I'm just a beginner

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 17 Jul 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Plush Cthulhu	17 Jul 2003
I'm curious as to what kind of deck should I look for. I have recently become interested in the Tarot after a family member told me about someone who used to use Tarot cards all of the time. Your help will be appreciated. Thank You!

dolphinprincess	17 Jul 2003
Personally, I think you should start with a deck that has all 78 cards illustrated with pictures. Some decks only illustrate the minor arcana with the number of cups, coins, etc. This is hard to learn with bc you have nothing to go on except memorization. The Rider Waite, most people will tell you, is the best to start with bc it is the most widely used and has the most books available for it. Personally, this deck didn't 'speak' to me.. mainly bc of the coloring... but it might to you. There are many 'clones' of the Waite Deck.. the Universal Waite has the same pictures with nicer coloring (IMHO).. I also think the Robin Wood Deck is wonderful for starters (and advanced alike)... it is very similar to the Rider Waite, but the pictures are so detailed and a lot nicer (again, IMHO).. What I would reccomend doing is this: go to the deck summaries on Aeclectic and look through the images (page by page).. read the reviews, etc. I think you'll find a deck that speaks to you.. When you find a few, you could do a search in this forum on the name and find out more information! Hope this helps and good luck.

anjocoxo	17 Jul 2003
Hi plush, and welcome to aeclectic. As dolphin already said, I also think you should start with rider-waite (maybe universal waite, which has beautiful colours). But when it comes to deck, you should always try to find one that "speaks out" to you... make a search here in aeclectic, and check the images of deck, see if there's one which calls out for you. With time, and if you keep on hanging around this forum, you'll get to the conclusion that one deck is not enough... and soon you'll be buying more and more :D Once again welcome to this community, feel free to ask questions and share your thoughts with us. Anjo

Plush Cthulhu	17 Jul 2003
Thank You both for your help. I have searched through a few of them including the Rider-Waite, but I wont make my decision until I see all of the decks, I'll be done sometime next week (due to my extreme laziness). I'm also curious about the Rock N' Roll tarot, I thought that this was a rumor. Who exactly is in the deck?

rota	17 Jul 2003
Good luck finding *your* decks, Plush C. Not that I know anything about rock n' roll Tarot decks, but I ran across this site and thought you might think it was as funny as I did! http://www.villarevak.org/fool/rock.html Also try this: http://www.villarevak.org/fool/deck.html [and for the rest of you reading this, there's plenty more tarot foolery to be found in this site! recommended!]

Le_Corsair	17 Jul 2003
You can visit this site, and also download a course on learning to read the cards. http://www.learntarot.com/decks1.htm I'll agree that a variant of the Rider-Waite deck is usually the best choice for a beginning reader, as most of the books are oriented to this deck. Be aware that over a half-dozen variants of the Rider-Waite are commonly available; you can pretty much tailor your choice to yourself, with colors and back to suit yourself. Since you express interest in Rock and Roll and have a website dedicated to Sammy Hagar, you may be more interested in the Thoth deck, which was designed by Aleister Crowley and painted by Frieda Harris. Crowley is well known in the rock world; Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin was a fan to the point of buying Crowley's house by the shores of Loch Ness, and Ozzy Osbourne wrote a song titled "Mr. Crowley." The Crowley Thoth deck is harder for a beginner to master, but has a darker reputation that appeals to many. It is one of the three major "types" of decks in the tarot world, the others being the Rider-Waite (called RWS around here) and the Tarot of Marseilles. You'll probably get decks of all types if you stick with tarot long enough, it's like a wardrobe in that regard, no one wears just one suit all the time! There are various good books on tarot, but if you are a total beginner you might try one of the "Tarot for Dummies" books, there are various ones by different authors/publishers, they discuss tarot in an all-inclusive fashion without clogging your mind with unnecessary jargon and esoteric theory. They are also available in all bookstores, such as Barnes & Noble and Borders. Have fun with whatever you choose! Bob :THERM

Inannadescends	18 Jul 2003
Welcome to the board. :) I just got my first deck (The Vampire Tarot), it was one that spoke to me. I had seen pictures of it on line but didn't order it as I only had a slight interest in Tarot. Then someone showed me her tarot deck and gave a mini lesson to a few of us. A few weeks later I saw the deck in a store and just had to buy it. I have been trying to study it but it is an extremely difficult deck. I've been thinking of buying a deck that I might understand more. I don't really like the Rider-Waite decks. I was thinking of buying one of the Arthurian decks (I almost did before I got the Vampire one) as I know Arthurian myth/legend and perhaps this will help me give meaning to the cards. Does that make sense? The Rock 'n Roll tarot is unfortunately out of print, I bought the David Bowie card on ebay for $9.95 ( I love Bowie!)

truthsayer	18 Jul 2003
unfortunately, i think you will find the legend deck difficult to learn, too unless you are quite familiar with the arthurian legends. if you don't like the rws there are many spin offs that may catch your eye. for example, the robin wood or universal waite. it may help you eventually read the vampire if you had a rws and could lay the cards out from each pack side by side. the good news is once you give yourself a solid education in the basics with rws, you should be able to transfer what you have learned to any other deck you wish to work with. if you learn to read tarot from a deck like the arthurian, it will be difficult to transfer that learning to other decks since other decks are not based on the legends of king arthur.

