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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  

150 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.
      133
    • The Thoth Tarot by Aleister Crowley & Frieda Harris (US Games & Others) – produced in different editions and sizes.
      87
    • 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.
      39
    • Deviant Moon by Patrick Valenza (US Games, 2008. Also borderless edition, 2014)
      61
    • 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.
      60
    • The Druidcraft Tarot by Stephanie Carr-Gomm and Will Worthington (St. Martin’s Press, 2005)
      64
    • The Morgan Greer Tarot by Bill F. Greer (U.S Games, Inc., 2012)
      69
    • The Golden Tarot Deck by Kat Black (U. S Games Inc., 2004)
      33
    • The Gaian Tarot by Joanna Powell Colbert (Llewellyn, 2011)
      17
    • The Gilded Tarot by Ciro Marchetti (Llewellyn 2012)
      47
    • The Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore and Aly Fell (Llewellyn, 2012)
      37
    • 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)
      42
    • 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)
      46
    • Housewives Tarot by Paul Kepple & Jude Buffum (Quirk Books, 2004)
      39
    • The Hermetic Tarot by Godfrey Dowson
      33
    • 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)
      32
    • Visconti Sforza Tarot – produced in different versions, for example, the Visconti Tarots (Lo Scarabeo. 2000)
      43
    • Sola Busca Tarot – produced in different versions, for example, the Sola Busca by Wolfgang Mayer (1998), offered by Giordano Berti.
      34
    • The Minchiate Tarot – produced in different versions. A deck of 97 cards running parallel to the development of Tarot.
      29
    • The CBD Tarot de Marseille by Yoav Ben-Dov (2012). A version of the Conver (1760) deck with clean lines and colours.
      25
    • 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)
      15
    • The Word of One Tarot by John Starr Cooke (1992)
      6
    • Tarot of the Silicon Dawn by Egypt Urnash (Lo Scarabeo, 2011)
      22
    • The Alice Tarot by Karen Mahony & Alex Ukolov (Magic Realist Press, 2013)
      26
    • Darkana Tarot by Dan Donche (Self-published, 2013)
      6
    • Sun and Moon Tarot by Vanessa Decort (US Games, 2012)
      24
    • Tarot de St. Croix by Lisa de St. Croix (Devorah, 2014)
      12
    • The Aquarian Tarot by David Palladini (US Games, 1988) – or the later New Palladini Tarot (US Games, 1996)
      46
    • 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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Therese

Therese

Posted
Posted

Sorry, I voted for the CBD and it seems, it wasn't counted. Before my vote 14 people had voted - after my vote again 14 people had voted. ? 

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Rodney

Rodney Supporter

Posted
Posted

I don't have eleven of them:

  • Tyldwick
  • Zirkus Magi
  • City Mystic
  • Philosopher's Stone
  • Oracle of Initiation
  • CBD Marseilles
  • Original Lenormand
  • Alice
  • Darkana
  • St. Croix
  • Burning Serpent Oracle

While I own "The Abomination" aka the Caselli Mythic, the original Mythic was my first deck. As other out of print decks are listed, they should've stuck with the original.

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RavenOfSummer

RavenOfSummer Circle Host Supporter

Posted
Posted

I have exactly...1 😳 Despite owning 69 decks! I always knew I had unusual taste in decks, and I feel like this confirms it.

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RavenOfSummer

RavenOfSummer Circle Host Supporter

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, gregory said:

Oh so not as eclectic as ALL that :classic_wink:

ALTHOUGH...the RWS was the first deck I ever bought, when I was about 16, and the rest I didn't start buying until I was 30...I probably wouldn't own the RWS if I hadn't bought it back then! I do like having it though.

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Morsoth

Morsoth

Posted
Posted (edited)

I have 11 decks from the list! I should have clicked yes for The Original Lenormand (Forge Press, 2012), as I have the Ur-Lenormand: Das Spiel der Hoffnung (The Game of Hope) (U.S. Games Systems, 2015), which is the exact same deck, but by a different company...

