What Should Beginner Tarot Readers Look for in their First Decks?

There are many, many tarot decks available for those interested in cartomancy, and new options are created all the time! For those who are just dipping their toes in the proverbial water, it might seem a little intimidating!

With so many options, where does a person begin? Read on, my friends, your friendly, neighborhood Hedge Witch has your back. I’m going to take you through some recommendations for those just learning tarot, and three decks that I think are fantastic for beginners!

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We need to establish something: There is almost no wrong way to obtain a tarot deck. Seriously – I’ve ordered decks online, purchased them on whims in person from various shops. I’ve received decks as gifts, and I’ve sought them for myself. The only wrong way to obtain a deck is to steal one, but that seems rather obvious, right? Now that we have that established, there are certain things that can help new tarot readers in their journey. Things I recommend in your first tarot deck are: + A guidebook. Look for decks that have a “full length” guidebook. I learned tarot from my Tarot in Wonderland deck because the deck had a very good guidebook to learn from. o If you’ve chosen a deck without a guidebook, fear not! There are resources on MoonX and online to help you learn meanings. I also recommend The Holistic Tarot, by Benebell Wen. This is an excellent book to learn all things tarot – spreads, card meanings and associations, and even history of the cards. + Pay attention to the Tarot type. Most tarot cards fall into one of two categories: the Rider Waite style, or the Thoth tarot. Thoth is going to be covered in another article – it has its own history, and I have a couple of reeeeally cool decks to share that follow this theme. I do recommend beginning with decks that follow the Rider Waite, since that is the theme most people are familiar with, and whether it becomes your go-to deck, it’ll still be beneficial to learn it. + Love your deck – seriously, don’t just buy a deck because it’s a “good deck”, buy it because it’s beautiful or interesting to you. Get the deck because you’re drawn to it, that way, you are connected to it. You can pick a deck for nearly any interest now, and many of them come with guidebooks. People are expressing their artwork in tarot all the time, giving new and existing tarot readers a ton of options to work with. That’s it! Let’s take a look at some decks that would be great options for beginners.

This is a fantastic beginner deck with a guidebook that is perfectly pocket-sized. The cards are very thick stock, and they can be a little difficult to shuffle, depending on how used to it you are. The thing that makes this a uniquely great deck for the beginners is the guidebook itself. This book gives you practices for getting to know the deck, spread ideas, and both upright and reversed meanings for the cards in language that isn’t intimidating. It’s also a genuinely gorgeous deck, with artistry featuring a colorful array of light and dark manifested in each card, and reflexive of its meaning. The book calls the upright cards, the “Light Seer” meaning, and the reversed cards, are “Shadow Seer” recontextualizing the idea, since sometimes reversed cards get a bad rep. This way of explaining reversed cards can help readers learn without feeling intimidating. For example, let’s look at one of the most intimidating cards for beginners: Death XIII

You might notice that the card is named Death and Rebirth XIII, a little different from most decks, which just call the card “Death”. Adding “rebirth” is an excellent idea, as that is really what the death card is about: transition. Death to something that no longer serves the seeker, and thus beginning a new life. Additionally, Anne gives us two synopses of the Death card, one for when it is right side up (“Light Seer”) and one for when it is reversed, or, “Shadow Seer”. This allows someone new to tarot to get a feel for both ways the card can be read, and, it’s done so in a way that doesn’t demonize the reversal cards.

This is my favorite deck in the whole wide world. I love all my decks, don’t get me wrong, but Tarot in Wonderland, who I affectionately call “Alice” is my personal favorite. She was the first tarot deck I ever got, purchasing it for myself, and beginning my spiritual journey. I recommend it for beginners because it is beautiful, the card stock is standard, making it easy to shuffle, and, the guidebook is AWESOME! The guidebook (see fig.4) is large; Moore includes an in-context connection to Alice in Wonderland, which helps with learning the cards, then a definition of the card in a reading, and, key words to remember when seeing the card in a reading. This guidebook is still one I use alongside The Holistic Tarot because it is so in-depth. It also includes preads to use that fit the theme, and, each card is beautifully illustrated. When picking a photo for this deck, I shuffled asking for a card that needed to be seen. Alice gave me the 8 of Swords. For those who don’t know (and this is a brief summary), the 8 of Swords speaks to a cage of our own making. It is the illusion that we can’t move, we can’t make changes, we can’t, we can’t, we can’t…and the truth is, we actually can. Living in a scary world as it is, this card reminds us that we can do more than our scared hindbrains want us to think we can. The cage in question may feel like self preservation, but it's preventing us from moving forward in ways we need most.

Confession time – I did not realize when I bought it, that this deck is also a Barbara Moore work! It carries Moore’s ability for unveiling tarot’s secrets and definitions with the beauty of Dorros’ artwork. What makes this deck especially unique is the room it has for journalling! It’s a fantastic way to get to know your deck, the feeling(s) the card(s) give you, and what results from your readings. This allows the reader to learn themselves alongside the deck, assisting in creating a one of a kind partnership. The card that popped up for this deck was – weirdly enough – Death XIII. In this guidebook, Moore encourages the reader to pay attention to their own intuition. What does the card tell them? What is the feeling? These are fantastic journal prompts and can help readers learn their decks. For me, Death – transition – is appropriate. I am moving from one phase of career to another, which is terrifying, exciting, and, a little daunting. I recognize the ways in which my old self has died, and the ways in which the new can come into being. I know, getting a little personal. Does this card resonate with you? What exciting things are you moving into?

Remember, go with your gut when picking out your deck, and enjoy the journey! Are there decks you’re curious about? Would you like me to review a specific deck? Let me know in the comments!