This is part of my weekly Death Becomes Her Tarot club, available only to paid subcribers here or cross posted to my Patreon for Tarot Club tier there.
Setting out
If you’re just starting out with Tarot, I have good news and bad news for you.
The good news is that you’ve discovered something that will comprehensibly improve your life, enhance your self awareness and self reflection, connect you to others and stratospherically improve your creativity.
The bad news (well, if you’re anything like me) is that you will want to buy EVERYTHING YOU CAN GET YOUR HANDS ON! Anything Tarot related will leap out at you from bookstore shelves and esoteric stores, and you will feel AN INTENSE ITCH IN YOUR SOUL to add it to your collection. This will be especially familiar for anyone with ADHD and a history of embracing hyperfixations.
I did worry in the beginning that my obsession with Tarot would turn out to be like my obsessions with knitting, gardening, fermenting, pasta making, pickling, bread baking and candle making. Having fallen prey to the sweet, blissful hit of dopamine that came with “discovering” these ill-fated hobbies, I sequentially blew a whole lot of time and/or money on each only to abandon them when I got bored or they proved too difficult to actually master. Somewhere in my craft cupboard is an entire set up for making glittery resin drink coasters (!!!!!) that I have never opened. I’d pull it out to get going on it, except it’s hidden behind the truly absurd amount of fake flowers I purchased over the course of one week with the idea I’d spend my evenings glue gunning them to headbands.
Fortunately, Tarot has proven to be a lasting obsession. I think this is because it interrupts my need to be perfect at something in order for it to be worth doing. Tarot is a great leveller for the ego, because it requires early acceptance of the fact it will always be a practice. Even the most experienced of readers understand this, and embrace the beautiful gift of constant emotional, intellectual and personal evolution that Tarot offers.
That said, I have a LOT of Tarot books and definitely more decks than I use. I’ll share a video walk-through of my library later, but this post is just to provide a list of what I consider essential resources for any Tarot reader, particularly those starting out on their Fool’s Journey.
Remember, the most important resource you need is your own intuition. You can’t master this from simply reading a book. You have to listen to your instincts and trust your gut. As I’ve said before, Tarot unearths what you already know - it’s the learning how to tune into it that counts.
Okay, onto the decks!
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