Tarot articles
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Tarot rules: do I need to follow them?
Are there any tarot rules that you absolutely have to follow? I don’t believe so. As Rachel Pollack suggests in her book, Tarot Wisdom, “you are free to create your own methods.” Yes many of us choose to follow certain “rules” but that is through choice not because there is a universal set of rules that we have to adhere to. Unfortunately, that doesn’t stop people from implying that there is. All too often I come across people presenting their approaches as things that you should do rather than things you could do. Many beliefs, like, “You can’t buy your own tarot deck” seem to be falling away but sometimes…
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For the love of collage
As someone who has many, many collage tarot decks, some of which I’ve listed below, Antique Anatomy, Tarot of Mystical Moments, Rosebud Tarot, Hoodoo Tarot, Boadicea’s Tarot of Earthly Delights, Voyager Tarot – my first ever tarot deck, The Relative Tarot, The Quiet Rebel Tarot, The Magical Hours Tarot, Grimalkin’s Curious Cats Tarot, The Dreamkeepers Tarot, The Starchild Tarot Akashic, The Ephemeral Tarot The Muse Tarot, Journey of the Sacred Bee Tarot, Crow Tarot, The Intuitive Night Goddess Tarot, Golden Tarot it was only a matter of time before I decided to try collaging myself. Tarot and Collage But before I move on to that I want to say a…
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The High Priestess: An intuitive approach
As I look at the Pagan Otherworlds High Priestess my focus is drawn to the open book. But why? I’m not sure yet so I just simplify things. How? By asking basic questions. What sort of book could it be? Since she’s the High Priestess I’m imagining it’s a book of secrets so I’m going to say it’s a journal. But why is she holding it like that? It doesn’t look natural. She’s gripping it. Is it someone else’s journal and she has just discovered something she wishes she hadn’t? Then a thought starts to form. How often do we go searching for truths that we don’t want to find?…
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20 Great tarot decks for beginners
While I’m about to present a list of the decks that I personally consider to be great beginner decks, I want to preface this list by saying, the best beginner tarot deck is the one you connect with. After all, to learn tarot you have to be keen to pick up your deck. Generally the things I would suggest you look out for when buying your first set of tarot cards, is an RWS based, fully illustrated deck. There are three reasons for this. My current list Below is my list. It is in no way exhaustive. Nor is it presented in any particular order. I have included the beginner…
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Using tarot to unlock the power of story
It is hard to partake of any story-based research without coming across the name Joseph Campbell — for good reason. The man knew stories. He dedicated his life to them. In his book, A Hero with a Thousand Faces, he claims that “deep-seated archetypes lurk in stories created by all kinds of cultures.” Anyone who’s picked up a tarot deck knows they exist there too. That is why tarot is such a powerful story-telling tool. But why is that important? Importance of story I’ll let Jessica Macbeth, author of the Faeries Oracle guidebook start the conversation. She wrote: First and foremost, for many of us, we learn, grow, and lead…
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Getting to know your tarot deck
As I was reading through the opening pages of The Faeries’ Oracle guidebook I came across an idea that I thought would also be a great way of getting to know a tarot deck. So, having tried it with The Faeries’ Oracle, I then tried it with the Golden Tarot. And wow, the notes from three of my five categories feature the same word — surprised. To put this into some context, the Golden Tarot isn’t a deck new to my collection, but, during this exercise, it felt like it was. The exercise So what’s the exercise? It is simply to divide your deck using categories of your own choosing.…
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How skulls helped me see the light
So, how did I come to be writing a post about skulls? Quite organically it seems. Two days ago, after I read my recent Blue post to my daughter, I was talking to her about writing and how tarot provides endless source material. To show her what I meant, and no doubt to prove it to myself yet again, I reached for the closest deck, which happened to be the Folkloric Forest Tarot, and started shuffling. While my intentions were purely demonstrative, it quickly became apparent that the cards and my subconscious had other ideas. Unbeknownst to me at the time, looking at the randomly selected card, The Hermit, sowed…
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Why blue is more than just a colour
The other day I was watching Richard Powers being interviewed on You Tube. In the interview, David Perell was asking him to expand on his previous comment, “When you’re sure of what you’re looking at look harder.” He responded, “Yeah because when you’re sure, you’re not moving, and reality is always moving.” It probably comes as no surprise that I linked this idea with tarot as I do with so many other things. Fast forward an hour and I’ve snuck into the shower for some peace and quiet and I realised something — I often fall into familiar ways of thinking. While I readily acknowledge that card meanings are influenced…
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My “If I could only keep 10 tarot decks” list
In most things I am quite minimalist, but that doesn’t apply when it comes to my tarot and oracle collection. I have many, many decks. Very few would I happily part with. But, when Stephen left a comment on The Unveiled Tarot post asking if I had a tarot top ten I thought I’d try to put together a list. I’ve tried several times but I always come up short. If you’ve read much of my stuff you’d know that I only buy decks that interest me in some way so even though I review decks, I don’t ever buy one purely to write about it. Plus, since my tastes…
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Upcoming decks I’m excited for in 2025
So, here is my top 5 upcoming decks (mass market only) list. All the decks to follow will become available in the first half of the year and I’m pleased to say that this time I am excited for decks from both Llewellyn and US Games Inc. This year there’s an oracle on the list as well. I’ll start with that one and then move on to the four tarot decks. Forest of Enchantment Oracle Okay well this one is a no brainer for me. I have been watching its progress on Instagram for a while now with growing enthusiasm. I am a fan of Meraylah Allwood’s artwork. Actually that…
