Up: [[Tarot]] Created: 2023-07-03 Updated: 2026-03-14 When I got into tarot after I retired, I started collecting decks because I was fascinated with the various artistic interpretations of the classic Rider Waite Smith (RWS) symbolism. I also really like the variations in the guidebooks based on the deck author’s perspective and sometimes special interest. The art and the guidebooks still really matter to me, and I still enjoy collecting, but there’s a tension now between accumulating more decks and wanting to downsize to the core collection that are my go-to decks. I’ve purchased, so far, 65 decks. I’ve given away 16 of them, and have 49 remaining. My vow is to not exceed 50 decks so for any new ones I buy, I’ll be giving some away. At some point I’ll reduce to a core collection. I’m just not sure when since new, gorgeous decks are being created all of the time! ## Keeping, at least for now **Anna K** because the cards are each like scenes from a play, beautiful little narratives. The only downside of this deck is that the guidebook is a bit harsh. The author, for example, has not a single positive word to say about [[15 - Devil]] or [[5 of Swords]] and pulls no punches. **Bohemian Animal** I was thinking I was going to give this away but I’ve changed my mind. I’d bought it because I wanted some children’s book style illustrations and this fits the bill. More important, the guidebook is outstanding, giving the animal archetype for the minors and the fool’s journey for each card of the majors. **Curious Creatures** (Tarot of) An appealing, fun and unusual deck with good correlations to RWS **Curious Travels** A gorgeous deck of watercolour images, each with gold-foil accents. The guidebook is stunning. And the card stock is linen which I absolutely love. **Dark Goddess** Don’t like the art, but am interested in further exploring the goddess connections in the excellent guidebook. I don’t know yet if they really resonate. **Dreaming Way** The cards are attractive. I’ve found one clunker so far. The [[3 of Pentacles]] meaning doesn’t fit the traditional and the card design is just strange. I’ve also found that in one week of using this deck, I’ve pulled at least three swords. I don’t know if that’s the deck, the time of year or simply me. **Earth Woman** I like the compact size of this deck with it’s lift off box top. The guidebook is very good. The cards feel good to shuffle and have images without faces to allow you to imagine yourself in the card. Love it. **Elemental Tarot** I’m regretting this one a bit. I’m not loving the images, although there’s value to me in them being radically different from any other image style I own. The guidebook may have more value because of the focus on elements and astrology. **Erenberg Tarot** Images are closeups of specific pieces of RWS. Sometimes a symbol, oftentimes the character’s eyes with a symbol. Very attractive vintage poster look to the deck. **Ethereal Visions** An Art Nouveau style deck with lots of gilt. Clear and attractive RWS clone. Minimal LWB (little white book) **Everyday Witch** Playful, fun witch cards, good RWS clone, and very good, full colour guidebook with space for notes. **Fairy Tale** I never know whether to count this or not because it’s an out of print deck that I’ve been able to purchase as online access only. I’ve got it because I’m really interested in fairy tales, and this deck author does a great job of sourcing them from around the world and connecting them quite beautifully to the cards meanings. Plus the cards are attractive. However, like online books, out of sight means out of mind and I forget the deck exists most of the time. **Field** because the images are evocative, partly because there’s a horizon line in each of them so there’s great depth to every image. **Good Tarot** Surprisingly. I didn’t think I’d be keeping it. I’m not a fan of Colette Baron-Reid and I don’t like the glossy cardstock. But there are some beautiful and unusual images, like the Hermit card showing just a big wooden door. **Guardian of the Night** Like it, don’t know if I love it, but it’s my newest deck and I’ll give it some time. It’s the only natural animal deck I’ve got. Bohemian animal is a whimsical aesthetic. **Haindl Tarot** I haven’t used this enough to form an impression yet. I purchased it, and the two companion books by Rachel Pollack, because I liked one of the major arcana when I saw it in a sampler from someone in the Arcana Mysteries course. **Hidden Realm** (Journey into the) It has been ages since I’ve used this deck and I have to wonder why. The images are evocative and easy to read intuitively, the art is gorgeous and the guidebook gives short but on point and meaningful interpretations. Joanne saw my deck when we were on retreat and has ordered it for herself. **LightSeers** The book is terrific as are the images — modern, colourful, evocative. **Llewellyn Tarot Companion** This is a Celtic deck with stories for all of the Majors. Sharon Blackie says not to trust Llewellyn about anything connected to Celtic, but this is a beautiful deck and I’m keeping it. **Mary El Tarot** Absolutely exquisite images, true art. Esoteric in the extreme as the outstanding guidebook indicates. I regret having discarded the box from this one. It’s a stunning packaging. Not terribly intuitive. **Moon Garden** (Tarot of a) because just about every image has the night