7 Tips for Buying a Tarot Deck

Buying your first tarot deck is a wonderful experience. There is the excitement of exploring the unknown, of having answers to your burning questions, and of learning a new discipline. And today, there is the benefit of having a large variety of tarot decks to choose from (e.g., Celtic, Wiccan, fairy, Zen, Native American, goddess-centered, mythological, and traditional). For a beginner, it can be quite overwhelming to choose from such a variety of options. Here is a list of tips to help you find the best deck for you.

1. Whenever possible, go to a store that allows you to look at the entire deck of tarot cards before purchase. Some stores, such as Borders, will have a book giving you a sampling of 4 cards, but this is not enough to reflect the energy of an entire deck! Trust me. If you are going to do readings, you want a deck that speaks to you and which is in tune with your energy. Otherwise, you will be uncomfortable and some clients can sense this, which will interfere with the session.

2. If you cannot find an occult store in your area, you can see samples online. Try a free practice reading on tarot.com or façade.com. Both sites allow you to choose which deck you want to use for the reading. You will get to see good samples of what the cards are like in that deck. Just be aware that tarot.com does charge for some of their readings so make sure to choose a free introductory reading! Another method you can try is to go to Google, click "images", and type in the name of the deck you wish to see. Some practitioners and online stores will scan images from a deck and put it on their website.

3. Buy a tarot deck with pictures on the Minor Arcana cards. This is important if you do not want to conduct dry, textbook style tarot readings. You need to feel and see what you are talking about. The client does too. When the cards have pictures on them, you can easily explain a particular card in a way that the client can understand. Deep within our psyche, everyone carries the memory of major archetypes. Even if the client does not know what a certain tarot card means, their subconscious mind understands the pictures on the card.