- About the Tarot Card system
- ~ Example Tarot Skill Building Decks
Example Decks:
There are a plethora of decks on display here. This is because, unlike in most other cartomancy systems, the imagery depicted on the Tarot card being read conveys a significant portion of the message. It is recommended therefore to select decks that are not only a comfortable extension of the reader, but that also fittingly mesh with both the querent and the venue. Consider carefully about choosing a borderless deck as your regular use deck though, as it will not hold up as well as a bordered deck.
Pip Decks
Arcana Full Tarot Deck - (revised artwork version)
Why: Neoclassicist style, pen illustrated Court and Majors. Pip Minors. Good readability. Sized and intended as a Playing card deck when you remove the Knights and Majors. 
- Note that this is a prestidigitators deck with additional gaff cards.
Marseille Cat Tarot
Why: A lightened up Marseille-styled Tarot deck. Anthropomorphic cats make the stodgy antecedent Majors far more palatable. Pips-only Minors helpfully also sport tiny posed cats.
RWS-system Decks
Ancestral Path Tarot - (original artwork version)
Why: Interesting new-agey synthesis deck, where the Minors are unconventionally divided into four separate ancestral groups. Deck is of mixed readability.
Anna.K Tarot - (original artwork version)
Why: Many of the deliberately informal images depict overlooked aspects of a cards meaning. Tiny labels coerce you to absorb the image first. Average readability.
Awaken Tarot - (bordered version)
Why: Gold embossed borders and labels. Very readable. Full-color drawings of your neighbors in thier normal clothing imitating RWS poses.
Baseball Tarot
Why: The mythology of Baseball dovetails well with Tarot. Unique, understandable imagery. Oracle sized and styled cards are awkward. Courts can be a bit tricky to read.
Connolly Tarot
Why: Softened imagery and gentler labels are comfortable around most Christians. Good readability. Many folks find the stained-glass style artwork appealing.
Cosmic Tarot
Why: Color washed pen and ink illustrations of Interpretive Dancers who resemble movie stars. Draws upon Golden Dawn esotericism. Deck is of mixed readability.
Everyday Tarot
Why: Pocket-sized deck suited for "rough handlers" to mangle. Images are abbreviated to their minimal RWS silhouette form, to keep the small cards easy to decipher.
FateShifters Astrology Tarot Deck
Why: Beautifully rendered digital art, from several artists having a matching style. Images posed similar to RWS, making cards very easy to read.
- Note that included as a supplement is a full set of zodiac and planet cards.
Fradella Adventure Tarot - [supplement]
Why: The pagan-god comparable archetypes in super-hero comics dovetail well with Tarot. Motivations of even unidentified characters are quickly comprehended.
Fyodor Pavlov Tarot
Why: Intelligently envisioned pen drawings with watercolor highlights, that exude a bit of a rural Russia feel. Good readability. A tasteful Queer friendly deck.
Golden Art Nouveau Tarot
Why: Thick matured characters, drawn in an Art Nouveau style, imitating RWS poses. Very readable. Gold foil embossing catches passerby's attention from a distance.
Golden Thread Tarot - (revised artwork version)
Why: Waterproof plastic cards for outdoor use. Minimalist iconographic etchings, in gold foil on a black background, look attractive under candle light. Average readability.
Halloween Tarot
Why: An amusing themed deck, imitating RWS image poses. For light-hearted readings to persons just wanting to be entertained (look for the cat). Fairly easy to read.
Hanson-Roberts Tarot
Why: Colored pencil close-ups of friendly, hobbit-like characters. These smaller sized, good readability RWS inspired cards include Spanish labels. A sound option around children.
Hoi Polloi Tarot
Why: A mod, abbreviated, felt pen colored RWS clone from the dawn of the Age of Aquarius. Proffered to Seniors as a nostalgic option for their reading.
Mermaid Tarot
Why: Realistically rendered fantasy mer-folk in differing habitats, though regrettably borderless. Average readability, with many images eliciting new perspectives.
Mountain Dream Tarot - (3rd edition version)
Why: Borderless reproduction of the historic fully photographic deck from 1975, which features the photographers friends imitating RWS poses. Good readability.
Norse Tarot
Why: Viking themed deck with unaccustomed image and meaning associations. Art is framed with an elaborate border. Majors are assigned a Rune, and depict Nordic myth.
Pastoral Tarot
Why: Mixed readability RWS inspired borderless colored sketches of Nice Washed rural life from a century ago, featured appropriately in a unique landscape orientation.
Sharman-Caselli Tarot - (revised artwork version)
Why: Excellent readability. Tasteful colored pencil imagery is concise and emotionally understandable by even those unfamiliar with the Tarot. Great RWS alternative for Ren Faires.
Tarot of the Witch's Garden - (corrected version)
Why: Targeted at Youths. Drawn borderless harvest season deck of motherly green witches and fairytale nature characters. Not too cloying or stridently pagan. Descent readability.
Tarot of Timeless Truth - (original artwork version)
Why: Manipulated photographic "contemporary neolithic" imagery. Although some images are odd, helpful keywords are subtlely included as an aid. Grandparents seem to like this deck.
Thoth-system Decks
Arcana Iris Sacra
Why: A Thoth-system Tarot deck, with details abbreviated to their minimal iconographic form. Minors display both their astrological and keyword associations.
Gill Tarot
Why: A Thoth-system Tarot deck, that strives to be somewhat less difficult to read than most. Minors are numbers, with supplemental pictures and keywords.
Novelty Decks
Dark Grimoire Tarot
Why: For gothic fans. H.P. Lovecraft mythos inspired. Marseille-ordered abstruse RWS drawings in a 60s direful comicbook story-arc style. Requires contemplation to grasp.
Fountain Tarot
Why: Exciting contemporary RWS deck using crisp avant-garde imagery. Average readability, but leans more towards being a modern-art piece than a working deck.
- Note that this is an Expanded deck with an additional divinatory card.
Life Is Like A Board Game Tarot
Why: Inspired by the classic Monopoly game board. An inoffensive neutral RWS deck, to appease PC-persons of all age ranges. Low readability however, due to a shortage of imagery.
Maori Tattoo Tarot
Why: Novelty RWS deck inspired by New Zealand sources. Images represent tattoos on a persons arm. Fun, but challenging to read. Way more of an art piece than a working deck.
Nicoletta Ceccoli Tarot
What: Extremely unconventional imagery. Assembled from preexisting unnerving surrealistic paintings, so difficult to read. Recommended to be used strictly for shadow work.
Science Tarot
Why: An oddly themed deck. Conventional RWS Tarot imagery is intelligently substituted with modern scientists and scientific concepts. Requires effort to comprehend fully.
Thomson-Leng Tarot - (replica version)
Why: British deck from 1935. Comic page style artwork. Quirky to read, as Elements are swapped and design is influenced by fringe Tarot schools. For seekers of the peculiar.
Vision Quest Tarot
Why: Pastel colored deck of heavily Nice Washed and romanticized Native American images. Thoth-influenced, but labels greatly modified to match the theming. Challenging to read.
Notes about the Card Decks:
The selected card image has no significance other than to exhibit the decks artwork style.
Click on the Flip Through Icon [] to watch a video showing more images of the cards in the deck.
The "Why:" paragraph below the card image is a blurb describing what makes the deck worthy.
Click on the decks Title to preview the user manual that comes with the deck.
Click on the card Image to read a reviewers externally linked comments about the deck.
(reviews/videos were chosen for their illustrative value only, and should not be construed as author/store endorsements)
