Remembering your VERY first deck....

[GreatDane]

Wow, Eric13.  THAT is impressive.  Great way to start your journey!

[gregory]

4 hours ago, Libra 58 said:

@GreatDane Thank you! 

Some years later I also bought the book to the The Cat People Tarot, I have not read the book but I have it!

And I have been working some with the deck, but it´s not an easy deck for me, but I love it since it´s my first deck!

 

Did you get her novels (with Andre Norton) ? Mark of the Cat and Year of the Rat ? They rather shed light on the background to the deck, too

[Arania]

1 hour ago, gregory said:

 

Did you get her novels (with Andre Norton) ? Mark of the Cat and Year of the Rat ? They rather shed light on the background to the deck, too

 

There are books? Aaaah... need to get!

Edited October 7, 2023 by Arania

[gregory]

The two with Norton are novels - but after I read them, the deck made even more sense. The deck one is brilliant.

 

Tarot of the Cat People: A Travelers Report

 

Not cheap, but I'd say worth it !

[GreatDane]

Gregory, I had NO idea there were books.  Perhaps if I had read the books, I would have felt more of a connection to the deck images.  I'm glad you added.  I am guessing not everyone here knew about the novels.

Edited October 7, 2023 by GreatDane

[RunningWild]

On 10/5/2023 at 12:42 PM, gregory said:

 

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

  🤣

 

 

[Tanga]

On 10/5/2023 at 6:42 PM, gregory said:

 

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

😆

On 10/5/2023 at 6:44 PM, Arania said:

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?

🤣😂😁

Say WHAT?  🤣  Dang...  I guess I should invent some traditions of my own...🤔.

 

 

I absolutely LOVE this thread 🙂

 

 

On 10/5/2023 at 3:24 PM, Serpentwand said:

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.

 

I often felt my Tarot growth was stunted by not being able to find a multi-cultural deck that suited when I started learning 😱. I really struggled with this & kept giving up and re-starting again. I.e. - shove the cards under the bed in disgust until next year sort of thing, pout and rant.

And - how I wish The Thoth Tarot was a fully illustrated deck. If it were - whammo for me...  I love the art style and colour.  

My brain is frozen in sort-of RWS style, I can't really seem to learn anything else, and neither can I really integrate astrology or much of anything else into my reading 🤪. 

These days I accept how I read is how I read. ...It seems sufficient or something...🤔

 

 

*My post disappeared and I realised I had too many ... emoticons... so now it's on page 3 instead of one - and I'm sure you're all confused! 

 

Now yes - the Cat People Tarot book... where on earth did my copy get to. I like this deck a lot and used to use it for Magic.

Edited October 7, 2023 by Tanga

[Misterei]

20 hours ago, Libra 58 said:

...  my first deck, The Tarot of the Cat People.

It was cats on it and that was the only reason why I choose that one, because I could hardly see the cards on those little pictures in the catalogue.

They where beautiful but I had no clue how to use them, so I only had them as eye candy ...

I have that deck and love its science fiction / fantasy backstory.

It might be hard to learn as a first deck ... of course all depends your learning style.

[Libra 58]

17 hours ago, gregory said:

 

Did you get her novels (with Andre Norton) ? Mark of the Cat and Year of the Rat ? They rather shed light on the background to the deck, too

No, I didn't, but it's available to buy if I want to, but I think it's to hard English for me to read.

 

 

 

15 hours ago, gregory said:

The two with Norton are novels - but after I read them, the deck made even more sense. The deck one is brilliant.

 

Tarot of the Cat People: A Travelers Report

 

Not cheap, but I'd say worth it !

This is the book I have.

Edited October 8, 2023 by Libra 58

[Wyrdkiss]

On 10/5/2023 at 12:54 PM, Nemia said:

My first deck was the Thoth, and it had a huge impact on me. 

 

I have told this story many times, but here we go 😉 

 

When I was 18 and quite unhappy, a friend of mine did a fantastic reading for me. I don't know whether she still reads the cards but I remember that reading vividly. I knew nothing about the tarot but fell totally in love with one special card, and the whole experience. However, I was sure that I have no talent and intuition at all, so I didn't buy a deck for myself. 

