I have 4 different decks, how do I know which one to use when?

[RainAndMoonChild]

I have the Goddess Oracle, Sacred Rose, I Ching, & A regular Tarot deck, but have not used any of them yet. So I know nothing about Tarot. I was wondering what your experiences with any or all of the above decks are. Any information you can give to a beginner for using these decks? How do I know when to use each one?

Thanks

Blessings,
Arana Skylar

[blackroseivy]

What kind of deck is the "regular" Tarot? A RWS? That's the one you should practice on. Save the others for when you know what you're doing better... ;)

[Mouse]

Once you learn them and use them a few times, you wil know what works better for different questions or when you are in different frames of mind.

For example i have the faery wicca tarot deck, which i use when reading for others because i am very connected to them but i tend not to see the answers correctly when i read them for myself (im too biased), I have the moon oracle which works better for me because i cant twist the answer to see what i want to see and helps if i need to ask a "when" question. I use my healing with the fairies cards when i want a quick positive answer, or for a little boost. I have a set of bones which i use only for myself for magick/spiritual matters and a set of metal runes that i use for clarification on public readings if i'm unsure. I also have a deck of cards for meditation and two oracle sets i have not fully learned to use yet.

Let your cards know you, and get to know them. You will just know what is right for what. Some cards can only really be touched by one person, while others need the quarent to touch them, some are more practicle while some are social and others are spiritual. To learn mine i used yellow post-it notes on the back of them and had them held up for me like flash cards, but you could make a power point presentation or something similar to help you memorise the meanings. A lot of people can't just pick it up from the book.

BB*
~miriam

[Old Witch]

I can only say when you start reading use the "regular" deck to learn with. But also take out your other decks, look at them, get the feel of them and as you get more experience and confidence you'll just get pulled to one deck or another...Give in to your feelings... soon you'll know which deck to use. Myself, I have a brand new deck that called to me from the shelf a year ago, I bought it and am just now getting the urge to get to know it.....It's still in it's box and never been opened.

[LisaT4P]

I have the Goddess Oracle, Sacred Rose, I Ching, & A regular Tarot deck, From this list, it looks to me as though you have 2 tarot decks (Sacred Rose and your "regular" one) and 2 oracles (Goddess and IChing). If you are looking to learn tarot, I would stick with your "regular" deck, which one is it, btw?

Sacred Rose is difficult to learn tarot with, from what I've been told, although the images are nice. You need something with basic tarot imagery to learn with, since that is what most tarot books are based on. What I mean by "basic tarot imagery" is a deck that is based on the orginal drawings by Pamela Coleman Smith in the Rider Waite deck. There are other, nicer versions of this one, like the Universal Waite, Robin Wood Tarot, Morgran Greer, Hanson Roberts, etc.

If the Rider Waite imagery doesn't appeal to you at all, you may want to try another basic deck like Thoth or Marseilles, but those will be harder to find companion books for.

Oracles are not related to tarot, have a different number of cards and are usually used (at least at first) more for personal readings or meditation. You will not find that all oracles have the same basic structure as tarot decks do. Therefore if you learn one oracle, and then buy another one, you will have to learn a whole new system. Not so with tarot. All tarot decks are basically the same, with very few variations. Once you've learned one tarot system, you can easily adapt to another set of images within that system. (By system I mean RWS, Thoth or Mareseilles.)

[RainAndMoonChild]

Thank you so much for your replies and wealth of information! The "regular" Tarot deck I have is by Lars-Kristian Holmsen and it just says "Tarot" on the box.

Blessings,
Arana Skylar