I'm very new, but have a question (why are some decks easier to read than others?)

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 10 Sep 2002, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Teal	10 Sep 2002
Why is it that I'm seeing comments that some decks are easier to read than others? I started with the Medicine Woman cards, so I'm beginning to wonder if maybe I should have started with a more traditional deck. Will I have things to unlearn later on? I'm fascinated with Tarot now and will certainly be getting more decks and continuing to study.

Liliana	10 Sep 2002
Some decks are considered easier than others due to their symbolism. The Rider Waite is pretty much the standard in Tarot Decks, many books are written on it, and many decks model themselves after it (like the Spiral) so its considered easier to read because there is more stuff written on mit to learn from. Another category of easier to read decks tho are any deck who has symbolism that spoeaks to you personally. A Catholic might find Tarot of the Saints speaks easily to them whereas others might find it hard to read. Many people find Osho Zen easy to read even tho its a far depart from a traditional deck Decks that are considered hard to read are ones where you must read the book to understand the symbolism at all, like the Enochian Tarot. Or it has odd symbolism, like my favorite deck the Rohrig. But its really a matter of opimion whether or niot they are actually harder. I dont think anyone should have to unlearn anything they learn about tarot. Coming from a non traditional deck you may need to learn some in addition to what you know, but you shouldnt unlearn it. Tarot is intuitive and if you feel a medicine woman meaning applies to a Rider card in a reading, use it. No one has the right to say you are wrong. :THP

blackthorn	10 Sep 2002
My personal and this is just personal option is that your first deck is always a deck that speaks to you! I started on a deck of cards my gram gave to me and now have them for personal use only! Knowledge is power never fear learning new things

Violet Gargoyle	10 Sep 2002
Guess I have a more hippie view on this one, some are earisr to read for me that others because I can relate them to my own interests and experiences better. I study folklore in depth, so I have an easier time reading with storybook type tarot decks. Its what just speaks to me because I have already thought about the figures in the cards beforehand in some capacity. I might works the same for art lovers who connect with art decks, or music lovers who connect with the Rock and Roll deck because the lyrics on the card have a meaning to them already. Something like that anyway.....

Sullanciri2002	11 Sep 2002
if you consider the interpretation that an "easy" deck gives you too many obvious tips or hints to just one or two meanings ? I don't know if this is what others here see as an "easy" deck, but when I hear the word ... I immediately think about those decks where the imagery is very specific and points to one simple interpretation in such a way as to almost preclude any other insights - or where the cards have key-words that are too simple and obvious. Part of the charm of the tarot, has to be the sense of mystery and wonder ... which kind of goes missing when things are too straightforward. If you consider a deck easy because it speaks to you or feels right ... great. If it's easy because it stops you from looking deeper than the obvious stuff ... well, need I say more (and of course somebody will now answer that I should).

Trogon	11 Sep 2002
Quote: Originally posted by blackthorn My personal and this is just personal option is that your first deck is always a deck that speaks to you! I started on a deck of cards my gram gave to me and now have them for personal use only! Well blackthorn, you're probably right - but there is always an exception to the rule... ;) I personally could not work with my very first deck at all. My first deck was a Tarot of Marseilles - it just did not "speak" to me at all. :P So, I next picked up a Rider-Waite deck and it's been my deck ever since... untill I got my new Röhrig deck! Now I have two decks that I can use!!! :D Quote: Originally posted by Liliana Tarot is intuitive and if you feel a medicine woman meaning applies to a Rider card in a reading, use it. No one has the right to say you are wrong. I don't know Liliana... "no one can say you're wrong?? You'd better be watching over your shoulder for [/b][/i][/u]

MeeWah	11 Sep 2002
Medidinemama: Welcome! I tend to agree with Liliana that it depends on the symbolism of a deck. I am not familiar with the Medicine Woman deck but if it speaks to you, but all means continue with it! In time, as one develops insight, there will be other decks that will be compatible as well. Tis true that the Rider-Smith-Waite deck is considered a standard. There is a wealth of material based on it both in decks & writings with which to refer, but the Aleister Crowley Thoth deck also has its proponent decks & writings.

Laurel	11 Sep 2002
Welcome Medidinemama! I don't think you'll have to worry about unlearning anything when you start using new decks; it will be more a matter of adding to your existing experience. Every deck has its own subjective language, but after a while (at least in my experience) it all starts falling together and some concepts become very applicable any where. Laurel

DarkElectric	11 Sep 2002
I can't exactly elaborate what it is for me which makes a deck readable or unreadable. I guess it's if the deck "Speaks" to me when I look at it, and if it sparks my intuition. If I look at cards in a deck, and say "Wow, these are pretty and nicely drawn" and I get the deck, many times I don't end up reading with it, it's strictly a collection deck. But if in the course of viewing the cards, I say to myself, "WOW! I really know what this MEANS!" I know I have a reading deck, and then proceed to use it. This happens with some really diverse deck styles. What do Motherpeace, Voyager, Spiral and Hanson Roberts have in common? They are all decks I can read.

