Best decks for connecting cards, 'story' & unity in a reading

Nemia

Hands down - Silhouettes Tarot. The borderless edition (2nd?) lets you connect the cards and it looks like an animated movie. The cards simply connect and interact in the most amazing ways. I LOVE this deck to pieces!

And I agree with all those who said Dreaming Way. It's an excellent deck if you're looking for this narrative element. You look at the cards and they tell stories.

These two are among my favorite decks because they actually read themselves, you just have to watch them as they do it :)

ETA: also very strong in this respect is the Anna K. But each card of the Anna K. is such a strong "narrator" in its own right, that the deck works best for me in small concentrated spreads.
 

Luna's Crone

One of my ongoing challenges in reading is to connect the various parts of a spread into a meaningful whole. I'm getting a lot better at reading individual cards, and sometimes have what feels like flashes of insight. I can sometimes see obvious connections between cards - such as common symbolism, but otherwise, my readings tend to be a bit disjointed.

I feel some decks must be better than others for this - I'm thinking of getting a trimmed deck so that there is a visual sense of flow (I'm a very visual person).

Have you found some decks particularly good for this? Suggestions most welcome!

I am extremely visual, and alot of trimmed decks, causes me a bit of chaos.And if there is choas, i have a hard time reading. Try coloring the two extra cards that come with decks. Don't color the full, do light coloring. Unless the cards are to big, I don't trim them. if the white is too stark i color it with colored pencils, or stamping ink
 

suk

I have a different sort of suggestion for you, though you've got some good ones already. Consider what kind of art you're most attracted to. You'll find that you'll find it easiest to connect with a deck that speaks your language.

With me, it was the Nicoletta Ceccoli, my intuition really understands the dreamlike images and characters. Everything just clicked when I got this deck, it was unlike any other to me.

I find that experimenting with different decks is something that propels me into accelerated understanding too. So if you were to pick a deck that you think intimidates you, and read with that for a while, you might find that in a short time you're reading a lot better with the ones you're familiar with.

In the end, it's not the deck that's important but our own ability to recognise the themes and stories. The Morgan Greer is always a great one to experiment and learn with because of its bold 'close up' artwork.

Another thing that helps me unify readings better is just sitting with the cards for a while. Sometimes it takes a bit for the underlying theme to make itself known. There are many hints used to connect the cards as well, like observing movement/stagnation, direction and so on that help to understand the story.


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CharlotteK

The Morgan Greer is always a great one to experiment and learn with because of its bold 'close up' artwork.

Yes I agree with this suggestion. The cards are borderless, the artwork isn't too busy, but the faces are clear and expressive. It works similarly for me to the TdM in reading the interactions between the cards as a whole rather than individual cards and their components. I've had some great success working with the Morgan Greer looking across cards at where the figures are gazing and how their body language is between each other across a spread.

I trimmed my mass market Anna K and whilst I totally love this deck (it's been a steady go to #1 for me since day one and reads sooo well) as others have said, the artwork doesn't work as well for this kind of holistic spread reading. I gave the reason why some thought and I think it is because there is so much important stuff happening in the edges of Anna K on many of the cards, and trimming off the borders gives the overall 'too busy' feel Luna's Crone mentioned. I wouldn't recommend completely trimming this to others. Lol. It's a deck that I think.is better with a little border.

I also agree with the suggestion of reading with TdM Trumps. I'm following Yoav Ben Dov's Open Reading technique and it's been a revelation.

Finally. There's always the King's Journey which comes borderless and titleless and story creation works very well with this deck. However the artwork is distinctly cartoony, so it may not be to your taste, and there is the elephant in the room that the creator has raised a few eyebrows here in the past

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Luna's Crone

Finally. There's always the King's Journey which comes borderless and titleless and story creation works very well with this deck. However the artwork is distinctly cartoony, so it may not be to your taste, and there is the elephant in the room that the creator has raised a few eyebrows here in the past

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another one is steel wizard. I really like that deck. No lwb. Plus it has 5 court card each suit and i think 4 or 6 extra Maj Arc. that you can use or don't have to use. I think its a teaching deck for the person who uses it.
 

aquestionmark

I find Poppy Palin's Waking the Wild Spirit Tarot deck to be quite unique in its storytelling capacity. The guidebook for the deck is called Stories of the Wild Spirit if that's any hint :) The art can be a bit wonky which seems to turn people off to the deck. It's not always about the art, this deck truly has something to say if you give it a chance.
 

euripides

In the end, it's not the deck that's important but our own ability to recognise the themes and stories. The Morgan Greer is always a great one to experiment and learn with because of its bold 'close up' artwork.

Another thing that helps me unify readings better is just sitting with the cards for a while. Sometimes it takes a bit for the underlying theme to make itself known. There are many hints used to connect the cards as well, like observing movement/stagnation, direction and so on that help to understand the story.

This is really good advice. I think I'm going to get all my decks out and have a look at what might be a good place to start, and I'll look at the Yoav Ben Dov technique, too.

It's fascinating how different the decks are that people recommend.
 

CharlotteK

I find Poppy Palin's Waking the Wild Spirit Tarot deck to be quite unique in its storytelling capacity. The guidebook for the deck is called Stories of the Wild Spirit if that's any hint :) The art can be a bit wonky which seems to turn people off to the deck. It's not always about the art, this deck truly has something to say if you give it a chance.
Thanks. I've looked at this deck a few times. It keeps drawing me back. I'll have another look :)

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Shanachie05

My Want List got Longer!

Great thread! Your suggestions here are so inspiring. I added some of these decks to my want list.

My friend is visiting, and we are headed into Salem tomorrow. I'm going to keep an eye out for Silhouette, Anna K, and Witch's Tarot.

Thank you.
 

barefootlife

I think it really depends on what you're looking for to tie together the threads of your 'story'. Personally, I look at the cards and find the meaning that gets me from point A to B, so to speak.

For example, you pull the 4 Pents, 10 Wands, and Ace Swords. 4 Pents is about control and balance, 10 Wands is about feeling overburdened, and Ace Swords is a surge of creative energy. So how do we get from one to another? Look at the first two cards. The burden of 10 Wands says to me that the 4 Pents indicates that there's something problematic about that desire for control. So maybe we're trying to hold on too tightly to control or trying to control too much, and it's creating an undue burden. Not a good way to get to that creative energy of Ace Swords, right? How, then, do we get from feeling overwhelmed to a new burst of energy? You have to put down something heavy to have the energy to do something else, right? So 10 Wands is saying to put down that burden, so that we're free to wield the creativity the Ace Swords offers.

Basically, look at each card as a plot point in a story, and figure out the narrative that goes between. Most of a tarot reading is like the white space between panels in a comic - you fill in the action that happens there, even though you don't directly see it.