We’ve had a few threads asking about this. And lately I have been shopping around to bookmark decks that I like for my own amusement. So I thought I’d share some tips.
The first thing many want to find out is how to know which deck is right for you once you see it. I’m not going to go into that a lot here. I’m mostly focusing on how to search for decks so you can look at many different ones that might appeal to you. But I will say that you basically just find a deck that appeals to you because of how you feel about the images on it. Some describe this process as something profound and magical. You might agree that it feels profound and magical when you see the deck that you like best, but to simplify things we’re still basically looking for images that inspire feelings that you enjoy when you look at them. By the way, your deck does not have to be a gift from someone else, contrary to some rumors.
Other than that, there are some good guidelines here, although it is an old article. It mentions decks that were not yet published at the time, like the Gilded and Bright Idea deck, but they have already been published now.
http://www.llewellyn.com/journal/article/627
You could also Google search the terms “choosing a tarot deck” to see what articles come up lol.
1. My number one tip is to use the internet. If you are reading this, that must mean you have access or know someone who does. All the rest of my tips depend on this one. You can, of course, go to local book stores or new age shops to see what they have. But the selections will be very limited. Many people feel disappointed that they just can’t seem to find a deck they like this way. I’ve heard that some say it is better to interact with the deck in person to know if it will feel right for you, but as someone who searches for decks online as a hobby I can tell you that it is definitely possible to feel that connection with a deck while browsing its images online.
2. Take your time. There are thousands of different decks out there. A lot of them will be clones of each other, and if you like the clones that works, but if not be patient and keep at it and you will find ones that are very unique. Maybe as many as half of them will look good to you and it will be hard to decide. Or maybe you’ll have trouble finding ones you like. Either way, plan to take plenty of time to decide. It can be less overwhelming that way once you find yourself buried in internet pages.
3. Use Google. Particularly Google image search. When you search for terms on Google, there is an “images” tab on the top of the page that you can click to look at images relating to those terms. This is useful for searching for more images of a particular deck you want to look into as well as for finding more decks to look into.
I recommend searching for a particular card to see how this same card is done in many different decks. For example, enter the terms “the star tarot” in the image search and you will find a bunch of pictures of the star card from hundreds of different decks. Look into the pages that have star cards that you like. Or you can look up “Page of Cups” or any other card. It seems like with each card I look up I find more decks I really like.
Sometimes this will lead you to blogs and other pages that have a picture of the card but do not say what deck it is from. You can try to find a different link to the picture in the image search. Or, you can try right clicking on the image and choosing “view image info” from the drop down menu to see if the address of the picture will mention the name of the deck or the artist. Sometimes both of these methods will fail unfortunately. Sometimes you have found an image that is not a part of a deck, because the artist only designed one card and put it their blog. It happens. In that case, move on to another image.
While looking into these pages, you might find blogs that show images from other decks that look nice. If they don’t say what deck it is from, try searching for the card to see if the same image shows up. For example, if while looking into a link to a pretty Strength you end up at a blog that also has an image of Moon card that looks really nice but it doesn’t mention what deck it is from or the artist or anything. Try image searching “Moon tarot” to see if the same image will show up on a different page.
If you do find the name of the deck or the artist, or what you think could be name of the deck or artist, just do a search on those terms. For example, if you see the name Rene or the word “celestial” in the image url try a search on the terms “rene tarot” or “celestial tarot” and look into a few links to see if you can find the deck.
Search for descriptions of the kinds of tarot decks you like. For example “dark tarot” or “computer generated tarot” or “cute tarot” or “watercolors tarot”. I’ve found a lot of decks I like that way.
Once you’ve found some decks you like, you may need to switch back to a web search on the name of the deck to find out where to purchase them. Hopefully it will be in print and in stock. If not, e-bay might have it. There is also a shopping tab at the top of the Google search that could be helpful.
Bookmark the decks you like to compare them to each other later. It might help to put the bookmarks in different folders to categorize them and narrow down what you are looking for. For example, you could have a “bright colors” folder or a “images of mythical creatures” folder to help you remember which decks have those characteristics.
4. Aeclectic.net . It seems that the majority of decks in existence will have a page on that site. Not all of them, but most. I find it convenient to bookmark the aeclectic page for a deck if one exists in order to compare them later. You can also sort the cards according to deck type, number of cards, and ratings. Go to the “cards” link on the top and then to the “sort the cards” link in the right column. The page for each deck will link you to aeclectic’s reviews for it if there are any as well as to places where you can buy the deck if it is available.
Some drawbacks are that the images are not always of great quality there and they don’t always choose the best ones to represent the deck. Many times I have passed over a deck when seeing it on aeclectic for the first time only to come back to it and bookmark it later because I found better examples from the deck elsewhere. Sometimes I find a really neat deck elsewhere then when I go to the aeclectic page I’m surprised by dull it looks on the images there. If something on this site looks like it might be okay but you can’t really tell from that page, do an image search on it to see more cards. Another drawback is that I come across decks that that I love but then see in the description that they are out of print and a very limited edition. So for me it is not the best place to first discover a deck, but a good place to bookmark the decks I like and see how they are rated.
5. Now that you, hopefully have a long list of decks that appeal to you at least a little, how do you decide which one(s) to get? If you’re like me it can be a challenge to pick just one or two decks from all of these. I narrow it down to the ones that I keep coming back to over and over and feel repeatedly moved by the cuteness/beauty of them when I see them. Then I spend more time with these until I have a feel for which decks I really wish I could have in my hands now to look at them and read from them. In the end I get the decks that I feel like I really don’t want to live without, if that makes sense.
After searching around for a couple days you’ll begin to feel quite knowledgeable. You’ll begin to be able to name the deck that a card is from and the name of the artist. If you get a reading from someone you might be able to take one look and say things like “ah, the Haindl deck.. nice.” It’s fun.
I have tentative plans to post a list of some of the decks I like, separated into some basic categories. It will take a while to get that done though.
I dont read tarot cards but i have got Angel cards and Medicone cards.
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