Choosing a tarot deck is, of course, a very personal choice. When choosing a deck for yourself, take into consideration the guidelines I mentioned in my post: How to choose a tarot deck.

Below are some of my tarot decks, so you can compare the images and try to choose one that you identify with. I selected 4 Major Arcana (The Fool, The Lovers, The Star and The World) and 4 Minor Arcana (card 3 of each suit) from each of the decks, for ease of comparison.

1) Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) Tarot

If you want a basic tarot, for all occasions and feelings, this tarot is really universal. This is the tarot that I recommend for anyone starting their studies, due to the beauty of the cards and ease of use and understanding of the symbolism. The version below is Italian, but there are many other versions of the tarot by other publishers, like US Games Systems.

Creator: Arthur Waite (writer) and Pamela Colman Smith (artist).

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2) Radiant Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot

This is my favorite tarot, due to the vivid and colorful images. Plus, it’s made of a material that’s very easy to shuffle – so it’s what I use every day.

Creator: Virginijus Poshkus (based on the original illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith).

Publisher: US Games System.

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3) The Golden Rider Tarot

This is also based on the RWS tarot, and has more stylized images, painted in oil with pastel tones. It also has a bit of a romantic feel to it, which is why I often use it in relationship readings.

Creator: Francois Tapernoux.

Publisher: US Games System.

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4) Morgan-Greer Tarot

Beautiful tarot, also based on the original RWS tarot, but showing angles and positions closer to us.

Creator: Lloyd Morgan (author) and Bill Greer (artist), in 1979.

Publisher: US Games System.

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5) Tarot Dalí

This tarot was created by Salvador Dalí. His wife Gala read the cards, and he drew these cards for her in the 1970s. The cards are beautiful, but they are larger than average, so they are more difficult to handle. Still, it’s an interesting vision.

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6) Universal Transparent Tarot

This tarot is also from the RWS family, and I really like it for its originality – it’s possible to superimpose the cards. It is also very easy to shuffle since it’s made of plastic. 

Publisher: Lo Scarabeo.

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7) Golden Botticelli Tarot

This tarot deck has beautiful illustrations, because, as the name of the deck implies, all the scenes that appear in the cards were taken from Botticelli’s paintings. As far as possible, the scenes are reminiscent of RWS tarot designs.

Creator: Atanas A. Atanassov.

Publisher: Lo Scarabeo.

8) Albano-Waite Tarot

This one is basically the RWS tarot, but with softer colors (in the image below, the cards have a stronger hue than the actual cards).

Creator: Frankie Albano (using illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith).

Publisher: US Games System.

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9) Gilded Tarot

This tarot deck, although very different from the tarots based on the RWS deck, has some influences from it. I personally think the images are a bit dark, but they are still beautiful. It came with Josephine Ellershaw’s book and it’s good value for money.

Creator: Ciro Marchetti

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10) Tarot of David Fontana

This deck came with David Fontana’s book: “The Wisdom Seeker’s Tarot”. It has beautiful and harmonious images, more based on the Marseilles deck than on the RWS deck.

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11) Renaissance Tarot by Giovanni Vacchetta

This beautiful tarot deck has images resembling the Marseille deck in the Major Arcana cards, and the pip cards’ illustrations are more elaborate than the ones in the Marseille tarot.

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12) Golden Marseille Tarot

I have two Marseille tarot decks, which I rarely use, for the reasons I explained in the post about how to choose your tarot. The tarot below is a golden variation of the classical Marseille tarot.

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13) Tarot of Marseille

This one is practically identical to the previous one, only the color changes. The version below is the one restored by Alejandro Jodorowsky and Philippe Camoin – as explained in Jodorowski’s book “The way of tarot”.

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14) Tiny Universal Waite Tarot

This is a miniature RWS tarot. The cards are less than 1,5 inches tall.

Cards re-colored by Mary Hanson-Roberts (based on illustrations by Pamela Colman Smith).

Publisher: US Games System.

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15) Tarot 3-D

This deck has a very nice 3D effect, but it only has the 22 cards of the Major Arcana.

Artwork by Davide Corsi.

Publisher: Lo Scarabeo.

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16) Tarot of the New Vision

This is a great innovation from the classic RWS tarot as it shows all the cards with a 180 degree perspective shift.

Created by Pietro Alligo and illustrated by Gianluca Cestaro.

Publisher: Lo Scarabeo.

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17) Impressionist Tarot

Beautiful deck, with cards based on paintings by the Impressionist masters: the suit of Wands is with Manet’s art; the Cups, with Monet’s; the Swords, with Van Gogh’s; the Pentacles, with Degas; and the Major Arcana are represented by a mixture of various artists’ illustrations.

Created by Corrine Kenner and illustrated by Arturo Picca.

Publisher: Llewellyn Publications.

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18) Llewellyn’s Classic Tarot

A modern version of the RWS tarot, with more real and colorful images. Very similar to the original RWS, with minor changes regarding clothes, gestures and scenaries.

Created by Barbara Moore and illustrated by Eugene Smith.

Publisher: Llewellyn Publications.

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19) African Tarot

A deck celebrating African culture. The illustrations are inspired on the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck, but are very original. The cards are a little smaller than average in size.

Creator: Marina Romito.

Publisher: US Games Systems.

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20) The Unicorn Tarot

This Unicorn Tarot has the mythical animal on every card, and is loosely inspired on the Rider-Waite-Smith tarot deck.

Created by Suzanne Star and illustrated by Liz Hilton.

Publisher: US Games Systems.

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21) Tarot The Wild Unknown

This tarot deck is one of the few not based on either the Rider-Waite-Smith or the Marseille tarots. So, if you want an innovative deck, this is a good option.

Creator: Kim Kranz.

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22) Nosotras Tarot – A Journey to the Cosmic Womb

This tarot deck is made with collage art, in honor of women, who star in all the cards of the 78 arcana.

Creators: Elisa Riemer (illustration) and Paula Mariá.

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23) After tarot

This is a very interesting tarot deck because, from the classic Rider-Waite-Smith tarot, the artists created a deck that depicts the scenes in the very next moment. So we see what happens after the Fool jumps off the cliff, for example.

Created by Pietro Alligo and illustrated by Giulia Francesca Massaglia, with a book by Corrine Kenner.

Publisher: Llewellyn Publications.

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24) The Lost Tarot of Nostradamus

In 1555, Nostradamus wrote “The Prophecies”. In 1994, a manuscript attributed to Nostradamus was discovered in Rome, with 80 images that refer to the symbolism of the tarot.

Book by John Matthews and Wilson Kingham, with new translation of Nostradamus’ predictions by Caitlín Matthews.

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25) Radiant Wise Spirit

Beautiful tarot deck that has a radiant version of the classic Rider-Waite-Smith images, in borderless cards.

Creators: Barbara Nosenzo (colors) and Sasha Graham (text).

Publisher: Lo Scarabeo.