 

Some ten years later, I saw a book about tarot in a bookstore and on a whim, I bought it. It was Spiritual Tarot, illustrated with RWS, Aquarian and Morgan Greer cards, and I found it very encouraging. I was disappointed that I didn't find the cards I remembered there but guessed that my friend must have used another deck. But what was its name? I had no idea. 

 

So I went into a bookstore where they sold tarot decks, all of them sealed so I couldn't look at the cards. I simply bought the one that looked most promising. When I opened it at home, I found the card that I had remembered. 

 

 

The rest, as they say, is history 😉 

 

I read Ziegler's book about the Thoth but it didn't open the deck for me, it just seemed like empty words. Banzhaf was much more helpful, but only after reading Crowley himself and DuQuette could I really understand what the deck was about. 

 

It's still my best reader and I carry it everywhere. It has taught me everything I needed to know. A great deck and a great teacher. 

I walked into a store called, The Haunted Bookshop while I was visiting a friend in Arizona.  I was perhaps 20 years old.  I was at the counter, saw a revolving display of tarot decks, and immediately picked out a Thoth greenie in the box.  It was instinctual and without hesitation. The seller looked perturbed. I'm sure she was 100% certain it was not a good choice for me.  It ended up becoming the best gift to myself, and truest friend.  I own six Thoth decks now, but I still have my first love somewhere special. I read with it only on my birthday.   thanks for sharing your memory and story. It's not surprising others have experienced synchronicities as I have. I do not share the most intense of them. I have to have something all to myself.

Edited October 8, 2023 by Wyrdkiss

[Wyrdkiss]

And ditto on the Book of Thoth and Duquette -- after a waste of several yeas studying a Handbook that was not true to the source, I dove into Crowley's work and Lon Milo's.  Definitely "clicked" at that point.  

[Chariot]

On 10/5/2023 at 8:54 PM, Nemia said:

My first deck was the Thoth, and it had a huge impact on me. 

 

I have told this story many times, but here we go 😉 

 

When I was 18 and quite unhappy, a friend of mine did a fantastic reading for me. I don't know whether she still reads the cards but I remember that reading vividly. I knew nothing about the tarot but fell totally in love with one special card, and the whole experience. However, I was sure that I have no talent and intuition at all, so I didn't buy a deck for myself. 

 

Some ten years later, I saw a book about tarot in a bookstore and on a whim, I bought it. It was Spiritual Tarot, illustrated with RWS, Aquarian and Morgan Greer cards, and I found it very encouraging. I was disappointed that I didn't find the cards I remembered there but guessed that my friend must have used another deck. But what was its name? I had no idea. 

 

So I went into a bookstore where they sold tarot decks, all of them sealed so I couldn't look at the cards. I simply bought the one that looked most promising. When I opened it at home, I found the card that I had remembered. 

 

 

The rest, as they say, is history 😉 

 

I read Ziegler's book about the Thoth but it didn't open the deck for me, it just seemed like empty words. Banzhaf was much more helpful, but only after reading Crowley himself and DuQuette could I really understand what the deck was about. 

 

It's still my best reader and I carry it everywhere. It has taught me everything I needed to know. A great deck and a great teacher. 

Wow.  What a compelling story!  Synchronicity does carry weight, doesn't it?  

[Chariot]

I, like so many others in my age group (born in 1949, in midwestern USA), started with the 'plaid-back' Rider-Waite-Smith deck (known as the Waite Deck in the late 1970s.) I still have my original deck and still use it, on occasion. I was actually surprised to learn there were 'other' tarot decks at all, as my resources (no internet, small town, nobody much doing tarot nearby) were very limited.  I thought if you did tarot, that RWS was the only deck there was!  I did discover the common pip decks shortly thereafter (Marseilles and Wirth) but they didn't appeal to me.  I only recently acquired a copy of each, just for reference.

My second deck was the Hanson-Roberts ...again, I still own and use this deck.  I became aware of the Aquarian tarot around this time (early 80s, I think), but I wasn't motivated to buy it.  I did impulse-buy the Motherpeace tarot, but got rid of it before moving to Scotland in 1986.  Turned out it just wasn't my thing.

So that was it for me, till much later on ...late 90s and 2000s, when I became aware of all the decks there were, and started exploring some of them. By then, of course, I was so used to the RWS system that it's still the basis of my tarot journey.  I own and use around 30 decks now, and that's probably about where my collection will stay.  Occasionally I discard a deck and occasionally buy another one, so my collection remains fairly constant in size. 

I'm curious.  What motivates newbies today to choose their first decks?  And how successful are these choices?  Back when I was young the choices were very limited.  RWS, traditional pip decks, local bookstores or head-shops (if you were lucky.)  I never even encountered a Thoth deck till very recently!  Now there is such a bewilderingly large body of tarot decks and systems to select from—and so many ways to acquire the decks.  I don't know what I would pick up now, if I was just starting out.  I'd probably just go for the artwork alone—which might or might not translate into meaningful tarot experience as I learn to use them.

Edited October 8, 2023 by Chariot

[Arania]

I think starting today I'd be totally lost.

[GreatDane]

I started about 15 years ago and yeah, I think would have been easier to just have the RW!  SO many decks and of course even more now.  I went with oh pretty!  which was a mistake.  Even if they're RWS based, "pretty" isn't enough to make me want to read with it.   The Bohemian Gothic is as different from the original RWS symbolism as I got and still wanted to read with.

 

Mystic Dreamer was my very first deck and I looked at a ton and then got it in my hands and was...um no. 

 

 

[Misterei]

19 hours ago, Chariot said:

I, like so many others in my age group (born in 1949, in midwestern USA), started with the 'plaid-back' Rider-Waite-Smith deck (known as the Waite Deck in the late 1970s.) I still have my original deck and still use it, on occasion. I was actually surprised to learn there were 'other' tarot decks at all ...

Yep, that plaid back garish color RWS was my first and only deck for years. I don't understand how you've kept your original, though.

I've been through about 5 of them ... burnt then replaced with the same deck ... before the world changed and there were other decks };>

17 hours ago, Arania said:

I think starting today I'd be totally lost.

I tell my students to get a RWS and a TdM for learning ... then branch out how ever you want ... but learn on those [RWS if you can only afford one].

Of course they don't always listen to me };>

[Chariot]

5 hours ago, GreatDane said:

I started about 15 years ago and yeah, I think would have been easier to just have the RW!  SO many decks and of course even more now.  I went with oh pretty!  which was a mistake.  Even if they're RWS based, "pretty" isn't enough to make me want to read with it.   The Bohemian Gothic is as different from the original RWS symbolism as I got and still wanted to read with.

 

Mystic Dreamer was my very first deck and I looked at a ton and then got it in my hands and was...um no. 

 

 

I think if I was just starting today (not knowing anything more about reading tarot than I knew back in the 1970s) I would probably be incredibly seduced by the variety of decks available now.  I wouldn't understand the reading process, so I'd just go for the artwork itself, when picking a deck.  (Which would probably not be the classic RWS!)  The flip side to this bewildering tsunami of card decks is the easy availability of instructional materials, though.  YouTube, books, courses, conferences ...forums like this one, etc.  It's intriguing to think 'what if.'  How would I be different, if this had been my way 'in'?

@Misterei - I guess the answer to how I still have my original deck is that I only used it when I needed a question answered for myself, or friends came by and wanted a reading.  That didn't happen all that often, back then.  I have never attempted to become a professional tarot reader!  Nor did I do daily draws or much in the way of study during the 70s and 80s.  I just pulled it out when I needed answers.

It's only fairly recently (over the past 30 years or so, since moving to Scotland) that I've started reading more frequently and studying the tarot. And of course, I have acquired more decks—and they all get a workout!   That being said, the deck I've used most often during the past 30 years is my RWS classic mini-deck, which is the first one I bought in Scotland (at Borders bookshop in Glasgow, if memory serves me right.)  Ease of shuffling, not needing a huge table for a spread, easy to carry in pocket or bag, etc.  That one IS getting a bit frazzled around the edges—much more so than my original RWS. But I now have several other mini-decks to take 'out' places—Llewellyn Classic, Universal Tarot, Hanson-Roberts—so my RWS mini is getting a bit of a rest as well.  

