Hey! I just got the Linestrider Tarot deck and want to get some more practice with it, so I'm doing free one card readings. (I may pull more if I feel it's necessary)
My coffee and offering chat on my day off ended up being more emotional than I thought it would be. But priority on self-reflection within my spirituality is one of the elements of my personal practice that I love: openness and work on self is the whole reason I found myself in witchcraft seriously a few years ago when I was in one of my darkest places. My practice has taken many turns yet still I find myself time and time again at my altar with candles.
My tarot deck that I love: The Linestrider Tarot by Siolo Thompson
do you ever just start a reading w/ silly and harmless questions and end up getting ominous answers and getting told you have to acknowledge and change the toxic aspects of yourself cause otherwise you'll soon end up in a quite painful situation? cause now im kinda worried
Today we are looking at your inner child. Is it being cared for?
The "inner child" is a concept I haven't thought much about. A past therapist brought it up, but I never really understood it. Perhaps this is why the sense of betrayal is there, since the concept is one I've pretty much been ignoring. I supposed the answer to the question, then, is "no," and this may be something I need to look into more.
So you’re getting into witchcraft, there’s a big wide world of stuff, and divination’s struck your fancy. Tarot’s one of the most accessible and best documented forms out there, so it’s no surprise that it’s extremely popular. But with popularity comes variety, and variety is a double-edged sword. On one hand, you have a wide range of decks to choose from! On the other, you have to choose from them. And if you’re anything like me, choosing stuff is hard.
Never fear, I am here to (try to) help! My aim with this post is to break down some of the factors that go into choosing a tarot deck, to help you decide what you want out of your cards. My reasoning? When I started in the world of tarot I went by the “star rating” of each deck, and didn’t form my own opinions based on the info I was given. I want to give you the tools to make better choices than I did when I started out. Those tools are under the cut!
The Physical Factors
There are three (3) factors that make up the physical properties of a deck of cards, and I feel that they’re often overlooked when people talk about what makes a tarot deck “good” or “bad”. Those three are the cardstock, the dimensions (size), and the finish.
They all come together to impact how easy a deck will be to handle and shuffle. Decks that are often marked as being “good quality” will be on the larger side, with thicker cardstock. If you’re like me however and have hands on the smaller side of average, these high-quality decks end up being too big to hold and impossible to shuffle. Instead, my preference is for decks that others say are “low quality” - smaller sized, with thinner cardstock. I can hold and shuffle and use them, even though it may mean they don’t stand the test of time as well as other decks would.
Cardstock
Perhaps the most commonly complained talked about physical aspect of the cards, this regards how thick the paper used for the cards is. This is most often measured in gsm, or grams per square metre. The higher the number, the thicker the card. Anything less than about 120gsm can be considered paper rather than card. If you’re lucky, a publisher will list the gsm or weight of their cardstock in pounds on their website. Otherwise, you’ll just be going off reviews using words like “sturdy” or “flimsy”. Take these descriptions with a grain of salt, as thicker card might mean better, but may not mean better for you.
Dimensions
Unless you’re looking at the Mini tarot decks made by Lo Scarebo, most tarot cards are larger than your standard playing card. Regulation poker cards are 3 1/2 by 2 1/2 inches. There are no regulations for tarot cards, so makers will often take liberties or have proprietary dimensions. The dimensions for their cards should be published, if not on the marketplace you’re buying them from, then on their own website. If you can’t find the dimensions of the cards themselves (not just the size of the box they come in), try to check for reviews, or find someone that already owns the deck you’re interested in and ask them to measure a card.
For example, The Wild Unknown Tarot is roughly 4 3/4 by 2 3/4 inches - noticeably larger than your normal deck of playing cards! I find these larger decks difficult to get one hand around completely and therefore impossible to shuffle, so I prefer smaller cards. The Ukiyoe Tarot is one example of a smaller deck. Its cards are only 4 7/16 by 2 1/2 inches. That, coupled with the thinner card, means I can hold the whole deck in one of my tiny baby hands without strain.
