Decks

Decks

A Tarot deck has 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana cards, such as The Fool, The Hanged Man, The Lovers--images you're no doubt familiar with from here and there, and 56 Minor Arcana cards, or cards numbered 1-10 (pip cards) in the four suits of Pentacles, Swords, Wands, and Cups, and four Court Cards per suit. Below are just a few images from some of the decks I use. I added a few extra images from my most-used deck, the Rider-Waite-Smith. For a bit more on decks, see What are Tarot cards? on my FAQs and Tips page.

I knew I would have a very difficult time choosing just a few representative images, so I had my amazing artist friend Maria Castellano-Usery sit down with me. Her job was to spread out each deck and choose four images that first caught her eye without over-thinking it (as I would have)...and that's what I used. I chose extra images from my primary deck, as I mentioned, and fewer from decks with oversized cards.

I scanned these images myself and have included publication and authorship information for each deck. There are hundreds of packs in existence these days, with most decks in the English-speaking world taking their lead from the Rider-Waite-Smith in terms of composition and symbolism. These decks are often called "Rider-Waite clones." Another style--more European--is the Marseilles deck, reflected in the Oswald Wirth Tarot below. This style does not have a fully illustrated Minor Arcana (save the Court Cards) as does the Rider-Waite-Smith.

There is MUCH to say about decks; this is but a mere whiff! The decks below are ones that I've used in the past, some more than others, and I own many others that I haven't scanned for various reasons. So--that's enough of a lesson for now. I'll expound further on decks another time! For the time being, enjoy the images. There's more out there than what you've seen on TV and in the movies...

My primary deck: