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Tarot Association's Top 50 Essential Tarot Decks Redux

Saturn Celeste

By Saturn Celeste
in Tarot Decks

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Tarot Association's Top 50 Essential Tarot Decks Redux  

147 members have voted

  1. 1. Select all the decks you own from this list! This is multiple choice but you MUST make your choices all at once before hitting the submit button.

    • Waite-Smith Tarot by A. E. Waite & Pamela Colman-Smith (US Games) – produced in different editions, such as Commemorative, Radiant and Original.
      130
    • The Thoth Tarot by Aleister Crowley & Frieda Harris (US Games & Others) – produced in different editions and sizes.
      85
    • The Mythic Tarot by by Juliet Sharman-Burke, Liz Greene and Giovanni Caselli (St. Martin’s Press, 2011) – originally produced by a different artist, the older version is now scarce.
      38
    • Deviant Moon by Patrick Valenza (US Games, 2008. Also borderless edition, 2014)
      60
    • The Wildwood Tarot by Mark Ryan, John Matthews, Will Worthington (Sterling Ethos,2011) – a popular revisiting of the Greenwood Tarot, which is now extremely rare.
      59
    • The Druidcraft Tarot by Stephanie Carr-Gomm and Will Worthington (St. Martin’s Press, 2005)
      62
    • The Morgan Greer Tarot by Bill F. Greer (U.S Games, Inc., 2012)
      67
    • The Golden Tarot Deck by Kat Black (U. S Games Inc., 2004)
      31
    • The Gaian Tarot by Joanna Powell Colbert (Llewellyn, 2011)
      16
    • The Gilded Tarot by Ciro Marchetti (Llewellyn 2012)
      46
    • The Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore and Aly Fell (Llewellyn, 2012)
      36
    • Tarot Illuminati by Erik C. Dunne and Kim Huggens (Lo Scarebeo, 2013)
      39
    • The Enchanted Tarot Deck by Amy Zerner and Monte Farber (Connections, 2009)
      28
    • The Mary-El Tarot by Marie White (Schiffer, 2012)
      40
    • The Jungian Tarot Deck by Robert Wang (Marcus Aurelius press, 2001)
      12
    • The Lo Scarabeo Tarot by Mark McElroy (Llewellyn, 2007)
      19
    • The Hanson-Roberts Tarot by Mary Hanson-Roberts (US Games, 2012)
      35
    • Tyldwick Tarot by Neil Lovell (self-published, 2013)
      26
    • Osho-Zen Tarot by Osho with illustrations by Deva Padma (Newleaf, 1994)
      45
    • Housewives Tarot by Paul Kepple & Jude Buffum (Quirk Books, 2004)
      38
    • The Hermetic Tarot by Godfrey Dowson
      32
    • Tarot of the Zirkus Magi by Doug Thornsjo (Duck Soup Productions, 2014)
      10
    • Chrysalis Tarot by Toney Brooks & Holly Sierra (US Games, 2014)
      34
    • City Mystic Tarot: NYC by Virginia Jester & Chris Hopkins (Self-Published, 2014)
      4
    • The Psycards by Nick Hobson & Maggie Kneen (US Games, 2002)
      16
    • The Philosopher’s Stone by De Es (Currently out of print)
      5
    • Oracle of Visions by Ciro Marchetti (US Games, 2014)
      15
    • The Oracle of Initiation by Mellissae Lucia (Self-published, tarot-sized edition, 2014)
      1
    • Grand Etteilla – produced in different versions, for example, The Book of Thoth: Etteilla Tarot (Lo Scarabeo, 2003)
      31
    • Visconti Sforza Tarot – produced in different versions, for example, the Visconti Tarots (Lo Scarabeo. 2000)
      42
    • Sola Busca Tarot – produced in different versions, for example, the Sola Busca by Wolfgang Mayer (1998), offered by Giordano Berti.
      33
    • The Minchiate Tarot – produced in different versions. A deck of 97 cards running parallel to the development of Tarot.
      28
    • The CBD Tarot de Marseille by Yoav Ben-Dov (2012). A version of the Conver (1760) deck with clean lines and colours.
      23
    • The Original Lenormand (Forge Press, 2012) – based on the original Game of Hope located in the British Museum by Marcus Katz & Tali Goodwin.
      16
    • The Blue Owl (Blaue Eule) (US Games, 2011) and in different versions.
      29
    • The Gilded Reverie Lenormand by Ciro Marchetti (U.S. Games Systems, 2013)
      30
    • The Transparent Tarot by Emily Carding (Schiffer Books, 2008)
      20
    • The Tarot of the Nine Paths by Dr. Art Rosengarten (Self-Published, n.d.)
      3
    • Tarot in the Land of the Mystereum by Jordan Hoggard (Schiffer, 2011)
      4
    • The Voyager Tarot by James Wanless & Ken Knutson (Fair Winds Press, 2008)
      14
    • The Word of One Tarot by John Starr Cooke (1992)
      6
    • Tarot of the Silicon Dawn by Egypt Urnash (Lo Scarabeo, 2011)
      21
    • The Alice Tarot by Karen Mahony & Alex Ukolov (Magic Realist Press, 2013)
      25
    • Darkana Tarot by Dan Donche (Self-published, 2013)
      5
    • Sun and Moon Tarot by Vanessa Decort (US Games, 2012)
      24
    • Tarot de St. Croix by Lisa de St. Croix (Devorah, 2014)
      11
    • The Aquarian Tarot by David Palladini (US Games, 1988) – or the later New Palladini Tarot (US Games, 1996)
      44
    • The Burning Serpent Oracle by Rachel Pollack & Robert M. Place (Self-published, 2014)
      10
    • Tarot by Dennis Fairchild (Running Press, 2002)
      10
    • Revelations Tarot by Zach Wong (Llewellyn, 2012) for its take on reversals, or Tarot of the New Vision by Pietro Alligo, Raul Cestaro & Gianluca Cestaro (Lo Scarabeo, 2003) for its reversal of perspective on the Waite-Smith design.
      32

