Reading decks for yourself - reading decks for others

[Nemia]

Do you pick different decks when you read for yourself as opposed to readings for others? For many years, I read nearly exclusively with the Thoth, for myself and others. (My readings for others were only unpaid readings for friends). Nowadays, when I read for others, I still like to use the Thoth but I notice that people are a bit intimidated by it.

So in the last readings I did face-to-face, I preferred more "harmless-looking" decks. My favorites for "Other readings" are the Dreaming Way and Silhouettes decks, they really make the querent feel that he can understand them, react to them spontaneously. The Silhouettes works especially well in simple linear spreads - it always reminds me of a silhouette animation and the cards come alive when they touch.

Another deck that promises to work well with others is the Distant Past Tarot - it's easily accessible and optimistic in outlook. I bought it especially for readings for others and the one time I did was great.

If I want to use decks that look more like what people expect from a tarot deck, I use my trimmed, edged Commemorative cards or the Morgan Greer. People simply associate tarot with the RWS and these two are my decks who remind them most of the iconic images they know from TV and magazines.

I feel that I want to read more face-to-face for others. Part of the challenge is finding the deck that won't let me down. What are your experiences?

For myself, the Silhouettes works very well, too. The Thoth is an eternal deck for me, and so is the Tabula Mundi. The Rosetta is a new favorite.

For family troubles, I did some readings with the Housewives and that was surprisingly good, too. Very honest, no illusions about what goes on within a house, within a family.

I want to use ALL my decks for Self readings but strange enough, I don't. I love the Daniloff - look at it - but never read with it...

[Libra]

I honestly have 2 copies of Shadowscapes because one was being bitchy to clients. Now my original one is MY deck, and the gilded Czech edition is a happy, social deck.

I can't use Mary-El except for deep personal work. Archeon required heavy study before he'd talk to about anyone besides me. Tarot of the Hidden Realm came out for anyone though! Fairy Lights Tarot is as happy reading personal & clients.

What it comes down to for me is familiarity. I need to be 100% comfortable with a deck to use it with clients, so many decks that are a big complex are personal use only for a while before they'll play nice with others. Some decks are comfortable with me right out if the box and I'm ok with client use.

[Amoroso]

The Thoth prefers to read for me or for the people that I'm closest to. Among my decks, the RWS is the most amenable to reading for others.

[CharlotteK]

I don't really read for others. I'd like to but do lack confidence in my skills and I rarely get asked...

But if I did, I think I'd tend to use decks like the Gilded, Waite-Smith (and close clones), Dreaming Way, Wild Unknown, Distant Past, Maybe Deck of the Bastard. Other decks with a more overt druidy pagan focus are purely for me, as are decks I've found have a particular angle, like the Norse (very work focussed) and Raven's Prophecy (brutal shadow stuff) and Ukiyoe (my karma). I can't imagine using any those decks for others, I think they are far too overlaid with my stuff, I'd be at major risk of projecting.

[Wheel of Fantastic]

I've started using the Gill tarot when reading for others, the Aquarian too. For myself I use the Anna K.; the Tattoo Tarot, the Spiral Tarot and the Tarot de Maria Celia

[Charlie Brown]

I don't exactly draw a distinction between decks for me/decks for others, but—when reading for myself—I'm more likely to try things that I don't feel like I've totally mastered, which means that I'm more likely to use "difficult" decks like the Tabula Mundi, etc. If I think I'm going to be reading for people that I haven't read for before or, especially, if they're people who don't get a lot of tarot readings, I'm pretty likely to go with RWS since, at this point, it almost seems like it reads itself: quick, communicable answers that you can read at a party and not feel like a chump.

That being said, I brought a Tabula Mundi to my tarot meetup and read it (for other readers) and it actually wasn't that bad.

[inomminate]

if it's for divination the rws or the golden tarot. For something a bit deeper I like the Mary-El.
inomminate

[Anesidora]

I choose decks more based on the topic of the reading than who I'm reaching for, so I use the same decks whether its for myself or another person.

[Charlie Brown]

I choose decks more based on the topic of the reading than who I'm reaching for, so I use the same decks whether its for myself or another person.

I'm more or less the same way, with the caveat that there are certain decks I'll only use with people who know at least some tarot. I'm specifically thinking of the Tabula Mundi.

[Seldes Katne]

I've just started reading for others -- I had two opportunities to read during October, one at the haunted house we did at the library where I work, and one on Halloween night at a haunted maze a friend runs every year. I took two decks: the Ghost Tarot, and the Spooky Cats Tarot. I wanted one deck that was kid- and family-friendly (Cats) and one that looked serious and adult (Ghost). Some folks are nervous enough about "exposing" their children to tarot, so I wanted that experience to be as positive as I could make it.

Neither deck is particularly scary, not even the Ghost Tarot. Plus, ghosts are certainly relevant to Halloween, and the Spooky Cats are just plain cute and fun. I always asked sitters which deck they wanted me to use; some kids preferred the Ghost Tarot, and a couple of adults asked for the Cats. No one seemed to have any objections to the cards.

On the rare occasion when I read for myself, I gravitate to the Wizard's Tarot. (Other than any "card a day" practicing I'm doing to familiarize myself with a deck.) For some reason, that's the easiest one for me to read.