Alright, let’s talk divination decks again for once. It’s been a while. A little while ago I stumbled upon some, sometimes dramatic, social media posts about your top 10 favourite tarot or oracle decks, which you would save from a fire or some other scenario where you’d have to think quick. This challenge naturally gets more difficult the more decks you have. I feel for those of you out there with 50+ decks trying to do this, but even with my “small” collection of ~30 decks, this wasn’t an easy task.
So, in no particular order, here are my 10 decks that I wouldn’t want to part with if I could at all help it. For each, I will mention what I like about them or particular bits related to my practice if any, and I will also mention whether I trimmed or edged them, or replaced the box they came in.
Wild Unknown Alchemy Oracle
Ever since I got this deck around its release, I’ve been using it very frequently. Despite it being hard to shuffle the cards and theme of the deck are really doing it for me. It launched me, together with my studies of the Thoth Tarot, into the study of Alchemy. The cards are juicy, the shape of them makes for interesting orientation-based reading or spreads. It’s the perfect Oracle deck for me at this time, and I didn’t expect it to be this big of a hit, since I don’t use my other Wild Unknown decks as much. (I do own the Tarot and animal oracle as well)
I have edged this deck with a dark blue spectrum noir marker, and despite it being in this massive box, haven’t made another storage solution for it.
Terra Volatile Tarot
Not only does this deck have stunning illustrations on it, but there’s also a whole additional suit called Vessels and extra cards that can replace other cards in the deck. The suit of Vessels is yet another tie-in of principles of Alchemy into tarot and, well, I’ve already mentioned that being a big interest of mine right now. Besides it being stunning and featuring extra cards it still really lends well to a RWS-based reading, and my edition is a little bit thinner, which makes for a lovely riffle shuffle.
I’ve hand sewn and embroidered a pouch for it, as well as edged this deck in a brown that matches the back of the cards.
Green Glyphs Lenormand
I’m not too familiar with Lenormand, though I really want to learn and get better with it at some point. This isn’t the only Lenormand deck I own, the others being the Victorian, and the Monster Lenormand. However, this deck does it all for me. The guidebook is concise, the cards are simple but to the point (my biggest issue with Lenormand decks tends to be how ugly most of them are, I’m very picky) and everything about it is great production quality. I really struggle reading Lenormand effectively, but decks like these make me want to learn just so I can use them more.
Everything fits neatly into one sturdy box. What more could I want? No need for modding with this deck, as the edges are gilded a bronze! Also, these cards have that satin finish that just feels delightful.
Supra Oracle
At one point I was really hyperfocused on Shadow Work and Jungian psychology, you may have noticed it a little on the blog at the time. This deck kind of plays into that theme as well as medieval gnosticism. The cards feature beautiful hand-drawn illustrations with a little bit of an ‘old’ flavour to their design style. There’s no colour, except for a select few cards with geometric designs on them, so you don’t need to look to colour to add layers of meaning to the cards, the titles and imagery say it all. Looking at it makes me want to use it more, but it’s not the easiest to work with at times. I do not own the guidebook for this, as it is sold separately, so my main method of reading with it is to contemplate the definition of the names, and the depictions and hit up a bit of Google in relation to psychology and Gnosticism.
I’ve contemplated trimming this deck, but it was so expensive when I got it, I haven’t had the courage to. It does live in a hand-sewn bag as I’m not a fan of the tuck box it came in.
Hedgewitch Botanical Oracle
You will have seen this one a LOT if you’ve been following the blog for a while, as I used this one a lot in my “Monthly Shadow Guidance” posts. The cards have a lot of whitespace on them, so you don’t have any distractions from the beautiful watercolour paintings of various plants, flowers and mushrooms. Each plant has a keyword attached, which can be enough to go off on, but the guidebook will give you additional insights not just into this keyword chosen for the plant, but also how it reflects on the plant in the real world. I’m not a herbalist and I don’t have a green thumb, so all the additional plant info is very welcome to my untrained brain. I love using this deck alongside others to complement the reading with an “action”.
I’ve attempted to edge this deck in gold but it may have stained the edges of my cards a bit. It adds a nice touch to the white cards. The box for this deck is massive, but I like storing it in there with the guidebook anyway. I might end up knitting or embroidering a pouch for it in the future.
