Your very first experiences with your very first deck

LaRazia

I was thinking we could have a topic where we would recall how was it like when we got our very first decks and how was it like reading with them.


I'll go first :p

I remember that prior to getting the Bohemian Gothic, I used to get a string of dark tarot cards, for some reason I was never attracted to Ryder, even though as a novice it would have been way easier for me to learn how to read with such a deck than with any Vampire and Goth one. At first, since I did not quite believe in tarot, I used to pull out jokingly one card each day to see how my day would go... but like I said at that time I never believed in tarot so I didnt give it much credence, and all the Vampire, Goth decks just sat there collecting dust and after a while I gave all of them away since I havent used them, until one day it all changed.

To note, the reason why I disliked and didnt want any cards is because I am a medium and I have decided that I dont want the'' gift'' a long time ago so I decided to supress it along with everything and anything occult.

A friend of mine from the US came to visit and said she had bought a Tarot deck, called the Bohemian Gothic but that she felt silly getting it and didnt know what to do with it and just kind of...gave it to me,and I didnt quite think much of it, except that when I got it in my hands and was left alone with it I left a sort of....pull,almost like a fixation.

I noticed that when I was alone in my room and I had the deck in the back of my mind, so one day I started pulling cards, the very next day I got some Tarot beginner books and soon the cards started talking to me. I first started reading for one friend and I was quiite shy,and she was my ginny pig and that expanded and expanded...and then I stumbled upon this site which helped me a LOt and basically opened a new doorway and love for Tarot that I never knew existed.
 

velvetina

It was 1981 and I'd been given some unexpected money (I was 17), went into town & had my ears pierced then bought the Tarot deck I'd noticed, sitting all alone in a local stationery & gift shop. I hadn't gone out to buy it, it was just there & I had the money & I was ever so excited about it, finding a Tarot deck! I'd never seen one in real life!

It was the Waite-Smith, the one that came in the blue box, no US Games logo (although of course at the time, I wouldn't have known any difference). I'd never seen a deck in that shop before or after; it was, I felt, just waiting for me to happen upon it.

Anyway, took it home & looked through the images and showed it to my Mum, who was intrigued, & a neighbour, who of course said 'give me a reading!'

The 3 of us sat there, & I didn't know what I was doing, I just got her to choose a card & it was the 7 of Swords, so I said ' be careful of thieves!' and, here's the thing, there had recently been a few burglaries in the neighbourhood & that was why the neighbour was visiting, to warn my Mum!

So of course this was all very impressive! I took them into school and some friends were scared, equating the Tarot with spookiness etc, but others drew cards & I'd tell them what I thought the cards meant - I was really just stating the obvious, but with a few 'imaginative' flourishes ;) ...and I only remember the following day because one boy I'd warned to be careful, because the police were potentially involved in his immediate fortune, was arrested on drug-related charges that evening!

So, I went from having no Tarot, to having a reputation as a Tarot reader within a few days! I still have those cards, I still use them & I can still remember the feeling of wonder & magic that accompanied them.

Of course, being a cynical Virgo, I can see that I must have read about a dozen 'fortunes' that day, & only one seemed to come true; but it was the immediacy of it that struck everyone & that was what was remembered!
 

Cocobird55

My first deck was the 1JJ Swiss. It came with a sheet for the Celtic Cross, so I started with that. I used the book a lot. Looking back, I got some very accurate readings from it.
 

Samweiss

The first reading I did was actually with a deck I made myself. I created a deck as my thesis work when I studied Communications and it was more an exercise in illustration than a serious attempt at making a deck.

I did reading for my then girlfriend and I used a book about tarot I had just bought and the reading had all the most feared Swords cards and my girlfriend freaked out, she got mad as hell. She shouted "I knew this was a bad idea, I knew this would happen", and I remember thinking how awesome it was because it was so accurate.

But I learned from that I should try to put the message in a such way that the querent could benefit from the reading and not just get scared or freak out. Still memorable experience.
 

Rose Lalonde

I'd been following the progress of Marie White's majors, and when she finished them in 2003, I bought one of the 250 Mary-el majors & aces decks she made by hand. I was so thrilled with them that I looked for more about tarot. I came here and lurked. That led to buying 78 card decks. I still have such a soft spot for this one, though.

