Beginning Tarot Reading - Your First Deck

When someone comes to Tarot for the first time, they obviously want a Tarot deck, but where do they to look for their first deck? There are a few shops that do stock Decks, although most carry a very small stock as there are not a great many buyers out there. Some bookshops carry Tarot decks on their shelves and if you are lucky enough to have a new age shop close by, then you may find not only decks for sale, but also knowledgeable advice on hand. However, since most of us don't have these kinds of shops near to home, the internet is your best and probably your only chance to find a suitable deck.

How can I find the right deck if its online?

There are many places to buy Tarot Decks, retailers may be small shops and even Amazon has a good range, but its not easy to get a feel for most of their decks as the selection of images is limited. A good place to start is going to be the Aeclectic Tarot, its a great website that lets you browse a huge range of decks (by various categories) and see a variety of the cards from those decks to get a sense of the way the deck reads. The site hosts deck reviews of decks and there is also a forum where users interact and an unbiased view may be found. Accompanying the reviews and info pages are links to where the decks are available to buy. If there is another site that is such a help in finding the right deck and with such scope on the internet, I do not know of it.

If you know the name of a specific deck then there is always GOOGLE, the image search will generally bring up a good selection of images from a selected deck and sometimes a few related decks just for good measure. This tactic may be helpful if you are looking fro a specific theme rather than a specific deck. Search for the theme followed by "Tarot" and a variety of decks will be presented, I recently searched for Steampunk Tarot and found half a dozen different decks very quickly.

What should I be looking for in my first decks?

That is absolutely up to you. Something will bring you to a specific deck, almost always it is visual, the newcomer finds a deck 's imagery aesthetically pleasing and/or the theme suits them. I would suggest that a deck with abundant symbology is preferable for new readers as they are more suited to reading rather than remembering and present many hooks to help the flow of a reading.

Are all tarot cards the same?

Tarot decks are all similar in that they have 78 cards divided into 4 suits of 14 cards and a 22 card set of Trumps. They generally follow three styles, Rider-Waite, Marseilles, or Thoth, although some modern decks mix the symbology or eschew the classic styling entirely. They will almost always follow a 78 card guideline with 22 major arcana and 56 minor arcana with four suits representing the four elements and four court cards per suit. Some decks may have extra cards or change the titles around to suit a theme, but the meanings tend to stay universal.

What is the difference between oracle and tarot cards?

Tarot cards almost always have 78 cards and although the names may vary to some extent they are always from the same base. Oracle Cards, while they are also a deck of cards used for divination, that is as far as the similarity goes. They follow their own path and may have any number of cards or symbology. It is important to remember that these decks are not Tarot decks and should be used as the author describes rather than use Tarot methods for them.

Is it alright to buy my own deck

I sometimes see people saying that a first Tarot deck must be received as a gift. Varitions on this speak of bad luck and false readings, these generally come from people who have no idea about Tarot and are playing the occult line for all they are worth. I personally think that this is a myth and don't subscribe to it, but I never find being given a deck as a gift problematic. As I said in my book for newcomers to Tarot (The Ancient Oracle - a quick plug there) "Getting a deck as a gift is great, but another person is unlikely to choose the right deck for someone else.

Is it alright to buy or read with a used tarot deck

This is perfectly fine in my view, some readers will disagree and some will go so far as to avoid anyone else ever touching their decks; to my mind it is a matter of personal choice, id a deck suits you and you feel good about it, I see no problem.

How do I learn how to use my new deck

There is only one way to learn to read Tarot... PRACTICE! There is no quick and easy way to do this, any book, site or course promising quick and easy results should be avoided like the plague. With Tarot, like many other things, what you get out of it depends entirely on the amount of effort that you put in. Read good books on the subject, build your own notebooks/scrapbooks and do readings, read for yourself, read for your friends, do a daily card draw and keep at it.