Reviews of My Favorite Tarot Decks

After evaluating more than a hundred Tarot decks (yes, there are even MORE than that many!) these have ended up being my favorite decks, and I am able to read comfortably with any of them. If you are booking in advance for at least a 30 minute reading, you may request a specific deck. Please mention your preference when you make your appointment so I will have it with me.

Ancient Egyptian Tarot

This deck is out of print and rare, so it is very difficult to find. The artist and author, Clive Barrett, believes that Tarot originated with the ancient Egyptians., and he has done extensive research in this area to provide good background reading. His imagery has rich, beautiful colors and details of ancient Egyptian life. For those that are bothered by nudity in cards, be warned, there are many images of bare-breasted women, and one or two with prepubescent children. As for intense or frightening images, though, this deck tends to the lighter side, and does not strike most people as alarming. I am just starting to use this deck more, and it is definitely growing on me. I have only two disappointments with this deck. With what is usually my favorite card - the Star card - the figure in this deck appears rigid, cold, and statue-like, which doesn't capture the essence of the card's energy. My other disappointment is that the Minor Arcana are drawn so small and don't take up the full card. The artwork is so beautiful, I simply want to see more of it, and the smaller images are harder to see and appreciate. Overall, though, this is a lovely deck that appeals to my natural love of Egyptian history and art.  See more reviews and some pictures of the cards at Aeclectic Tarot (as yet, I have been unable to obtain the copyright permissions to reproduce the images on my own site).

Fenestra Tarot

The Fenestra is an interesting and beautiful deck, sort of an Art Deco style crossed with an 80's look, or perhaps faintly Egyptian with all the heavy eye liner. The images are beautiful, soft watercolor art in warm almost sepia tones, with very little nudity. I find the Death card to be rather spiky and imposing in this deck, which I don't care for, and the Devil card is rather unpleasant, but the 10 of swords is not gruesome, a card which I typically object to in most decks. I love that the people in this deck are rather androgynous, and in a few cards, a traditionally male court card is so ambiguous in the gender portrayal (or so outright feminine) that it serves to balance the deck very nicely in that way, and even breaks out of gender binaries without freaking out those who are more comfortable not thinking of gender as a spectrum. I do notice that there are no people of color at all in this deck: not as pasty white as the Aquarian Tarot, but exclusively Caucasian. Other than feeling that the deck is monocultural, it reads very well, and has a somewhat soft energy. The imagery is based on Rider-Waite symbolism, so for someone who is learning Tarot, this deck won't feel like you are having to learn a completely new set of associations.  See more reviews at Aeclectic Tarot.

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Gaian Tarot

These are very large format cards with easy to see details. There is a photographic look to the artwork, which depicts modern scenes and a strong nature focus. The suits are renamed for their elemental energies, Earth, Air, Fire and Water. The court cards are renamed Child, Explorer, Guardian, and Elder. This deck has no nudity at all, depicts multiple cultures, and varies some of the traditional gender associations of the court cards. Some of the cards which are traditionally depicted more negatively have been renamed or re-conceived to be more gentle and supportive. For instance, the Devil card is renamed Bindweed, which still conveys the meaning of the card. The Emperor becomes the Builder which shifts the focus from power and authority to structured and intentional creation. Of course, there's always some card or several in every deck that I don't care for. In this case, I'm not crazy about the Empress or the Sun cards, cards I usually like in every deck, and I really do not resonate with the Lovers as they are portrayed. However, this is still one of the best Tarot decks I have worked with. I will often suggest this deck when I sense that a healing approach is needed. Even when the question to the cards is heavier, like for someone who is anticipating or dealing with loss or disruptive change, there is an inherent gentleness and diplomacy that comes through in the reading, and I attribute it to the energy of these stunning cards.  See more reviews at Aeclectic Tarot.

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Goddess Tarot

This deck is unabashedly Goddess oriented, so don't look to it for balance in the male-female sense. Each of the Major Aracana is represented by a different Goddess from among a multitude of cultures. It took me some time to learn the mythology of all of these Goddesses, and not being from any of the cultures that they are drawn from, I am sure there are deeper meanings that I might not yet realize. Still, this deck has done a better job than most in matching the energies of the Tarot Majors with the energies of deities or mythological characters, and it doesn't feel artificial or forced, or leave you going, "huh?" The Minors are a bit harder to read, as they are not as clearly based on Rider-Waite as some decks. In particular, I think more could have been done artistically and symbolically with the Court cards to convey their personalities. For that reason, I don't recommend this deck for the novice reader. However...the artwork is incredibly beautiful, with rich, warm reds and golds. There is a kindness, almost an innocence, to the deck, so no intense images to be found here that I recall. Even the 10 of Swords is gently muted rather than a shockingly violent image (which is my negative reaction to the Rider-Waite version of the card). I enjoy reading with this deck mostly because it is such a sumptuous visual feast of color and detail. It's also a great choice for the tentative or new client that fears what the message from the cards might be and wants to ease into the experience of a reading. See more reviews at Aeclectic Tarot for some other perspectives.

