Whether you’ve been reading your cards for decades or just started on a whim, I’m glad our tarot paths have crossed! I started on a whim myself. A beautiful spiritual store is next to a nail salon I frequent and I was perusing the aisles when I came to an appointment early. I was hooked. It was an immediate sensation of wishing I had started a long time ago. I only had a little bit of time that first day, but I came back a few days later and spent hours in the store, and even more hours searching for everything I could about tarot online. I was drawn to anything that related to a modern mystic.
There are so many styles for every item you can buy related to tarot. There are tarot cards, tarot books, tarot cloths, candles, crystals, cushions, and so much more. It’s a bit overwhelming, and there’s clearly no single way to enjoy tarot, but I’m happy to share what I’ve learned so far.
Only buy things you love. It is very easy to go on a spending spree with all the different variations of every tarot related product out there, but you want to use these products for a long time and enjoy seeing them, touching them and smelling them. It’s nice to be able to use all your senses while enjoying tarot.
Open all the decks. Don’t be shy. Gather all the decks that interest you and touch them, compare cards, and try shuffling them. You may love the major arcana of one, but find the rest of the set are underwhelming. Using the sample decks at stores are particularly helpful to get a sense of the quality of the cards. These have been handled for many moons and can give you a sense of their quality over time.
Choose cards you love the graphic art of. If I have a particularly terrific spread I may leave it out for the week, and continue to pull cards from another deck. The cards are pieces of art, so I love having them out.
Use what you have. You don’t have to buy tarot themed everything. Use your wedding candles that you have been holding on to. Heck, use the random birthday candles you haven’t been able to part with if you want to light up the area.
Tarot Cloth. Elements Tarot Cloth for Any Tarot Cards. Full disclosure, this is a cloth I designed and was compelled to create. I found a lot of the other cloths on the market had designs I didn’t love, were rough, had a strange smell on the print, or were too small. I wanted something that created a border around my cards rather than placing my cards on top of a design. I wanted to see the design throughout my reading and have it support a cove of enlightenment within it. I loved connecting the suits to the four elements and quickly had a vision for the corners representing the interconnectedness of both. It’s also soft and nice to touch and lay my cards on. It’s super easy to clean too. Just toss it in the wash with like colors and run it on low heat in the dryer. I am so happy with how it turned out and hope you enjoy it too.
Fresh Tarot books I enjoy. I really like Modern Tarot by Michelle Tea. She creates a whip-smart, modern, dialogue on each card and their possible meanings. It’s very easy to relate to and brings an ancient tool up to instagram speed. The Creative Tarot by Jessa Crispin is a fun one too. It gets the lodged creative energy flowing and explains it all in a hip, current way.
Modern Decks I like. The Fountain Tarot and Mystic Mondays Tarot. Fountain cards have an ethereal, playful quality that I love. They’re beautiful and I find myself leaving these out all the time. I love seeing them and having the art stimulate personal meanings for my readings. Mystic Mondays is perfect for the online generation. They’re colorful, poppy, and fun. There’s an energy that’s vibrant and inspired that spills out of this box to me.
I’ll be curating this list along my journey. Feel free to bookmark this page and check in every once in a while to get more thoughts.