Deck that has given me nightmares:
The Crowley Thoth deck. I had a nightmare about the Tower from that deck. I am not kidding. I have not taken the deck out since that happened.
Favorite "whimsical" decks:
Baseball Tarot and The Tarot of Baseball...yes, *two* different baseball decks! I'm a huge sports fan, and like the Legend deck, the baseball metaphors speak to me in a way that many other images can't. I've been playing with designs for a hockey deck (it's the first deck I've ever designed, so I've no idea how it'll turn out, but it should be fun!)
Deck that I just plain don't like:
The Rider-Waite. Ironically, this was my very first deck. I think the colors are too hard on the eyes. Apparently, others thought the same thing, or we wouldn't have the Universal Waite Deck, which was my second first deck:). I think the coloring is quite lovely and does a better job of bringing out Ms. Colman-Smith's beautiful illustrations. I didn't realize whaat pretty drawings they were until I got the Universal Waite deck.
shine on,
From Carol:
My favorite deck?!?
Ok, but don't laugh...
When I was in college, I fell absolutely in love with The Aquarian Tarot by David Palladini. I know, I know...most serious readers don't care much for this deck because it doesn't depict many of the esoteric symbols that you might find on, say, a Rider-Waite or Estrella deck; but the illustrations are a beautiful and unusual combination of Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles, the watercolor work on the backgrounds really pull you into the cards, and the eyes on these faces are truly amazing.
I've been using this deck for about 25 years and I've never had any problem spending time meditating on these cards...and isn't that the true importance of a favorite deck? That it speaks so easily and tells us so much?
My least favorite?
Well, I have to say that I agree about the Crowley Thoth - it is a nightmare, and the Rider-Waite (why it's recommended for beginners, I'll never understand), and the Sforza deck was difficult to work with because it's just too large for my hands, but the one that truly stands out for me (as a least favorite) was a deck that was based on the Aztec mythos. I just had no points of connective reference - the problem was primarily cultural.
From Edie:
Hi everyone! My favorite deck has always been The Mythic Tarot. It's the first deck I purchased when I was 14, and I love not only the mythical references and story lines, but I'm so drawn to the pictures and imagery. I tried to break away from the deck to expand my interpretation abilities, because it was not designed to be read reversed. But, I love the deck so much, I decided instead to read the cards reversed anyway, and just figure out the meanings on my own. I've actually combined the meanings given in the accompanying book with interpretations I've found for other decks, until they've become almost my own creation. Now, if I was to teach someone how to read those cards - any cards, for that matter - they'd be all screwed up if they compared what I said with what was in the available books, nothing is consistent. Isn't it all about intuition anyway? I trust my gut more than I trust any book. In my opinion, if you find a deck with imagery that speaks to you, it doesn't really matter what the author intended the meanings to be...it's about what you feel they mean to you.
From Prairie
From SMW:
**Favorite deck:
Legend: The Arthurian Tarot.**
I agree, the Legend deck is a wonderful deck! A friend of mine uses this deck exclusively, and she couldn't be happier with it. The Arthurian stories are universal and speak well to the subconscious.
**Deck that has given me nightmares:
The Crowley Thoth deck.**
A lot of people have said that. Personally, I'm not too fond of that particular deck, but it speaks to some people.
**Favorite "whimsical" decks:
Baseball Tarot and The Tarot of Baseball...yes, *two* different baseball decks!**
I've never seen the Baseball decks in person, but there's a lot of 'specialty' decks out there that work extremely well for different people. If you find a deck that pertains to your particular interests, then you can relate better to the cards, and the readings are more in tune with you.
**Deck that I just plain don't like: The Rider-Waite. Ironically, this was my very first deck. I think the colors are too hard on the eyes. Apparently, others thought the same thing, or we wouldn't have the Universal Waite Deck, which was my second first deck:). I think the coloring is quite lovely and does a better job of bringing out Ms. Colman-Smith's beautiful illustrations. I didn't realize what pretty drawings they were until I got the Universal Waite deck.**
A lot of people can't relate to the Rider deck. The one thing that the Rider deck has going for it is the symbolism. Every image is there for a purpose. Even the colors have a meaning. The cards weren't meant to be 'pretty'. It was meant to speak to a person's subconscious. A lot of people outgrow the Rider deck pretty quickly.
Thank you for your comments.
**From Carol:
My favorite deck?!?
Ok, but don't laugh...