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Harmonious Tarot

What first drew me to this deck was the color palette - warm yellows, pinks, browns, soft greens, gentle blues - and the swirly, floral, ornate detail on every single card. This is by far the prettiest deck I have ever seen. I can get lost in dreamy reverie just looking at its artwork. It is probably also the one Tarot deck I have that is the hardest to read, so for someone shopping for their own deck, I don't recommend it for a Tarot novice. Because the colors are so close to one another in their beautiful softness, the images don't pop out at the reader as they do in some decks. And despite the beautiful ornamentation, the symbolism is not as rich - or maybe it simply is lost in all those swirls. Supposedly Rider-Waite based in its imagery, I find that it is a tremendous stretch to see that. That is only a challenge for the reader, however. My greatest concern with using this deck with a client is one card: the Turkish-looking King of Pentacles is portrayed as having black child-slaves attending him. One Tarot forum post, titled "Decks you'd love, if not for that one card", pointed out that may be because the King of Pentacles in one of its negative aspects can be about exploiting other people to attain material success. So...I have expanded my understanding of the King of Pentacles because of this jarring depiction. Nonetheless, I like to be sure a client is forewarned about this card before selecting this deck. Not to leave this on a negative note, this Tarot artwork has truly produced the most gorgeous deck I have ever seen. It is so very civilized, and proper in its romanticization of the Victorian era - no nudity (if you don't count a half-nude Queen of Chalices seen almost entirely from the back) - and this decorum is appreciated by some clients. The vibe is super-gentle and whimsically sweet, like the art of the Flower Fairies of the 1920's, so the Harmonious Tarot is aptly named.  (In the interest of a balanced perspective, you can see the review at Aeclectic Tarot for a very different opinion on the readability and suitability of this deck for the less-experienced Tarot reader.)

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Motherpeace Tarot

I learned Tarot with this deck many years ago, so it is my oldest and dearest deck. It was the very first of the round decks to be published. What's particularly wonderful about this circular deck is that not only are reversals a possibility, but even the degree of tilt in the cards conveys some subtlety of meaning which lends itself to a more nuanced interpretation. Back in the 80's, Motherpeace was also the only Tarot deck I had seen that included images of non-European cultures (except for the Daughters of the Moon Tarot, which was only out in black and white at the time.) The images are hand drawn, with vivid colors, and lots and lots of full frontal nudity. I often refer to it as my "hippie deck": nature focused, body-positive, ethnically inclusive, with a definite counter-culture feel. As much as I love this deck, it it is not for everyone. The deck is known for being a feminist deck, and displays some bias against white males by placing them mostly within the cards that have negative connotations. In contrast, men of color and women of all cultures are treated very warmly in almost every case. In a departure from the traditional nomenclature of the Tarot, the court cards are renamed Daughter, Son, Priestess, and Shaman, which puts an interesting and different spin on the meanings of each of the court positions. The suits are Swords, Cups, Wands, and Discs, and are each associated with a different race or culture. Swords are affiliated with European/white people, Wands with African cultures, Discs with Native American/First Nations peoples, and Cups are a mix of people of all races. The illustrations are decidedly non-Rider-Waite based (some of the Minor Arcana have substantially different meanings than those found in a traditional deck), so the student of Tarot should plan to invest considerable time studying the mythology and symbolism used in this deck in order to master it. Fortunately, there is a full length book that can help with that (not the shorter guidebook often sold with the deck, but the full book titled Motherpeace: A Way to the Goddess Through Myth, Art, and Tarot). There is also a very useful Motherpeace Tarot workbook, with activities that could really be used with any number of decks. For an additional perspective on the Motherpeace Tarot, read more at Aeclectic Tarot.

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Smith-Waite Tarot

The Rider-Waite deck is the one that most people think of when they think of Tarot. The Smith-Waite deck is actually the same deck as the Rider-Waite, but in the Centennial edition of its publication someone finally thought to honor the the female artist, Pixie Smith, and so this version is called the Smith-Waite deck. There is some nudity in this deck, although in the artistic style of the cards it is very understated and not overwhelming to those with delicate sensibilities. There are some fairly intense images, as is common with the 10 of swords card for instance. The colors are a bit more muted than in some versions of the Rider-Waite, and I like that. It harmonizes well with the medieval feel of the imagery in the cards. Pages, Knights, Queens and Kings are the court cards, and the Major Arcana contain very traditional associations in their illustrations. For instance, the Devil card shows the Devil as a horned half-goat/half-man. The Hierophant looks like a pope from medieval times. Because the court cards are three quarters male (Pages, Knights, and Kings), and twice as many male Major Arcana cards compared to female ones, this deck feels more heavily masculine to me. With that said, one of the best things about it is the enormous amount of literature devoted to the interpretation of this particular deck. This is one of the best decks for beginners to start with, and it is still beloved by those who have been reading Tarot for years. Rich in symbolism, I find a new layer of meaning in at least one or more cards in a reading when I use this deck. If you are still learning Tarot, you can use Biddy Tarot as a reference for the card meanings (their interpretations are based on the Rider-Waite deck), or read more about the deck at Aeclectic Tarot.

