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 change according to my mindset and I work with whatever deck I feel drawn to at the time the list kept changing.

But I really wanted to give this a try.

In the end, after several more failed attempts, I shied away from creating a Top-10-favourite-decks list. The number constraints meant I was leaving out too many favourites. So I took a different approach.

I created a If-I-could-only-keep-10-decks-but-still-wanted-a-well-rounded-collection list. Catchy title I know. And, 10 became 13. Plus I limited my choices to mass-market tarot decks only. But believe me, it was still difficult.

This is my list:

The Bohemian Animal Tarot

I knew I needed an animal deck but, since I have so many, trying to decide which one was really difficult. I even toyed with just picking one of my five cat decks instead. But stories and animals are two of my favourite things, so in the end I decided on The Bohemian Animal Tarot because it covers a wide selection of animals and it has a fairy tale feel. Plus, as an added bonus, it has a comprehensive guidebook that incorporates Scott Alexander King’s extensive animal knowledge.

The DruidCraft Tarot

The Bohemian Animal Tarot might not appear on many people’s lists but I’m sure this one does. The DruidCraft Tarot is here purely because it’s a deck that I would never want to be without. The richness of Will Worthington’s artwork and the Eddison edition’s buttery cardstock, once trimmed, make this a dream to work with. Although I will concede that the 192-paged guidebook might make some people prefer the Oh edition. I have both. I figure if I have two versions of the same deck then it is a given it will be on the list.

Forest of Enchantment Tarot

Regardless of the list heading, the Forest of Enchantment Tarot, would be on it. I have never crafted a top 10 list that hasn’t included this deck because it contains some of my all time favourite cards. But that isn’t the reason it’s on this list. It’s here because I truly believe in the power of stories and this deck speaks to, and works with, that on so many levels. Combining this with Meraylah’s incredible artistic abilities ensures that I will never be without it.

Heaven and Earth Tarot

The Heaven and Earth Tarot is here because: I connect with its philosophy — “This deck is for people who see the Divine in the everyday —; I love the artwork; I used it often when I was doing client readings; and because I wanted to include a deck that had astrological information on the cards. I could have chosen The Star Tarot or any of Ciro Marchetti’s decks but I prefer the overall approach of this one. That being said, I do like how Ciro’s decks encourage us to question standardised meanings but I only need one “astrology” deck and I connect with Jack Sephiroth’s artwork more.

The Herbcrafter’s Tarot

I spent a lot of time trying to decide which of Joanna Powell Colbert’s decks to choose. I really like them both. In the end The Herbcrafter’s Tarot pipped The Gaian Tarot because I like how it slows me down. Plus it gives me a sense of family. It isn’t just the memories it evokes though. It’s deeper than that. I feel it has a lot to teach me. And I like its up close and personal, first person, approach. All up it offers something that none of the others on this list do which was the main criteria I used when finalising my selections.

Pastoral Tarot

From the moment I heard about the Pastoral Tarot I expected it to become one of my all time favourite tarot decks. At university there were two themes I explored more than any other — place and truth. So a deck that “explores how a sense of place reveals who we are and where we belong” was always going to get my attention. And, it didn’t disappoint. I have several Lisa Hunt decks, albeit this one is a collaboration with Lynn Arauja rather than one of her own, but the scenes on these cards and the stories they tell are at a whole new level.

The Shadowland Tarot

When I ended up choosing The Bohemian Animal Tarot for this list I admit I was a tad surprised but nowhere near as surprised as I was to be adding The Shadowland Tarot. It’s not that I have anything against the deck, I obviously really like it, but I know how much I love many of the decks it pushed out. I pulled it off the shelf, wondered why, and tried to put it back but I couldn’t. At first I had no idea why. Then I twigged. Its playful approach to shadow work makes it easier to tap into, and explore, childhood experiences as well as any other stories that like to lurk in the dark. That justifies its place.

Smith-Waite Tarot Deck – Centennial Edition

For me, a tarot collection isn’t complete without a straight up RWS deck. Out of the five versions I own, I picked this one simply because the tin makes it easy to travel with.

Surrealist Tarot

Okay the Surrealist Tarot is another entry that I didn’t expect to be on the list. Yet, here it is. I knew I wanted to include a surrealist deck for those times when my thinking needs a good shake up but I thought it would be The Dreamkeepers Tarot. However, when it came down to it, I felt this one fit the bill more effectively because you can’t describe the image in a sentence or two. Each description would be paragraphs long and filled with more “what the-s,” “huh-s,” and “why-s” than any writer could leave on the page.

Tarot Landscapes

I bought Tarot Landscapes because the landscape-based decks I really wanted were way out of my budget. How fortunate that was. This deck and I just clicked and I can’t imagine not having it in my collection. That’s why it’s on this list. Also, until the Mindscapes Tarot I pre-ordered arrives, it is the only purely landscape tarot I own.

Under the Oak Tarot

To be honest I umm-ed and ahh-ed about whether to include Under the Oak Tarot in this list right up until I laid it out in a spread. Then I knew there was no choice to be made. This deck hits me in a way no other deck does. I still struggle to put into words the effect it has on me. Today’s word is visceral.

The Unveiled Tarot

Like the Under the Oak Tarot, The Unveiled Tarot is a deck that, from the very first reading, took me to places other decks never have. As a result, this went straight to my imaginary Top-10-decks list and I am quite confident that it will never leave.

The Wild Unknown Tarot

I briefly thought about not including The Wild Unknown Tarot but I knew my collection would be incomplete without it. When this deck came out I didn’t understand all the hype around it but I had a nagging feeling that there was something about it I wasn’t seeing. Fortunately my curiosity got the better of me and now this is one of my favourite no-nonsense, get-to-the-point, straight-up readers and so it rounds out this list.

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Wrapping it all up

You may have already noticed that to make my life easier, I presented the decks alphabetically. That was the only thing I found easy about compiling this list. I hate to admit it but I actually felt quite anxious when trying to work out which decks to include. It felt so wrong to exclude some of the decks that I did.

I’m the first to claim that tarot is a tool that I use to help me make sense of myself and the world around me but what that statement misrepresents is just how important that help has been over the years. So, without wanting to sound overly melodramatic, this was hard, really hard.

To be honest, I did initially include an additional list of decks that I know I will not part with for a whole range of reasons, but I deleted it for just as many reasons. Mainly though I decided to cut it because I kept wanting to add “just one more.” So this is it.

What do you think? Any huge surprises? And, what would your list look like?

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Publishing details

• The Bohemian Animal Tarot
  • Created by Scott Alexander King & Sharon McLeod, Published by Rockpool Publishing in 2014
• DruidCraft Tarot
  • Created by Philip & Stephanic Carr-Gomm & Will Worthington, Published by Eddison Books in 2018
• Forest of Enchantment
  • Created by Lunaea Weatherstone & Meraylah Allwood, Published by Llewellyn Books, First edition, Second printing in 2019
• Heaven and Earth Tarot
  • Created by Jack Sephiroth & Jaymi Elford, Published by Lo Scarabeo in 2022
• The Herbcrafter’s Tarot
  • Created by Joanna Powell Colbert & Latisha Guthrie, Published by US Games in 2019
• Pastoral Tarot
  • Created by Lynn Araujo & Lisa Hunt, Published by US Games in 2022
• The Shadowland Tarot
  • Created by Monica Bodirsky, Published by Red Feather 2020
• Smith-Waite Tarot
  • Created by Arthur Edward Waite & Pamela Colman Smith, Published by US Games in 2015
• Surrealist Tarot
  • Created by Luigi Di Giammarino, Published by Lo Scarabeo in 2021
• Tarot Landscapes
  • Created by Francesca Matteoni & Yoshi Mari, Published by Vivida 2024
• Under the Oak
  • Created by Elena Bia aka Ofride & Jessica di Fraia, Published by Lo Scarabeo 2024
• The Unveiled Tarot
  • Created by Jesse Lonergan, Published by Sterling Ethos in 2025
• The Wild Unknown Tarot
  • Created by Kim Krans, Published by Harper One 2016