What tarot book and deck for beginners?

Hi,
I have recently started with the Medieval Scapini deck and have come to the conclusion that it is HARD! Any suggestions for a book and deck combo for a beginner? Thanks so much, Lee

my beginners deck

and still a favorite,
Morgan Greer
it comes with a book, the art is cunningly simple and i love the open borders, no keywords or different languages to get you stuck.
work with it
and keep the Scapini [ i had one of those too ;-) ]

The Beginner's Guide To Tarot by Juliet Sharman-Burke, with deck by Giovanni Caselli. This is a book/deck set and retails for less than 15 dollars US. The deck is an RWS clone, and so can be used with any generic tarot book. The book is softcover but good quality paper, sewn instead of glued; very durable. The deck is uncoated stock and a trifle thin, and unfortunately has an unattractive back. Still, it is probably the single best value in the tarot world.

A review of the book/set combo is available here from Tarot Passages, written by Aeclectic's own Mari Hoshizaki.

Bob



edited to add link to review.

I second that set

and other book I like is Tarot Plain and Simple.

(edited to say: I have gifted that set three times in the last three months and it has been a big hit )

Welcome to Aeclectic LeeChrista. I have to agree with Catti in that the Morgan Greer is a good deck for beginners. It's based on the Rider Waite Smith deck which I'm sure will get the most recommendations.
Most of the tarot books you'll find use the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and so any deck which is based on that one would be a good beginners deck. The RWS deck has illustrated minors which most people say are the easiest to learn with.

Other decks which use the RWS as a base are;

The Universal Waite - Same pictures as the RWS - nicer colouring
The Radiant Rider Waite - Same pictures, nicer colouring
The Hanson Roberts
New palladini
Aquarian
Morgan Greer
Robin Wood

The list goes on.
Why don't you take a look at the list of decks on Aeclectic and see whether any of them 'speak to you'

Happy searching

Love and light

Sulis xx

Hi LeeChrista,

Many moons ago, my first deck was the standard RWS. One of the best books I've found to be the most helpful to beginners on their tarot journey is: Tarot a New Handbook for the Apprentice by Eileen Connolly.

Joy to you,
Maralee

LeeChrista

Welcome to AT.

I used a Rider Waite Smith deck and the tarot book by Joan Bunning. That in addition to all the great information here......

Looking forward to seeing you around!!!

78 degrees of wisdom by rachel pollack and tarot reversals by mary k. greer, are excellent books.

78 Degrees of Wisdom, naturally, and I personally like Tarot for a New Generation for some reason, even if you're not of the "new generation". Some of it is very 'fluffy', but it's fairly easy to tell what's just filler and what's important to know. The ideas of free-writing and meditation are invaluable, and the card meanings for the most part make a lot of sense. I don't really use tarot for divination, which is what the book centres on, but the author seems to know what she's talking about.

I started out on the Universal Rider-Waite deck, and because it's so commonplace it's pretty easy to access different interpretations of the cards from different sources. Plus, it's just a nicely coloured deck.

You've probably heard of www.learntarot.com, but if you haven't, it's Ms. Bunning's book online (free of course!) that has already been suggested in this thread

I also agree with the suggestions for Joan Bunning's "Learning the Tarot." Her book (and online course) give the best, concise keywords for each card, but also include wonderful exercises to help tie those key words to your experiences with the cards.

In addition to using a beginner's book, the next best thing I can recommend while starting out is to do a Daily Draw, drawing one card per day. (You would ask something like: "What energies do I need to be aware of today?" or "What energies will I be working with today?" or "What energies should I work on today?" and you get the picture!) Draw your card, look up the traditional meanings for that card to see what energies/experiences are tied to it, and watch your day unfold and see how the card's energy fits into your day. To *experience* the cards in this way will teach you so much more than a book.

Also wonderful books are Rachel Pollack's "Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom" (already mentioned here), and Mary K. Greer's "Tarot for Your Self."

And I would suggest starting off with a deck that is a little simpler in imagery. I too started with the Medieval Scapini (or at least I tried), but I didn't last long. It wasn't until I purchased a "learning" deck that I was able to tie it all together.

Good decks have all been mentioned in the above thread. For me, instead of purchasing the RWS deck to learn (couldn't stand the colors), I used the Universal Waite. If I were in that same situation today, I'm sure I would use the Radiant Rider deck. (I like vibrant colors!) I have also used the Robin Wood Tarot in a reversals class I took, and it was wonderful. Almost all of the cards are so similar in illustration to the RWS, you will hardly notice a difference. Of course, the imagery is pagan as opposed to the Christian imagery of the RWS.

Good luck!

Blessings,
Karen