Your Most Readable Deck

[zhadee]

zhadee, what a wonderful imaginative description! I chuckled when I read it. Though I doubt that I'll ever get that deck, I see your idea about the atmosphere of a deck. I like the Robin Wood as much for the warm colours she uses as anything about the art. But use Secret Tarot, cool colours, calm soothing images, when I am in Hermit mode and sick of all the emotion around me. Lately I have been using the TM Arcus Colores a lot but have not yet worked out in my mind why it reads so well for me. Usually esoteric decks just confuse me.

For me colour and atmosphere help me read because they draw me into a deck, much as the Pirate Tarot does for zhadee. But then, I am not always receptive to any given deck. Place's Alchemical works for me in the same kind of mental state as when I use the Secret, but the Fey works while feeling outgoing.

Alta, I'd never thought of getting that deck either =) Before joining AT when spotting the Pirates I'd said: "Who needs a comic style deck when there is a Thoth available?!" and turned away, disgruntled.
But I have been a happy member with AT, when I saw the Pirates (amongst other decks) piled up in my favourite bookstore. I looked at it and wondered why on earth should one person wish to use a themed deck. RWS is themed in a way, too. But pirates?!
I was standing there for 10 minutes, walking back and forth, talking to myself (just in my head, I hope). One pack was already opened, so I decided to ask the cards why I should get it. I pulled one card: 9 of Coins shows 3 Pirates climbing down the stairs, where there's treasure huddled up. The message in my face. No need to gape at it for half an hour, then groping for Crowley's explanation with a feeling of defeat.

The Ceccoli Tarot works in a similar way, though the images work rather like a mirror. The message is there, just a question of courage to face it. =)

 

[EmpyreanKnight]

The Thoth, the Rider-Waite-Smith, and the Gothic Tarot by Vargo have all been very readable to me.

 

[Falcor]

I have found that Fey Tarot is very talk-able.

 

[Vesper]

The two Grandville decks by Baba Press are my reading decks. I get out the others from time to time, but they are not reliable in the same way. Fantastic Menagerie is so full of life. So many decks are filled with what I call "lonely" cards, but in this one, only 12 of the cards have a lone subject. The others are scenes, like stills from a film, with the actors frozen in a telling moment and it is up to me to say what went on before and what will happen next.

It is also the first deck with which I was able to pull off reading it like it's just an image, like there are no assigned meanings. I was always intrigued by that approach, but i could never ignore the assigned tarot meanings before. With this one, I can turn off the traditional associations and draw meaning from the cards like pre-school child "reads" a storybook: turning pages and talking to herself about what is going on.

After my cancer diagnosis two years ago, I started using the Victorian Flower Oracle for health questions. It has never been wrong! (I am doing well now, but I can't count the number of times this deck has comforted and advised me, and I treasure it greatly.)

 

[delinfrey]

I own about a 100 decks, but I must say that by far the most readable is Legacy of the Divine. Actually RWS as well, if I have specific questions.

For "fortunetelling" (predictions) I actually mostly use Lenormand, specifically my Jeu de Destin deck, and that one is eerily on spot, even more so than my Tarot decks.

If you mean "chatty" rather than good with predictions, I get a lot from the Archeon; Röhrig and Rosetta also come to mind.

 

[rabidwolfie]

My most readable decks are my Fenestra, my Deviant Moon, and my Unicorn Tarot.

My unicorns are my oldest deck, and I can almost read that one blindfolded just because we've been working together so long, but also because it's basically an RWS clone with unicorns.

Fenestra is another old deck, but its soft colors and expressive pictures are very easy on my subconscious. I tend to read intuitively so I don't read LWBs or instructional books in general. I just look at the image and go with whatever comes to mind.

The Deviant Moon is newer compared to the other two, but it spoke my language right out of the box. It's more like having a conversation with an eccentric friend than reading tarot cards.

All three read equally easily so I couldn't choose just one.

 

[jerrissica]

My most readable deck other than my favorite (which is the Paulina Tarot)is the Shadowscapes Tarot. I don't use it very much but when i do choose to use it, the messages are very clear.

 

[FLizarraga]

On reflection, I'll have to mention the Thoth. It was a deck that read amazingly well to me when I didn't knew much Tarot Then, as soon as I started learning more, it surprisingly closed up.

I cannot say that it reads as easily for me now, though it is starting to open up again. But I'm still astonished at how many layers it has. I find that it lends itself as easily to superficial questions such as "How does X feel about me" as it does to much deeper inquiries.

 

[Laiste]

Osho zen for me, I don't have to do any effort to read with it. It speaks to me very clearly. I'm learning to read now with the Mary-El and hoping that can become my most readable one. (If it would be an Oracle deck it would be the Faeries Oracle from Froud.)

 

[magicjack]

The Steampunk Tarot and the Lluwellyn Classic. (I know, even I can't believe it) They are not my favorites and took me a couple years to appreciate how well I can read with them.