Finish
As the last major factor that goes into the physical makeup of a tarot deck, the finish on the cards directly impacts their “shuffleability”, or slip. There are two main finishes, matte and glossy. Here I’ve made a gif that illustrates the impact these two finishes have on the slip of the cards:
On the right is The Wild Unknown Tarot, which is a coated matte card. The left is the Welcome to Nightvale Tarot, which is glossy. Personally, I find TWU impossible to shuffle - I dislike how the cards stick together. But, I also dislike the WTNV tarot, because they are so slippery that when I set the deck down, they try to slide everywhere.
Card makers will sometimes get creative with the finishes on their cards, so you’ll wind up with matte, semi-matte, semi-glossy, etc. At the end of the day though, once you’ve used a deck enough times that the natural oils from your hands have seeped into the cardstock, they will be easier to shuffle, but also will have enough grip on them that they won’t slide about. Think of it as an incentive to practice with your cards!
Other Factors
With the physical aspects of the cards out of the way, let’s look at some of the other things to consider when choosing a tarot deck. These are even more subjective than the factors listed above, so it’s important to consider what things you like or are open to trying, as there’s no objective “better” or “worse”.
Base Deck
With Tarot, you’ll often find that most modern decks use a handful of base decks as their source material so they don’t need to come up with an entirely new system of symbols. One of the most common bases is the Rider Waite-Smith system (the top left-most card in the above image). Others include the Marseille, Thoth or Golden Dawn, Aquarian, etc. It’s also not totally uncommon for new decks to feature entirely new systems, and to depart almost entirely from these aesthetic bases and instead to opt for art that depicts base meaning, such as the WTNV tarot.
Alternatively, if you’re unable to get your hands on a proper tarot deck and are relegated to using playing cards (Maybe you’re a secret witch!), the only part you will miss out on in your readings is the major arcana. There’s no emphasis on symbols either, which means you might have to use a few guides until you’re able to remember what each of the cards mean, as there won’t be much to go on intuitively.
Art Style
In a similar vein to the above point about base decks, the art style of a tarot deck can heavily impact is appeal and how useful it will be to you. I personally love decks with a strong, unique aesthetic. I am not a fan of “traditional” decks like the Rider Waite-Smith, because I can find the symbols to be a bit difficult to understand and remember. The Linestrider Tarot is often cited as a beginner-friendly deck because its images are easier to understand as a whole, but also contain enough depth that if you want to look at symbols for meaning, you can. Ultimately though, it all depends on what you like to look at and how you want to use your cards.
Numbers, Pictures, and Pips
Another point of contentious personal preference, it’s up to you to decide if you want your minor arcana cards to have pictures (like the Linstrider on the left), or are okay with pips (like the Ukiyoe on the right). Traditionally the minor arcana never had descriptive images, and pips were the only option available. But, these days it’s pretty rare to find a deck that relies on just pips.
Another factor is whether you need to have the Major Arcana numbered from 0 to 23, or are content with just their names. Having the numbers can make it easier to put them in order if you ever feel like doing that with your deck, but it isn’t necessary. Additionally, there’s some argument about what the “true” order of the Major Arcana is, so it’s not uncommon to have cards like Strength or Justice in different positions within different decks. Personally, for me, it doesn’t matter so much. With time and practice, the order of the Major Arcana can be learned and memorised.
Storage
Finally, the factor that I think is often completely skipped over when talking about tarot: How do you want to store your deck? When purchasing or acquiring a tarot deck, they’ll often come with some sort of storage option already. In the image above I’ve shown some of the different options available. These are what I had on hand, but there are plenty more out there.
From left to right:
Silk Pouch: This I purchased from a New Age store, and while marketed for holding jewellery, is the perfect size for a tarot deck. I use these sorts of bags for decks that did not come in sturdy enough packaging for my liking.
Llewellyn Packaging: This is the sort of box that decks such as Shadowscapes and the Linestrider come in if you order the deck and the accompanying book. The cards simply sit in the cardboard insert inside the box, held in place by the book. For me, I find this storage method difficult to use, as the cards can slide around within the box once they’re out of their plastic film, and I can’t store the book outside to use as reference whenever I’d like.