Little Baron	18 Jul 2003
Good advice from Truthsayer. I tried reading with the more complicated decks when i started as i couldn't relate to the kind of art in the RWS. After a long time of resisting, I bought the RWS because of the unlimited amount of material that is geared towards it. I have developed a 'love' for the art now and it is probably my main deck. It is easier to translate to those other complicated decks I have now that there is that foundation of knowlege. There is the Morgan Greer which has a good likeness. However, Universal Waite is my favourite. They may seem a little flat at the start, but when you begin to delve into the symbolism (and believe me, there is far more than I ever antisipated) the journey starts to get 'very' exciting! Best wishes Yaboot

Little Baron	18 Jul 2003
There is another thread in the Tarot Deck section which is about a new release for the 'Rock'n'Roll' tarot. Hope that helps yaboot

fairyhedgehog	18 Jul 2003
Choosing a first deck is so exciting :) I would go for a Rider Waite lookalike - a deck that follows the Rider Waite imagery, but uses prettier pictures. Two that come to mind are the Hanson-Roberts and the Robin Wood. If you look here you will find suggested decks under 'beginners' and 'Rider Waite clones'.

Inannadescends	19 Jul 2003
Thanks for all the suggestions. I had being trying in vain to understand a deck that speaks to me in a very, very confusing tongue! ;) As much as I never really cared for the Rider-waite decks. It does seem like a good idea to get one of those and study with both. Laying the cards out from both decks is an excellent idea! I saw a thread about a new rider-waite deck (radiant?) whose colors are more appealing. And I'm going to look at some of the "beginner" decks. :)

HudsonGray	19 Jul 2003
Give a look over at this site--especially the 1,000 words section. You can see the art compared side by side with similar decks, which might help in making a decision. http://www.advancenet.net/~jscole/tarot.htm

Trogon	20 Jul 2003
Hi Plush C... Welcome to the forums... :D You've already gotten a lot of very good advice. I would go along with the idea of the Rider-Waite-Smith or one very similar to it from the stand point of there being a very wide base of reference material for these decks. As others have mentioned, some of the specialized "theme decks" such as vampires & dragons might be a little confusing for someone who is just starting out. However, having said that, if you just can't get into the artwork of the RWS decks, you might want to also check the Spiral Tarot. This deck is based in the RWS and the images are, for the most part, pretty similar. When there are variations in the imagery, they meanings still come through pretty clearly. I do have to admit that I had learned, originally, with the RWS and thus found the transition to the Spiral Tarot extremely easy - I believe that learning the Spiral first would be just as easy. Le_Corsair made a very good suggestion with the "Tarot for Dummies" book. This seems to be an extremely good book which should go a long way with helping you to learn the basics. For something a little more advanced, "Tarot Reversals" by Mary K. Greer is, I believe, a very good book for exploring expanded meanings of the cards whether or not you decide to use reversed cards. Well... those are my immediate thoughts on the question...

Bings	20 Jul 2003
To me the RWS is a wonderful learning tool. The deck doesn't speak to me the way other decks do but it has been a wonderful tool in helping me learn tarot. Simply by going through the RWS and another deck side by side, one card at a time. If you want to start with a deck other than a RWS I strongly suggest you pick up a RWS also. You may come to love it and use it as your main deck like many people do. Or like others of us you may just use it for studying tarot. Either way, you can't go wrong adding this deck to your collection. Dianne

~MaGiCaLmAgPiE~	05 Aug 2003
What great advice! i followed the link to find the best beginner deck for me, and looked around at the other decks, I thought the New Palladini, Sacred Rose and Diamond Tarot decks were pretty nice, but i'm curious about the other themes any suggestions for themed decks that are easy for beginners? I'm quite fond of the Goddess Tarot Deck...I love the graphics, but i'm wondering if they may be too difficult for a beginner? The reviews said that people used them as their first decks, but i dont know very much about goddesses! My friend got me into tarot reading, he suggested the Rider-Waite too, but i cant stand the graphics, I'm on a tight budget and i would like to get a deck that has great graphics but isn't very expensive, and later once i have learned how to interpret them, move on to the more elaborate and difficult decks, any suggestions?