Just did a very useful personal reading last night, with my modified Anna K deck (with beeswax candles, two salt lamps and my lovely Paine's Balsam Fir incense all lit up.  So satisfying!)  And last Tuesday I did another really useful personal reading with my (newish) Robin Wood tarot deck—which has been working very well for me, I'm happy to report.   I guess that's how I keep my decks a long time.  I don't use them every day!  🙂  

Edited October 9, 2023 by Chariot

[Arania]

On 10/7/2023 at 11:59 AM, gregory said:

The two with Norton are novels - but after I read them, the deck made even more sense. The deck one is brilliant.

 

Tarot of the Cat People: A Travelers Report

 

Not cheap, but I'd say worth it !

More than I can afford on a book at the moment but they'll go on my list.

[Misterei]

15 hours ago, Chariot said:

... how I still have my original deck is that I only used it when I needed a question answered for myself ...

Ah. That explains it. Similar scenario to my old Thoth deck being in such good condition for its age.

 

@Chariot said

  <<... the deck I've used most often during the past 30 years is my RWS classic mini-deck, which is the first one I bought in Scotland (at Borders bookshop in Glasgow, if memory serves me right.)  Ease of shuffling, not needing a huge table for a spread, easy to carry in pocket or bag, etc.  That one IS getting a bit frazzled around the edges—much more so than my original RWS. But I now have several other mini-decks to take 'out' places—Llewellyn Classic, Universal Tarot, Hanson-Roberts—so my RWS mini is getting a bit of a rest as well.  >>

 

I'm also a fan of the mini decks for exactly the reasons you mention.

LOL when Amazon had a super sale on RWS mini Centennial in a tin ... I bought like 10 of them. Some I gave as gifts ... but others i just keep as backups since I use that deck so often for clients or to take on a trip or whatnot.

@Chariot <<... Paine's Balsam Fir incense ...>>

 

I'm totally a fan of Balsam. Not familiar with the brand ... but its quite freshening. At least here I must search it out. Not in the normal stores.

[Guest]

I had my mom give me my first deck as a birthday gift. Back then I was enrolled in a nationally-renowned STEM high school, so I guess she was mightily surprised lol. I still have that deck BTW. 

[Scandinavianhermit]

In the 1980s, my country was highly secular, and, although a budding New Age movement was stirring, only the three biggest cities had any metaphysical bookstores. I was a teenager when I bought 1JJ Swiss (which I recognised from the television series Tales of the Unexpected running on the telly at the time) and the US Games version of Rider-Waite-Colman-Smith then available (which I recognised from a cheap paperback about tarot).

 

It wasn't until the late 1990s I got a better grip on tarot history, thanks to Michael Dummett. My present day tarot habits (CBD Tarot, Wirth 22 trumps only, Dame Fortune's Wheel Tarot) differ considerably from my teenage ones. As for Lenormand, I wouldn't have plunged into that field, if I hadn't become a member here just a few weeks ago, so my Lenormand interest is extremely recent.

[Scarlett]

My very first deck was The Rider Tarot deck because the person in the shop recommended it as a first deck (I agree). A year or two later, on a whim, I bought The Witches Tarot by Ellen Cannon Reed. This was before the internet, so I wasn't able to see the cards before buying them. The court cards are lazy and a lot of the artwork is questionable, but I liked them at the time. Then I moved on to the Thoth (side note: a friend warned me not to buy that one because it was "evil" 🤣). It quickly became my favorite deck. I bought a more decks here and there over the years and my favorites keep changing. Now my collection is somewhere around 200 decks (and counting).

[Ncharge]

My first deck was the Aquarian Tarot. I was 12 and I asked my Mom for a crystal ball for Christmas. She couldn't afford it, so she bought me a deck. I loved it but didn't do much with it for the next 15 years - life intruded. Then, I fell in love with it all over again. I still have that deck 50 years later. I keep it in a special box.