The Wild Unknown Packaging: The sturdy two-piece tuckbox with a black ribbon belongs to TWU, and is one of my favourite examples of practical tarot packaging. This box was packaged in a larger box similar to the Llewellyn box (as I ordered the deck with its accompanying book), but because the cards were also given a safe box for just them, I am comfortable keeping them in what I was given.
Simple Cardboard Box: Perhaps the cheapest way to package a deck, this is also the sort that’s going to deteriorate the fastest. Cardboard boxes like these are not designed for repetitive opening and closing, and start fraying, ‘dog-earing’, and tearing if you’re not very careful. Buying decks that come in these sorts of boxes is often cheaper than more elaborately-packaged decks, however.
Welcome to Nightvale bag: This was the bag that my WTNV tarot came in, and is perfectly sized for the deck. It’ll do the same job of keeping the cards safe as the silk pouches I buy for most of my other decks, and I didn’t have to buy it separately, which is great.
Other forms of storage include fabric Tarot wraps (which you can make yourself or find for sale on Etsy), speciality bags and pouches designed specifically for tarot decks, third-party wooden and cardboard tuckboxes, etc. There are so many options. My only recommendation is to stay away from hairties and rubber bands to hold your decks together. While visible in the above image, I was using those hairties to keep my decks together while I had so many out and in use. They are not appropriate for long-term storage, as they may bend or dent the cards. As stated above, I use silk pouches to store my decks, which are pretty and protect them from the sun.
Conclusion
Like a lot of things in witchcraft, Tarot is more complicated than it initially seems, and that can make it daunting to begin getting involved in. If you spend some time with yourself however, assess what you like or think you’ll like and how you’d like to use your cards, it can make it easier to pick out which ones you’d like to acquire from the thousands of decks that are on the market. I’d like to leave you with some final tips when it comes to dipping your toes into Tarot:
Talk to people! Ask around in a witchy community you’re comfortable in what sorts of Tarot decks people use, which ones they like, and some of the problems they’ve come across in their experience.
Don’t be afraid to make a mistake. The worst that’ll happen is you’ll end up collecting tarot like me and the rest of Tumblr’s tarot-users. Welcome.
Read reviews, but don’t rely on them 100%. We’re all subjective, biased individuals, and any review someone writes is going to be influenced by their own likes and dislikes, which you may not share.
Try to get your hands on a physical deck first. While extremely hard to do for a lot of people, if you’re fortunate enough to have the opportunity, take it. You might just discover a new deck you didn’t think you’d like!
Use the Internet. My absolute favourite website for in-depth analysis and reviews of tarot decks is Aeclectic.net. They have almost every tarot deck on the market listed, most with example images of the cards as well. Youtube is also a popular place for reviews, and you can also often see from videos how easy a deck is to shuffle, or how big the cards are, better than what numbers on a webpage will tell you.
If you have any questions about my post, feel free to send me an ask! I’d love to help however I can.
Keep Casting,
- Sam.
DISCLAIMER:
I am not an expert, nor a qualified authority on any particular aspect of witchcraft or divination. I am simply speaking from my own personal experiences, and am seeking to assist where I can. All opinions stated in this post are my own, and are not intended to offend. All images are my own. This work is protected by standard international Copyright law. Do not reproduce, repost, edit, sell, or claim my work as your own.
The decks pictured in this post are:
The New Mythic Tarot by Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene, illustrated by Giovanni Caselli, published by Simon & Schuster.
The Wild Unknown Tarot by Kim Krans, published by HarperCollins.
The Welcome to Nightvale Tarot by Jay Holloway, published by Topatoco.
The Rider Waite Tarot by A. E. Waite, illustrated by Pamela Coleman-Smith.
The Linestrider Tarot by Siolo Thompson, published by Llewellyn Publishing.
The Shadowscapes Tarot by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law, published by Llewellyn Publishing.
The Ukiyoe Tarot by Koji Furuta, published by U.S. Games.
Gudetama: The Lazy Egg playing cards by Sanrio, published by Cardinal Industries.
