Your deck and your notebook

Before we learn a single card, let us get your tools ready. There are only two: a deck and a notebook.

Choosing your first deck

A tarot deck has 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana in four suits. Almost every modern deck follows that structure. What differs is the art.

For a beginner, I recommend a deck based on the Rider-Waite-Smith images, first published in London in 1909 with pictures by the artist Pamela Colman Smith. There are two good reasons. First, every one of its 78 cards shows a scene, even the small number cards, so you can read the picture instead of memorizing lists. Second, most beginner books and websites, this one included, describe those pictures. When I write that the Hermit holds a lantern, your Hermit will hold one too.

You do not have to buy the original. Many modern decks keep the Rider-Waite-Smith scenes and redraw them in new styles, with more diverse people, softer colors or a different mood. Look at sample images before you buy and ask yourself one question: do I want to look at these pictures every day?

Myths about your first deck

You may hear that your first deck must be a gift. That custom can be lovely when it happens, but it is not a rule. Buying your own deck is normal and practical, and it is how most readers begin. You may also hear that nobody else should ever touch your cards. Some readers keep a deck private, others share decks in classes. Neither choice makes the cards work or fail.

If your deck is a little different

If your deck uses different names, do not worry. Match cards by name and image first: the Tower is still the Tower. Coins or Disks are Pentacles. Batons, Rods or Staves are Wands. Chalices are Cups. Some older decks number Strength and Justice the other way around. Read by the card’s title and you will be fine.

Setting up your notebook

Your notebook is your real teacher. Books give you meanings, but your notes show you how the cards speak in your own life. Keep it simple. For each draw, write:

1. The date.
2. Your question, in one line.
3. The card or cards you drew.
4. One sentence about what you think the card is saying.

Leave a little space under each entry. A few days or a week later, come back and add a line about what actually happened. That small habit teaches you faster than rereading any theory.

Getting to know your deck

Before your first reading, spend a few minutes just looking. Take the cards out and turn them over one at a time. Notice colors, faces, animals and the sky. You do not need to know any meanings yet. You are simply getting to know the pictures, the way you would get to know a new neighborhood by walking around it.

Try this

Today’s exercise: Look through your whole deck once, slowly, and write down the three cards that catch your eye most. Keep it short. Two or three lines in your notebook are enough, and there are no wrong answers. If you like, come back to the page tomorrow and add one more line about anything you noticed in the meantime. Small, regular notes like these are how the cards slowly become familiar.

Quick recap

• Choose a deck whose pictures you want to look at every day.
• Rider-Waite-Smith style decks are easiest for beginners.
• Buying your own deck is perfectly normal.
• Keep a simple log: date, question, cards and one sentence.

Keep going

When you have done the exercise, press “Mark as done” and continue with the next lesson, What tarot is, and what it is not. There is no hurry. If a lesson needs a second day, give it one.

To go deeper, read “Using this book with another deck” in my book The Novice’s Guide to Tarot.

Need a refresher? Go back to How this course works (free, at your own pace) or see the whole course.

Go deeper: The Novice's Guide to Tarot: Using this book with another deck

Mark as done