But I really don’t like any of them (other than the one I’ve got). It’s a pity. I am thinking about checking our Phil and Stephanie Carr-Gomm’s Druid Plant and Animal Oracle decks though. I’m also on a hunt for tarot books that are a little more advanced than your basic “intro to tarot.”
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Which decks have you liked in the past?
You can see a bunch that I like here…
http://executivepagan.wordpress.com/tarot/
I have the Druid Animal Oracle, but I haven’t done anything with it other than look at the cards.
I have the Plant oracle and the Animal oracle, and I use them together – they’re the same size so it works as one big deck. I love using them because I can be totally unstructured with them – I know the plants and animals in the pictures and have personal experiences with lots of them, so I have my own set of associations with Fox or with Yarrow or whatever that I can map onto a reading. It fits well within my personal approach to practice, though I wouldn’t use it for reading anyone else because it is so personal to me. If you like Wothington, he has a tarot deck out. I’ve never used it as I’m not into tarot so much anymore, and being an awful tarot snob fear I wouldn’t like it, but the art looks pretty.
I think one of the most useful tarot books I’ve read isn’t actually a Tarot book at all – it was Dion Fortune’s “Mystical Qabalah.” The other one I’ve found helpful was Crowley’s “Book of Thoth,” but Crowley can be an acquired taste. Lon Milo Duquette is a more palatable (and funnier) source for some the same ideas. John Michael Greer’s “Learning Ritual Magic” has some pretty good Tarot info embedded within.
Mary K. Greer’s Tarot blog is a great resource, if you haven’t found that yet: http://marygreer.wordpress.com/
I have only ever used Rider-Waite.
I like the look of the Tarot Art Nouveau, the Renaissance Tarot, the Fenestra Tarot, the Old English Tarot, and the Whimsocal Tarot okay.
I use Robert Place’s Alchemical Tarot renewed almost exclusively. The other decks I’ve used a lot in the past is Druidcraft, Pagan (Gina Pace), Robin Wood and Hansen-Roberts. If you like something a bit different the Osho Zen tarot is great and the Halloween tarot is amusing. Tarot of New Vision is interesting for a “behind the scenes” view of the Rider-Waite deck (a deck that is about the ugliest I’ve ever seen).
A great but unorganized place to look at tarot decks is
http://taroteca.multiply.com/photos
http://www.aeclectic.net is another good place to see pics of lots of decks.
On the rare occasion that I actually do a reading, I use the Hanson-Roberts – although one of the most intense readings I ever received was with the Faery Wicca Tarot (which strictly speaking isn’t a tarot deck at all), and is one I would NEVER have looked twice at otherwise, based just on the name! 🙂
So you can never tell… like how the Haindl deck looked completely uninteresting on the web, but demanded that I own it when I picked it up in the store.
I have the Druid Animal Oracle deck (and hope to get the Plant Oracle eventually). Like Nettle says, one of its best qualities is that it includes animals that you’re likely to have had personal experiences with (not to mention they’re tied into the lore and mythology). The downside for me is… the cards just don’t look all that pretty. Supposedly they’re designed based on some kind of pentagram geometrics or something… but the result is that often I feel like the animals are standing in horribly awkward, unrealistic positions. It’s a deck I like to use–but not one that I like to look at, exactly. Brian Froud’s Faerie Oracle deck, on the other hand, is absolutely gorgeous as well as being very open and organic in its use.
A long time ago, I read Meditations on the Tarot: A Journey into Christian Hermeticism, which was incredibly helpful in understanding the Major Arcana and the incredibly complex symbolism they use, which draws as much from Christian mysticism as any pre-Christian paganism. Compared to this tome, most “how to read Tarot” books seem slim and easy reads. 😉 (Though admittedly, I haven’t bothered to read all that many.) Also, I second whoever it was who recommended Dion Fortune’s book on the Qabalah.
I’ve owned quite a few decks over the years, but so far have only connected with one – The Druidcraft Tarot.
However, coincidentally, I just ordered two new ones today. I’m hopeful and excited for both of them.
I’m a little late to the game, but I was looking around for a new copy of the Faery Wicca Tarot book (mine went missing and my cards just found their way back to my hands) and came across this entry. I agree with the person who mentioned that one of the most intense readings they ever had was with this deck. The energy of the deck is crazy if it connects with you, and the readings are unreal if you don’t mind a very non-traditional and more complex deck.
I typically use the Gendron deck, though, which I adore to pieces.
I should also state that I’ve never followed the faery trad, and I’m not Wiccan, but it’s still quite the deck if you connect with it.
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