What’s in a deck?
Have you ever done a search for Tarot card decks? If you haven’t, I highly recommend taking a look at them sometime. The artwork and creativity of these decks is absolutely stunning!
Decks have been created in countless themes and almost every type of fan base you could want. Creators are constantly adding more so every time you look there are new ones to fall in love with!
I warn you. Tarot decks collections are not uncommon amongst readers. Once you buy one, chances are you will want more!
Why?
Because each deck seems to have its own personality and the imagery on each deck speaks its own language. So it’s a little like have multiple friends to talk to that each speak to you in different ways. One may be more blunt. One kinder in their approach. That sort of thing. Plus each deck is its own piece of art and one can never have too much beauty in our lives can we?
Now when you look a little closer into the many decks out there, you’ll find the majority of them have a similar basis. This is because they are built from four main popular deck types. Knowing which type of deck you are getting can certainly help you when you are first learning to read Tarot!
The most common decks you’ll see are:
Tarot of Marseille
This is the oldest of the deck types that are still around today. It appears to have been created in Milan and adapted into French culture around 1499. It was later named the Tarot of Marsille in the 1800s.
This deck is a full 78 card deck. It has both Major Arcana cards and Minor Arcana cards but it does not have the individual artistic scenes you see in Tarot card decks today. The Minor Arcana more closely resembles that of regular playing cards with just suit symbols for decoration. Because of this they are more difficult for readers to learn if they don’t already know the meaning of the cards.
Raider-Waite-Smith (RWS) Decks
This is the most popular and common basis for the Tarot decks being made today. It’s the clearest and easiest to understand and perfect for Tarot readers of all levels. It was based off the teachings of A.E. Waite and illustrated by Pamela Smith, fellow members of a secret occult society. They were originally published by the Rider company in 1909. Thus the name Rider-Waite-Smith.
These decks use clear pictures full of symbolism to tell their stories. They have the same basic setup as the Tarot of Marseille with a few changes to the location of the cards and names of the suits. There are 78 cards in each deck. 22 Major Arcana cards which are meant to represent the bigger aspects of life and 56 Minor Arcana cards meant to represent the common daily aspects of life. Each card holds an individual image to represent its meaning and various symbols to assist the reader with interpretations.
Thoth Decks
This deck was a creation by Alister Crowley who is a very famous name in the world of spirituality. It was painted by Lady Frieda Harris. They were first officially published in the 1960s though Crowley did print a test set in the 1940s. He meant his deck to be used for divination and psychic information only and not for personal development as the RWS deck had been. The name was derived from the book it was also published with: “The Book of Thoth”.
Crowley took pieces of both the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and the Tarot of Marsille deck and created his own deck meant for divination and use with psychic abilities specifically. Because of this, the meanings of the cards are not as straight forward and require a lot more psychic interpretation to figure out the messages behind them. So these decks are better for more experienced readers who have a general idea of the meanings of the cards from the start.
These cards are also considered to be more intense and have more negative meanings than the other two decks.
Other Types of Cards
But what about Lenormand decks and Oracle cards? These types of card decks are very similar to Tarot but not actually considered a part of the Tarot family. They use different structures for answering questions, have different cards with their own unique meanings and many of the Oracle decks have the name or meaning of the cards written right on the front for easy access. These are great for beginners who have not read cards before as they are not as complicated as Tarot.
In the next Tarot Tuesday blog post we’re going to look at the differences
between the Major and Minor Arcana!
See ya then!
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