Background:
This is something I’ve always wanted to learn, and I finally managed to find the book that made everything clear. Believe it or not, it’s called the Complete Idiot’s Guide to Tarot and Fortune Telling, and it just worked for me. I feel very confident in my readings now. I always have at least one deck on me, and am glad to do a reading for anyone, anytime. As I keep my readings for other people confidential, this page is more devoted to the cards themselves.
My Philosophy on The Cards:
I don’t consider doing readings evil. My thought is that something causes the cards to be laid out as they are (*whether you want to call it Fate, God, or the Cosmic String). I then use the cards as guide. Generally the things people learn in readings, they already knew deep in their hearts, but weren’t facing for one reason or another. I don’t predict the future, I read the cards, and how seriously you take the cards is up to you. If you have questions about Tarot, ask!
Suggested Reading:
Learning the Tarot can be surprisingly easy… All you need is the right book to teach you! I would recommend a beginner buy the Rider-Waite Tarot deck *see Universal Waite deck below… or a deck that is based on it, like the Robin Wood or Hanson-Roberts. The books I recommend are these:
The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Tarot & Fortune Telling (Idiot’s Series)
The Complete Guide to Tarot by Eden Gray
The Pictorial Key to the Tarot by Waite
(These books have helped me considerably!)
The Cards!!:
These are the decks I own(*I’ve become quite the collector…) All these pictures are from Wicce's Website a great source for finding reviews and pictures of hundreds of Tarot decks!
The Mary Hanson Roberts Tarot is based on the Rider-Waite decks. The artist has skilfully coloured all the cards in coloured pencils, and they are truly beautiful! This is one of my favourite decks!
The Legend: Arthurian Tarot Deck is based on the Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. This is a great deck for anyone who loved those stories, and it has become one of my favourite decks!
The Robin Wood Tarot is another deck that is Rider-Waite based, but this one is a little more Celtic-Pagan than most. It is colourful and well designed, and another of my favourites.
This deck, the Whimsical Tarot, is also by Mary Hanson-Roberts, and is typical of her artwork (very pretty). However, this is definitely a novelty deck! It is based entirely on faerie tales, from the Bros Grimm, to Peter Pan and Pinnochio! It is easy to read, colourful and insightful, and a joy to look through! I may have to pick up the companion book, however, as I seem to be a little rusty at my nursery rhymes!
This is the Morgan-Greer Tarot, a colourful deck that reminds me of the Carribbean for its vivid brightness. It is based on the standard Rider-Waite decks
My Universal-Waite deck is the original pictures from the Rider-Waite deck, but is coloured by Mary Hanson-Roberts (Hanson-Roberts, Whimsical Decks) the colours are softer, but the original imagery is virtually unchanged
The Feng Shui deck is truly an unusual deck. It replaces the standard suits with Feng Shui animals (Swords = White Tigers, Wands = Black Tortise, Pentacles = Green Dragons, Cups = Red Phoenixs) This can make it a little confusing for beginners, but it is a truly goregous deck, themed in China
Buckland's Romani Tarot is (*I think) the only Tarot deck that features Gypsy lore and images. This is a colourful deck that caught my attention quickly.
The Sacred Circle Tarot is another Celtic-Pagan deck, and the only computer generated one in my collection.
The Celtic Dragon Tarot is a colourful adaptation of a Rider-Waite deck, but with dragons!
The Tarot Art Noveau is a goregous deck. I find it a little difficult to read with still... Not all the pictures make sense, but it is a striking deck!
The Barnes & Noble Tarot was actually my first deck; B&N sells it and a book for $10, and I figured that was a good way to find out if I could even do Tarot. Unfortunately the book was not helping me, so even though I can now read the cards, I couldn't figure them out for a really long time. If you like the look of the deck, it would be fine for advanced readers, but I wouldn't recommend it for someone trying to learn!
The Quick & Easy Tarot is billed as being really helpful, as it has not only the original Rider-Waite pictures, but also the upright and reversed meaning right on the cards. However, half of the art of Tarot is learning to interpret the cards for yourself... I thought this deck would help me learn, but more often than not I found myself disagreeing with the scanty interpretations on the cards.
I would love to find this Tarot Deck, but it is extremely rare… Isn’t it beautiful?!? It’s called Le Tarot D’Ambre, and was only made in France for a limited time… {Sigh}
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