The Myth That Needs to Die First
You do not need to be "gifted" a tarot deck. You do not need to wait for a deck to "call to you." You do not need someone's permission. You are a person who wants to learn tarot. Walk into a shop — physical or online — buy a deck that appeals to you, take it out of the plastic, and start using it. The mystique around deck acquisition is gatekeeping. It was never a tradition. It was a rumor that became a rule through repetition, and it has prevented more people from starting tarot than any other single piece of misinformation.
Your first deck is a learning tool, not a soul bond. You will outgrow it, supplement it, or replace it — just as you outgrew your first guitar, your first running shoes, or your first programming language. The goal is not to find the perfect deck. The goal is to find one that is good enough to learn with, and start.
For Your First Deck: Start With the Rider-Waite-Smith
This is not a personal preference. It is a pedagogical recommendation backed by the same logic that says "learn standard chess before variants" or "learn JavaScript before TypeScript." The Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) deck, first published in 1909 and illustrated by Pamela Colman Smith, is the foundation that 90% of tarot education, books, courses, and online resources are built on. Every card meaning you will read in a book, hear in a YouTube video, or find on this website references the RWS imagery. Starting with a different deck means you are learning one visual language while reading instructional material written in another.
The specific advantage of the RWS: every single card — including the numbered Minor Arcana — has a full pictorial scene. In many other deck traditions (particularly the Marseille), the numbered Minor Arcana show only arrangements of suit symbols (five cups in a pattern, seven swords in a row) without any narrative imagery. This means you must memorize meanings because the image gives you nothing to react to. The RWS gives you something to react to on every card, which means your intuition has material to work with from day one.
- The Original Rider-Waite Tarot — The standard. Yellow backgrounds, classic imagery. Available everywhere for under $20. Not the most beautiful deck, but the most well-documented and universally understood.
- The Radiant Rider-Waite — Same imagery as the original but with digitally enhanced colors. Brighter, more vivid, easier to read at a glance. The version most new readers find immediately appealing.
- The Modern Witch Tarot — RWS structure and composition but with contemporary, diverse characters. If the original RWS imagery feels dated (it is from 1909), this deck updates the people while preserving the symbolic framework.
- The Light Seer's Tarot — RWS-based with a warm, watercolor aesthetic. Particularly popular with readers who find the original RWS too clinical or flat.
The Three Major Tarot Systems
Before you start browsing decks, understand that not all tarot decks follow the same system. The three main systems are:
The most common system. 78 cards, fully illustrated Minor Arcana, Strength as card VIII and Justice as XI. The standard for contemporary tarot reading.
Start here.
Designed by Aleister Crowley, painted by Lady Frieda Harris. Renames some Major Arcana (Strength becomes Lust, Judgement becomes Aeon). Deeply integrated with Kabbalistic and astrological symbolism. Complex, esoteric, brilliant — but not for beginners.
After you are fluent with RWS.
The oldest system still in widespread use (15th-century origins). Numbered Minor Arcana have no pictorial scenes — just suit symbols arranged in patterns. Requires more memorization but rewards experienced readers with a stripped-down directness that many find superior to RWS.
For experienced readers seeking simplicity.
When you see a deck described as "RWS-based" or "follows the Rider-Waite tradition," it means the card meanings, numbering, and imagery will be compatible with mainstream tarot education. When a deck is "Thoth-based" or "Marseille-based," it follows a different convention and requires system-specific learning materials. For your first deck, stick to RWS-based.
Physical Factors That Matter More Than You Expect
Card size. Standard tarot cards are roughly 2.75 x 4.75 inches — significantly larger than playing cards. Some decks are even bigger (3 x 5+). If you have small hands, shuffling a full-size tarot deck is awkward. Before buying, check the dimensions. "Mini" or "pocket" editions of popular decks exist and are worth considering if standard size feels uncomfortable.
Card stock and finish. A deck you use daily will be handled thousands of times. Thin card stock wears, bends, and develops visible marks that can bias shuffling (you unconsciously learn which card has the crease). Thicker card stock (350gsm+) with a matte or linen finish lasts longer and shuffles better. Glossy finishes look beautiful in photos but stick together during shuffling — frustrating in practice.
Borderless vs bordered. Borderless cards (where the art extends to the edge) feel more immersive. Bordered cards (with a white or colored frame) are easier to read at arm's length because the frame creates visual separation. Neither is objectively better. Handle both if possible before committing to 78 cards you will look at several thousand times.
Guidebook quality. Most decks include a small guidebook (Little White Book, or LWB). These range from a folded pamphlet with one sentence per card to a 300-page companion volume with full interpretations. For your first deck, the guidebook quality matters because it is your first reference for card meanings. Check reviews to see if the included guidebook is useful or perfunctory.
Choosing Your Second (and Third) Deck
After you are fluent with your first RWS-based deck (typically 3-6 months of regular practice), your second deck should serve one of these functions:
A different aesthetic on the same system. You know the RWS meanings. Now find a deck whose art resonates with your personal aesthetic — dark and gothic, bright and modern, minimalist and geometric, nature-based, culturally specific, or anything else that makes you want to pick the cards up. The meanings are the same; the images are new, which often produces fresh interpretations of cards you thought you fully understood.
A different system entirely. A Thoth deck or a Marseille deck will force you to see tarot from a completely different angle. Reading the same spread with an RWS deck and a Thoth deck produces two distinct readings — not because the cards are different objects, but because the interpretive frameworks are different lenses.
A purpose-specific deck. Some readers acquire decks for specific uses: a gentle oracle-adjacent deck for daily pulls, a dark shadow-work deck for deep psychological readings, a small portable deck for travel. Your deck collection grows with your practice — each deck serving a different function, like tools in a toolbox rather than redundant copies of the same tool.
The Only Question That Actually Matters
After all the system analysis, card stock evaluation, and border preference assessment — the deciding factor is simpler than any of that:
When you look at the images, do you want to keep looking?
That is it. A deck you find visually compelling is a deck you will pick up daily. A deck you find visually boring — even if it is the "correct" deck recommended by every tarot authority — is a deck that will sit in a drawer. The practice only works if you practice. You will only practice with a deck you want to hold. Choose the one that makes your hands itch.
A perfect deck you never use is worth less than an imperfect deck you use every day. The best tarot deck is the one in your hands right now, being shuffled, being drawn from, being lived with. Everything else is collecting.
Do not have a physical deck yet? Start your practice today with our free daily card pull — every card in the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition, available on any device, no purchase required.