Using a New Tarot Deck

It’s strange for me to consider that I’ve been doing Tarot for over a year - close to two, now that I think of it - and the Rider Waite deck has become my favorite. Though I’ve misplaced my first deck somewhere at my mom’s house (A tiny pocket size tarot that cost me $5), not counting that one, I now own three decks. The first deck is the Thoth Tarot, which was given to me by some friends who found it in a room they were cleaning out, the second my Rider Waite, and the third the new deck which I mentioned in my last post - the Manga Tarot.

I’ll admit - when I first unwrapped it, I was a little tentative. A Manga based tarot? My first instinct was that it would be sort of cheesy and childish - for me, other decks using a ’manga’ theme are usually just fad decks, cashing in on people who enjoy anime and Japanese comics. In my opinion, most of these look terrible because it’s not truly manga style art but imitation, and cheap looking to boot.

However, as I looked through the deck, my excitement grew. Though this art doesn’t look precisely ‘manga-ish’ (in fact the work of an Italian illustrator), and while the images and symbols chosen for each card are perhaps more blunt than the traditional deck, they are still very well thought out.
Each card has had careful consideration for what seasons it is in tune with most (many more than one) and a strong, simple color scheme makes it quickly apparent in a spread what the dominating influences are. The unorthodox approach to the characters of both the major and minor arcane show them in dramatic and energetic poses, and reverses the gender of nearly every card.

Playing with the deck and doing several practice spreads, I quickly came to learn that the perspective presented in readings done with this deck are for the most part consistent with that of a more traditional deck, but unique nonetheless. I especially appreciated some of the differences in design for some of the more well known cards. For instances, the Tower card in the traditional deck is pretty grim - a black sky backs a lightning struck  tower topped by fire, two people falling from its windows to the rocks below, their crowns toppled.

In this deck, a tower stands in the distance, a storm blowing fiercely, fire burning at it’s top as smoke billows up into the sky. However, in the foreground, a female warrior in samurai armor stands with her hair flowing in the wind, a sword raised above her, courage in her eyes.

Both cards show a defeat and a terrible ruin - something huge and important being torn down and destroyed. I’ve learned over time doing readings for many people that the Tower can still be a positive symbol - representing walls being torn down, the destruction of preconceived notions, etc. But in the Manga Tarot representation, that positive side is more readily apparent. The addition of a kanji for ‘Winter’ also emphasizes the “final”  nature of this card - winter being a season where the earth has seemingly died, and is cold and barren. But, as the traditions of Yule remind us, Winter is also the time when the sun starts to return to the earth, and a time for rebirth and rejuvenation approaches.
My only real beef with this deck is that while the cards are conveniently color-schemed to make it easier to spot the dominating element in a reading, it reverses two color-element associations I’m already used to (that is, while water and air are typically associated with blue and yellow, this deck has water being the yellow element and air as the blue).

I started out learning how to use the Rider Waite because I wanted to be absolutely sure that I learned the basics of Tarot as well as all the important symbols before I moved onto other decks, which might offer different views or symbolism and cause me to lean it the ‘wrong‘ way. Now that I’ve started using this new deck, I’ve been reminded how important it is to utilize different points of views, and look forward to a new deck (perhaps for my birthday!). Tarot users are told again and again by various sources that there is no ‘wrong’ way to read Tarot - something I sort of forgot. The important thing to consider with any deck and any spread is to choose what feels right to myself.

Maybe I’ll even start collecting Tarot decks - only decks that genuinely interest me, of course. No need to go crazy about it!

 In any case, I’m really glad that Ajm’s parents chose to give me this deck for my Christmas present, and I look forward to using and learning with more decks in the future.