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Shadowscapes Tarot

I can't imagine someone not liking the imagery of this deck, but I suppose it is possible. The soft watercolor hues along with the rich detail in the artwork give this deck a beautiful blend of softness and complexity. As for the images themselves, there is almost a fairy-like quality to them, but yet the characters in the cards are not actual fairies, so I don't feel interpretively boxed in by what I know of fairies. Like almost all of my favorite decks, this one is tipped towards positive energies, not scary or dark as some of the cards in other decks might be perceived. There are also many animal energies portrayed in these cards, and the abundance of foxes (my namesake) delights me. Possibly my favorite of all the cards in this deck is the Death card. Often a spooky card for a client to see appear in their reading (although it shouldn't be, since it almost never, ever refers to literal death), in this deck Death is the Phoenix. What a beautiful image! This aligns perfectly with the traditional Tarot meaning of the card: something is ending in order to make way for the new to be brought into existence. The only complaint I have with this deck (besides that it is definitely not the easiest for beginners to learn) is that there is so much detail to the cards that I have to use reading glasses to pick it all out. In fact, when using this deck for myself, I choose to use an app to draw the cards so I can zoom in on the images and study them more deeply. Yes, there's an app for that! I love all of the Tarot apps developed by The Fool's Dog, and this one can be found at http://www.foolsdog.com/Shadowscapes/.   Check out the review at Aeclectic Tarot for more comments on this deck.

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Tarot Mucha

 What's not to love about Art Noveau? This is my favorite of all of the decks that use an Art Noveau theme because the images harmonize better with the traditional Tarot meanings as I understand them. The drawback, of course, is that Art Noveau imagery (and that of Mucha himself, whose artistic style this deck imitates) is almost exclusively of Caucasian/white people. And wherever possible, Art Noveau is obsessively focused on the female form. So wherever an image is not overtly male, expect it to be portrayed with feminine energy. There are a couple of the cards I don't care for in this deck. The Lovers card (not pictured), which is about attraction, choice, and even morality, seems to portray a young girl seemingly less than enthusiastic about the attentions of the man in her space (very off-putting, and jangles with my understanding of the meaning of the card). When it comes up in a reading I have to rely on my deeper understanding of the Tarot to read the card. The other card I don't care for (also not pictured here) is the Hermit, in which the woman appears to be fearful. I'm still studying that Mucha image and seeing what additional layer of meaning that adds to my understanding of that energy (normally about introspection and learning).  But despite my distaste for the Lovers card, the card that offsets that for me is the Devil card (not pictured). In most decks the Devil card is portrayed very ominously. In this one, the Devil is a beautiful woman, and for me this captures the energy of the Devil card so much better than a scary, beastly image drawn from Christian medieval art. The Devil card represents that which binds, tempts, or seduces a person... and then completely controls them. For me, that shows how insidious and subtle the Devil can be, and the need to evaluate carefully whatever it is that calls so irresistibly. So there are many positives to this particular deck. Overall, it is very pleasant to work with, and those new to Tarot will find it easy to learn. You can read another review at Aeclectic Tarot.

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Thelema Tarot

This deck looks very different from most of the other ones I have reviewed. The color palette is darker and more saturated (almost jewel-toned), not muted, and the images are almost photographic. It has a mystical/angelic feel to it, with gorgeous costuming, and beautiful people (albeit all white-skinned, and without any apparent cultural diversity).  Only a few images annoy me (the Empress, not pictured, is one of them, and she looks like a prom queen, which brings up some probably unintended associations), but I'm not actually set back by it in my intuitive readings. Then there's the Devil card (also not pictured). Just like in the Tarot Mucha, this deck has perfectly captured the seductive allure of the Devil card by painting an image of a hunky, tall-dark-and-handsome compelling masculine figure to represent that which draws you in and seems oh-so-beautiful until it is too late and you are trapped in its web (look closely and you will see the human figures caught in a web in the background). What I love about this deck are the rich metaphors that add to my understanding of the Tarot. I find that it is very easy to read intuitively with this deck because it is speaking to my subconscious in metaphors and symbols, and much of it is also conveyed through color (note the intense reds of the Wands, for instance). This is a lovely deck that I find very well suited to spiritual inquiries because it practically vibrates with Spirit, and each card conveys a thought or quality that speaks directly to my soul. Read another review at Aeclectic Tarot.

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