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Saturn Celeste

Saturn Celeste

Posted
Posted

Select all the decks you own from this list!  This is multiple choice but you MUST make your choices all at once before hitting the submit button.   Please visit the original poll found at the Tarot Association.

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Annabelle

Annabelle Supporter

Posted
Posted

I own 37 of the 50. This strikes me as an odd list. There are plenty of classics, but also some . . . well, decks I flatly refuse to buy because they are unappealing. 

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reall

reall

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Posted (edited)

he he, like this!:) btw we should have top voted results at top!:)

Also what if I have i.e 10 different rws/thoth edt?x,x facepalm lol joke aside it's around 12/2I let go for me!:)

& THERE is NO WAY THIS IS TOP50WITHOUT GOLDEN UNIVERSAL AND BOTICHELI AND MUCHA AND S H A D O W S C A P E S???x,x facepalm lol

Edited by reall
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Saturn Celeste

Saturn Celeste

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Posted

This is not my ultimate list of essential decks either.  Some of them are really unappealing and just not my style.  Personally I love my own decks list too!! :78496:

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fire cat pickles

fire cat pickles Circle Host Supporter

Posted
Posted (edited)
47 minutes ago, Saturn Celeste said:

This is not my ultimate list of essential decks either. 

I think the term "essential" is way too subjective. Essential on what terms? Essential for someone else's pocketbook, perhaps? Essential in terms of reading for accuracy? On a historical terms basis? For collectors? If reading, what system is one  using? Intuitive? Traditional? Historical approach---Golden Dawn, esoteric, OTO, or "other" such as Wildwood, etc.? Why is Minchiate, TdM lumped and Lenormand (suspiciously) into one or two categories and others are not? 

 

Maybe these questions are best left for a broader, more involved discussion elsewhere 😉

 

Edited by fire cat pickles
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Wheel of Fantastic

Wheel of Fantastic

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Posted

Better choice would be most widely used decks, that would indicate the most essential. Where's the Wild Unknown Tarot? That's arguably the most popular tarot deck of the past 7 years!

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fire cat pickles

fire cat pickles Circle Host Supporter

Posted
Posted
7 hours ago, Wheel of Fantastic said:

Better choice would be most widely used decks, that would indicate the most essential. Where's the Wild Unknown Tarot? That's arguably the most popular tarot deck of the past 7 years!

"Most Widely Used Decks" is the best phrase I've heard yet. This avoids pitfalls associated with commercialism, popularity and subjectivity, in my opinion, while including all decks and not just tarot.

 

 

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AnomalyTempest

AnomalyTempest

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Posted

Yeah, I have a RWS. That's literally the only deck on this list I own, 🤣 I have a steampunk tarot, but not the one listed here.

