help a noob finding a good deck

Hello.

I have recently wanting to learn tarot and to buy a deck and here is where I need help. I live in a city where I only found 3 shops selling tarot decks and none of them had many decks to chose from; two of them advised me to get the Tarot of Marseille, as it is the most popular here and good for beginners. However, I don't like the images on the Tarot of Marseille, I find them rather spooky (I'm not a fan of medieval imagenary). Another place, from the decks they had, told me the best for beginners were the Esoteric Tarot and the Black Rose Tarot, but I can't seem to find images of those decks online.

I have read that one of the best decks for beginners would be the Rider-Waite, but I can't find that one here :\ And, again, that imagenary is not one of my favorites, but I could cope with it.

I have considered ordering decks from Amazon, but I don't know the procedures for online shopping, besides the confusion it makes on my head to work with other currencies. The decks that I have seen that pleased me were the Quest Tarot, Tarot of Dreams and Gilded Tarot, but those are also expensive.

Should I get the Tarot of Marseille, even if I don't like the cards and later invest in one I like or should I wait for one that I really like? I'm confused because I read you should get one you like to connect to it.

Thank you for your time

Have you checked out the deck reviews and photos of cards here at aeclectic tarot? Click on the button on the top right that says decks and you will see a listing of all the decks. (it's a lot!)

They also list the top ten decks which is interesting. : )



Keep looking and you will find one. : )
Amy
BTW, I have hanson roberts which I really love and just recently bought moon garden (which hasn't quite grown on me yet) and druidcraft is on the way. (I am not allowed to spend more right now, LOL) On my wish list is also Golden Tarot and Light and Shadow tarot which is black and white prints from linoleum.
You can see all of those on the listing of decks here. : )

Hello Nadeshda, welcome to Aeclectic!

Alida store in Italy (Alidastore.com) has some good, inexpensive tarot packs - it stocks all Le Scarabeo decks, which have titles in 4 languages (sadly, not Portuguese), and a wide range of decks with all sorts of imagery; as well as many others from other editors. The postage within Europe is cheap. They are also very helpful for beginner buyers online!

What kind of imagery do you like? Modern? Fairy-like? Classical? Romantic?

Difficult question....... I want to say go ahead and get the Marseille deck because 'I' like it so much, which is not necessarily the best reason for 'you' to get the deck. The Marseille deck is not the prettiest - I agree, and for a long time that was the main reason I didn't get one. It's now my my favourite deck to read with, because it allows me to have alot of freedom of interpretation of the pips.

Only very few people manage to stick at one deck (in fact I don't know anyone! ) so whichever you choose you can always add to at a later date. Perhaps spending some time reading the forums, particularly the Marseille, Thoth and RWS might help you make up your mind.

It's really got to be your choice though, other people's tastes will not be the same as yours, and you are the person who has to connect with the deck in order to be able to read it. It's an exciting time though... choosing your first deck, so enjoy the journey.

Moonbow*

R.Somerville & Alidastore.com/Decks to consider

1. While the R.Somerville catalog is in English, I believe they ship from France:

http://www.playingcardsales.co.uk/cards/

2. Alidastore.com from San Marino (near Italy), also has an excellent selection:

www.alidastore.com

Hope that helps you comparison shop!

3. Decks people are telling you about--perhaps

-I think the Esoteric Tarot is the El Gran Esoterico from Naipes Fournier. That's an unusual deck, might be hard to learn about

-The Black Rose Tarot may be the Luis Royo Black Tarot. The women are in comic book style illustrations. Some people say there is new Luis Royo Tarot from Fournier--it might be more your style...

4. Labyrinth Tarot by Luis Royo

http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/labyrinth/

Not certain, hope that helps!

Cerulean

Cerulean said:

1. While the R.Somerville catalog is in English, I believe they ship from France:

http://www.playingcardsales.co.uk/cards/

Click to expand...

They are now based in the South of France, yes. (Signed: A Friend of the Lovely Mr S !)

Moonbow* said:

Only very few people manage to stick at one deck (in fact I don't know anyone! )
Moonbow*

Click to expand...

Well you do now, well you did anyway. Until Saturday (when the moongarden tarot I won on ebay arrived) I had the same Hanson Roberts deck for 17 years. It never occured to me to buy another deck, LOL.

You guys are a bad influence on me. ; ) -just kiddin' I have already learned more here than I figured out on my own in those 17 years!

Amy

Nadeshda said:

Hello.

Should I get the Tarot of Marseille, even if I don't like the cards and later invest in one I like

Click to expand...

No!!

Don't buy a deck you don't like. It's important you buy a deck that you want and like. Take your time, look at the scans here on Aeclectic and be sure about what you want before you buy it. Think about your interests and the type of imagery which appeals to you. When you have a shortlist why not do a search here for the particular deck so you can get other opinions on it before you buy it?

Above all - Let us know when you make up your mind because we are a nosey lot and like to know what's going on

Good luck

P.S. Actually buying from the internet is really quite easy.

Jewel-ry said:

No!!

Click to expand...

I whole-heartedly agree.

I love the Marseille ... but if you don't like a deck, I think your interest will tire quickly. I believe, with practice and effort, you can read with just about any deck, so it is important to find the one that is right for you to begin your journey.

LB

Thank you to all you who have answered

I went through all the scans from aeclectic from A to J, and there were a few I liked but were not available in European online shops. From the decks I had seen previously, the decks that captured my attention and that I really like are decks such as the Quest tarot, Tarot of Dreams and Guilded (I'm not sure in which category these fit in).

The decks I mentioned on the first post were, as Cerulean hinted, the Gran Esoterico and the Black Tarot by Luis Royo. I went to a shop just to see which decks they had and I ended up leaving with the Luis Royo Black Tarot, and I never pictured myself buying such a dark deck (someone who was freaked out by the Marseille! lol).

It might be a bit hard to relate to the card's meanings, but what gives me hope is that the lady who sold me this deck told me her daughter had it as her first deck and had no problem learning by it. Although the images have nothing to do with the Marseille or the Rider-Waite tradition, is it OK for me to get informations on the cards meanings through Marseille/Rider-Waite based books or websites? The meanings on the small book that comes with the deck sometimes aren't that clear...