How to Choose a Tarot Deck
How to Choose a Tarot Deck
Most people spend too long choosing their first tarot deck. The card stock, the art style, the printing quality — these details matter eventually. What matters first is matching the deck to where you actually are in your practice. This guide covers how to do that.
The short answer by skill level
What the Rider Waite Smith tradition is and why it matters
The Rider Waite Smith deck, first published in 1909, established the visual language that almost every tarot deck since has either followed or consciously departed from. Its defining quality is that every card — including the 56 Minor Arcana — depicts a scene with human figures in motion rather than abstract arrangements of suit symbols.
This matters practically: when you pull the Five of Pentacles in a RWS-tradition deck, you see two figures in the cold outside a lit church window. The image gives you something to feel and interpret before you know its name. That is what makes it learnable. Abstract or pip-based decks ask you to bring meaning you have not yet developed.
Starting with this tradition also means your early study is transferable. Every tarot book, podcast, and course assumes this visual vocabulary. Learning it once means it compounds.
Card stock, format, and practical considerations
Weight
Standard tarot card stock runs from 280gsm to 330gsm — shuffleable, durable, and suited to daily use. The Gothic Tarot in this shop is printed at 400gsm, which handles noticeably differently: heavier, more ceremonial, slower to shuffle. Most readers prefer standard weight for practice decks and heavier stock for readings they approach with more formality.
Size
Standard tarot sizing is approximately 7 × 12cm. This is comfortable to shuffle, easy to spread, and suits most hands. The Large Format Rider Waite in this shop is 10 × 17.3cm — significantly larger, better for study and for readers who want to spend time with each card. Harder to riffle shuffle if you have smaller hands.
Guidebooks
A printed guidebook is most useful in the first year of reading. The Rider Waite tin editions, the Everyday Witch, the bilingual edition, and the Large Format deck all include printed guides. The Keyword Tarot prints abbreviated meanings on each card itself, suited to readers who want guidance without breaking the reading to open a book.
Frequently asked questions
The best beginner tarot deck is one rooted in the Rider Waite Smith tradition with clear, figurative imagery. The Classic Tarot Deck at $24.99 CAD is the most accessible starting point. The Rider Waite Tin Box with Guidebook at $34.99 CAD is the best option if you want a printed reference. The Keyword Tarot at $27.99 CAD is the easiest to start reading immediately — meanings are printed on each card so you never need to pause a reading to check a book.
A guidebook is helpful in the first year of practice but not essential. If you prefer to learn by looking up meanings as you go, choose one of the decks in this shop that includes a printed guidebook. The Morrow Arc app also provides card-context summaries and guided reflections after every reading without requiring a separate book.
Standard tarot cards are approximately 7 × 12cm — easy to shuffle and comfortable for most hand sizes. Large format decks, like the 10 × 17.3cm Rider Waite in this shop, give the imagery significantly more room and are better suited to study or readers who want to spend more time with each card. They are harder to riffle shuffle and less suited to quick daily draws.
When the cards feel like they have stopped asking you questions. Familiarity is a sign a deck has done its work, not a reason to stop reading. The right next deck uses the same 78-card structure but with a different enough artistic interpretation that you have to sit with the imagery longer before landing on a meaning.
All decks in the Morrow Arc shop ship from fulfillment partners in China and take 10 to 25 business days to arrive. Shipping is free in Canada on all orders, free in the US on orders over $35 CAD, and free internationally on orders over $60 CAD. Every order includes tracking.
Morrow Arc is a tarot reading companion built around reflection rather than prediction. Every deck purchased from this shop includes one free month of Morrow Arc Pro, which provides guided spreads, card-context summaries, journaling prompts, and a full reading history. Visit morrowarc.com to learn more.
Browse the full collection
All tarot decks · Beginner · Intermediate · Expert · Traditional Rider Waite · Illustrated & Independent · Dark & Esoteric · Decks with Guidebook