A Newbie decision on what deck to buy, Modern or Traditional?

Ladybug76

I currently have The Royal Deck and a Cachet deck but the more I am learning about Tarot, I am looking to upgrade. Is it better to start off with Traditional like the Universal RiderWaite to understand Tarot traditional readings then go onto a modern deck once I am more adept?

Any guidance would be helpful.

Ps Ideally I would like a deck that is quite crisp and clear on the pics so I know exactly what card it is for reference/study etc.
 

Darkmage

Honestly? Traditional RWS is probably your best bet.

A lot of people find the artwork flat and boring. BUT: It's also the standard for the English-speaking world and almost every book out there uses it for a starting point. Clones and reimaginings are also abundant.

It's cheap, too. You can buy a new copy or a used copy in NM condition and you'll be fine.

You should learn it even if you decide it's not the right deck for you.
 

Ladybug76

Perfect, thank you. I shall have a wee nosey at this now. I am really not vibing with the cards I have. The crochet ones are giant ones. (The Royal are not ideal as a newbie either.) I feel like they are hard to work with and although some of the pictures are beautifully drawn, I just don't feel like they are a great starting deck because they lack important images in the background scenes etc. So traditional RW rather than Universal RW?
 

page of ghosts

What kind of student are you? As in, are you more of a bookish type or adept at using your intuition? The two are not mutually exclusive of course, personally I'm wanting to be good at using them both in tandem, but when I started out I read a lot of blogs that said go with your intuition and toss out your books. After I while I realised mine wasn't all that good so I thought I'd be happier with reading books and all that stuff. Turns out I was :D I believe it is important to develop your own relationship with the cards, personal meaning and all that, but I really needed my books at first to kind of get going at that. People are different and even if books was the way for me I know there are a lot of people who aren't into that at all, so that could be something to look into as well.

RWS is a very common deck for a lot of books to refer to, it might also be the most common of the big 3 styles today (RWS, Thoth, Marseille), so if you want to read a bunch of books it might be a good idea to get a RWS deck. There are of course several editions of it and a lot of highly inspired clones, so it's up to you which one you like the most. I think the centennial edition is lovely as the regular deck in the yellow box is too bright for my liking, but I have the Original RWS which is another muted edition. There are also redrawings of the classic cards such as the Universal or Radiant. If you're interested in the deck aeclectic has a page for them: http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/rider-waite-clone.shtml Some of these might be out of print and can be expensive, but anyone of those I mentioned by name are still in print and not that expensive these days.
 

Barleywine

Well, there is tradition and there is tradition. You could go all the way back to one of the Italian decks in the Visconti-Sforza style or the French Tarot de Marseille, but I wouldn't recommend it to start. Nor would pursuing the Etteilla design be doing yourself any favors. The RWS in one of its more sedate incarnations is probably your best bet, since it's a derivative of the late 19th-Century Golden Dawn tradition with many of the esoteric "hard edges" sanded off. Any modern deck that attempts to stray too far from this model (or the similarly ubiquitous Thoth) runs the risk of being labeled an oracle deck rather than a tarot. (In this regard, take a look at the threads on the Chrysalis Tarot, which symbolizes what I'm talking about.) Regarding books, at their best they represent the condensed (and ideally synthesized) wisdom of generations of tarot thinkers and writers, so they shouldn't be dismissed out-of-hand.
 

celticnoodle

Personally, I think it is best to find a deck that speaks to you. While I do feel it is best to stick with a R.W. clone, if not the actual R.W. deck itself, I also find it important to like the deck you will work with. It might behoove you to find a deck with artwork that appeals to you, but also do keep in mind the size of the deck, since you also will be handling it alot.

Take a peek at the various cards here on A.T. in the "Tarot Cards & Review " section, too. It's a great resource.
 

katyanne

Yes I'm a beginner too and my experienced friend said to buy a deck that you are drawn to, don't just buy something because it is "traditional" because if it doesn't speak to you you won't get far with it.
 

gregory

I agree with these last two posts. When you start out you need to feel you WANT to look at the cards. Time enough to get the seminal ones for study later, IMHO.
 

Barleywine

I think it depends on your goal. If it's to "penetrate" and appreciate the tradition before diverging from it, then that's one perspective. If all you want is a deck you like and can get on with, that's another.
 

Edward Tarot Hands

Yes I think a RWS is the best to start with but if like me you find the images horrible you could try The Morgan Greer or The Aquarian Tarot which don't stray too far away but have IMO a much more pleasing ascetic