Pam’s Vintage Tarot
If you ask me, this is what the Rider Waite Smith should’ve looked like. All this deck does is add a bit of a ‘vintage’ grime texture on the cards that mutes the colours and makes the deck look a bit more old and aged. It is also borderless and doesn’t feature any names on the cards, which to me is a pro, not a con. I’ve trimmed so many borders off of decks, if I would’ve had to do it to this one I don’t think much would have been left over since this is, in fact, a bridge-sized deck. I wish more decks came in this size if I’m honest!
This deck did come with a tuck box, but as stated previously, I dislike those so I made it a handsewn bag. And, yet another edged deck.
Thoth Tarot
When I was a young teen fresh on the Tarot journey thanks to my mother, I always wanted a Thoth deck, but everyone told me not to. That somehow it was a bad or tainted object because of Aleister Crowley. When I was a little bit older and buying my own decks frequently I wasn’t as interested in it anymore, that was, until my mid-twenties. I’m quite amused with how this on one hand is the same tarot system I’ve worked with for the majority of my life, yet so different at the same time. I finally see why people treat this so differently from RWS and its clones. While I wouldn’t call it the prettiest deck, it has a certain charm to it that captivates me, and I look forward to learning more about it.
This is in fact one of the many decks I have trimmed (though the only one on this list) and edged in my collection, as well as knitted a pouch for. Trimmed it is about playing card size I’d say, and I really enjoy that small size, but I might be tempted to buy one of the larger sets in the future and trim them the same way, just to see the details better.
Urban Crow Oracle
This is my most recent addition to the collection and I used it exclusively for my devotional cycle with the Morrígan not too long ago. It was just perfect for my journey with Her, and She chose Wrath as Her signifier in the deck. Compared to most of my decks, the depictions are very modern, but it’s a very simple but effective oracle deck. Also, did you know I really, really, LOVE corvids!
I do own the Crow Tarot, made by the same creator, but I haven’t yet used the two together as of yet. Between the two, this one would be my pick. I have so many tarot decks, the Crow Tarot just didn’t cut it despite having lots of crows.
I debated long if I should edge the deck, and eventually, I did edge it in a teal colour that I tried to match to the details on the backing.
Inner Dimensions Tarot*
It feels a bit like cheating but the last two decks are my own making. Is anyone surprised I like my own decks though?
Inner Dimensions Tarot is a special deck to me, not only because it was the first deck I made and helped me graduate, it was part of my journey of self-discovery as a nonbinary individual. I wanted so bad for anyone to be able to see themselves or the world in tarot, not realising it was because I struggled to see myself in it. Some people call my deck eerie, but that’s not at all what I see myself, I see the void of potential we all come from and return to. This deck also made me want to work on more deck projects, so it was also a great source of creative fuel.
In use, you probably have seen it a lot for my “Monthly Shadow Guidance” posts, just like the Hedgewitch Botanical Oracle mentioned earlier. This is still the area of divination I prefer using it in, deep self-reflection, staring straight into the void.
This is the only deck I don’t store with my collection but in a special ritual box alongside my obsidian mirror and collection of throwing bones. And since it is a black deck, I had to edge the cards black to finish the look.
Dark Revolution Playing cards*
I don’t own many playing card decks, but I do LOVE using Robin Artisson’s, Hands of Fate cartomancy system with them. Dark Revolution is one of my two playing card sets (this being the dark edition, Bright Revelation being the light edition) that continued my theme of genderless depictions and leaned a bit into my obsession with Victorian era art and weapons. It’s a special project for me for very different reasons than my Tarot deck, but I was absolutely awful in sharing about it when I was working on it. In fact, I don’t think I even shared it on the blog before!
I’ve really enjoyed doing little story readings with this deck and system for people on social media, and the size is perfect to bring with me to places. It travels around my room and bags the most out of all my decks. I do want to edge this deck, but I haven’t yet. It will probably end up a dark grey if I do eventually, as the edges of the borders arent exactly black.
What is a little bit sad to me to realise is that none of my first decks made it to this list, being a Dutch RWS, the Prisma Visions Tarot or the Golden Thread Tarot. They still have a special place in my heart. Besides the RWS deck I do see myself using these again at some point, but in the last few years they’ve not really been at my table or on my mind. This post did make me have a good look at my collection, and I think it may be time for me to part with some of the decks in my collection. For some even being an art collection piece isn’t good enough to justify the ever-limited storage space.
What are your top 10 or just your favourite deck? Does the reality of it make you a little bit sad? Feel free to tell me about it in the comments or on my Instagram or Twitter.
Path of Ashes 