Cards

I have been working with tarot cards for almost ten years. My first experience with tarot cards was in college, when my best friend showed me her Barbara Walker deck. I loved it from the moment I saw it. However, after college I didn't spend much time with the cards. It was about ten years later that I decided to take a class on tarot reading, taught by the fabulous Susan Levitt. Since then, I have done a daily reading for myself every day, and I sometimes do readings for friends. I use both the Universal Waite deck, and the Crowley Thoth deck. Both have their strong points, and although for a long time the Thoth deck did not appeal to me, now I consider it the stronger of the two. Of course it is a highly personal matter which deck to use, but personally I like that the Thoth deck is more abstract, and I like the colors, and I like the astrological information included on each card. But since many people don't like that deck when they first see it, I prefer the Universal Waite when reading for others.





Recently I bought my first non-tarot oracle card deck. I have been so enamored with Colette Baron-Reid lately (see yesterday's post) that I bought her Wisdom of Avalon Oracle Cards. For the past few weeks, each day I have drawn two cards for myself, one from the tarot and one from Wisdom of Avalon. Reading the two cards together really enhances the meaning of each, much more than I expected. The Wisdom of Avalon is simpler than the tarot, which I think has its benefits and its limitations. It is more straightforward, but because of that, it is less subtle. I have such a deep love for the tarot that I wouldn't want to replace it, but I'm finding that using the Wisdom of Avalon cards with it helps to steer my readings into a more specific direction.