Which deck to use?

Citrin said:

I pick a deck based on what my intuition tells me. I've noticed that I tend to pick a deck for the day more than the questions I get asked actually. If I do a reading for myself and two for other people in a day I usually stick with the deck that felt right for the first reading. Only sometimes I switch when I really feel the question and deck don't match.

Sometimes I use one deck for weeks, sometimes they don't get used for years... It's all good. They have their place in my heart anyway.

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I do that kind of thing a lot too, pick a deck in the morning and stick with it throughout the day. Sometimes I wanna bring my Fantastical Creatures around with me wherever I go, but other times I'll just sit around with my Wild Unknown and just shuffle them randomly. *shrug* Whatever sticks out to me on that particular day.

Morwenna said:

For me, it's sometimes the mood of the day, sometimes the mood of the season (several of my decks feel like they belong to certain seasons).

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That makes sense! I think I'm so partial to Deviant Moon right now because it feels like an autumn/Halloween deck.

Tanga said:

The insanity of card excess!

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What a true statement!

AnemoneRosie said:

I read with different decks based party on my energy level. Some, like Goddess, the Fountain, and Hezicos, just speak to me with no real effort on my part. Some, like the Paulina, read really well for me but I need to be at that level of frenetic energy that the deck hums at. Sometimes I'm just not there at that level.

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This happens to me too. Reading the Wild Unknown is super easy for me, so that's what I usually use when I want a quick and easy reading. Fantastical Creatures usually takes more energy on my part, so I tend to only use it in certain circumstances.

I choose the deck based on the question that will be asked. Some decks are awesome at reading drama, some are better at psychology, some enjoy talking about love or sex, some are workday decks that can tackle anything, so long as it is not extraordinary, some read better intuitively...dunno. It seems to me that certain decks speak better than others about certain topics. Like people, they have their own personalities and strengths.

For a deck of the day, myself, I choose based on mood, if not questions or concerns on my mind.

Sometimes, if I am tired or confused, I just pick the deck that I find easiest to read - simplicity and clarity-type decks, in that case.

I agree, with all other posters. so many ways to choose a deck.

keep in mind, is avoid picking a deck that has too much attitude. lol

Padma said:

I choose the deck based on the question that will be asked. Some decks are awesome at reading drama, some are better at psychology, some enjoy talking about love or sex, some are workday decks that can tackle anything, so long as it is not extraordinary, some read better intuitively...dunno. It seems to me that certain decks speak better than others about certain topics. Like people, they have their own personalities and strengths.

For a deck of the day, myself, I choose based on mood, if not questions or concerns on my mind.

Sometimes, if I am tired or confused, I just pick the deck that I find easiest to read - simplicity and clarity-type decks, in that case.

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You know, I've definitely noticed this! My Fantastical Creatures generally reads better when I ask about personal stuff (probably because it was my first deck and we have an agreement), whereas my Wild Unknown works really well when asking for advice. (In fact, it generally gives advice even when no one asks for it. :^P )

INIVEA said:

I agree, with all other posters. so many ways to choose a deck.

keep in mind, is avoid picking a deck that has too much attitude. lol

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Oh man, definitely. :^P My Fantastical Creatures reads well for me, but when I try to ask for someone else it immediately decides to get all snarky. xD

HallowedNight said:

Oh man, definitely. :^P My Fantastical Creatures reads well for me, but when I try to ask for someone else it immediately decides to get all snarky. xD

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Oh can you read for me? just kidding, lol hehe I'm cheeky, just wanted to see your deck get snarky lol

INIVEA said:

Oh can you read for me? just kidding, lol hehe I'm cheeky, just wanted to see your deck get snarky lol

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Lololol~ It's so annoying though! FC will switch meanings around in the spread or give super negative answers or just pretend like I was asking for myself. Thank goodness the Wild Unknown is basically the opposite. If I ask for myself it's gibberish, but it generally reads really well for other people. :^P

Lol, oh now I want to be a fly on your wall when you do a self reading with the wild unknown, listen in on the gibberish it tells you. Lol

HallowedNight said:

Now that I'm collecting more decks (I had just one for over a year), I'm finding that I favor one over the others...however, as I get even more, I have a feeling I'll have many that I like a lot. How do you all usually tell which deck to use for a reading? Do you switch out depending on the day? Do you go with your intuition?

