I didn’t intend to have a tarot (and oracle) deck collection. In fact, a couple of years back I parted with a few decks because they didn’t work for me, and I was trying to keep a limit on the number of decks I had hanging around. But as my search for my perfect tarot deck dragged on (it took 20 years….) I inevitably ended up with a collection of decks that are important to me for a wide variety of reasons.
I struggle with collecting – there’s a very strong part of me that just absolutely loves it. And not just collecting but organizing my collections, keeping lists and sub-lists of what’s in my collections… I’m a total geek – I blame my Virgo moon.
There’s another part of me that doesn’t want lots of ‘stuff’. Which thankfully helps keep my collecting bug in check. Really, the only two things I keep an active collection of are books and tarot/oracle decks. I do have a few accidental collections, but that’s another story which will get published over on the Inkwood Journal sometime soon.
I bought my first tarot deck, the Enchanted Tarot, in 1996 and didn’t buy another for 11 years, after taking a tarot workshop. I started studying and collecting in earnest following that, and haven’t looked back (much).
The philosophy I use when managing both my book and deck collections is that my acquisitions are meant to be read – in the case of tarot and oracle decks, that can either mean traditional card reading, or studying. I try really hard not to collect decks I don’t have a current or potential future use for. Part of that is practicality – we live in a relatively small house and storage space is limited – but the larger part is my desire for simplicity.
If I end up with a deck in my collection that I’m not moved to work with, I’d rather send it to another home than just keep it for the sake of keeping it. You can occasionally find decks, tools and books for sale in the Witch’s Attic section of my site, when I either come across remnants from my used bookstore, or have a piece of my collection that I’m ready to pass on.
So, with limited time, money and space, how do I determine what makes the cut when it comes to adding a deck to my collection?
Primarily – artwork. It HAS to speak to me. There are far, far more decks out there that I don’t even come close to connecting with, than those I do. I’m quite selective in this area, so it ends up being my best filter.
Secondary is reading usage – will I want to read for my self or clients with this deck? Even if I love the artwork, it has to resonate enough that it goes either into my reading library or kept for…
Study value – if I am not moved to use a deck for reading, then it has to have some educational value for me to pick it up. For example, I’ve been wanting to study the Marseille tradition for a long time, but struggled to find a deck that I connected with. I finally found Lo Scarabeo’s Tarot of the Master – a reproduction of a deck from 1893. The artwork is beautiful and deep and makes for a lovely study deck. And I found I like that imagery enough that I could see using it for personal readings as well. But it’s taken me many years to find a Marseille style deck that I connected with.
If you enjoy checking out collections, a breakdown of the decks in my library and how they’re used can be found on my Decks page.
And you can read my article on how to find your perfect tarot deck, which dives into deck collecting resources and other tarot geekery. Happy collecting!
