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Author Topic: Good Tarot Deck  (Read 2721 times)

Celtag

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Good Tarot Deck
« on: July 12, 2012, 09:28:39 pm »
I'm looking at getting a Tarot deck, and wanted to know what would be good for someone starting out.
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MadZealot

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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #1 on: July 12, 2012, 09:49:09 pm »
Quote from: Celtag;63919
I'm looking at getting a Tarot deck, and wanted to know what would be good for someone starting out.

 
Rider/Waite is pretty much the "standard", and a great many decks are based on R/W symbolism.  

One I particularly enjoy is the Wildwood Tarot.  You just might like it.
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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #2 on: July 12, 2012, 10:21:58 pm »
Quote from: Celtag;63919
I'm looking at getting a Tarot deck, and wanted to know what would be good for someone starting out.

I'm a fan of the plain old standard Rider-Waite deck, but many do not like it. However, you can often find decks strongly based on the Rider-Waite deck -- strongly enough that books using the standard Rider-Waite are still helpful.
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Faemon

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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #3 on: July 13, 2012, 12:16:51 am »
Quote from: RandallS;63928
I'm a fan of the plain old standard Rider-Waite deck, but many do not like it. However, you can often find decks strongly based on the Rider-Waite deck -- strongly enough that books using the standard Rider-Waite are still helpful.
Having used the Rider-Waite as my starter deck, I actually wish that I hadn't. I think I'd learned enough of the basic symbology from reading the books about it... technically, my symbolic language started with the Marseilles, from David Fontanta's Secret Language of Symbols. Even though I've never owned or used a Marseilles deck, that system is still much appreciated by my subconscious. I still prefer the depth of the Marseilles' trumps, if only it wasn't a pip deck. Of course, The Pictorial Key to the Tarot was very thorough. But in all the time I've worked with the Rider-Waite, fully illustrated unlike the Marseilles, and more literal than the Thoth, I still found it too stodgy to intuit anything.

I wish that I'd stuck with the book learning of that deck system, and just jumped into the Shadowscapes, which has read like a dream to me since the very first shuffle.



Celtag, you strike me as more of a Deviant Moon kind of person. I think that's an almost perfect melding of the Marseilles and Rider-Waite, it's original, macabre, and very considerate of each card's meaning.

I've also heard that among all the tarot decks that present themselves as Celtic, the Davis Celtic might very well be the one of the only decks that have earned the label. It's a pip deck, though, meaning 56 of the cards are just repeating pictures of their suit. The three of cups, for example, instead of showing a party scene with people enjoying that company, only shows three cups. If that won't get in the way of your intuition, great, but I personally need pretty.

EDIT TO ADD: Ouch, I just realized that the Davis Celtic seems to have been limited edition. Which means they are very expensive now. Still kicking myself for not moving hell and highwater to get the Victorian Romantic deck while it was still $30. As an alternative, I agree the Wildwood and the Druidcraft tarot both look pretty good.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2012, 12:21:58 am by Faemon »
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Faemon

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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #4 on: July 13, 2012, 12:42:47 am »
Quote from: Celtag;63919
I'm looking at getting a Tarot deck, and wanted to know what would be good for someone starting out.

Other suggestions (hope the double-post will be forgiven, as the edit in my previous post expired and this seemed just too small an edit to bother a mod with.)

While most tarotists look down on gimmicky theme decks, I think that the new Zombie Tarot has a care about the concept of each card, it's just that they have fun with the image, and I personally don't think that makes it any less useful or valid a deck for whatever you want to use it for. It might raise a few eyebrows if you want to read professionally, but if you've really bonded with your deck enough to intuit like mad through it then I say it's really more the querent's problem.

The Arthurian and Llewellyn decks look both absolutely breathtaking, and well thought-out.

Keywords, deviated titles, astrological symbols or Hebrew letters to show what each card corresponds to ... these usually annoy me. I personally prefer decks that let the images speak for themselves. You'd probably have different tastes and reading method, of course.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2012, 12:52:35 am by Faemon »
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MadZealot

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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #5 on: July 13, 2012, 12:48:24 am »
Quote from: triple_entendre;63940
EDIT TO ADD: Ouch, I just realized that the Davis Celtic seems to have been limited edition. Which means they are very expensive now. Still kicking myself for not moving hell and highwater to get the Victorian Romantic deck while it was still $30. As an alternative, I agree the Wildwood and the Druidcraft tarot both look pretty good.


I paid a ridiculous sum for a copy of Courtney Davis' deck, a used copy on eBay.  About a year later I found the deck had been reprinted.  I got a shiny new Davis deck at B&N for about $10.  It was put in a new (bigger) box.  There are new copies on Amazon going for $28 right now and used copies for as little as $8.  BN dot com lists one (new, I'm guessing) for $8.09.  It's the same deck as the original print, except the cards are glossier (probably because they're new.)  It's an outstanding deck.
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Lokabrenna

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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #6 on: July 13, 2012, 12:52:17 am »
Quote from: Celtag;63919
I'm looking at getting a Tarot deck, and wanted to know what would be good for someone starting out.


My suggestion, if you find the Rider-Waite images too "static" as I do, is to look for a deck that closely follows the Rider-Waite but has a theme to it. One good example from my collection is The Steampunk Tarot by Barbara Moore and Ally Fell, very closely follows the RWS, but with steampunk imagery. :) Some are less traditional than others, though.

MadZealot

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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #7 on: July 13, 2012, 12:53:25 am »
Quote from: triple_entendre;63941
Keywords, deviated titles, astrological symbols or Hebrew letters to show what each card corresponds to ... these usually annoy me. I personally prefer decks that let the images speak for themselves. You'd probably have a different tastes and reading methods, of course.


There's a whole school of thought out there that links tarot, Qabalah, Hebrew letters, the zodiac, colors, and musical notes in a series of corrrespondences.  It can get quite involving.  If you're not into that kind of study then I agree, it's just clutter.  The images, especially the traditional RW ones, are evocative enough.
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Faemon

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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #8 on: July 13, 2012, 01:05:36 am »
Quote from: MadZealot;63943
I paid a ridiculous sum for a copy of Courtney Davis' deck, a used copy on eBay.  About a year later I found the deck had been reprinted.  I got a shiny new Davis deck at B&N for about $10.  It was put in a new (bigger) box.  There are new copies on Amazon going for $28 right now and used copies for as little as $8.  BN dot com lists one (new, I'm guessing) for $8.09.  It's the same deck as the original print, except the cards are glossier (probably because they're new.)  It's an outstanding deck.


Ah! That's wonderful. I realized that I was looking at the full set to link on Amazon.

I personally don't like to waste money on the full sets, with the deck's book along with the deck, because tarot artists or even their tarot expert writing partners so rarely go too deeply into explaining their own symbolism.

One exception I'd found was the Zen Osho, the text of which I thought was quite profound and distinguished itself very well as its own tarot system, but I loathed the art and card stock quality. (It seems to be far off our topic starter's kind of path anyway.) (But then again I'd brought zombies into the thread.)
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MadZealot

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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #9 on: July 13, 2012, 01:48:02 am »
Quote from: triple_entendre;63946
(But then again I'd brought zombies into the thread.)


Nothing wrong with zombies.  
I've decided to teach my 18 month old daughter to say "braaaaaaains."  
With her weebly wobbly little toddler walk, she'd be just about the cutest damn little zombie on the planet.
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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #10 on: July 13, 2012, 06:22:10 am »
Quote from: Celtag;63919
I'm looking at getting a Tarot deck, and wanted to know what would be good for someone starting out.


I remain fond as ever of the small and very down-to-earth Lenormand cards  (but I use this french-version deck).
I consistently have very good results with it.

I also love the Goddess Guidance Oracle Cards by Doreen Virtue as a more in-depth look in some issues when I do a reading.

As you, I'm looking for a new Tarot deck - my dog got a hold of my Baroque Bohemian Cat Tarot pack and destroyed it but I didn't like it anyway - and am leaning towards an Egypt-inspired deck.

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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #11 on: July 13, 2012, 06:37:39 am »
Quote from: Celtag;63919
I'm looking at getting a Tarot deck, and wanted to know what would be good for someone starting out.


Actually, I think the best deck to start out with, is the deck that you like the most.
For this purpose endless fun-hours of browsing the web are helpful.

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/

And this guy has rows of cards for comparing them directly, which can be helpful, too.
(Plus you can see ALL the cards of the decks on this page.)

http://www.albideuter.de/
\'You had to repay, good or bad. There was more than one type of obligation.
That’s what people never really understood.….Things had to balance.
You couldn’t set out to be a good witch or a bad witch. It never worked out for long.
All you could try to be was a witch, as hard as you could.\'
Terry Pratchett \'Lords and Ladies\'

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Phaedric

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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #12 on: July 13, 2012, 06:42:08 am »
Quote from: RandallS;63928
I'm a fan of the plain old standard Rider-Waite deck, but many do not like it. However, you can often find decks strongly based on the Rider-Waite deck -- strongly enough that books using the standard Rider-Waite are still helpful.

 
The Morgan-Greer deck is a good example of this.
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Celtag

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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #13 on: July 13, 2012, 11:23:37 am »
Quote from: Phaedric;63967
The Morgan-Greer deck is a good example of this.
Thanks for all the suggestions! I will take them under advisment, lol. No but really thanks for the insight and I will look into the ones yall came up with. Is the Toth deck really hard or something, I had someone tell me I should get that one, but alot of people say it's not really for people starting out.
« Last Edit: July 13, 2012, 11:23:56 am by Celtag »
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Tana

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Re: Good Tarot Deck
« Reply #14 on: July 13, 2012, 11:40:35 am »
Quote from: Celtag;64002
Thanks for all the suggestions! I will take them under advisment, lol. No but really thanks for the insight and I will look into the ones yall came up with. Is the Toth deck really hard or something, I had someone tell me I should get that one, but alot of people say it's not really for people starting out.


The Toth-deck was my first and it is very full of symbolisms and full of Kabala stuff and Golden Dawn things. But it is awesome artwork and it tends to be rather blunt.
So, if it speaks to you, go for it.
\'You had to repay, good or bad. There was more than one type of obligation.
That’s what people never really understood.….Things had to balance.
You couldn’t set out to be a good witch or a bad witch. It never worked out for long.
All you could try to be was a witch, as hard as you could.\'
Terry Pratchett \'Lords and Ladies\'

Confuzzled and proud. :p

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