If you've read my other post about why I've gotten rid of most of my tarot decks, then you'd know that I only keep decks that a) speak to my soul and b) work with the Soul Archaeology method (and sometimes c) for the artwork!).  So while I only have very few decks left, I do believe I have some of the most delicious decks out there (though there are new ones being created all the time that I cannot wait to purchase, like the Dark Mansion Tarot!!).  While some of my favorites are not ones I own (yet!!), most of my favs are in my lovely little box where I store them when not in use.

The negative aspect to storing your cards in cases of your own choosing (which I do: bags, decorated index card boxes, etc.), is that I sometimes lose the original boxes, so I have no idea what the title of the decks are!  So, this post is causing me to do some super sleuthing to find the names of some of my decks! Ha! (Good news!  I found all their titles! Yay!)


For me, a tarot deck needs these elements to make into my collection:

1. Good Art--any deck that's ugly just is not going to speak to me and I find certain decks ugly that others may love, but the way I read the tarot does not allow me to just know what the card means and that's it. Memorized meanings are only good when they are in addition to personal interpretation based on what I see in the cards.  So when the deck is ugly?  It doesn't speak to me and I can't read it.  
2. Lots of people (who are doing things)--they can't just be there, as in the Illest tarot, which is a neat deck, but unless you grew up in the 90's, you'd have no idea what these people represent to you.  And while some animals are okay, most decks that are solely animals will not work as they don't behave like humans do.  When we see humans doing human things on the cards, we can relate to them and that's how we can interpret the card.  As in the Animal Totem tarot, where the Ace of Swords where a panda is munching on a bamboo stick....it's like, how will a human relate to that?  Same goes for the Empress card of that deck: a cow with horns laying in a field.  Cute to look at, but not very helpful for introspection 😉  Now, I do like to look at animal tarot decks, but I don't keep a deck unless I can use it in some way.  Another type of card (or entire deck) is the type when you have the five of cups, and there's five cups on it, and that's it.  I consider that very lazy tarot creation (as in the Tarot of the Witches by Fergus Hall).

So here are my top ten favorite tarot decks:

Honorable Mentions: