How to choose your first tarot deck

How to read the labels Historical what the old sources say. Later tradition what later writers added. Modern modern practice and my own notes.

Choosing your first tarot deck can feel like a big decision. It is not. You are not choosing a lifelong partner or unlocking a hidden gift. You are choosing a learning tool, and almost any well-made 78-card deck will do. This page helps you pick one that makes learning easier, not harder.

First, the myth: you can buy your own deck

People sometimes say a deck must be gifted. That custom can feel lovely when it happens. It is not a rule. Buying your own deck is normal, practical, and how many readers begin. What matters is that you want to work with it.

The same goes for rituals. Many readers enjoy cleansing a new deck before they use it, and if it helps you focus, keep it. It is not required for the cards to be readable. My page on how to cleanse tarot cards has simple, safe options.

The three big families of decks

Most tarot decks you will see in shops belong to one of three families. They share the same 78-card structure: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana in four suits of 14. They differ in how the cards look and in the system of meanings behind them.

Rider-Waite-Smith and its clones

Historical The Rider-Waite-Smith deck was published in London in 1909, with images by Pamela Colman Smith under A. E. Waite’s direction. It made fully illustrated Minor Arcana scenes standard for many beginners: every card, not only the Majors, shows people doing something.

Modern Hundreds of modern decks keep these scenes and symbols in a new art style. People call them RWS clones or RWS-style decks. For a beginner this family has one big advantage: most English-language books, courses and websites, including my card meaning pages, are written for it. When you look up a card, the description will match the picture in your hand.

Tarot de Marseille

Historical What English speakers often call the Tarot de Marseille took recognizable form in France across the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries rather than in a single year. Its trumps are bold woodcut-style figures. Its numbered Minor cards are “pips”: a pattern of cups, swords, coins or batons, with no scene. Justice is VIII and Strength is XI.

Marseille reading is a beautiful tradition, and some readers love it because the pips leave room for number and pattern. But you will need a book written for Marseille, because RWS meanings lean on scenes those cards do not have.

Thoth

Historical Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris painted the Thoth deck between 1938 and 1943. It was first published as a full deck in 1969. Its cards are dense with astrology, Kabbalah and Crowley’s own system, and some names differ: Strength is called Lust and sits at XI.

It is a rich deck for study. Many beginners find it easier to come to Thoth after learning with an RWS-style deck first, because its meanings rest on a system you need to learn alongside the images.

Tarot or oracle?

You will also see oracle decks on the same shelf. Oracle cards are decks with any number of cards and their own themes, made by modern authors. They can be lovely, but they are not tarot, and tarot books will not match them. Read an oracle guidebook as one person’s system, and your own response as equally valid. If you want to learn tarot, choose a 78-card tarot deck.

Decks that draw on living cultures

Modern Other twentieth-century decks widened theme, culture and audience. Motherpeace, for example, was self-published in 1981 and later distributed more widely. Many later decks center specific cultures and traditions. When a deck draws on a living tradition, learn from that tradition’s own voices, and look for decks made by or with people from that tradition.

Questions to ask yourself first

Before you look at a single deck, it helps to know what you want from it. Take a minute with these questions, and write your answers down if you like:

• Do I want to learn from books and websites, or mostly from my own looking? If books, an RWS-style deck will match most of them.
• Do I want a deck I can carry in a bag, or one that stays at home?
• Will I read for myself only, or for friends too? Clear, friendly images help when someone else is looking at the cards.
• Are there images I do not want to look at every day? Some decks are dark or graphic. Some show nudity. Look through photos of all 78 cards if you can.
• What is my budget? A first deck does not need to be expensive or rare. A standard edition works as well as a collector’s one.

Do you need more than one deck?

No. One deck, learned well, will teach you more than five decks you only shuffle. Many people do end up collecting decks, and that can be a joy. But for your first months, staying with one deck lets the images become familiar, and familiar images are easier to read.

What to check before you buy

Whatever family you choose, a few practical things make a big difference when you are learning. None of these needs a special purchase. You can check most of them from the box, the publisher’s description or photos of the cards.

Size. Standard tarot cards are larger than playing cards. If you have small hands or want to shuffle easily, look for a pocket or mini edition. If you want to see every detail of the art, a standard or larger size helps.

Card stock. Thin, flexible cards bend and wear quickly. Very thick, stiff cards can be hard to shuffle. Look at how others describe the cards, and look for terms like “matte” if glossy cards slip in your hands.

Readability. Can you tell at a glance what is happening on each card? Are the suits easy to recognize? Are the card names printed? For a first deck, clear scenes and visible titles save you a lot of looking up.

Borders and backs. Some readers prefer borderless cards for the art. Borders can make card names easier to see. If you plan to read reversed cards, check that the back design looks the same both ways up, so you cannot tell a card’s direction before you turn it.

The guidebook. Most decks come with a small booklet, sometimes called a little white book. It may only give keywords. That is fine: you can learn the fuller meanings from a book or a site. But check that the guidebook matches your deck’s family, especially if the deck is not RWS-style.

Art you actually want to look at. You will spend a lot of time with these images. Choose art that makes you curious. A deck that matches your taste is more likely to be one you pick up every day.

Using my pages with any RWS-style deck

My card meanings and my book work with any Rider-Waite-Smith-style deck. If your deck is a clone or a recoloring:

• Match cards by name and traditional image first (The Tower is still The Tower).
• Use suit aliases when needed: Cups or Chalices; Swords; Pentacles, Coins or Disks; Wands, Batons, Rods or Staves.
• If Strength and Justice carry different numbers on your cards, read by card title.
• Ignore any extra icons or keywords your deck prints that my pages do not cover; the meanings still stand.

Your first week with a new deck

You do not need to memorize anything before you start. Try one card a day for a week. Each day, note the date, your question, the card, and one sentence about what you see. Read the scene before you read a meaning. On day seven, reread the week without forcing a story.

One honest card beats ten rushed ones. Momentum comes from repetition, not from exhausting the deck in one sitting. If you want a simple first spread after that, my one card spread is a good place to begin.

Where to go next

• Learn the Major Arcana and the Minor Arcana.
• Read 11 tarot myths, and what is true.
• Browse tarot decks and books for beginners.

When you are ready to go card by card, my book The Novice’s Guide to Tarot works with any Rider-Waite-Smith-style deck.