WillieHewes	13 Sep 2002
In my opinion, a deck is easy to read if the images on the card clearly corresponds to the meaning of it. If the Ten of Wands shows a man having trouble carrying ten sticks, and the meaning given by the book or booklet includes phrases like 'burden', 'carrying the world on your shoulders' and 'biting off more than you can chew', this makes sense to me, and the next time the card comes up I'll remember what it meant. This is what makes a deck easy to read to me, not needing the booklet because the meaning (and possible alternative meanings) are clear from the image. In some decks the link between picture and meaning is much more obscure, or the images are littered with many small symbols from astrological or kabbalistic sources that I haven't studied, and hence mean nothing to me. That is to me what makes a deck hard to read. My first deck was the Dragon Tarot by P. Prakownik. I do not use it anymore, and actually think that both the booklet and the artwork are unhelpful. I studied the tarot with the help of books that displayed the 'standard' Rider-White images. These I did understand, and for a long time I remembered the meanings of my dragon cards by linking the picture on it to the RW image and deriving the meaning from that. While this worked for me, and helped train my memory, I don't think it's the preferred method of starting out. That's why I would advise anyone starting with the tarot for the first time to pick a deck which is close to RW, or a deck with its own imagery as long as it's clear and easy to understand, for instance because it's related to a subject or 'theme' you know well. But then, I am very much a simplist, and fine nuances of meaning are often somewhat lost on me. Willie

Teal	13 Sep 2002
Thank you Willie. What you say makes perfect sense to me. I tried to find "pentacle" in the online dictionary AOL provides me last night, but that didn't help me at all. It didn't give a good definition at all. I only know a pentacle symbol from withcraft, which I'm not into, so I have trouble knowing what that would mean as it would apply to me, as far as finding those in a deck. I'm more familiar with other, more tribal things, being Cherokee, so some of the tribal type of decks seem to call to me more. I'm trying not to purposely limit myself to tribal decks, but it seems like that's all I've gotten so far, just from the decks that presented themselves to me when I went shopping. I did get a fairy tarot, but fairies and fairy lore were a big deal to me when I was a child, so those really appeal to me too. I want to get the gnome deck sometime if I can.

juice	13 Sep 2002
Hello Teal, Just since no one has mentioned it. The medicine woman tarot is close to the rider waite deck on most all of the cards so in a way you are following 2 sets of seemingly different advice. Stick with MW deck. It's a good one for your existing point of view and will act as a bridge to more traditional RW decks. I'd suggest getting the book to go with that deck if you have not already. So when the book you are working from describes a picture on a card it will match what you are looking at. Plus what I have read so far shows it to be a good book. Pentacles are merely a representation of earthly things. The MW deck uses shields and some use coins. These referr to the work-a-day aspects of tangible reality. The kind of stuff people referr to when they tell you to get a life :) when you are too busy running off on an adventure, too deep in your dreams, too caught up in your emotions, over analyzing a situation, or just not "tending to business."

Teal	13 Sep 2002
Thank you, Juice. I did find that the Medicine Woman deck seems really easy for me to read and I do have the book. I'm not having equal success with Ancestral Path yet, and not with the three other decks I have, either. I thought maybe it was just because I'm not used to the others yet. I seem to get more "right on" and accuracy from Medicine Woman for some reason.

purplelady	13 Sep 2002
Medicine Woman was one of my first decks. It follows the rider-waite pretty closely. I don't think you'll have to unlearn anything in that respect. The court cards are probubly the most different, but even they follow the Basic r/w concept. It's a great deck. The book also has A Lot of interpretations and information. The Medicine Woman is more woman oriented than r/w.

cjtarot	14 Sep 2002
Hi, Love and use your Medicine Women Tarot but consider expanding your collection.. For a basic rider deck, I like the Universal Waite..the lines on the picutures are finer and the colors are great. From there look around, go to a shop if you can, look at the cards, feel them, see what appeals to you.. As you collect decks (try to buy sets) you will learn about different symbols, styles, and even cultures. I love all my decks but use ony one on a regular basis, each deck has given me insight into myself and the culture behind it. Blessings and good reading, Cj

The I'm very new, but have a question (why are some decks easier to read than others?) thread was originally posted on 10 Sep 2002 in the Talking Tarot board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Talking Tarot, or read more archived threads.