Because of the classes and conversations I keep having, I wanted to put out this list as a starting place or springboard in your studies or investigations.
Starter Decks
Understanding that you can learn with any deck you have, or (nearly) any imagery you love, these are decks I recommend for their alignment with the Rider-Waite-Smith deck and imagery.
This is relevant because most training books and methods start with this system. You’re welcome, of course, to start with the RWS. This list is for people looking for an alternative.
- Joie De Vivre Tarot (Cassidy)
- Crystal Unicorn Tarot (Chen/Higuchi)
- Everyday Tarot (Esselmont/Grosch)
- Mermaid Tarot (Robertson/Dillon)
- The Luna Sol Tarot (Medaglia)
- Ostara Tarot (Applejohn/Cooke/Gibbard/Iredale)
- The Fountain Tarot (Gruhl/Saiz/Todaro)
- The Steampunk Tarot (Moore/Fell)
- Shadowscapes Tarot (Moore/Pui-Mun Law)
- Everyday Witch Tarot (Blake/Alba)
Be careful not to buy a similarly titled deck by accident. If you want it, that’s fine, but if you’re looking for these decks be sure to watch for the author/illustrator match.
Books
These are books I’ve found interesting and/or useful. Don’t feel like you need to rush out and get all of these – or even that all of them are necessary. The top four are designed as baseline texts – starting places. The rest are… fun and deeper dives or broader applications of tarot.
- Always start with the book of the deck you’re working with. These are often written with the illustrator or designer who explains the significance of details in the images. Details you can toss or acknowledge, but may, all the same, create more memory-hooks to help you internalize or apply the meanings of each card.
- Tarot for Beginners: A Practical Guide to Reading the Cards (Moore)
- Kitchen Table Tarot (Cynova)
- Modern Tarot (Tea)
- Tarot for Life (Quinn)
- Tarot Wisdom/78 Degrees of Wisdom (both by Pollock)
- 21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card (Greer)
- The Creative Tarot (Crispin)
- The Open Minded Tarot (Ross)
- Tarot Games (Johnson)
- Tarot for Yourself (Greer) – This one I have not actively used myself, but it is a guided journal for those who want to use tarot especially in this way. A new edition is being released 2019.
If you are in Interior Alaska and have a FNSB public library card, you have access to five Hoopla titles a month. If you’re interested in general tarot reading, there are a lot of options there. Just search tarot once you’re connected to the app through out library.
Podcasts/Online resources
As you probably heard me say already, don’t let anyone scare you away by telling you you’re doing tarot wrong(ly). These are resources and places that I’ve benefited from. Any one of them has highs and lows, and places that will or won’t connect with you. Check out what calls to you and dig in to what fits.
- Tarot for the Wild Soul (Podcast, online classes, inspirational and interactive content on Instagram)
- Wildly Tarot Podcast (There’s a Facebook group as well. Both are very young, but active and consistent, started early 2019.)
- Benebell Wen (Blog, YouTube, Books, online courses and many-many printables. If anyone wants to use some of her material in a class setting — some of her handouts give express permission for this — let me know. If enough people are interested, this is one option for deeper/more-advanced classes locally).
- The Fool’s Dog, LLC (Apple/App Store developer I mentioned with the digital tarot decks & books).
I think this covers everything I mentioned at the latest class, and a little bit more to keep you going.
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If you know a business or a venue that would like to host a tarot reader or class, I’m always interested in hearing about new options. You can send me a message here.
[Deck image from Celestial Stick People Tarot (Crick) it renames the suits and court cards, but if that won’t confuse you it’s another fun option for a starter deck. Available from Gamecrafter.]