The most number of decks you can read WELL with?

I'm curious, as I find myself getting fascinated by yet another deck. I'm curious as to what you think the largest number of decks is that one can read well with.

Now first of all I know that many readers (most readers?) read well with one deck, and one deck only, for many years. I'm not including those here.

I also know that most of us can read reasonably well with any deck.

It's not that issue I'm curious about.

However, I find that I like to rotate a number of decks and I keep coming back to the same decks again and again. I have between 10 and 15 frequent reading decks which I believe I read my best with. Of course the really, really best decks for me number about 3 (Thoth, Victorian Romantic & Navigators of the Mystic SEA), but such is my attraction to the artwork or the system that I reach out for others.

I also suspect that the fewer decks you know well, the better you will read with them. Or is that a false assumption?

I can read with any deck really, but if someone asks me for a reading, of course I am going to choose a deck which I think I read well with so I can give my best. And I begin to wonder whether reading well (by my definition!) with 15 decks is actually rather or lot. Or maybe very few? What number would you give?

In your opinion, what's a reasonable number of decks to be able to read WELL with, without spreading oneself too thinly?

That is a really good question. As I have gotten more decks, I have found that I while I can read with any of them, I can't read well with ALL of them. There are probably 7 or 8 that I would say are my "best" decks. That is about 10% of my total collection (including 6 Thoths and some oracle decks).

It will be interesting to see what others have to say.

I -at the moment- have 4 decks, and three of them are my "Three Musketeers" Decks, the ones I ALWAYS have on me. I think it depends on Experience and how well you read Tarot. Someone who reads really well, might be able to thrive off the challenge of always readings with a different deck than the last time.

Other people might only want to read with one. So maybe the number changes over time, depending on experience and consistency.

I had a visit with a very very good psychic recently. He didn't know I was into cards, but at one point he mentioned it, and said I was using way too many decks. He went on to say to only use the 4. Since then I've thought about what he said. And to tell you the truth, I have to agree with him. All the flitting around isn't helping me give better readings. I read best with just a few of my favorites. I don't know why exactly, but they seem to open me up to intuition more.

By the way, I am very sceptical with psychics. But this guy was unbelievable! I am going through a very tough and emotional time in my life and this guy knew nothing about me. Well, he picked up on everything, he was awesome! (He is also a medium and he didn't need any cards or other tools to do what he does.)

It's probably different for everybody, but for me, not many at all!

Well let's see..I have probably 50 decks. A LOT. However I only read well with some of them. My three "go too's" that I find myself always grabbing are Illuminated, Mystic Dreamer or Universal Waite. However I also read well with Druidcraft, Navigators of Mystic Sea, Sweitlist Drogi, NOVT, Sacred Rose and Quest Tarot. I just don't tend to grab them as often as my go to decks.

Certain ones I love but have a hard time reading with like Bohemian Gothic..love the artwork but I just tend to blank when I see things like Frankenstien. ) Don't know why.

Hi... very interesting though provoking....

for me personally... i can basically work with any tarot or oracle deck when doing a reading but feeling most comfortable with only a few decks.......
Eg......Native American Tarot
Shadowscape Tarot
Osho Zen Tarot...
Medicine Woman Tarot
and RWS......

a variety of oracle decks.....

I have a lot of decks but I feel most comfortable reading with same four. Interestingly my favorite deck is the one I have had for the longest just over 20 years! Thoth (most painfully accurate deck in my experiance), Sacred Rose, Aquarian and the Tarot de Marseille by Camoin-Jodorowsky. I use the others I have when reading for myself or in other development work but while I enjoy them I just don't feel as at home as I do with those above.

An interesting question, Le Fanu It's fairly clear that you are speaking of how many decks one can use over a long period, returning every so often to old favourites but being moved, also, to stretch your boundaries a little, yes, or simply to glean yet more information from new tools etc? Well, I believe this also works well through another approach...

One day, a friend of mine, who had gathered together a group of women for spiritual growth sessions etc, found just myself, her partner, and herself together one day as others were unable to attend... Not wanting to do the exercises she had planned for the larger group, she and her partner decided it would be useful to stretch my comfort zone generally, and especially in terms of readings, so they asked me to read for them pulling a card from each of seven decks they had on the shelf...

