deck that you had a positive answer. It is so neat to see the answers a deck gives back on those types of questions. Deck interviews are so fun! I do not think that you sound flighty at all, when we know, we know -- and you knew! 

 

@Niobium May I ask what your first deck was? I will look up these decks as well! I never connected with my first deck, it was a Thoth deck. My second and third decks, I have connected with. I might be able to come back to a Thoth when I am more familiar, but I might just stick to Thoth when my reader reads for me since it is what she used. I do love some of the stories associated with the Thoth deck, like Art, but I just had zero ability to read them. 

 

@akiva This made me laugh, the part about Tinker! I will research this card, I want a visual. That is a neat idea to write the meanings on the cards, something to consider for someone new like me! 

[akiva]

@SunshineMoon I found it saves a lot of time writing keywords on the cards, rather than having to flick through books all the time. Though I'd only do it with easily replaceable decks of course! Like a cheap rws or tdm. 😊

 

 

[Wanderer]

Wildwood, for me. It just speaks to me in a way that no others seem to do, so much so that I don't use anything else, really - the only other deck I own is an RWS that's basically for teaching, or for using with people who want a traditional deck. That's not to say I'm not tempted - there are some gorgeous decks out there, including some that I'm sure would read well for me... but that sense of dedication to one deck also seems important.

 

[Niobium]

8 hours ago, SunshineMoon said:

@Niobium May I ask what your first deck was? I will look up these decks as well! I never connected with my first deck, it was a Thoth deck. My second and third decks, I have connected with. I might be able to come back to a Thoth when I am more familiar, but I might just stick to Thoth when my reader reads for me since it is what she used. I do love some of the stories associated with the Thoth deck, like Art, but I just had zero ability to read them. 

 

My first deck was Terry Donaldson's Dragon Tarot deck, bought at a very precocious age. I soon discovered it didn't really work for me at all, the imagery failed to gel. But it got me *interested* in Tarot overall, so I have to give it credit for that. This lead to the Rosales Hello Tarot (seen at a little New Age shop somewhere but I purchased direct from the artist), and around this time a lot of gaming and comics stores had a side hustle of selling random tarot decks, which is where my Medieval Scapini and Tarocco delle Vetrate came from. 

 

So I can completely relate to not really hitting it off the first time. IMO that's okay, though; we all start somewhere, and I think I learned more than I didn't in terms of realizing right away that a deck's imagery had to make sense for me or I was never going to use it.

[Guest]

If the deck I most connect with means the Tarot that I have had the most meaningful and accurate readings with, and which I also feel a close affinity to, then it's a tie between the general Rider-Waite-Smith (Centennial, Borderless, LoS Vintage, etc) and the Thoth.

 

If it's a question regarding my favorite Tarot though, no matter the current degree of my skill in reading them, it's a toss-up between the Minchiate Etruria and the Sola Busca Tarocchi.

[Rosebud]

Like @Wanderer, my first (tarot) love is Wildwood! I specifically drawn with its folklore (?) and rich imaginery. My favorite card is The World Tree from the Wildwood. This makes me drawn to read tarot.

 

I read the Wildwood first before reading any tarot deck, and found it hard to read, of course. So I walked away from Wildwood tarot for several months... And later I am able to read the deck, good thing they come with a mobile app 😄

[Jewel]

For me it is the Alice Tarot (MRP/Baba Studios).  This deck is everything I could have ever hoped for in a Tarot deck, it was like it was tailor made for me.  It reads effortlessly, for any kind of reading, is beautiful and just overall my perfect deck.

[Misterei]

Gemini rising over here. Definitely more than one. And they change.

Those that have withstood the test of time?

Ciro Marchetti's Legacy of the Divine is my favorite for reading with clients in person. It's a great ice breaker.

Lo Scarabeo Radiant wise spirit (RWS clone, borderless) is my fave for on-line clients Easy to see on zoom or facetime.

Alexander Daniloff Oriental is my soul deck and i've used it for clients a few times.

Eduord Dotti is my fave Tarocchi deck. It's about the only pip deck I use with clients.

 

Reading for myself I like to change it up. I connect well with most of my decks ... but there are maybe 5 ... not so much. eventually I might sell or donate them. A few are just historic eye candy and I don't expect to read with them but I love them as art history.

 

Edited March 11, 2023 by Misterei