Tarot Decks?

A few years back a friend bought me the Aquarian Tarot Deck-- by David Palladini

Is this deck worth studying or should I invest in a more accurate occult deck?

I'm not sure how valuable studying this deck would be as it is a popular Art deck rather than *I feel* a more connected and accurate deck.
Though, I'm not sure if this one *isnt* accurate as I've never studied tarot before.


What are your opinions?

The tarot is a connection with the personality of the soul.  It is a connection to the inner being.  It is not the cards themselves, but the individual vibration and connection one will find unique to the individual deck.  One deck will "feel" very personal from all the others to one while that same  deck will have no meaning to the inner core with another person.  One would do well to spend time with at least ten decks and study what they will give you.  They will have a personality that either feels very comfortable to you or not.  It is just like one dating for the first time...Is this a person you want to become very intimate with and vice versa...or not.  No one deck will be perfect for everyone so the need to spend time with the deck to begin a perfect relationship is necessary.  Just like a piece of furniture will have a special meaning and a remarkable connection to one person, another person will turn their nose up at it... the same in the case of the cards.  Even some plain playing cards can have a unique touch and connection to them to be used as tarot as those cards will speak their language to the reader in a special spiritual way.  As anything worth doing, it is worth doing it correctly in the beginning.  My cards are part of my family.  That is how I feel with my temple area and all the different items I use in witchcraft.
Remember, those cards are searching for you in the same fashion you  want to find the correct deck.  It works both ways.

A well-meaning tarot reader after a while will use the cards only as a prop for the person they read for.  If watched closely, that reader will only be going through the motions to be viewed from across the table.  The reader will not even have to look at or view those cards as the spiritual connection is complete and the higher self will be getting the reading from the higher or inner plane.  One could even give the reader with their eyes closed as the session has become a real spiritual affair.  At that point, you can even say no cards are even needed at all to convey the reading and only are used for the sake of the client only.

Continuing, tarot in a higher realm can be used for reflection and introspection and guidance into advancement just as meditation is used and can open doors for knowledge and attunement with the higher source.  The entire process can work with one no matter at what level the individual finds self at in their walk and can reveal in-depth material that is priceless. The real study of astrology and the interaction with the planets and our universe is another way this can be tied together to use these ancient materials to obtain answers to life found no other place.

Thank you for your insight, Maxx.

It makes a lot of sense, what you said. I appreciate the response.

To those that never do any exercise to increase your spiritual awareness, just picking up tarot cards and going through the directions written in the booklet with them, will have no meaning at all.  As I have said before, why will a very intelligent being even want to work with someone that makes no attempt to increase their spiritual awareness?  That is why so many pick up a deck and start it expecting great success and nothing happens.  Then they move on to something else and this process repeats itself.  

Work to increase awareness with the source will turn great results in the tarot work. It is like anything else, the more work you put into the process, the luckier you get.

But this was not directed toward Heruset, but to those that are just starting out.

Please allow me to chime in here, as the tarot is my biggest passion in divination other than simply closing my eyes and exploring the depths.

There is nothing wrong with exploring the occult with the Aquarian Tarot. It is a respectable RWS clone, has been around for years and it is still in print… so it is doing something right. All the secrets you could need are contained therein. You just need to train yourself, your mind and your intuition to see past the artistry and to connect with the wisdom that is being passed out to you.

It may be that your association to your friend is keeping you from really bonding with the deck for a personal purpose. It may also mean that you can’t get past the illustration style. Lastly, it could be that the Aquarian Tarot may be useful to you later on once you become more comfortable and flexible in the decks you use. Comfort comes with experience, which comes with time. It could be you will accomplish great work with this deck at a later time. Otherwise, it may just be a deck for you to read for other people with, in matters that are not as deep as the ones you work on with another deck.

It is important that you spend time connecting to your deck. It is even more important that you feel the desire to connect to the deck.

If the connection not there and yet you feel the need to use tarot to learn from, set out to choose the deck that speaks to YOU for that particular purpose.

If you want a darker, more occult deck to practice, I am naming some favorites from my collection for you to consider:

The Vertigo Tarot. This deck is like oscillating between life and death. You feel like you are walking in a dark dream, and it is my main reading deck.

Bohemian Gothic Tarot. Very dark and tasteful.

Tarot Nefertari. An Egyptian tarot deck with gold foil in the cards. It has a very high magic feel to it. A lot of the cards can be taken out of the deck and used in ritual. Thoroughly recommend for you in your meditations and in invocation of Egyptian deities in your meditations. Great work tool for spells, meditation and tarot readings.