Le_Corsair	06 Aug 2003
Quote: Originally posted by ~MaGiCaLmAgPiE~ What great advice! i followed the link to find the best beginner deck for me, and looked around at the other decks, I thought the New Palladini, Sacred Rose and Diamond Tarot decks were pretty nice, but i'm curious about the other themes any suggestions for themed decks that are easy for beginners? I'm quite fond of the Goddess Tarot Deck...I love the graphics, but i'm wondering if they may be too difficult for a beginner? The reviews said that people used them as their first decks, but i dont know very much about goddesses! My friend got me into tarot reading, he suggested the Rider-Waite too, but i cant stand the graphics, I'm on a tight budget and i would like to get a deck that has great graphics but isn't very expensive, and later once i have learned how to interpret them, move on to the more elaborate and difficult decks, any suggestions? I'd say the New Palladini, because it follows RWS imagery but is drawn by a much better artist; he also designed the Aquarian Tarot. The Diamond Tarot is, I believe, simply a jazzed-up version of the Rider-Waite. The others you mention I know nothing about. If you go to www.tarot.com they have a selection of about 30 decks with scans of all cards that you can view at leisure. Bob :THERM

Wildchild	06 Aug 2003
I have the Goddess Tarot and it's easy to use. You don't necessarily have to know about the different Goddesses to use this deck. The artist used aspects of each Goddesses that she thought would personified the meaning of the cards. I found using this deck had inspired me to learn more of the different Goddesses that I don't normally come across.

~MaGiCaLmAgPiE~	06 Aug 2003
Thank you so much for your advice! i have looked over the decks with my friend who is quite advanced in tarot reading and he has been helping me narrow down my selection. He said the problem with the new palladini and goddess cards is that they are a little difficult to interpret especially if i'm just starting out, the pictures themselves dont explain themselves very well, and he says the best ones from my choices are the Sacred Rose Tarot decks, so I think that is what i am going to get. they are beautiful pictures and i'm sure as i get more advanced i'll probably pick up the goddess cards as well. Thanks again for the advice! :-D

mondk	09 Aug 2003
Hello all. It has been awhile since I've posted here. I felt compelled to chime in. Back when I decided to learn the tarot, I knew nothing. I had no idea where to get cards and didn't have the internet. I ended up going into a novelty shop and the only 2 decks they had there was the Witches' Tarot (not the Reed one, the other one) and the Dragon. I picked the Dragon because it came with a good-sized book, which I have no idea where the book is now. I had no idea that beginners "should learn" on the RW deck, and personally for me, the RW deck was pretty blah and boring. I still don't have that deck to this day. I think you should find a tarot deck that "speaks" to you; pick them up, look at the cards and their images and trust your gut instinct. I think the easiest deck I've ever come across (and I'm pretty dumb so bear with me) is the Whimsical tarot. Yes, it is a kid-like deck, but the imagery is so easy to understand and the actual meaning of the card(s) are so self-explanatory, you definitely don't need the LWB to read them. I am currently reading "Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom" by Rachel Pollack. It is a very good book and I wish I had read it at the beginning of my tarot studies. So, all that said, trust your gut. That has never steered me wrong yet. Blessings, Michelle

WolfSpirit	09 Aug 2003
My first deck was a good old rider-waite, my local shop simply did not have anything else. If I had to choose a beginner's deck now, I would go for the Universal Tarot by Roberto de Angelis. Same imagery as the rider-waite, but imo much more attractive. Curious to know what you will choose, Plush !

genna	09 Aug 2003
For me the Hanson-Roberts was the most easy deck to learn with. Some(not so much it bothers me) of the symbolism of the Rider-Waite isn´t there,but enough to use with a book that teaches Rider-Waite symbolism,and more than in many other clones, like for example the Robin Wood (IMHO).

~MaGiCaLmAgPiE~	11 Aug 2003
I'd just like to thank you again for your ideas, i tossed and turned over quite a few decks and looked at all the ones that everyone has proposed, i went over to my friends house and looked at his Rider-Waite deck and they just didnt do it for me...i felt almost uninterested because of the "blah" pictures, although they are a great deck for beginners and i saw the symbolism, i just dont think they were the right deck for me i went online and looked at the Sacred Rose tarot deck and found something that looked simple yet colorful and interesting, and i ordered them. They should be in sometime this week and I cant wait! Thank you all again for your help :) i do hope that any other newbies to tarot reading get a chance to look at this forum and get some ideas :) ~*~MaGs~*~

Little Baron	11 Aug 2003
I am excited for you too. Let us know how it goes. Yaboot

The I'm just a beginner thread was originally posted on 17 Jul 2003 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.