sky and a majority have moons and white moon flowers. **Muse Tarot** I didn’t really like this deck when I first got it. I don’t like that real females are used, especially when they are all thin, young and long-haired Barbie types. However, after using the deck for two weeks, I’ve found some cards that really speak to me so, while this still isn’t a favourite deck, I’m glad I have it and will be keeping it. **Mystical Moments** (Tarot of) LWB nothing special but the cards sure are. Absolutely gorgeous and evocative. One of my favourite decks. Great RWS clone **Mythic Tarot** Really awful, badly executed art. The reason for this deck is that it’s by the Jungian analyst and archetypal astrologer, Liz Greene. When I’ve gotten everything I can from the excellent guidebook, this deck can go. **New Chapter** because I really like that the creator, Kathryn Briggs, made a personally meaningful deck for her transition to a new chapter in her life. It’s a bit disappointing that the guidebook doesn’t give any explanation of those personal meanings. Not that she needs to reveal all, but for a “new chapter” deck, it would be nice to have a better sense of the new chapters for the author/artist. **New Palladini** A contemporary, colourful RWS with decent LWB **Osho Zen** Love this deck. It’s different, has a bit of an oracle feel to it, and yet there’s enough of RWS so that it’s easy to understand. I do find the guidebook is essential for this one because of the Zen slant that is taken. **Ostara Tarot** Made by four young women in British Columbia. Connects the cards to the spring equinox. Attractive images. Traditional updated to contemporary themes. **Poe Tarot** A specialized deck with quotes on the cards from various Poe books. Images done in the style of Edward Gorey. The guidebook doesn’t give interpretations because they say they’re so dependent on other cards and circumstances, but they do offer neat comments. The cards aren’t great quality. They’re already chipping. **Radiant Tarot** Major Arcana art is stunning, minors are disappointingly just slightly upscale pip cards. The real value of this deck is the guidebook which is full colour and exhaustive in its covering of meaning, connections beyond tarot, and especially a wide variety of creative suggestions for each card. **Rider Waite Smith** It’s the classic. I can’t do without it. It’s the first tarot deck to be done with full illustration, giving us imagery and symbolism to work with. Because of that it has become the standard for beginners and the deck to which all others are compared if working in the RWS tradition rather than Marseilles or Thoth. **Sacred She** More along the lines of my *Osho Zen* deck which was done by the same artist. This one is interesting in that it uses modern words of wisdom and quotes rather than going back and relying on Buddha or the old wisdom keepers. The art is gorgeous, the naming of the cards is really interesting and I love that the Major Arcana is referred to as the ‘Spirit’ element. **Shakespeare Oracle** meaning tarot. Cards are oversized, awkward to handle and the art isn’t overly attractive. I do like the connection of the cards to Shakespeare’s plays and since I live in a Shakespeare town it, like *William Blake Tarot*, is a special interest one I’ll keep. **Star** has vibrantly bright images with not bad connections to RWS. A superb guidebook. **Sun and Moon Tarot** A fun deck, good RWS clone, playful images on the cards, links to astrological signs for each card **Tarot of the Abyss** While these images are striking in their black ink heavily sketched line art, and there are a couple of neat modifications for the [[3 of Swords]] and [[10 of Swords]] I’ve never felt that this was a reading deck. I’m keeping it as a specialty deck, at least for now. **Tarot of the Divine** This one is a question mark. The cards are ‘inspired’ by deities, folklore and fairy tales from around the world. I don’t love the images, but haven’t spent enough time with the deck to see if the connection to tales is accurate. I do have the additional purchase larger book with all of the stories so need to look at that before I decide whether I’m keeping or not. **Tarot of the Spirit** Geometric and abstract style cards. Beautiful colour combinations. The real value of this deck is in the extra purchase large guidebook which is exhaustive. **Transparent Tarot** (The), 2nd edition. This is by the same artist as *Tarot of the Sidhe* that I got rid of because I detested the art, so I hesitated before buying for that reason and because of the price. But I went for it because it’s such an innovative idea and I’m glad that I did. The artist has captured the essence of each card in simple, minimal images that are on plastic, not paper. A white silk reading cloth is provided with the deck and extensive guidebook. The plastic cards shuffle like a normal deck and you lay them down on the cloth *in layers* then intuitively read the story of the layers. This is not a deck for a novice who checks the guidebook for every card, and it’s a difficult deck, I imagine, even for people far more experienced than I am. I can read individual cards intuitively now, but combining them is still a work in progress. I’m looking forward to getting better at it with this deck. **Unfolding Path** (The) Attractive cards, diverse images, and I like the path connections, both unfolding