Shopping Decks in London

Hey all,

A friend of mine went to a local Border's in London to get a tarot deck, and saw that they had a really limited range of decks (he was looking for robin wood, world spirit, and fenestra, and they didn't have either). He tried a couple of others, but no luck what so ever.

Can anyone here help me by giving me the name and address of stores that would have a large collection of decks (especially the ones listed above). I tried the atlantis bookshop's website, but they didn't have any of those listed there.

Any help would really be appreciated

Love and Blessings

I used to use amazon.uk, though the service is less than stellar. There was a fairly decent new agey type shop near the tube station in Clerkenwell, but damned if I can remember the name of it--I'm on the other side of the pond these days.

Wish I could be more help, but finding large collections of tarot packs in shops in London always seemed more a matter of luck than anything else. Hopefully somebody's got some more recent information.

Mysteries and Watkins seem to be the shops mentioned most about this question. I've been to both a few years ago, and they certainly have a nice selection of decks, but don't ask me how to get there! I remember getting off a train at Waterloo and walking for miles. I understand that the nearest tube is Leicester Square.

As for the net, most of my decks have come from Alida, playingcardsales, Amazon UK, and Tarot Garden, and I recommend them all highly.

Mysteries is at 9-11 Monmouth Street. The nearest tube stop is Covent Garden.

Super store--where I bought my beloved Osho Zen deck.

And per Google, Watkins Bookstore is at 19 Cecil Court, off Charing Cross Road. Nearest tube stop is probably Leceister Square. (Had a great reading there from Rob, back in 2001).

Ah, London brings wonderful tarot experiences back to me

Yes, Watkins probably has the best stock in London. From Leicester Sq tube station, head along Charing X Rd in the direction of Trafalgar Sq and you'll come to Cecil Court on the left-hand side. You'll see Watkins book shop first, then a couple of shop-fronts further on is the section with cards, crystals and whatnot.

If you ever travel down to Brighton, Hocus Pocus in the North Laine has a great selection too.

Mysteries is where I started my tarot journey, and it remains a favourite of mine for all esoterica - with a wide range of decks. Watkins seems to have gone down, since I last was there, but it still has some good stuff. I've seen some good selections in some of the Waterstones' too, but that is hit-and-miss.

last time I bought a deck from London it was from Foyles book store... a long time ago though but they had a reasonable selection

Davina

Imagemaker said:

Mysteries is at 9-11 Monmouth Street. The nearest tube stop is Covent Garden.

Super store--where I bought my beloved Osho Zen deck.

And per Google, Watkins Bookstore is at 19 Cecil Court, off Charing Cross Road. Nearest tube stop is probably Leceister Square. (Had a great reading there from Rob, back in 2001).

Ah, London brings wonderful tarot experiences back to me

Click to expand...

I used to frequent Watkins quite often, having bought not just Tarot decks, but esoteric and occult works there as well. A week or so ago, Mrs Woolfe and I decided to pop back there. I can only say that it's changed, and not for the better. The divination section is sadly under-stocked, having loads of tarot books that I already have, two books on I-ching, and one on Runes. Everything seemed to be being removed from the shelves, as there were many empty ones, and all manner of self-help CDs and DVDs were being stacked up; I sadly suspect that the shop is becoming more of a generic 'New Age' type of store, as opposed to a specialist esoteric bookstore.

We decided to check out Mysteries, not having been there before, and had a most unpleasant experience. Some kind of outdoor location film unit was in the area, as we spotted Stephen Tomkinson lurking in a shop doorway nearby. When we got to the store, we began to look around, and when we got to the Tarot shelves, all three members of staff erupted into gales of laughter. They didn't fully explain why, (We didn't ask, as we felt distinctly uncomfortable by then) and when one of them looked quizzically at the cashier standing behind us, she remarked 'I know, he's standing right in front of me!' to more gales of laughter. Whether they were remarking about the actor outside or not, I have no idea, but at that moment in time, the only person of the male gender standing in front of her was me.

We both decided to leave at that point, as we got the distinct feeling that we were the butt of someones' private joke. I only hope I'm mistaken, but that first experience has put me off the shop for life. Ironically, we found what we were looking for eventually in Foyles', on Tottenham Court Road.

Watkins IS divided into two shops now which is confusing for the challenged granny; I missed the tarots first time around, but luckily found them later. There were a LOT - about 2 months ago, anyway. Mysteries is patchier than it used to be.

I know Watkins has two shops- one has (Or used to) books and Tarot cards, among other things, and the other has things like rock crystals, oils, dreamcatchers, malas and other things. The section that used to have Tarot cards is now all but empty, save the one bookshelf of divination books, and racks of CDs and DVDs. There were at least five shelves we spotted that were empty. We didn't go downstairs, so I'm not aware if any changes happened there. I sincerely hope not, as downstairs was my favourite section; original pressings of Theosophical Society books are hard to come by these days!