Edited by Morsoth
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katrinka

katrinka

Posted
Posted

The decks are listed in a manner that skews the results. Some include all variations, others ask about a very particular edition.
For instance, the RWS option includes ALL RWS variations/editions ("produced in different editions, such as Commemorative, Radiant and Original")
But the TdM mentions only the CBD (which I don't have, though I probably have a good half dozen TdMs, several of which are Conver types.)
Same with Lenormand, there are several options, but no "Lenormand" blanket category. The oversized Ur Lenormand is an option, but the identical Game of Hope isn't.

So a Universal RWS (which doesn't even use PCS's linework) would count for the RWS category, but TdM from Yves, Grimaud/France Cartes, etc. isn't eligible to be counted. Just the CBD.
 

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xTheHermitx

xTheHermitx

Posted
Posted

I have 3 of them, and only own 5 decks right now:

 

RWS

Crowley Thoth

Hermetic Tarot

 

the other 2 are the Tarot of the Witches and The Enochian Tarot

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Mi-Shell

Mi-Shell Supporter

Posted
Posted

A strange mix, that.... falling over the CBD thing as well.....

 

The Thoth Tarot

 The Mythic Tarot  

The Druidcraft Tarot

 The Morgan Greer Tarot

 The Gaian Tarot  *

The Steampunk Tarot *  

The Mary-El Tarot

 The Osho-Zen Tarot

 The Chrysalis Tarot *

 Sola Busca Tarot

 The Minchiate Tarot 
The Blue Owl 
.......................................................

The decks that I * stared were gifts - I really do not use them 

Of the ones I do give ftf readings with there is only the Druidcraft here....

 

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euripides

euripides

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

I have

RWS

Druidcraft

Housewives

Gilded 

 

from this list.

 

Um a few others that are slipping my mind... time to get them out of the closet, I think.

 

Edited by archimedea
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Misterei

Misterei

Posted
Posted

I only had 9 of the decks ... and quite a few are Le Normand or Oracles ... wtf?

This list is silly.

I think there are a few "essential" decks for any serious Tarot practice ... but this list is not it.

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gregory

gregory Circle Host Supporter Kickstarter Supporter

Posted
Posted (edited)

The list is very silly, and biased towards companies who support them and members who create.

 

And I have all but two of the tarot decks; I don't collect oracles so while I have a few or the Lenormands; I can't recall which just now.

Edited by gregory
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fire cat pickles

fire cat pickles Circle Host Supporter

Posted
Posted
3 hours ago, gregory said:

I remember that. It was awful !

It was a disaster! 😂 Smack me if I try it again. 🤪

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Chariot

Chariot

Posted
Posted

I agree the list is kind of silly ...mainly because if these are 'essential' tarot decks, I reckon somebody should explain why they were chosen.  Some, like the RWS, Thoth, Tarot de Marseilles, etc, are classic decks for three different systems. But so many of the others are no different from many others that were not listed at all.  Why are they 'essential?'

However, I do have 8 of them.  

RWS (I learned with this one, and still use it—I have my original deck plus a mini deck I use a lot)
Druidcraft (one of my three go-to decks ...the other two aren't listed here!) 

Morgan Greer (just bought this one a couple of months ago, and I like it and use it now)

Gilded Tarot (although I much prefer his Tarot Grand Luxe which is one of my two 'essentials' not listed here—the other is the Anna K Tarot)
Tarot Illuminati (pretty to look at, but the designs are a bit too busy to work with ...I don't use it very often)
Hanson-Roberts (the second deck I ever bought after the RWS, way back in the early 1980s—non-scary deck for newbies and kids)
Sola Busca (I love looking at it, but have NEVER used it, and probably never will—I'm too lazy to learn a new system)
Gilded Reverie Lenormand (the Lenormand deck I use the most, because of the extra cards, which are helpful)

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fire cat pickles

fire cat pickles Circle Host Supporter

Posted
Posted

There was another thread somewhere that discussed what was meant my "essential". Can anyone find it? Basically we talked about how what is essential for one person will not be essential for the next.

 

I also have six decks on the list, seven if you consider that I have TdM and not necessarily the CBD. And also I am confused what makes the CBD particularly "essential" and not another TdM. Why???

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