How do you choose a deck?

Siavahda said:

I'm new to tarot, and have gone on a bit of a spree and bought half a dozen beautiful decks. But I'm curious as to how more experienced tarot users pick their decks. I've been choosing based on the artwork and that ephemeral 'click!' feeling when you find something that meshes with you.

How is it for everyone else?

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Yes, sometimes it is the ephemeral "click"!

Often, I choose my decks based on the artist. I already own and love decks by artists such as Baba Studios, Seven Stars, Duck Soup, Patrick Valenza, Roxi Sims, and Malpertuis, so I tend to haunt their websites and see what they are up to.

Also, I choose my decks based on theme, as I am often drawn to decks with dark, Victorian, and animal themes.

The artwork, the artwork, the artwork!

Does the imagery make me go OH MY GODDESS! - I love that!, how cool is that??? - drawing me to it like a magnet.
Usually - I then, have to try and see if I can have a look at most of the cards in the deck
on-line somewhere, because of course it may be that the "best" cards are being showcased to sell the deck - and the rest are not-so-nice... (that's how one ends up disappointed when the deck arrives - if one's not managed to see the rest of it... aside from cardstock issues etc.).


Then next... I'll think - is it usable for me? - and if not... do I still want it?
Under this heading also comes - is the deck too exclusively racial for me? (I am half white and half black myself).
I've bought decks that I've given away after a while because the lack of multiracial depiction begins to bug me. This mechanism is a bit more mysterious and subconscious for me, so I can't begin to explain why some decks are acceptable and others are not...
That decision sits for a while... maybe a couple of months.


If it's interesting in a historical or novel way... and I know I'm not going to use it...
The decision sits for a while again...


If the deck is themed from a favourite novel or TV series... (e.g. Star Trek or the Wreathu novels) - I'll want it immediately... but so far those have all been OOP. Lol.

The way it makes me feel, and the artwork.

My god; the moment I saw the Alchemia deck by Takaki, something deep inside stirred and the yearning started. I knew I had to get it. I wanted it.

It was on a Chinese website (a Chinese eBay, if you will) advertising tarot readings and the product picture featured a few of the cards, spread across a tabletop next to a dusty looking book. It was so beautiful. It reminded me of those mystical horoscope puzzles produced by Japanese illustrators. So ethereal, with jewel hues and a neat golden trim.

I didn't care that the product didn't mention the name of the deck used--- I spammed the 'More similar items' button and scoured page after page, Googled 'horoscope puzzle tarot', 'japanese tarot', 'prettiest tarot deck', 'horoscope tarot with stars', until I saw the Empress card of the deck smiling serenely up at me from the screen. I wanted to shout with relief and joy.

After a week of anticipation, it arrived in the mail from Amazon Japan and is now sitting next to me quietly after a reading I did a couple of minutes ago.

It was just so pretty. It made me feel sparkly. Oh, and it was based off the Rider-Waite deck too! What more could I want?

And also, it was like love at first sight

Siavahda said:

I'm new to tarot, and have gone on a bit of a spree and bought half a dozen beautiful decks. But I'm curious as to how more experienced tarot users pick their decks. I've been choosing based on the artwork and that ephemeral 'click!' feeling when you find something that meshes with you.

How is it for everyone else?

Click to expand...

Pretty much exactly the same thing here. I need to like the artwork. It does need to be busy enough for me as I tend to read a lot through the images. And the rest just what FEELS like the right deck for me. Intuition is an important tool in all areas of Tarot, I find,

Babs

Tanga said:

The artwork, the artwork, the artwork!

Does the imagery make me go OH MY GODDESS! - I love that!, how cool is that??? - drawing me to it like a magnet.
Usually - I then, have to try and see if I can have a look at most of the cards in the deck
on-line somewhere, because of course it may be that the "best" cards are being showcased to sell the deck - and the rest are not-so-nice... (that's how one ends up disappointed when the deck arrives - if one's not managed to see the rest of it... aside from cardstock issues etc.).


Then next... I'll think - is it usable for me? - and if not... do I still want it?
Under this heading also comes - is the deck too exclusively racial for me? (I am half white and half black myself).
I've bought decks that I've given away after a while because the lack of multiracial depiction begins to bug me. This mechanism is a bit more mysterious and subconscious for me, so I can't begin to explain why some decks are acceptable and others are not...
That decision sits for a while... maybe a couple of months.


If it's interesting in a historical or novel way... and I know I'm not going to use it...
The decision sits for a while again...


If the deck is themed from a favourite novel or TV series... (e.g. Star Trek or the Wreathu novels) - I'll want it immediately... but so far those have all been OOP. Lol.

Click to expand...

I'm sorry, my first reaction to this is - THERE'S A WRAETHTHU DECK?

The lack of multiracial decks bugs me too. I'm white, but that hasn't stopped me finding the prevalence of all-white decks uncomfortable. I'm also on the lookout for queer decks, as a queer witchling myself. I have high hopes for a few decks not yet published (especially the Numinous tarot) but so far I haven't found many currently available that appeal to me.

Due to financial issues, I don't buy many decks.

I love Lo Scarabeo decks, so if it's by Lo Scarabeo, chances are really good that I'm going to be at least putting it on my wishlist and yearning for it if I can't actually get the deck.

The Wild Spirit is a very magical deck for me personally, so I'm eagerly awaiting the new deck Poppy is coming out with in time. I'll definitely get that one if I can.

There's a mass market Bonefire coming out in November right around my birthday and I'm SOOOO hoping I can get a copy. I love that deck but my first edition is awkward to handle because I have arthritis in my hands.

Sometimes I'll choose a deck because the illustrations differ from RWS and I can get so many intuitive sparks off of the art work. Other times I'm just happy to get another RWS "clone" that sticks close to the traditional art work. When reading, I seem to alternate between the non-traditional and traditional by spells.

Size matters to me, because of my hands. If a deck is way big, then I can't really see getting it. There's something about shuffling that gets me into a sort of meditative state for reading, so if the deck is too big to overhand or riffle, then I'm most likely not going to try to get it and wouldn't use it so much if I did get it. I look at larger decks to see if they can be trimmed down somewhat to make them useful to me, though.

Siavahda said:

I'm sorry, my first reaction to this is - THERE'S A WRAETHTHU DECK?

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LOL.
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/wraeththu/

My frist deck, I went to barnes and nobel and there was only one deck that I liked the packaging on so I went with it, and I used it for many years.

I bought a fool dog app that I liked the sampler to, but upon download I almost immediately hated it, and though I used it I just never connected to it.

So for my last 2 decks I scrolled through every page on the llewllyn page and noticed I was drawn to the decks with vibrant colors. A few deck sent tingles through my crown chakra, and I kept those options open. Finally I had it narrowed down to about 3-5, which I watched youtube videos of. One of the decks just sent my head spinning! There wasn't a single card that I didn't like and I KNEW it was the one.

Until I checked out the fools dog samplers and found another that made my heart sing and my crown tingle. So then I couldn't decide between the two

So finally, I actually asked my tarot cards out of the options I narrowed down, which deck should be my next! LOL.

Tanga said:

LOL.
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/wraeththu/

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I AM PLEASED!

Less pleased that it's OOP, but oh well, can't have everything.