When I was in college, I fell absolutely in love with The Aquarian Tarot by David Palladini....the illustrations are a beautiful and unusual combination of Art Deco and Art Nouveau styles, the watercolor work on the backgrounds really pull you into the cards, and the eyes on these faces are truly amazing.**
I agree, the Aquarian is a beautiful deck. Even if Suzy Nextdoor or Ms. Famous Paganlady doesn't agree, who cares? The idea is for the deck to speak to YOU. If you are comfortable with a deck and it's comfortable with you, that's really all that matters.
**My least favorite?
Well, I have to say that I agree about the Crowley Thoth - it is a nightmare, and the Rider-Waite (why it's recommended for beginners, I'll never understand), and the Sforza deck was difficult to work with because it's just too large for my hands, but the one that truly stands out for me (as a least favorite) was a deck that was based on the Aztec mythos. I just had no points of connective reference - the problem was primarily cultural.**
A lot of people would agree with you about Crowley and the Rider. I don't think I've ever had any experience with the Sforza deck. I know the ease of shuffling does have a large impact on how much I can get into a deck. I love the artwork on the MotherPeace deck, but I have yet to figure out an effective way of shuffling the things!! As for the cultural bias of a lot of decks, I agree wholeheartedly. There are a few Oriental decks out there that work great for other people, but I just can't get into them myself because of the cultural differences.
**From Edie:
Hi everyone! My favorite deck has always been The Mythic Tarot..... I've actually combined the meanings given in the accompanying book with interpretations I've found for other decks, until they've become almost my own creation..... Isn't it all about intuition anyway? I trust my gut more than I trust any book. In my opinion, if you find a deck with imagery that speaks to you, it doesn't really matter what the author intended the meanings to be...it's about what you feel they mean to you.**
Right on!! I couldn't have said it better, myself! I adore the Mythic deck, too, by the way. I don't seem to use them much anymore, but they are a wonderful set of images that speak to us on an unconscious level!
Thank you to everybody who has responded. Anybody else want to share your favorites with us? (And your least favorites).
My favorite deck, as far as usage goes, has got to be the Morgan-Greer. I use that deck more than any other. It's classified as a Rider clone, but it's more people-oriented. Mine is several years old, and it wears beautifully. I have several other 'favorites', though, that I use a lot. Hanson-Roberts. Robin Wood. The Celtic Dragon. They all have their special places in my heart for various reasons.
I would have to say my least favorite would have to be The Black Tarot. I'm glad I got it, but I just can't get into the dark imagery. I had 2 decks, and 2 friends who adored them, so they both found new homes with loving owners. To each their own. The Black Tarot uses very dark images, and I don't mean just the colors. A lot of sexual images that seem perverse to me. I couldn't figure out how he got the meanings to the cards, or if he was just using the tarot as a vehicle to showcase his art. Don't get me wrong here. I love Luis' art! I just think it's better on a calendar than a deck of cards.
Looking forward to hearing from everybody else!
From Patricia
One of my favorite decks is the Thoth deck because the Moon card is so dark and brooding!
One of my least favorite is the herbal deck because it does not depict enough detail in it.
Love & Light,
Patricia
From Comfort:
I have several favorite decks. I love the Celtic Dragon deck. I love the artwork & I find it very easy to read this deck. I like the Hallowquest for meditation (I have the Hallowquest book), it was my very first tarot deck because I am very interested in Arthurian legend. That leads me to the Legend deck, which I also love. It's art work is great and the images/stories go wonderfully with the cards traditional meanings (and its mostly purple, my fave color). I'm also quite fond of the Ancestral Path deck. The artwork is very good and I like the way that each suit tells a story from a different race (Staves = Egyptian, Cups = Atrthurian, Sword = Japanese, Circles = Native American). The Lo Scarabeo Tarot Art Nouveau also has some beautiful artwork and the images are nearly all female, which is nice too.
I think the 2 decks I dislike the most are the Greenwood and the PoMo. I just could not relate to the Greenwood deck at all. I bought it because it looked interesting, but once I got it open I found I didn't like it. It was hard to work with and for some reason the use of animals for Pages really made it difficult for me. (I have no idea why). It was the first deck I ever traded away. The PoMo's cards were just too huge to work with. I couldn't shuffle them. I'm also not that into post modern art so some of the symbolism just slipped by me. I also don't like the Motherpeace deck, mostly because I don't like the artwork.
I often find decks that have the card name printed in several languages on each card to be very distracting and for years never bought any deck that wasn't in English alone, but in the last year or so I have found it really depends on the deck. I now have about 5 multi-language decks.
