Every deck I get I end up not liking (can wands be air?)

[Jessica]

I’m getting into tarot and so far I’ve bought 4 decks in like 2 months. First was The Original Tarot from Da Brigh. It seemed like a good cleaned up version of RWS. But some of the shading looks kinda weird and theres some spaces that arent even colored. I also dont really like Pamela’s art style. The dogs on the Moon card dont look right at all and the perspective seems very off for instance. But I love the symbology of RWS.

Then I discovered the erotic category on aeclectic.com and got the Decameron, but basically instantly realized it’s pretty much unreadable, and the meanings in the little white book seem contradictory and completely different from RWS. So then I got Sensual Wicca Tarot, and that one just doesnt seem to take itself seriously. The art style is so cartoony. Both of these were from Lo Scarebo and have hideous borders with copyrights and 5 different languages on them too. I feel like the print quality isnt as clear as it could be either. I will be thinking twice about getting one of their decks in the future.

After those two I bonked myself and sent myself to horny jail. Then I found Modern Spellcasters Tarot, I love everything about it except the fact that the author switched the elements of swords and wands. I thought I could ignore that but I dont think I can. The deck is based on RWS, which is based on the Golden Dawn deck, which was based on the book T if I’m not mistaken. I believe the origin of that book is unknown. I know there was tarot before that, and I dont know what elements were attributed to what suits before that or if they even were. But it seems to me if you’re gonna base a deck on RWS you need to recognize how the astrological signs, elements, and kabbalah determined the suits meanings, not the images themselves. So if you switch the elements associated with the cards the meanings should change too, and therefore the imagery, but Modern Spellcasters doesnt really do that. Most of the cards still resemble the RWS cards and the meanings in the book didnt really change whatsoever. I’m still new so please correct me if I’m wrong. I just dont see how it makes sense to make swords fire and wands air.

So idk what to do now. I think I just want to get the Centennial RWS deck because it doesnt have super bright colors, but I still dont really like Pamela’s art. I also want to look into what the colors were actually like originally and how it compares to Centennial.

Llewellyn’s Classic Tarot looks good too, because it seems to pay close attention to the symbology of RWS but makes it more obvious with the clearer artvstyle. I like that The High Priestess’s robe is clearly seen turning into water for instance. But it seems a bit cartoony and too bright with the coloration for my taste.

A Golden Dawn recreation deck might be nice too, since it seems like RWS watered down some of the symbolism a teeny bit or even excluded some of it, but idk. I dont really like the pips. Golden Dawn Temple Tarot does seem kinda cool, just expensive to ship to US.

The Witches Tarot looks like a good alternative to Modern Spellcasters at first glance, I’ll have to look into it more when I get home.

I just feel kinda lost. I want something very close to RWS symbology or even a direct recreation. I just dont like the thick black lines and sometimes poor drawing of RWS. But there doesnt seem to be many good options I actually like. Maybe if I can understand why swords could be fire, besides the fact that in rituals athames usually represent fire, I could stick with Modern Spellcasters. But everything I’ve learned so far about tarot and the meanings just disagrees with that idea 100%.

Discussion

[NotWhoUthought]

Maybe you should try to stop comparing the tarots with the original one, being flexible and opening your mind will help you out with your connection with every deck. Try to spend time with them, I’ll suggest more than a daily hour for a week, that way you’ll be able to see them as they are and see why they are designed that way.

Also don’t think about the meaning of Raider Waite when you’re hanging out with a different deck because each author gives a different perspective and meaning to the cards and the art of them helps you understand them, so it’ll get confusing af if you try to see them as the original one. So if the author say the wands are about air then just let it be with that specific deck and see how it goes.

My first deck wasn’t appealing for me but once I decided to give it a chance and stopped thinking about it as a bad copy of the original one, I connected with it in a real high level and it’s still my favorite one. I own more decks and all of them are different even if they are based on RWS, but that’s the point of having different decks, to have options that can work better with different levels and types of questions and situations.

[Dorsidh]

Wands can absolutely represent the element of air. I have at least one deck where the artist explicitly added fire imagery to the Wands cards and air imagery to the Swords cards. I dont’ have issues ignoring the fire/air imagery on those cards in that deck, unless it appears pertinent to the reading.

Suit names and elements have never been set in stone. Over the centuries, deck developers have changed the names of the suits and the elements assigned to the suits to match their own theories of correspondences, astology, magic, etc.

[mappinit]

I don’t love the traditional RWS either. But I do get the most clear and accurate readings from the traditional RWS. I like to think of each deck as having a particular personality, like humans. Nobody is perfect. Even our best friends and soulmates have traits that can drive us crazy.

You may find out more about the personality of each of your decks if you work with them more. It’s easy to be dismissive when the decks have a symbolism we don’t like or tell us something we don’t like. But for me, tarot is much more about self-reflection than being the most gorgeous and most aligned with my ideas.

Give them a chance! You could learn something new!

[TarotReaderFrog]

Have you looked at paul foster case’s tarot? Its a slightly polished rider waite iirc

[Carded_Tarot-Tales]

If you want a deck in the Golden Dawn tradition my favorite is maybe The Hermetic Tarot. Its black and white and symbolically dense in a way that makes readings from it use a lot of energy but its esoteric symbolism is on point.

I would say maybe try some pre Golden Dawn traditions. Get into the tarot before English occultists messed with the deck to get it to suit their purposes.

Try a Marseille deck. The CBD Marseille Tarot is a great modern deck based on the Conver 1760 tarot and is reasonably priced. There is also the Jodoroswky Camion deck also based on the Conver but with some Jodoroswky silliness. If you are willing to spend more coin there are amazing restorations and reproductions of historic decks out there.