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Angelove

About 10 months ago I was looking online, not for tarot or oracle decks, just browsing things on Amazon and somehow I came across them. As I was looking around I saw Conscious Spirit Oracle and I felt so drawn to them. I had never even heard of Oracle cards and I wasn't quite sure why I wanted them but I wanted them nonetheless but I thought " I would never be able to read cards". I was at a time in my life that I was questioning myself, becoming aware and confronting myself as to who I was and what really made me - me. (If that makes any sense) Needless to say a few weeks later, I was talking with someone and they asked if I ever thought to do Tarot. I decided I would buy the deck. After I got it, I had no idea what to do with it. So I just would keep them with me and touch them a lot lol I dont think I ever even looked at the pictures. After a few weeks I decided to pull cards for myself. I would have to refer to the booklet, because it was always so hard to read for myself but I would just fall in love more every time I pulled a card. Is it strange to be absolutely humbled and have a strong love for your cards? Its all so new to me.

I started to read for others... The very first time was on a website where people commonly ask for readings. I felt drawn to read a girl and the strangest thing happened. I felt blockages in her chakras.. even though I didnt necessarily draw that chakra card. She said the reading was spot on. And when I told her of the blockage I felt she confirmed her health issues relating to that blockage. It blew my mind. I try to practice with others and slowly but surely I would hear words, or see things or just know things when doing readings. This doesnt always happen though.Sometimes its just the message from the cards that comes through. Somedays, I feel as the first day I ever opened them, like I have no idea what Im doing. Every person has always said the reading is spot on though. Now, I will pull a card and 15 times before it meant one thing and suddenly I will feel something totally different from it.

I truly believe I was meant to have these cards, I feel like they found me <3 A couple days ago I even thought to myself, " I cant imagine even wanting another deck". But strangely yesterday I thought about it and I was actually able to entertain the thought of someday getting another. Maybe it was the new moon energy but no matter what, Conscious Spirit Oracle will always be my first true love :)
 

nisaba

A bog-standard tartan-backed RW was my first deck, in the 1970s. I loved it but I really don't remember any great moments until the start of the 1980s.
 

Rosewater

RWS in the blue box. I don't remember any amazing results from those early years, but friends who knew me at that time say my readings for them were accurate.
 

Noyoki

My first experience was with a second hand deck actually. My brother and I were spending a few weeks with my grandfather while my parents went house hunting. I was 11, my brother was 13.

One day he took us to a few yard sales and we walked around the neighborhoods and such. I spotted the deck and a book to go with it on a table in a big ziplock bag and grabbed it immediately. he book had a blue cover, and some writing in it, I don't remember much about it anymore. But the deck was a Rider Waite, battered by that point but mostly just a bit around the edges, and some wear on the little box it was in. My parents gave me and my brother some money to buy a few things, and since it was only a few dollars I asked my grandpa if I could buy them, since he was holding onto our money.

For the next few weeks I had my nose in that book constantly, and I would practice reading on my brother, and when my brother got tired of it I'd try and practice on my grandpas dog. And I tried once on his tank full of fish. I don't think I got too far with the fish. :p

My grandpa even let me practice on him a few times when he got home from work. I don't remember any of the readings I did back then, I was a little child so I didn't have the presence of mind to write anything down, and now I wish I did. If only so I could get my hands on another copy of that book. There is a spread in it that I can only half remember and it's been driving me nuts for years now, Hah.

I still have the deck though. Not the box anymore, that's long gone, with the book. And it's.. well really battered now. But it's tightly packed into a little case and tucked away. I don't think I'll ever get rid of it. Maybe I'm just too sentimental. :)

Since then I've been practicing, I've gotten a few other decks, many many books, and I am so glad that happened. :)
 

Chiska

About 13 or 14 years old? In the late 1970s. It was a French Grimaud TdM. I shared it with a friend, who kept it at her house.

At that time, I had already had 1 year of French in school, so it was my job to translate the booklet and the cards. It was funny, but we did readings for each other late at night after her mother was fast asleep.

I really liked the cards - they were VERY sturdy and quite impressive looking. They were not brand new, but rather something we had found somewhere. I don't recall where?!

I do remember looking at the pips and thinking, "How are you supposed to get meaning from THAT?" I would read my terrible translation of the booklet, and then look at the card. Then read the translation again. Then look at the card. Made no sense.

Does now. Now, I can see meaning in the pips of a TdM. How the staves are arranged, or how the swords are arranged. They are surprisingly vocal for something considered "un illustrated!"

I am hoping to find an old Grimaud TdM. The deck we had was discovered by her mother and taken (along with my poor friend) to the bishop for immediate attention. :bugeyed: My beatnik parents didn't care. But her very Catholic, very Polish mother did.

The deck was burned.