Also, do you have sort of...seperate collections? Like decks for reading, decks you got just for the artwork etc.?

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Hej Hollowed *long spech alert*


In my years of experience, i´ve learned something. A deck is enough to answer all sort of questions. Many people think: I bought a deck = I see the future now! or ... I´ve got 1000 decks = Am a professional! or worst ... I bought a deck yesterday = advices for free!

My advice, stick to your principal deck., put it under your pillow, take a walk with it, take a bath with it, celebrate his/her birthday!. read every book about tarot that is in your way, from LWB, till big fat books, it really helps. Its valid playing around with other decks, but that one you stick with... will give you accuracy.

1. Pick your favorite deck. 2 Make a list with 10 diffrent questions, 3. pick a card from the deck and answer them all. with this, there´s not need of switching decks for every kind of question.

(i like this example) Stars will be forever "hope" switching decks every time. cause the star is the star ... in every deck. Switching decks wont let the meaning of "stars" involve to other superior meanings, as an example... Stars could talk about a broken window or something that is soon to be broken.

Am not a "tarot-artwork-junkie", i see myself as "thematic tarot junkie" loving those dark-bookie ones.

good luck

For me, when I get a new deck I will usually do an intro reading with it, FireRaven (I think) has a good one on AT for that. This gives good insight of how the deck would like to be used, I have some that only want to be used for me, if I try to read for others with them they give contradictory cards or just give jibberish but when I use them as requested then I have good results.
I now have several decks that are for the same purpose so then I just use intuition or sometimes a pendulum to see which to use for a particular reading. I have my favorite 2 decks that get the most use but sometimes it just feels like the reading needs a different one so I rotate them on whim. Also, each full moon my altar gets cleaned and I will usually check in with my collection of Tarot & Oracle to see who wants to be out for this month or season. Sometimes for specific readings I can feel that none of the decks that are out are right so then I go through the "sleepy" ones and find which has the answers.
I currently don't have collectable decks, I'm not sure that is my style so for now I keep them in 2 locations that have crystals and such so as to give different energies to them. They change spots at times so I just go on intuition of what they want.

It's hard to explain how I pick a deck (or maybe I'm overthinking it and it's really quite simple). I just go by what feels right, the ones I don't want to put back in my tarot box with the others. Right now, it's my Samhain Deck of the Bastard, regular Deck of the Bastard, and '71 RWS. They're sitting out on my desk as I type this, the regular Bastard even still laid out in last night's reading.

I've been having conversations with the Samhain DoB, almost like talking to my higher self, and I've become quite attached to it to the point that I feel rather protective and selfish with it, like I don't want to take it out in public to read with. I just got the regular Bastard and it feels like it can be taken out in public and read with for other people without incident, and with quite good results. Same with the RWS. Haven't done it yet as I just got them this past couple weeks, but I have taken them with me in my purse.

You know how you fantasize sometimes just for a smile, for a little brain vacation? Mine regarding tarot is probably like a lot of y'all's: to hit the road when I retire in my vintage travel trailer, reading tarot at fairs and festivals. When I think of that, I think of laying out the rest of my decks for querents to choose from. I imagine all the "vanilla" teenage girls gravitating to the Shadowscapes or Fairy, the Goth kids choosing the Bastard or Ceccoli, hippies picking the Wildwood, middle aged suits picking the 20th Century or vintage RWS. I wonder who would pick the poor, lonely Bruegel? Or the Golden? The trimmed and edged Sacred Rose?

INIVEA said:

keep in mind, is avoid picking a deck that has too much attitude. lol

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Like the Palladini?