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gregory

gregory Circle Host Supporter Kickstarter Supporter

Posted
Posted

45/50. I don't do oracles.... I have a few, but not so you'd notice. Of tarots, I don't have the 9 Paths or the City Mystic.

 

But there are several I would have argued should be on there....

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Cobweb

Cobweb

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Posted

I hardly have any!  🙂   I agree, though, that a poll of which decks we all regularly use would be interesting...

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gregory

gregory Circle Host Supporter Kickstarter Supporter

Posted
Posted
On 5/15/2019 at 11:13 PM, fire cat pickles said:

I think the term "essential" is way too subjective. Essential on what terms? Essential for someone else's pocketbook, perhaps? Essential in terms of reading for accuracy? On a historical terms basis? For collectors? If reading, what system is one  using? Intuitive? Traditional? Historical approach---Golden Dawn, esoteric, OTO, or "other" such as Wildwood, etc.? Why is Minchiate, TdM lumped and Lenormand (suspiciously) into one or two categories and others are not? 

 

Maybe these questions are best left for a broader, more involved discussion elsewhere 😉

 

 

The Tarot Association KNOWS what is important. The rest of us who don't belong have to work it out for ourselves, if we don't buy the list which contains - several of their personal friends.

 

That was snide. OK - this is what they actually say:

 

Quote

If you ask any reader for their essential decks, you are going to find yourself quickly experiencing what we call the diversity of divination!

Every reader will tell you that if you’re asking them, you really must have a Thoth deck – or a Waite-Smith deck – or a Fairytale Deck suitable for younger people – or a Marseille deck … and before long, you’ll wonder why you asked!

So we gathered our Tarot Association Facebookers together and asked them – all 13,000 of them – to tell us their essential decks and then we collated the results together. The results are as diverse as you might expect, even though we clipped the list at the most commonly mentioned top fifty. We could easily have made it the top one hundred, or maybe two hundred and fifty.

We’ve grouped decks together into historical decks, Lenormand, Oracle decks, etc., and realise that each of the categories could also have a Top Fifty. This list is intended to represent a fair collection of diverse decks, giving you a good idea of what other readers may have on their tables.

 

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gregory

gregory Circle Host Supporter Kickstarter Supporter

Posted
Posted (edited)

Good idea for a poll - I'm happy to set one up - NEXT WEEK sometime.

 

I see this is happening OFFICIALLY now !

Edited by gregory
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FLizarraga

FLizarraga Supporter

Posted
Posted

Some of those decks I HAD, but don't anymore, so I didn't include them. Interesting list, but I agree that "essential" is a bit much.

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Bodhiseed

Bodhiseed

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Posted

I currently have 11 from the list; I had 11 others but gave them away. Nothing is essential if I don't use it! 😁

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Mi-Shell

Mi-Shell Supporter

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Posted

None of the decks that are important to me and that I use often are on that sorry little list:

Nevertheless I do have a few of them - that apart of the DruidCraft I do not use. 

Is this a list of what is popular right now - or what is sold mass market?

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fire cat pickles

fire cat pickles Circle Host Supporter

Posted
Posted
18 minutes ago, Mi-Shell said:

None of the decks that are important to me and that I use often are on that sorry little list:

Nevertheless I do have a few of them - that apart of the DruidCraft I do not use. 

Is this a list of what is popular right now - or what is sold mass market?

 

We were trying to figure this out, too. We opted to have our own study. Each month we are listing our favorites here:

 

https://www.thetarotforum.com/forums/forum/127-decks-of-2019/

 

I'm keeping a list and will create a poll at the end of the year for voting so we'll have our own 🙂

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Mi-Shell

Mi-Shell Supporter

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thanks Fire Cat! ♥

I posted in the June and July threads, that are still open.

It is a bit of a repeat, since I usually stick with a new deck for several months.

March through May, when we were travelling I just had my mini Greenwood and the Songs for the Journey home with me.

I sorely missed the Medicine Cards, as several people on the Wind River Reservation asked me for readings with it....

Next time....

Edited by Mi-Shell
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Jewel

Jewel Supporter

Posted
Posted
On 6/15/2019 at 2:07 PM, FLizarraga said:

Some of those decks I HAD, but don't anymore, so I didn't include them. Interesting list, but I agree that "essential" is a bit much.

So much this.  And as someone else here said, the great majority of the ones I had on the list are not decks I use.  I was happy to see The Alice Tarot on it though :balloon_imp:  My list would have looked A LOT different!

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