[Opinion] Tarot deck (and book) recommendations?

[bornless1]

Two books that helped when I started out with tarot were Guided Tarot A Beginners Guide to Card Meanings Spreads and Intuitive Exercises for Seamless Readings by Stefanie Caponi and Seventy-Eight Degrees of Wisdom By Rachel Pollack.

 

[skatedom]

I'm still trying to find a tarot deck that I identify with; I even thought about studying the Italian Sibyl.

 

[marigold]

I found The Tarot Bible by Sarah Bartlett provides a fairly comprehensive overview on the subject (history, interpretations, etc), as well as discussing a lot of avenues by which one could develop their practice. If you're interested in Kabbalistic tarot, a 30+ year practitioner I know swears by the Tarot of the Spirit book and deck by Pamela Eakins. Best of luck to you!

 

[sultan]

Hi, you need to use the Marseille tarot.

 

[lizardu]

Lately I've been connecting with the After Tarot deck! It's the traditional RWS but imagined a few moments after the original cards. I find it more intuitive than the og deck and vibe more with the imagery and less intense colours.

For books, my go to is The Tarot Companion by Liz Dean. It's nothing beefy, just a nice brief tarot guide.

 

[Drakaina1313]

I’ve bought a few tarot decks and have struggled to find one whose imagery felt intuitive. What are your favorite decks or books?

I'm instead going to address the imagery aspect of your post. Have you searched for decks on Aeclectic? They offer reviews and such, break decks down into different categories, and include some pictures of the decks.

I also will check reviews on Amazon for decks I'm considering, as oftentimes people will post more pictures of the cards and I can get a better idea whether the imagery resonates with me or not. Etsy reviews sometimes do as well (and sometimes sellers post more pictures of the cards).

If you have a metaphysical shop near you, some have store sample decks for people to see the cards in person and get a better idea of what they're like. That's actually how I found my first deck that I really resonated with and I'm absolutely grateful that the shop owner had such an approach with their decks. Many don't do this, but it's something you can always ask about.

While it's great to hear recommendations from others to check out, none of that guarantees that any of these decks will resonate with you as they do the people suggesting them. It's a good idea, imho, to try to see as many of the cards in a deck as you can to better gauge how well it may resonate with you.

Good luck, I hope you find one that speaks to you!