Remembering your VERY first deck....

[GreatDane]

When I first started, I looked at a bunch of decks online and decided on Mystic Dreamer, which I thought, looking at small pix, were drawings.  Pretty deck, but so not a reader for me.  Slowly, but surely, I realized which were readers for me and which weren't.  

 

PCS, for newbies, Pamela Colman Smith, is my go to.  I have about three or four variations of it.  Love Reall's/Irena's vintage deck and cardstock as well as the PCS Commemorative and one without borders.

Bohemian Gothic is a great love as well.  I have limited decks and am even moving along some of them, just because they should be read with and I tend to lean towards my favs.

 

But wondering whose very first deck was a great reader for them?  Any, like me, who didn't really vibe with their first deck?  And whether you bonded or not, which deck? 

[Tanga]

Aha! Yes indeed.

When I began investigating Tarot, I had a little bit of a winding journey through it. And I have to tell you this story to get to my answer. Beginning top left of the photo and moving from left to right:

 

-1st off I read Barbara G Walker, because that was the Tarot book that was sitting on the shelf in my sister's house, available for free....(top Left).

-Then I went off to the bookstore and looked through decks - the 1st I picked was Art Nouveau by Matt Myers (top middle), I really liked the stained glass effect of the artwork. Also, whilst on holiday I took with me the Hanson-Roberts and made great efforts to self-teach Tarot by writing meanings into the borders of the deck - here you see this deck is now borderless (top Right - this was the 1st time I de-bordered a deck, to get rid of all my writing filled margins 🙂).

 

However  I was unsatisfied with these decks because they were not multicultural - and I am, so I was searching...

- Next, I booked myself onto a Tarot course in which, lo & behold, they were using The RWS. Sigh - not multicultural, and not artwork I particularly liked.  I resisted, and it was at this time that I discovered for the 1st time, a multicultural deck that I liked - The Gendron Tarot - (bottom Left) and took that to the course with me.

- However it was impossible to learn using my deck, whilst everyone else had a standard RWS so after 2 weeks I bought the Diamond Tarot (bottom Centre) which I felt was somehow a bit more colourful than standard. 

 

So - roundabout - my 1st real deck, because I was satisfied with it's presentation and did actually do some reading with it because by then I'd learned enough to be confident to read for other people - was The Gendron Tarot.

And today - The Gendron Tarot is still my Go-To deck.

 

The one deck I have which I think may possibly outscale it, is The Superlunaris Tarot (bottom Right) - I haven't completely "learned" it yet. I'm getting there.

Superlunaris ticks all the boxes: multicultural, modern, colourful, borderless and True to RWS format in an art style that I really like.

 

*I only began to appreciate the RWS after I went to a lecture on the life-and-times of Pamela Coleman Smith - it's creator (via direction from A E Waite). I now have quite a few versions of the RWS:

Albano-Waite, PCS commemorative, Carol Hertzer's Illuminated Tarot, Pam's Vintage Tarot, Radiant-Wise & Trippin' Waite.

If I read with RWS - I use Albano-Waite, Radiant-Wise, or Tripping' Waite.

If I'm at a gathering with Tarot beginners - I take the Commemorative, as that's the closest to standard.

 

THANKS 🙏 @GreatDane for giving me the opportunity to yak on endlessly about my Tarot journey! 

 

Edited October 4, 2023 by Tanga

[GreatDane]

THANK YOU for explaining your journey, Tanga!  It's important to know how someone got to where they are, not just a destination.  AND thank you for including PIX!

 

I enjoyed reading about your travels through tarot  very much!

[Arania]

The RWS, nothing else was available. Worked well enough but by now i am kind of tired of it and only use clones or use it with the Before/After tarots.

[DanielJUK]

The first deck I got was a "fortune-telling kit". It was a pretty boxed thing with many methods and I was a teenager, so a great gateway to divination.

However the tarot deck was awful for a beginner, it was a smaller than poker size, black and white TdM, not ideal for starting out. After that I bought a RWS and it was so much easier to learn with 🙂

[GreatDane]

Dan, I find it very interesting how we all started and where we are now.  I wonder how many "hit" the right deck for them first try?  It would seem to be sheer luck as when you start out, you often don't know what will work best for you, what you feel more attuned to.

