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What's your preferred deck, and how did you come across it? I found my deck in a musty old shop - I'd been searching for the right one for years. I use the Tarot Arista.

How about you?

I started out with a deck my mother bought me from a petrol station (one of the highway shopping mall type) to keep me occupied on a long drive, lol. It was similar to a Rider Waite deck, but not quite the same.

I'd used it for a couple of years, and then a Thoth deck found me, I gave the old deck away and have used the Thoth deck since.

My favorite deck is the Native American deck. I connected with it instantly.

The Rider-Waite....I felt no connection with at all...absolutely nothing...so I still have it..somewhere. Never used it.

Shakespearean deck,it's small and easy to handle,I have smalll hands.I have the Book of Thoth but keep that for my own work,I use my Shakspearean deck to do readings for others.

*laughs* traditionalist that I can sometimes be (sometimes!) I use the Rider-Waite deck, bless it. Although recently I've been getting the urge to make a new deck... hrm.

jeviscachee wrote:What's your preferred deck, and how did you come across it?

I started with the Gilded Tarot, but retired it a year and a half ago when the Bohemian Gothic Tarot was released. I purchased it directly from the publisher.
http://www.bohemiangothic.com/

I am considering getting the Necronomicon Tarot.
http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/necronomicon/

Atheris

Thoth, b1tch3z.

I just like the art. I find it to be more emotionally evocative.

I like plain deck playing cards and if they're custom made then that might be a plus. I have a tarot deck but to be honest I don't see how I can find the name of what it's called. I do have another somewhere that my sister gave me for a birthday gift, some birthday ago. Lets just say that if one gets something like a Knight's Templar deck then don't be surprised if each layout is further info on the quest for The Holy Grail. Phew.

My favorite deck for general divination are Cosmic Tarot, for dream magick I prefer Crow's Magick Tarot, for ritual work and ritual divinations and working with Don Kreig's Modern Magick book I prefer Hermetic Tarot and for quick three card spreads I prefer Vampire Tarot and Pagan Tarot. So I have different preferences depending on what sort of work I am planning on doing with the cards.

I have seen many amazing decks, but I feel the most drawn to the traditional Rider/Waite/Smith deck and the Crowley/Harris Thoth deck. It is great to hear about all the other decks people feel drawn to. Has anyone here had horrible luck or felt blah about any particular deck?

http://www.ciromarchetti.com/tarotzodiac_leg.htm

I recently picked up Ciro Marchetti's "Legacy of the Divine Tarot" and LOVE it. The deck is rich with symbolism. The art has a very steampunk feel to it - amazing art, beautifully detailed. I have been reading tarot for 15 years now and have not found a new deck that I have loved as much as this one in quite some time. The book it comes with is excellent, too - most decks give you a little stapled-together pamphlet. This one comes with a nicely bound book, which has not only Marchetti's commentary, but the commentary of four other tarot experts.

http://www.sleepbot.com/morgan/index_h.html

Morgan's Tarot is an old favorite of mine. It is a totally non-traditional tarot deck, with absolutely the weirdest and funniest cards I'd ever seen... it appeals greatly to the Discordian in me. However, with this deck, there is method to the madness - in the weirdness of the cards, it is very easy to pull out the information that you need from your subconscious.

Venefica raises a good point about what you use a deck for. I started with a Rider-Waite and it became my standard divination deck. But I loved the artwork of the Thoth deck (it seems I'm not the only one here to do so).

While I find the Thoth deck a bit visually complicated for divination, I use it a lot for ritual work. In the Tarot, you might say that the powers of the universe are represented pictorially, to be activated ritually. And like your aesthetic preferences for magic, different decks might have that thang for different purposes or styles.

My tarot is one of my most important tools. I love using my Rider Waite deck as a common deck, but on occasion i also love using my Cosmic Tarot. The imagery is a lot softer and more romantic, so it is a different type of reading.

~Venus

My choice is ryder waite The have clear symbols and I like the story behind the men who made them.

Ash.

Call me strange, but the one that I immediately connected with was the Fantastical Tarot. I have had many amazing readings with it.

I like the Raider Waite Tarot, it is a basic deck, and it can be used for most workings. It is like a pair of simple black bead earrings, it can be used for any occasion, but personally I prefer those with more color and either more life like pepole drawings or more strange pictures to put them like that.

I have not used a Tarot deck for a very long time. But Rider-Waite deck was the first for me. Surprise, suprise. I guess something like 90% start with the Rider-Waite. It's easy so... Crowleys Thoth was the one I continued with as it's so much better for the occult practices and Rider-Waite for the mundane world.

I remember buying my first Tarot deck, a Raider White together with a book named Den Store Boken Om Tarot (or something like that, it means the Big Book On Tarot) I however seldom use my Raider White deck now. It is not that it is bad, no it is a good deck, but it is not as good or interesting as many of the other decks I ahve I think.

I guess it's this one you mean Venefica? http://www.adlibris.com/se/product.aspx?isbn=9189120485
The key to the tarot is the english title if it is this book.

No it is this one http://www.tarotnorge.com/books/tarotbo ... eboken.htm I do not know if it had a English title however the author's name is not Norwegian so I think it is a good chance that this is a translated book. I think the English version of this book is this one http://www.amazon.com/Tarot-Set-Illustr ... 366&sr=1-8 but I am not sure.

The Necronomicon by Donald Tyson is my favourite deck. The artwork is sublime! A must-see!

I must say I'm also quite fond of the "Curious Tarot" deck on facade.com, it appeals to my mixed tastes
http://www.facade.com/tarot/curious/

Although, I don't own one, a little too expensive for my means

I printed a vacchetta deck on to index cards with a personal sigil on the backs.
also i have a tarot program on my ipod with the same artwork.

This is the deck i'm using http://www.aeclectic.net/tarot/cards/sacred-circle/ called out to me. I've tried other decks since but i stick to the sacred circle.

It was a bit strange for me to get a deck, since a couple of years before that, i was told in an occult shop, that tarot would be suitable for me, at the time, i was new to the path, and didn't pay attention : )

You didn't pay attention simply because you weren't ready for it yet. It doesn't matter what others say to us at the time. We do things when we are ready for it.