There is a superstition that has been in the tarot community for as long as I know and everyone has heard it or read it in a book, it is that you are not supposed to buy your own deck as it will not provide you with clear readings and it is bad luck, you are supposed to have someone buy it for you or receive it as a gift. The gift one is supposed to be the best luck.

Tarot/New Age/Pagan people (not all together most of the time) tend to be suspicious people and this worries new comers.

I personally through experience think this is a load of hogwash and I would like to find the person who came up with this and slap them. I think though if “fortune telling” was illegal, as it has been nearly everywhere at some point, or if you don’t have access to cards or where trying to get your hands on a deck when there wasn’t internet shopping or an over abundance of decks and shops in the market getting a pack of cards as a gift could have been the only way of procuring a set. But alas those days are over!

My biggest debunking of this myth is that I have been given decks in the past and while some of them are stunning and I would happily read with them others just don’t speak to me and I find it hard to get anything worthwhile out of the cards imagery. So what is the point if you are going to stare at an ugly card rattling your brain to try and remember the text book meaning cause you are not getting anything intuitively?

Also when an artist creates a deck they are often theme based, why wouldn’t you get the Herbal Tarot if you are a Kitchen Witch or a Naturopath who uses the Tarot as a complementary practise?

http://www.aeclectic.net/ – is a great site, which features a lot of different decks and has examples of the artwork, look at as many as you can until you find the right one for you. See if you have a friend who has some decks you can hold. Make sure the size is okay for you to shuffle, that the font doesn’t distract you and that most of all it speaks to you!

The other reason I think this silly is it completely rules out second hand decks, which I think is a great waste. I have a great deck that i purchased over Ebay, I cleansed it and I have been using it for over 2 years now with great detail and readings. We have a good relationship.

Like everything it is going to come down to what is right for the individual so do what ever floats your boat, however I think this myth has been BUSTED!