 

I am picturing you as a teen, speading it all out for the first time, your fortune-telling kit!  Now look where you are!  

[Saule]

I had a similar experience as @DanielJUK. My first deck was Beginner's Tarot by Kathleen McCormack. It was also a Marseilles-based deck. I used the cards a lot, but despite that, I really struggled to connect with them or remember the meanings. I relied on the book quite heavily and my intuition was non-existent :D A couple of years later I got a RWS-based deck (Pagan Tarot) and it was an absolute gamechanger! I could relate to the everyday imagery, apply it to my life, and come up with my own interpretations based on what I was seeing. That's also when I found the Aeclectic Tarot forum. Exchanging readings with other people really transformed my tarot practice. So I guess I had 2 first decks - the first physical deck, and the first deck that really opened up the world of Tarot for me. Oh, now I'm feeling nostalgic for the good old days of my youth, doing readings on my school crushes... :D 

 

 

 

[Bodhiseed]

I saw a Medicine Cards set at my local Books a Million, and not knowing anything about divination, I bought them thinking they were tarot. 😂 I stumbled upon Aeclectic, learned a few things, then went back and bought a Hanson Roberts (probably one of the only tarots they carried back then).

[gregory]

I did this already on the other thread:

 

 

[GreatDane]

Gregory, LOVE your answer!   And I really enjoy reading how everyone kind of started.  Not just about the first deck, but the story behind it and what you all moved on to.  

 

Saule, thanks for sharing and pix too!  I'm an RWS person.  Just what I'm drawn to.

 

Bodhiseed, I think the Hanson Roberts is a sweet deck.  Never had it, but know the images.  I can see why that was a good starter for you.  There are SO many decks now that mix oracle and tarot or decks that say tarot, but  ...

Edited October 5, 2023 by GreatDane

[Rodney]

GD! Hope you've been well! 💜

 

My first deck was the Mythic Tarot back in 1991. Back then there weren't sample decks one could thumb through in the store and it was pre-internet, so there weren't any sites around to show all the cards in decks. One could only go by whatever pics were on the box, and, in the case of the Mythic, the Fool, which showed in a cutout on the back of the box. The metaphysical bookstore was between work and home, so uncharacteristically for me, I think I went three times and looked at different decks before choosing the Mythic. I've always loved Greek Mythology, and I thought (and still do think) that the yellow-box RWS is fugly! So, the Mythic seemed like a great fit for me. And it was a set with a companion book.

 

I finally bought a yellow-box RWS somewhere between decks 6 and 10, only to get it home and find that someone had stolen the LWB from it! Fortunately, I had books that used RWS illustrations. In no particular order decks 2-5 were New Orleans Voodoo Tarot, Robin Wood Tarot, Witches Tarot (Cannon-Reed), and Tarot of the Spirit (Eakins). 30+ years later, I still haven't tackled the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot or Tarot of the Spirit. The Witches Tarot screwed me up with Courts since she does something completely different with them. I haven't used the Robin Wood in years, but I do have a soft spot for it in my heart.

[FindYourSovereignty]

I have been a bit stumped with this question, but now it is all coming back to me…
Before I even knew anything about tarot, I purchased a whole bunch of tarot and oracle cards from Hay House during a $5-7 deck sale. Collette Baron-Reid’s Good Earth Tarot, Radleigh Valentine and Doreen Virtue’s Angel Tarot and Archangel Power Tarot. They sat on my shelf for a year or two before I even opened the boxes. Once I started I realized how RV’s and DV’s leaned into oracle cards. At the time I thought the Good Earth was beautiful, but wasn’t an easy reader for me as a beginner. Thus the hunt to find just the right deck began. I ordered the Sheridan Douglas deck because I had found Eden Gray’s book at a thrift store and the deck was suggested.

The first decks I really started with were The Druidcraft and The Medicine Woman Tarot. Now my deck inventory continues to grow. 

