Aquilus Vampire and Pagan Forum

In this post I will explain a few of my ideas about choosing a Tarot deck that is right for you and how to get the best out of them. Working with tarot or any form of divination for that matter, is like a marriage. Trust, communication and positive energy are the important parts of working with divination.

When I go and look for a deck, I look for what has drawn me to that specific deck, what is the energy like. Energy is important due to the fact that if you feel a lot of negative energy emitting from the deck itself, it will not work for you. Why? Because if you pick up a deck that has negative energy it won't tell you the truth, they tend to lie and give readings that have nothing to do with the answers that you are looking for. So in essence you have wasted money on cards that will not be good for anything. One thing, do not get frustrated if you do not find them right away, it takes time to find what is right for you. Like buying a new car or outfit, I guess you could say. I have heard of people taking months even years to find it. But when they did, it became their closest friend, so to speak. I wanna touch on another thing, appearance. They are many, many tarot card makers out there that make tarot and make them very pretty or neat looking. That is great and all but fall back on the energy of the deck, appearance is not everything. Another thing, size matters! LOL! What I mean by this, is that there are many decks out that range from teeny tiny to HUGE. Try to find what fits in you hand, something that you can shuffle easily without playing 52 card pick. Trust me you don't wanna do that.

Now, moving on. You have gotten your cards home and are ready to get them out of the box and get to work. Not that easy, there are steps to take to get them to work for you. These steps vary from person to person, so don't take my rule as law.  As a personal rule, I like to thank the cards, shuffle them and generally play with, sometimes I will do it daily. Get comfortable with them. I tend to like to shuffle them 3 times, why?, I have no idea. Just something that felt right to me. Now that you are comfortable with them, it is time for the reading.

When doing a reading, I have the person focus their energy and their question(s) on the cards. In doing so it allows me to feel the energy.  I tend not to know the question that has been ask, I am just the mediator between the cards and the person. I shuffle the deck (3x) and I have the person cut the deck. At this time I began to lay them out in the spread that I have chosen for the reading. There are several spreads out there to chose from and I plan to get into those in their own separate post. When laying the cards, I have the person continue to focus their energy and question(s), I do well in complete silence because it allows me to interpret as I go. To much chatter and I lose my concentration and then cards and I are useless. Once they have been laid, I began to go through and relay the meaning of the card to the person and allow them time to piece together the puzzle. Try not be biased because it messes up the meaning of the reading, allow the person to do the work and pull the answers from the cards themselves.

There are so many techniques out there that others user, they use them because they are comfortable and it works best for them and you will do the same. So find your comfort zone, it will be better for you and the person(s) you read for. Hope this gave you some insight and better idea of how tarot works. If you have any questions feel free to ask, I am by no means an expert but I will help as best as I can.

Twisted

I've just bought my first pack of Tarot cards and it has come with instruction and so forth. I was wondering if I can use the same deck of cards not only using the method explained in the instruction but other methods from lets say the internet. Is it possible to do that?

A fascinating post.  I have always been intrigued by tarot and have thought many times on choosing a deck, but never knew really what I was looking for or why.  I do have a question though regarding the deck containing negative energy.  I am psi/empath with my preferred energy needs being negative energy. Which unfortunately seems to be much more prevalent in today’s day and age than in the past, however, my question is, due to my preference for negative energy, would choosing a deck which contains negative energy have the same results for me as opposed to one containing positive energy?  I realize the answer should be obvious but I just want to get it straight in my head before I make the wrong decision.

Be well and stay safe

Raphael

I'm not all that experienced with tarot, but I would say whatever method feels right to you and you are most comfortable with would work.


Raphael, I believe this may be one of those times where it depends primarily on the person using the cards more so, than the cards themselves. Like I said, I'm not really familiar with tarot. Maybe someone who has more experience with this can answer.

I agree Melissa. I think when choosing a deck you would get a feeling of which Tarot deck would best suit you. I myself don't even understand them enough to own them. But I hope someday I will know how to use them.
Until then good luck with your endeavor on finding the Tarot cards for your journey.

Raphael, it is best, I feel, to choose a deck that has a positive energy towards you in order to make the deck work to your advantage.

XxnymphetaminexX, you know whatever feels best for you. I have several different decks that serve different purposes for me. But that is manly my choice and how I work best.

:bump

I'm actually planning on starting Tarot... So it is right to go with that pull and feel it out, correct? Are there any sites I could be directed towards?

Thank You,
Assai~

Thanks Twisted!

Assai, are you looking for sites to buy the cards or with information on the cards?

I have been using the cards for about three years now and I am still feeling my way with them. I have three sets and they were all gifts. They are all different sizes and have completely different looks. I rarely use the one deck anymore. There is truth in them but the tend to pull all of the negative aspects of myself and the other person I am doing the reading for. I haven't quite figured out if it is me or the cards. Either way the deck doesn't work for me. The other one just doesn't feel like the right fit, as you said size does make a difference. The last one seems to work the best for me but I still don't feel it is the right one. It's funny though, every time I am in a store that has them I don't feel drawn to any of them. I will find the right one in time though  :)

Kitty,
I guess I'll be searching and feeling with you. I can't seem to find that one deck as of yet either..  :lol:

You know, it may be the case with you, that tarot just doesn't work for you Kitty, have you tried any other forms of divination?

I think you may be right about the tarot not working for me. I hadn't thought about it but using a Pendulum does work. :)

Maybe just try out different things from time to time and see how things work out. Kinda like an experiment, ya know?

Agreed!
I'm actually going to my neighborhood Occult store later on tonight.. perhaps I can inquire with them as to what I should get.. I'm sort of leaning towards Tarot just as a means to use my gifts differently. I feel like if I were to have a deck of cards it would be better then having people asking me questions and expecting blunt answers all the time.
I think that is where my problem lays, I don't know how to go about my talents in a more subtle way. When I speak to someone about it I feel a bit exposed. But I do not think Tarot would translate that way.. right?

I feel the need to point out that while Tarot cards are the most well known form of "fortune-telling" card decks....there are oracle decks that might be better suited for some people than Tarot.

I have always had a hard time finding a tarot deck that I got along with.   Usually, the decks energy doesn't mesh well with mine (and yay headache time) so I haven't really had many decks or cards.

I did at one point find a Lwelleyn welsh themed deck at a used book store (it hadn't even been opened.  I think the person bought it just to read the book.).   That deck was the second deck that clicked with me.   The first deck was one that I had only for a short time and then passed onto to a person that the deck suited better.

Anyways, (stay on target) oracle decks are more common than you might think.  If you've been having trouble with Tarot...try an oracle deck.    The energies (at least from what I can sense) are more subtle, not as harsh and gentler than many tarot decks.