I was daunted, to say the least, because, though I've sometimes complemented two decks, using one after the other, for additional clarity in a reading, I'd never seen some of these decks before... So..... I laid the cards out (and here's that intuitive vs memorised/learnt+intuitive issue again) and simply read the story that was unfolding.... It actually read like a dream, and both were really moved by the information that came up for them...

In answer to the original question, though, Le Fanu, I am not a 'TAROT reader' in the strictest sense of the word. I definitely work more deeply with 'in-tuition' rather than with external, learned, meanings, although of course these are interrelated, so I tend to move comfortably towards whichever deck calls me for a particular person in any given moment... much like feeling into which crystal to work with, I suppose...

As in all things, I believe the limiting factor comes down to one's Self, essentially, and what our inner knowing prompts us to do... Many Blessings to you all

I don't know yet. I am going through all my decks, and when I find one that particularly resonates for me I put it on the 'more later' list.

In my reading life, I read with 1-5 "active" decks. When I read at an event, I give querants a choice of several decks. I might bring 2-3 of my current work-horse decks (Gilded, Universal RWS, Thoth, Flornoy Noblet, or the deck 'o the week, if I'm liking it) and then I might throw in a couple of fun choices (Like the Halloween) and a more unusual deck that folks might not have seen before.

I think 5 is a good number for me, but what they are has changed over the years, and will probably keep changing in the future. I can read well with almost all my oracle and tarot decks, but there are a few that I just didn't connect with. So far.

linnie said:

An interesting question, Le Fanu It's fairly clear that you are speaking of how many decks one can use over a long period, returning every so often to old favourites but being moved, also, to stretch your boundaries a little, yes, or simply to glean yet more information from new tools etc? Well, I believe this also works well through another approach...:

Click to expand...

Yes... It's just that I see, over the years, the number of decks slowly increases for no other reason than that a deck comes along which I love and which I really do want to get to the bottom of and understand. I'm not talking about flitting, as these are decks which have lasted the test of time. Or rather, some invariably do, some don't (but you give 'em a try), yet I would say my long-held list of Top Ten is now nearer 15 which, by the look of some of these answers, is rather a lot!

linnie said:

One day, a friend of mine, who had gathered together a group of women for spiritual growth sessions etc, found just myself, her partner, and herself together one day as others were unable to attend... Not wanting to do the exercises she had planned for the larger group, she and her partner decided it would be useful to stretch my comfort zone generally, and especially in terms of readings, so they asked me to read for them pulling a card from each of seven decks they had on the shelf...

I was daunted, to say the least, because, though I've sometimes complemented two decks, using one after the other, for additional clarity in a reading, I'd never seen some of these decks before... So..... I laid the cards out (and here's that intuitive vs memorised/learnt+intuitive issue again) and simply read the story that was unfolding.... It actually read like a dream, and both were really moved by the information that came up for them...

In answer to the original question, though, Le Fanu, I am not a 'TAROT reader' in the strictest sense of the word. I definitely work more deeply with 'in-tuition' rather than with external, learned, meanings, although of course these are interrelated, so I tend to move comfortably towards whichever deck calls me for a particular person in any given moment... much like feeling into which crystal to work with, I suppose...

As in all things, I believe the limiting factor comes down to one's Self, essentially, and what our inner knowing prompts us to do... Many Blessings to you all

Click to expand...

This also begs another question which I have long held true that sometimes, we unwrap a new deck, or a deck we have never seen before, and do a wonderful reading with it despite not knowing it at all. Sometimes not knowing a deck allows us to give fresh and fluent readings.

I think the key question here is, how many decks would you choose from (or allow your querent to choose from) if asked to give your best? For me it also depends on how I want to read; scenic Rider Waite-ish pips? Thothness? The sparse pictorial rhythms of a historic Marseilles deck? Or maybe something totally "out there" and not anchored to a familiar system and which will allow me to float a bit more freely? Just thinking about these four categories, there are 3 or four decks I like and know well in each one! And I'm not even mentioning Oracles...