[RunningWild]

My very first deck was Rider Waite.  It was the early 80s and I gave it away not long after I’d purchased it.  I was a junior or senior in college at the time and just didn’t have any kind of free time to learn the cards.  I don’t remember why I thought I wanted it to begin with.  LOL

 

Then in the late 2000s, after a friend convinced me to try again, I bought the cheapest deck I could find.  I think it was The Enchanted Tarot.  Not long after that I went hunting for a deck I could like and the Enchanted Tarot ended up either being passed along or in a bin.

 

These days I have to look up in a journal what decks I have (there aren’t really that many).

 

 

[GreatDane]

Rodney, HI!  Been a wild ride the last few years, things have settled a bit.  We must message!  

 

Wow, interesting journey you took re starting, Rodney.  This thread is WAY more interesting than I thought it would be because people are sharing stories about the hows and whys, not just listing their first deck.  It's great.

 

FYS, THAT was a PATH.  Funny what many of us went through when we first started.  What we started with only to find, um nope, need or want a different deck.

 

RW, so Enchanted Tarot was first one you really tried to start with?  I so understand.  I have moved along WAAAAY more decks than I have kept.  And some were just lovely.  But just not for me.

[Rodney]

32 minutes ago, FindYourSovereignty said:

Now my deck inventory continues to grow. 

Who you telling? 🤣 When I had many fewer decks than I have now, I was told by a tarot luminary that I have one of the largest publicly known (as in I talk about it) collections in North America! 🤯 I don't have as many as gregory, but she has two decades of collecting on me!

 

12 minutes ago, RunningWild said:

These days I have to look up in a journal what decks I have (there aren’t really that many).

I have an Excel spreadsheet with more rows in it than I'll admit (but well into four digits).

[GreatDane]

Holy moly, Rodney!  I think Gregory has like a house or rooms for her decks?  If I recall correctly, Le Fanu had quite the collection too?  I don't know why, that just occurred to me from AT.  Wow, I haven't seen that name for a long time.  

[Rodney]

1 minute ago, GreatDane said:

Rodney, HI!  Been a wild ride the last few years, things have settled a bit.  We must message! 

Most indubitably! 💜

 

2 minutes ago, GreatDane said:

Wow, interesting journey you took re starting, Rodney.

Rodney today would tell 1991 Rodney to just BUY the danged thing already! 🤣 (That's mostly a joke because I believe that changing any part of my journey, even something I feel is insignificant, would likely have a ripple effect such that I would be in a different place in my journey than I am today at this time. I could be in a better place or a worse place. Either way I'd be in a different place.)

[Misterei]

My dad gave me my first deck. Plaid back RWS with the garish colors. It was the only deck back then.

Long gone ... I burnt and replaced decks as they got worn-out.

Now I have 70 different decks ... so wearing-out isn't an issue any more.😇

[FindYourSovereignty]

9 hours ago, Rodney said:

My first deck was the Mythic Tarot back in 1991.

My sister had this deck and cannot find it anywhere to pass on to me… hear it is a good one.

 

9 hours ago, Rodney said:

In no particular order decks 2-5 were New Orleans Voodoo Tarot, Robin Wood Tarot, Witches Tarot (Cannon-Reed), and Tarot of the Spirit (Eakins). 30+ years later, I still haven't tackled the New Orleans Voodoo Tarot or Tarot of the Spirit.

In a bulk buy I received my Druidcraft along with the Robin Wood and Tarot of the Spirit. I haven’t tackled either of them yet, but have slightly dabbled in Tarot of the Spirit. 
 

8 hours ago, Rodney said:

Who you telling? 🤣 When I had many fewer decks than I have now, I was told by a tarot luminary that I have one of the largest publicly known (as in I talk about it) collections in North America! 🤯 I don't have as many as gregory, but she has two decades of collecting on me!

You two have tarot libraries! 😍 And the opportunities for new ones abound. It is amazing how many different decks are being produced. I have discovered it is essential for me to be very selective. I make mistakes sometimes that I really wish I hadn’t, but seeking out thoughtfully creative decks has helped limit my buying. Thankfully.

 

8 hours ago, GreatDane said:

This thread is WAY more interesting than I thought it would be because people are sharing stories about the hows and whys, not just listing their first deck.  It's great.

 

Agree! This is a very interesting thread. Thank you for starting it.

