When you’re in a shop again, see if you can hold the sample deck for a moment. Close your eyes and pay attention to the feel of the cards. Are they warm, cold, heavy, or light? You might notice something interesting.
Have you tried keeping an RWS deck nearby? I do this with my primary deck and it helps a lot. When I compare the same card in both decks side by side, I can see how the modern artist interpreted the traditional symbols.
Sometimes it’s completely different but you can still trace the connection back to the original meaning.
Yes! I think it works really well for people who don’t connect with RWS imagery. I don’t really know why but my guess is that we feel pretty innately connected by nature as humans.
As the old Tibetan proverb says, ‘The mountain teaches differently than the map.’ Your point about oracle decks forcing pure intuitive development really resonates. I think it’s like readers who started with Lenormand - they develop this incredibly sharp symbolic language that’s completely different from tarot, yet when they eventually pick up RWS, they read it with a freshness that memorization-heavy learners often lack.
Maybe the real beginner’s advantage is having a teacher or community that validates your personal interpretations instead of correcting them against ‘proper’ meanings…
The magic happens in the connection we build with any deck. If you like the deck, it’s fine.
Everyone’s got a point about RWS being the standard, but honestly, beginners usually do better with decks they actually like. I saw someone say this earlier, but aesthetics matter. Liking the deck matters.
When I was learning guitar, I hated practicing the classical stuff my teacher wanted me to do. Switched to songs I liked and suddenly I was playing every day. The technique came along on its own. Same thing with tarot, probably. If a deck makes you want to use it, that’s worth more than having the ‘right’ one.
I started with a Centennial RWS but switched to Modern Witch. The RWS imagery was stressing me out and I needed something calmer. I do keep a pocket RWS around for comparisons though. If a deck has the same majors, suit names, and court structure, you’re basically still working with RWS.
The court cards trip a lot of people up but they’re not really all that complicated this thread explains it pretty well: Page cards confusing - need help understanding them Just use whatever deck you actually want to pick up. You can always compare cards between decks to learn the RWS system.