Gothic Tarot by Joseph Vargo. This is like stepping into a haunted mansion or castle at night and having the architecture whisper to you.

Tarot of the New Vision. You see the RWS tradition from another point of view. Lends itself to left hand path work.

Illuminated Tarot. Rider-Waite Smith clone by Carol Herzer. Jewel colors, translates well to feelings and energy. Lots of dark colors.

Thoth Tarot. No recommendation is ever complete without it, as it is always a big name in tarot also used for high magic practice/occultism.

I can recommend others if you are curious.

I really resonated with Maxx speaking about his tools like family. Our card collection or divination tools are an extension of us, and they serve their purpose with honor when employed correctly.

great info about those decks...there are two that I want to look into....thanks. great post.

I remember connecting to the Russian tarot deck from the past. I could closely connect to that at the time.

Maxx,

Which decks do you have in your possession?

The Thoth Tarot.
The Albano-Waite Tarot.
The Universal Waite Tarot
The Witches Tarot
The Russian Tarot
The Egyptian Tarot of the Brotherhood of Light

I love that Witches tarot. But each one of those decks has a special timing that goes with them and also a very different personality.

The last one not many are that familiar with but I find it goes well with my study of astrology.

I found it strange earlier today I laid out a reading and as I was in preparation I was told exactly what the last card would be.  It turned out exactly to be that card and the flow was all designed from beginning to finish in the exact order my life was laid out.  I am confirming my own words that one can do a reading even without the cards and get the exact same result as if you were using them.  lol.   It even spoke about this process being all a part of the entire picture of study and work putting the parts together to obtain the finished outcome of life.  I love it.

A well-rounded collection.

Also can appreciate your intuition confirming your preemptive sight. Thank you for sharing that with us! Most enjoyable.

your location shows LA....is that Los Angeles....or....New Orleans? NO holds a special place for me...smile.

Leelahel,

Thank you for the information. It was great to read your post. I wasn't aware of the Aquarian deck being a RWS clone, so that was informative and allows me to draw a connection there.

I will have to check out the other decks both you and Maxx mention.

Thanks again, both of you.

Also, I have begun studying the Aquarians deck.

I've been learning the basic concepts behind the cards and meditating on them, etc.

I can feel the connection, but due to my lack of knowledge of the tarot, I still need to work on forming a deeper bond with them.

My first contact with tarot was through Thoth deck. I can't involve myself with others decks as I get involved with him. It has a single magic, only revealed through the link created between both. I am new to thoth, but passionate.

My favorite deck is the Egipcios Kier Tarot deck, published by Editorial Kier in Argentina, and by U.S. Games Systems in the USA.

It is an egyptian-themed Tarot deck, and has many similarities with other "egyptian" decks, like the Brotherhood of Light deck. The main difference towards other decks is that there aren't any suits, court figures or aces in the Minor Arcana. In fact, even though there *are* differences between the Major and the Minor Arcana in the Egipcios Kier, all the 78 cards are illustrated more or less in the same manner, with titles such as "Passion" (The Devil), or, in the minor arcana, "Delusion", "Examination", "Revelation", or "Rebirth". All the cards are  rich in symbols, either astrological, alchemical, qabalistic, numerological or egyptian hieroglyphic, and so there are many connections between the cards themselves, based on those correspondences. This has an interesting effect when they're used in divination, which doesn't exist in other more traditionally structured decks.

This is Major Arcanum 11, "Strength" (called "Persuasión", or "Persuasion" in the original spanish language):



One other thing that I also prefer in this deck is the different attribution of the hebrew letters to the Major Arcana. In the Egipcios Kier Tarot, Aleph is the Magician, which contrasts with other decks like the Thoth Tarot, in which Aleph is the Fool. On a personal level I tend to favor the Aleph=Magician formula... but this will be the subject of another post in this forum.

Regards,

Pyr.

Leelahel wrote:Please allow me to chime in here, as the tarot is my biggest passion in divination other than simply closing my eyes and exploring the depths.

Leelahel if you're still around let me ask you something. From all the tarot decks that you have worked with which is the one with a stronger Asetian feel in your opinion?

I really wish that an artist would come up with an Asetian deck that makes use of the wealth of symbolism shared in Asetian works and by their tradition.

If I had to pick THE ONE, I’d honestly recommend Tarot Nefertari. There are other options I enjoy specifically for when I am thumbing through my beloved Asetian Bible, though, and I will list them here for your consideration with added reasons.

