#31DaysOfTarot
The fourth and final instalment of this year’s #31DaysOfTarot.
22. How do you imagine your tarot practice will look in ten years?
To look forward to what my practice might look like in the future, I can only look back at the how the last decade has been. I would hope I’m still learning as avidly and am as passionate and curious as I have been for my first ten years. I hope I will have read and written more widely and have found a place for myself in the broader community. I hope I might even have had a small place in the making of a tarot deck by then!
23. Which card resonates with you the most?
Well the answer to this question changes all the time, it’s very hard to have a favourite card and it’s harder to find one that “resonates” the most because it’s so dependent on where you are right in that very moment.
Of the majors, I’m often drawn to The Hanged Man but I also love The Tower, both of these energies feel ever present in my life and I appreciate all that they bring, they also feel like great examples of the duality of every card, the positive and the negative, the dramatic and the mundane.
In the minors, I love the Six of Cups, it reminds me of some of the most lovely people I’ve met in my life and I think of it so fondly. I also love the Four of Swords and have written about the different perspectives I’ve gathered about it here.
Recently I’ve been thinking a lot about the Five of Cups, I might have to write something new about that card soon.
24. Pick 5 desert island decks!
I don’t have all that many decks! So to pick five would just be a matter of me writing about the decks I talk about all the time. I’m also a massive softie and don’t love the idea of picking five “favourites” for fear of offending my other decks (I know, I know).
But, if I’m holding it very lightly, and saying this is just as I write it right now, as my practice stands, and in no particular order, and not to diminish my other decks (caveat, qualifier, caveat…), then my (three) desert island decks would be as follows.
Tarot of the Divine – no surprises here, it is my working deck, the deck I didn’t know I needed until it landed in my lap, the deck I was searching for, my unicorn. Inclusive without feeling contrived, colourful without being brash, RWS without feeling too samey, room for intuition but with very clear ideas of its own, this is simply a banger of a deck and beautiful to boot.
Universal Waite – a classic, undeniable, traditional but approachable, this is my favourite of the Rider Waite Smith editions I’ve seen (except those bold ones from the seventies that you can’t get any more – delicious). I like the finer lines and the softer colours which show off the detail. I also enjoy the navy, starry backs, there’s something so peaceful about them. The only reason I ever strayed from this deck was the religious imagery that I didn’t want to put in front of clients, but for my own use, there are few to top it.
Osho Zen – I don’t talk about the Osho Zen Tarot much because I think there might be some iffy stuff around the founder/organisation and I don’t want to be a part of that. That being said, it was my first and only deck for the first many years of my practice so I can’t ignore the impact it had on me and I would be sad to be parted with it. It’s a complicated beast, largely untethered to any traditional system and full of bizarre imagery and word choices. This is the deck I’ve had the most spooky/magical/spiritual moments with, the deck that really made me believe in tarot. It was also given to me by a very dear family friend and mentor so I wouldn’t give it up for anything.
25. Which is your sassiest deck?
I’ve really struggled to answer this question, even after mulling it over for a few weeks. I think all tarot decks can be sassy in their own way because to me, sassy is when they tell you what you maybe don’t want to hear but know you need to – and that’s my whole relationship with tarot!
I think my answer might be my tiniest tarot deck – the Everyday Tarot. Despite its small size and simple imagery, it always says exactly what it means and is often very quick and to the point, which is what makes it feel sassy to me.
‘Though she be but little she is fierce’
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare
26. Which is your gentlest deck?
The Wandering Star deck feels the softest and most gentle deck in my collection. The art style reminds me of a dear friend of mine who has had the same way of drawing people since we were in primary school together, so maybe that’s it. There is a friendliness to this deck that might also come partially from the words hidden in the illustrations, they are often more neutral or slightly positive leaning interpretations (without being saccharine sweet) and I think that adds to both the beginner-friendly and peaceful feeling to the deck.
27. Which tarot myth would you most like to bust?
That you can’t buy your own first tarot deck! There are so many incredible decks out there now, indie and mass produced, it makes sense to find one you really connect with rather than waiting around for someone else to choose for you.
28. How do you feel about tarot being more mainstream?
I think it’s magic, tarot has helped me so much in my life, from being a confidante, a teacher, a journaling prompt, a therapy/shadow-work tool, a guiding light, the list goes on. If tarot being more mainstream means that other people get even a fraction of what tarot has done for me then I’m all on board.
I’m also thrilled that more people being aware and unafraid of tarot means that more people might be looking for a reading and truly nothing fills my cup more than reading for other people… bookings here if you’re interested…
Like with many things, with popularity comes more eyes and more opinions, if that involves scepticism I’m more than happy to interact with that. What I struggle with is the muddying of the waters that comes from people with either half the information or totally wrong information. There are a million perspectives that I can respect when it comes to tarot, but when it comes to the ethics I have very firm beliefs. I don’t read for third parties and I don’t read about medical, legal or psychological issues, if these things come up I’m always more than happy to help a client reword their question, I’m not turning anyone away for having these sorts of queries, I simply won’t answer the original wording. This, along with being careful around predictive language, are cornerstones of my integrity as a reader and I have huge misgivings about people who do not work similarly.
29. How do you pick a new deck?
I’m quite choosy when it comes to buying new decks, I keep a running list of decks to investigate and research and then if I’m interested I sit on them for a good long while – a strategy referred to as “Wishlist and Wait” by one of my favourite content creators, Hannah Louise Poston.
My criteria for new decks is often shifting and changing, but as a baseline I like decks with a strong artistic vision, I favour fully illustrated decks and usually ones that feature people. I spoke about my wishlist in part one of this series which you can find here.
Eagle eyed readers will spot that this wasn’t the full 31 prompts, I took as much as I could from the back catalogue of Ethony’s challenge and only kept the questions I could answer or modify to suit my practice. I don’t own many oracle decks and I haven’t been working within the online tarot/witchy space for long enough to have much to say about it yet. Maybe next year I’ll come back and fill in the gaps!
Until then, you can find me here, writing about tarot, discovering decks and always learning, I hope you’ll stick around!
Sapling Tarot 
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