Someone (sorry I forgot who) mentioned the Black Tarot. I just got it a month or so ago and I agree that it is dark and some of the images (women having sex with demons) are a bit much for me. However I took it to a party last weekend and everyone found it *fascinating* and begged me to read for them with it. I got some very interesting readings with it and most of the people I read for were pleased with their results.
BTW this is my first post. My name is Stacey aka Comfort. I'm 32, married, and live in VA. I've been working with tarot cards for about 8 years now. I used to read for clients but now I only do it for long time friends, this weekend was the first time in 3 years I have read for people I don't know. It was fun and I felt good about the readings but I am more comfortable with people I have known awhile. I use the tarot mostly as a tool for personal growth and insight.
Comfort
From Ken
I don't know if many people even like these decks or use them but I find my personal favorite decks that I am most connected to are the Stairs of Gold Tarot and the Arcus Arcanum Tarot. These decks ring true to me with their artwork and I have looked at hundreds of decks. I also have many other favs but these are on top of my list. All the best,
Ken
From Pele
Hi!
I have several tarot decks, but my favourite ones are Tarot of a Moon Garden, The Enchanted Tarot, and The New Palladini Deck.
Tarot of a Moon Garden is a very vividly coloured, very whimiscal deck which depicts unicorns, dragons, hot air balloons and fairies. There is a Moon in the background of almost every card. It's a very non-threatening deck for use with people who are a bit leery of getting a tarot reading, or who are whimiscal themselves.
The Enchanted Tarot is a very beautiful "fabric art" deck by Amy Zerner. She has incorporated painting, quilting, decoupage and beading to create a very colourful, very feminine deck. The only problem I have with it is the size of the cards - but I bought the smaller version of the same cards and was very disappointed to find that they had cut off and morphed some of the images in an effort to make them fit the size requirements.
The New Palladini Deck is by David Palladini, the same artist that created the Arthurian Tarot. The artwork is similar, but as he states in the booklet that came with the deck, he created the Arthurian Tarot before he knew anything about tarot - the New Palladini was done many years later, after he was more familiar with tarot symbology. It's very brightly coloured with a lot of black backgrounds which make the symbols stand out. I find that it speaks to me very well.
Decks that I don't care for are the Legend Tarot Deck, The Lord of the Rings, and the Gendron Deck.
It's not so much that I didn't like the Legend Tarot as that I couldn't relate to it - I really liked the paintings. I just found that I couldn't read with it because I couldn't connect it with the stories of King Arthur. I also found it quite "masculine" in a way which I cannot quite explain. I gave it away to a friend who fell in love with it the moment she saw it.
I find the Lord of the Rings Deck downright annoying. I did like many of the images, but it offended me that many of the cards did not relate to the story. I had the impression that the artist had read Lord the the Rings once, several years ago, and was trying to tell the story to someone else pictorially, doing a very poor job of it. I feel that more study of the story line was desperately needed before they even attempted a deck, and it annoys me to know that I could have done a much better job of assigning cards to the story than they did.
The Gendron Tarot is a computer art deck which is very beautiful - stunning in fact - if you ever get a chance, look at the Magician or the Moon cards. However, the artist re-used many of the images several times - it's as if she had one roll of film to take pictures of all her friends for use in this deck, making it necessary to assign them multiple cards. For example, the face of the Emperor is also the face of one of the Kings (I think it's the King of Swords) - it's the exact same picture! She didn't even have him facing the other way to add a bit of variety. The other thing I didn't like about this deck was that several of the pip cards had no relation to the meaning of the card. For example, the six of swords (I think it was) depicts a smiling woman in a forest with six swords stuck in the ground in front of her, but the book that came with the deck gives the traditional meaning of the card. Things of this sort make me crazy, so I got rid of the Gendron, even though I really liked the artwork.
Thanks for asking my opinion!
Pele
From Therese
I have several decks, but my favorite is "The Shapshifter Tarot". The cards speak to me and the artwork is heavenly.
My least favorite is The Rider Waite (which was my first deck, also!!!)
Therese
From Carissa:
Based on pictures of the major arcana of the Gendron deck, I bought it through the mail. The majors ARE exquisite, as are a few of the minors....but most the minor arcana are really ugly, silly, and downright cheesy. I can't use the deck. I hate to part with it completely....I keep intending to go to Kinko's and get a few of the pictures that I like blown up into posters, or at least small prints that I could frame. Sigh. I like my Tarot of a Moon Garden very well, too. It isn't a great beginner deck (symbology is there but not as clear as, say, the Robin Wood) but is great for a slightly more experienced reader with a strong aesthetic sense.
Carissa