and the multiplicity of paths available to us. **Vice Versa** It’s a concept more clever in its intention than in its execution. I need to spend more time with this deck to see the real meaning in the differences between ‘this side’ and ‘that side’. Right now it mostly looks like the backs of chairs or the backs of people. **Vision Quest** Very good indigenous images, but the real value of this deck is in the outstanding guidebook that gives in essence, inner message, and outward manifestation. A good RWS clone **Wandering Star** This deck has a hippy, flower-child colour palette and matching whimsical characters. The book is decent. I don’t like that keywords are printed on the cards. This isn’t a go-to deck for me. **White Sage Tarot** Small cards, great images, watercolour. What’s not to love? **Wild Wood Tarot** The images are gorgeous, the guidebook a bit strange. Worth keeping for slightly alternative understandings of the cards. **William Blake Tarot** Not a particularly attractive and certainly not a very intuitive deck, but it’s special interest and I do like the way the suits are translated into the arts — poetry, music, painting — and science. **Witches Wisdom Tarot** Gorgeous images, strongly recommended by Deb (it’s her go to deck). Beautiful packaging. A guidebook that includes wisdom, essence, counsel and practical magic for each card. But the system for the Majors does not match RWS or Thoth so I don’t use this deck much at all. I’ll keep it because it’s beautiful. **Wonderland in Tarot** is not only an excellent RWS clone with fairly easily readable cards and a beautiful book, but the card choices are superb matches to the stories and that’s explained in the guidebook as well as giving the personal meaning. **Zillich**. I love the small cards, the soft watercolour images. The guidebook is a tiny LWB. I pull an inordinate number of majors with this deck. ## Released I’ve given some decks to family members without writing about them: *Magical Nordic, Witches Companion, Disney Villains*, and *Hedgewitch Tarot* **Wild Unknown** Distinctive and different. It’s an interesting deck and many people are huge fans. I like it, don’t love it. It’s striking but not great for intuitive reading. I.e. the Emperor is a tree. The Empress is a fuller tree. **Tarot of the Sidhe** by Emily Carding. I really dislike the art, don’t find the deck at all intuitive, and I don’t like the renaming of the suits to Warriors, Makers etc. I bought it because it’s supposed to be Celtic but I don’t see that at all. Also detest the little poems in the guidebook. **Easy Tarot Handbook** Josephine Ellershaw. Nothing wrong with this deck. It just doesn’t speak to me, likely because of the black border on the cards and the way that over-accentuates the colours of the cards which end up looking a bit garish. **Dark Wood** This was an impulse purchase and a mistake. The art is Disney witches, not at all appealing. I haven’t used the deck at all. The guidebook is full colour and large images. Too bad I don’t like the art. If I did, the book would be great for my own art. **Voyager Tarot** One of the very first decks I purchased because I hoped that collage would speak to me for making my own tarot images. But this collage isn’t the kind I do; it’s more patchy and haphazard than mine. And the guidebook, which is huge, isn’t overly helpful. It’s kind of weird actually. **Artists’ Inner Vision** The idea of different artists making whatever card they wish is an interesting one, as is reference in the guidebook to movies that fit the intention of each card. Only problem with the first is that the cards are busy and lack cohesiveness. Problem with the second is that the movies are now really out of date. It’s not a go to deck for me. I made photocopies of 5 of the cards that I like, then it went out the door. **Thoth** A classic one to own and my very first purchase where I got turned on to [[Angeles Arrien]]’s work. I don’t use it much because it’s a slightly different system, but it’s interesting and worthwhile. Changed my mind. I never look at it. I’m keeping Arrien’s big book but releasing the deck. **Inner Child** Great name, lousy and hugely oversized images. I looked at the guidebook. Tedious and the stories have only tangential connection to the cards’ meanings. **Enchanted Forhaxa** I’m quite happy with this one. Fairies and mermaids but not in the usual cloying style. And the guidebook is decent other than not loving the use of the binary ‘their’. Update: After using it for a decan, I’ve decided it’s a blah deck for me. Only four cards have art that I enjoy and I didn’t connect to the deck when using it. **Circle of Life Tarot** I’m not loving this one. It doesn’t resonate much. But I’m keeping it because it’s round. Changed my mind. Round is all that it has going for it. Joanne said it was one of the first ones she got rid of because it just didn’t speak to her at all. Me too. **Wisdom Seeker’s Tarot** Disappointing. By a psychologist into symbolism but the guidebook isn’t that illuminating and the minors are pip cards. I’ve kept the book for its info on numerology, but given the deck away. **Guardian Tarot** Not overly intuitive because it’s all trees. The watercolour images are soft and gorgeous, but the cards don’t seem to have much relationship to the guidebook descriptors, which are often a bit off from standard interpretations.