I like the Nefertari Tarot because it is Egyptian illustration and gold leaf ink with relief. The textures detach the figures from their environments and give them a high resonance feeling. Even with all the divinity and light implied, I feel an inner darkness in the deck that draws me in.

When you look into this tarot, you can be transported back in time to about 430 BC. You can see yourself walking through a temple with hand painted stories on the columns of past legacies that influence the present time, back then. Torches are lit and cast an eerie glow on the place, and now and then the gold leaf on the walls will reflect back at you. It’s magic.

The experience with this deck does not feel like every day tarot to me. I feel as if I am presented with some descriptive tableaus of another time. Ones I can actually read and relate to what I am trying to understand.

All of the cards have an abundance of gold leaf and shine wonderfully under a light at night. I would have loved to see more context in the illustrations, such as in the Moon card, which is my favorite in this deck. I get a detached sense of from the deck, the figures seem to be floating in a gleaming afterlife. Still, it means these events can take place anywhere.

This is a serious, somber deck. Given the culture it illustrates and the type of illustrations it uses, you spend much of your time facing life and death, and particularly moments in death. Death is looming over us pretty often, and is a subject I struggle with but work with often in my personal life. It’s also a good deck for death work. When I look into these cards, I feel intimidated by the looming specter of death. It causes a big impression.

I think that this is an advanced tarot deck. I wouldn’t recommend this for first time users still learning.

Let’s include some runner ups I have recently considered in the case that Nefertari is not for you.

01Lucy Lescot Tarot has a purple ankh on the cover and has the right tones. From my understanding it is based off a fictional story, but I own it and I believe that with the right mindset it can be a good working tool. I think it’s set in New Orleans, though, which calls to me for spirit reasons. I like it.

The scenes have a dark sheen to them and I feel some of the environments lend themselves for ritualistic use. It’s set mostly in the night, which I also like.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51VNOcTiBeL._SY344_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg

I’ll be honest with you, the fact the ankh was chosen didn’t feel mindless to me. I feel like it is a sign that there can be something there of value. I will try using it after I read a page and get back to you on how well it works. Its been charging with my crystals in the cupboard for a couple of years now, I haven’t had the calling to take it out and try it yet.

02Next up is Journey Into Egypt. It is tastefully done, but I feel like it shows a more human side of the Ancient Egyptians. I would still like to recommend this because it is very expressive and easy to connect to. It’s just missing that quality of vampirism that I feel we resonate with to gravitate towards this forum in the first place. I do not own it yet, I am saving up for it so that I can use it in my work with the Asetian Bible.

03The third goes to the Tarot of Prague. It’s not set in the right place, which to me would be Egypt. I believe a successful deck to work with Asetianism must echo back to the Egyptians somehow. But it has alchemical symbols and allusions to high magic, and because of that it is great to seek advice for magic work. It’s actually very dark, I have noticed a stern tone in readings, like that of what I’d envision to be a wise mentor.

04The Bohemian Gothic Tarot is very tasteful, but it does not only focus on vampires. But yes, it does have an abundance of vampires. Just not in the Asetian vein. It was made in Prague with images from Prague and it is really very good for magic work. An interesting Nosferatu cameo in the King of Cups. This deck has interesting life to it, and feels very magic to me. It reads wonderfully, clearly, but in whispers.

05If you do not mind some whimsy, I recommend the Vampire Tarot by Natalie Hertz. The non-scenic pips let me zone out and connect to my higher self. Out of all my decks, the illustration quality feels the closest to what I would want in an Asetian themed tarot deck.

Come to think of it… Why isn’t there one already? An Asetian(ism) Tarot deck. Now that would be special.

This might be controversial, but I do not think it’s the Thoth. It is accepted and has its many, many merits. I use it, but I do not think this is THE ONE for Asteianism. I understand the layers, the trance, the Kabbalah. It’s great! But personally not my go-to for Asetianism exploration.

Thanks for the insight. I’m familiar with Tarot Nefertari. The artwork is beautiful, the golden foil makes it unique, the Egyptian theme is very classic and we can feel that sense of ancient history in the cards, however I often find it lacking in terms of deeper initiatory symbolism and elements of the Kabbalah. Or maybe I’m just missing them? Still, I find it a great deck and I agree with you when you say that an Asetian or Asetianism deck should have a strong Egyptian influence. The others you recommended I’m not familiar with so I’ll spend some time researching more about them.

Leelahel wrote:Come to think of it… Why isn’t there one already? An Asetian(ism) Tarot deck. Now that would be special.

Those are my thoughts as well. It’s verifiable that the Asetians use the symbolism of the Tarot and respect it as a valuable occult tool since the subject is even approached by Luis Marques in his Book of Orion and a lot of correlations drawn between the Tarot arcana and traditional Hebrew Kabbalah alongside the Asetian Kabbalah (Egyptian Kabbalah).

It would be awesome to see an Asetian themed deck someday, mixing Egyptian, vampire and magick symbolism in the cards. Even if not something official maybe an Asetianist who’s passionate about the Tarot and skilled in design will come up with a deck for the community to explore! That would have my support.

If you seek Kabbalah and concepts pertaining to the world of high magic, I may just have steered you in the wrong direction. Forgive me. I think I did not have a good vision of the qualities you seek in a deck.

Whenever I require symbols, I scan the card and impose symbols on it and print it out in larger scale. Truthfully, nothing in my experience compares to the Thoth in that regard. There are many offset decks such as the Rosetta Tarot and the Hermetic Tarot, famous for its rendition in black and white. I would still not place them in the queue for runner ups to work with Asetianism, though.

It sounds like the deck you outlined is a very high grade deck. It would be a great addition to the world of tarot! I have noticed many creators steer away from Kabbalah and adjacent fields. Many simply don't have knowledge of how to apply it. Certainly not as well as Aleister Crowley and Lady Frieda Harris in my opinion. I feel like the difference between Rider-Waite Smith and Thoth is that Thoth is very unapologetic and out in the open for all to work with the concepts. RWS is inward, meant to be decoded. Hiding the wealth from plain sight.

I fear that out of what I previously outlined, the closest contender would be the Tarot of Prague, since it echoes the city of the alchemists. Made by the same creators as those of the Bohemian Gothic Tarot, the deck is very high quality. But the symbols are integrated into the cards and in some cards, hidden. Just not set in Ancient Egypt.

There is also the Ancient Egyptian Tarot by Clive Barrett. Very beautiful tarot. Also a RWS clone. The Journey Into Egypt one has more life to it.

A good lesson for me in understanding the needs of the querent before outlining recommendations. And yet, some of the ones previously mentioned have their value in the world of tarot.

I hope you will find something that interests you therein! Good luck with your journeys.

Nothing to apologize, it’s my fault for making such a broad question without giving specific details. In fact your answer was still useful since although I do prefer to study decks with high magick symbolism I can also find interest in others simply for their art or to use more intuitively and in that case we don’t really need the in your face Kabbalah references. I do appreciate the depth you put into your contributions to this forum.

Nightshade wrote:

Leelahel wrote:Come to think of it… Why isn’t there one already? An Asetian(ism) Tarot deck. Now that would be special.

Those are my thoughts as well. It’s verifiable that the Asetians use the symbolism of the Tarot and respect it as a valuable occult tool since the subject is even approached by Luis Marques in his Book of Orion and a lot of correlations drawn between the Tarot arcana and traditional Hebrew Kabbalah alongside the Asetian Kabbalah (Egyptian Kabbalah).

It would be awesome to see an Asetian themed deck someday, mixing Egyptian, vampire and magick symbolism in the cards. Even if not something official maybe an Asetianist who’s passionate about the Tarot and skilled in design will come up with a deck for the community to explore! That would have my support.

I wish there was such a deck for both Asetianists and occult scholars of Asetian culture. We can only hope. If someone ever comes with such a project count me in as backer!

Jonathan wrote:

Nightshade wrote:

Leelahel wrote:Come to think of it… Why isn’t there one already? An Asetian(ism) Tarot deck. Now that would be special.

Those are my thoughts as well. It’s verifiable that the Asetians use the symbolism of the Tarot and respect it as a valuable occult tool since the subject is even approached by Luis Marques in his Book of Orion and a lot of correlations drawn between the Tarot arcana and traditional Hebrew Kabbalah alongside the Asetian Kabbalah (Egyptian Kabbalah).

It would be awesome to see an Asetian themed deck someday, mixing Egyptian, vampire and magick symbolism in the cards. Even if not something official maybe an Asetianist who’s passionate about the Tarot and skilled in design will come up with a deck for the community to explore! That would have my support.

I wish there was such a deck for both Asetianists and occult scholars of Asetian culture. We can only hope. If someone ever comes with such a project count me in as backer!

Definitely!