 

[gregory]

10 hours ago, GreatDane said:

Holy moly, Rodney!  I think Gregory has like a house or rooms for her decks?  If I recall correctly, Le Fanu had quite the collection too?  I don't know why, that just occurred to me from AT.  Wow, I haven't seen that name for a long time.  

 

Gregory has a room. The decks have seeped out of it into many other places.... Things are getting critical. Seriously.

[2dogs]

I started with this box that included both RWS and Thoth mini decks and an attractive book.

 

 

And so from day one was thrown into that state of not knowing which deck to use - one had pretty minors, the other nice majors, neither was entirely satisfactory - and after finding AT went on to try a few different decks, none of which entirely clicked. I don’t think the actual system of Tarot gels with me; I keep getting drawn into studying it but after a while give up in confusion.

[GreatDane]

Serpentwand, maybe you're a different type of reader.  To me there is no one system.  Readers read and interpret in all different ways.  Or perhaps Lenormand would be more towards your liking.  I only read tarot for myself and close friends, Lenormand for everyone else.  

 

When I started, I would go through a deck card by card, and journal some key words that came to mind.  I did settle on one book that I got inspiration from, but in the end, it's you and the cards.

 

 

[Rodney]

13 hours ago, GreatDane said:

Holy moly, Rodney!  I think Gregory has like a house or rooms for her decks?  If I recall correctly, Le Fanu had quite the collection too?  I don't know why, that just occurred to me from AT.  Wow, I haven't seen that name for a long time.  

I pay a lot of money for a 2 bedroom apartment, and the second bedroom is my study that houses most of my metaphysical/esoteric collections. The astrology books have crept out into the entryway though.

 

5 hours ago, FindYourSovereignty said:

My sister had this deck and cannot find it anywhere to pass on to me… hear it is a good one.

In a bulk buy I received my Druidcraft along with the Robin Wood and Tarot of the Spirit. I haven’t tackled either of them yet, but have slightly dabbled in Tarot of the Spirit. 

You two have tarot libraries! 😍 And the opportunities for new ones abound. It is amazing how many different decks are being produced. I have discovered it is essential for me to be very selective. I make mistakes sometimes that I really wish I hadn’t, but seeking out thoughtfully creative decks has helped limit my buying. Thankfully.

I will always have a soft spot for the Mythic. And I call the New Mythic Tarot "The Abomination"...

 

I studied the Robin Wood before she released her companion book. One of these days I'll revisit my original notes and augment them with insights from the book. I believe I have all the companion books for Tarot of the Spirit for whenever I do get around to studying that deck.

 

For better or worse, it is a LOT easier for decks to get published these days without needing to go through a publishing house.

3 hours ago, gregory said:

 

Gregory has a room. The decks have seeped out of it into many other places.... Things are getting critical. Seriously.

Agreed. Space is at a premium, so almost all of the shelves are packed two deep. And with the cost of living in my area, my disposable income is nowhere near what it used to be....

 

2 hours ago, Serpentwand said:

And so from day one was thrown into that state of not knowing which deck to use - one had pretty minors, the other nice majors, neither was entirely satisfactory - and after finding AT went on to try a few different decks, none of which entirely clicked. I don’t think the actual system of Tarot gels with me; I keep getting drawn into studying it but after a while give up in confusion.

Some of the tenets I live by may be of help to you:

• Keep what resonates, and discard what doesn't. (And just because you discard it today doesn't mean it won't resonate at some point in the future.)
• Just because it's written or spoken doesn't mean it's gospel. Too many people come across as saying, "This is what you NEED TO DO!" instead of saying, "This is what I DO..."

There are many different ways to read tarot - images, symbolism, numerology, astrology, kabbalah, elements, and any number of permutations of the ways I've listed. Find the method that works for you, and even if no one else resonates with that system, as long as you're happy with the results you get, that's all that matters.

[gregory]

24 minutes ago, Rodney said:

discard what doesn't.

 

I don't understand this sentence.....

[Arania]

And I just heard one of the last podcasts with Rachel Pollack where she mentions having had a deck stolen and then being told later that tradition was that you have to steal your first deck. Has anyone ever heard of such?

1 minute ago, gregory said:

I don't understand this sentence

🤣😂😁