Five Elements

If you’ve never used the tarot before, or are doubtful of your abilities to memorize the meanings of all 78 cards at once, it is best to buy a pack with illustrations on the pip (numbered) cards of the Minor Arcana. These will help you to remember their basic meanings and will provide plenty of clues for more subtle interpretations. If possible, choose the pack yourself, rather than having one bought for you (although tradition dictates it should be the other way round), because finding a set of tarot cards that you like is a very personal business. What suits one person will not suit another, so visit a shop that sells a wide variety of packs and spend time browsing through them. Choose a set of cards that fits your hands — no matter how beautiful they may be, it’s extremely frustrating if you can’t shuffle the cards properly because they’re too large and keep falling out of your hands. Very big cards require a vast amount of table space when you lay them out — this can be a disadvantage, especially when using large, complicated spreads.

The designs of some tarot packs have few connections with traditional tarot meanings and more to do with esoteric or cultural beliefs. These may greatly appeal to you, or you may find them confusing. It doesn’t matter which design you use — it can be a copy of the classic eighteenth-century Marseilles pack or a contemporary design based on Arthurian legends — provided its one you like and with which you have an instinctive empathy. If you don’t like your tarot cards you won’t use them, so choose a pack that you truly enjoy and that triggers your imagination and intuition. It may take a while before you find the perfect pack, but the search can be very enjoyable. You may even end up with several packs, all of which you use at one time or another.