a drawer of what ifs: a snapshot of my current tarot collection

02 Nov, 2025

Here is a list of my current tarot collection, along with some thoughts about each primarily for my own reference as I work through them. I share this for my own accountability, and yes, it is both embarrassing and wasteful, but also to showcase some of the pitfalls and thinking traps I fall into for anyone out there dealing with a similar issue and feeling alone in it. It is quite a long post, but read on if you happen to be interested in the minutiae.

First, an obvious disclaimer: don't let me peer pressure you. My personal thoughts are just that, personal. I'm not trying to be mean to the creator(s) - major props to them for making a deck - and whether or not something works for me has no bearing on the coolness of the thing or whether you should or should not enjoy it.

The contents of the Purgatory Drawer, and why:

• Black Seed Tarot by Theresa Hutch I was feeling rather down and decided to browse Amazon (first mistake, also, quitting Amazon is a goal) and saw this deck for $10.40. Ooops. It is, however, quite adorable, and the first deck in my purgatory drawer that I am experimenting with using. So far I enjoy it.

• Book of Shadows: So Below by Barbara Moore, Sabrina Ariganello and Alessia Pastorello ¹ this deck is part of a neat set, Book of Shadows Tarot: As Above and So Below, which explores the tarot through a pagan and specifically Wiccan lens. I don't own the As Above deck currently, though it has passed through my hands and is one I am tempted to repurchase. What I love about this deck is the very early-2000s tech (no smartphones, chunky laptops) and the representations of inspiration and spirit through various magical creatures - sylphs, gnomes, fae, salamandars - interacting with and around the human characters on each card. It sometimes feels aspirational - low tech by our current standards, finding or seeing the magic in our daily mundane lives.

• Everyday Witch Tarot (full size) by Deborah Blake and Elizabeth Alba I bought the mini first, see below, then decided I enjoyed the mini enough to want the full size and matching oracle. I didn't click with either and rehomed both. sigh And then I bought the full size again, with the thought of repurchasing the matching oracle and the new second matching oracle eventually to have the whole set, and something about still liking the mini.

• Everyday Witch Tarot (mini) by Deborah Blake and Elizabeth Alba I also bought this deck because it was affordable (are you sensing a trend? I wish this was the last time I was going to write that, it's very much not) and it has become a surprise fav. I quite enjoy the world in the cards and used it heavily for a while - my readings with it feel very direct and sassy. I suspect I will keep it.

• Good Fortune Tarot by Barbara Moore and Jessica Roux I initially ignored this deck, but was swayed by a YouTuber I follow gushing about it and looked it up. The sassy tone of the guidebook I saw in flip throughs absolutely sold me. I've used it some, and am looking forward to spending time with it and thoroughly reading the guidebook.

"Your cards don't do anyone any good closed away in their box, even if they are wrapped in silk." - Simone Benoit, The Rules of Fate and Destiny

• Modern Witch Tarot (German edition) by Lisa Sterle the English edition was an early purchase. I loved the art enough to seek out the German edition (better, thinner cardstock that was easier to shuffle) because the cardstock of the English edition suuuucks and is way too thick. Who was that deck made for, talented finger tutters looking for a challenge in their off time? I trimmed the German edition of the deck down to the images only and edged it in pink. It's a mediocre trim job, tbh, though I quite like having a deck with no words. Trimming made the cards a bit floppy to shuffle (maybe I should have left it unmodified) and I've long considered pasting the images into the personal tarot guidebook I aspire to make.

• Morgan Greer Tarot in a Tin by Bill F. Greer a classic deck and one of the three repurchases I actually still own. I initially bought it thinking something along the lines of "I'll buy this deck and use it seriously and it will stop all my rapid purchasing and churning" [narrator: it did not]. I repurchased it again recently, I think because it was pretty and I'd come to the realization that I have a better chance of sticking with decks I can easily shuffle. Bonus, though, I traded my original for the Centennial Waite in a Tin (no longer have it) and made a wonderful tarot friend I am still messaging with years later.

• Shadowscapes Tarot by Stephanie Pui-Mun Law and Barbara Moore I don't recall why I acquired this deck. It was a trade, and the particular copy I have is more Lo Scarabeo-ish than Llewellyn-ish in the cardstock department. I am guessing the version I have is the one that comes without the guidebook (I purchased it separately). I find it easy to shuffle and the artwork is gorgeous, but can be difficult to see because of its intricacy. I suspect I will want to purchase an art print (likely The World) and rehome the deck.

• Take What You Need affirmation deck by Dani DiPirro its so pretty, and rainbow! A bit difficult to shuffle due to the stiffness of the cards. I purchased it to match with the Kawaii Tarot by Lulu Mayo (currently in my To Go Pile). I suspect I will rehome it, but want to see if I enjoy using it and the simple messages.

• Tarot of Dragons by Shawn MacKenzie and Firat Solhan this was a gift from my mom and stepdad, they saw it in a metaphysical store and bought it for me knowing I love dragons. It's incredibly sweet, especially as at that time I was still grappling with the "oh noes, deviltry!" (I'll link to this post when it's live) aspect and I really appreciated the show of support. This deck is not going anywhere. I want to spend some time working with it.

• Tarot of the Vampires by Charles Harrington and Craig Maher this is such a neat deck - it features glossy urban fantasy vampires. I purchased this thinking I'd enjoy a vampire deck, but didn't use it much this Halloween season, when I thought surely its time would come. I am reluctant to get rid of it, and have thought it might be fun to use in conjunction with Elegy, a vampire solo tabletop role-playing game I would like to play.

• Tarot Original 1909 by Arthur Edward Waite and Pamela Colman Smith the classic, and a repurchase still in my possession (albeit a different edition). The Rider Waite Smith deck is a hugely influential deck and the deck many of my others are in conversation with, being RWS-based. I happen to prefer the color tones and card size/shuffleability of this particular Lo Scarabeo edition, but haven't used this deck much. I like the idea of this deck in my collection and am interested in trying working with it consistently. I'm partway through writing my preferred keywords on this deck using Lisa Papez's book Unlocking the Tarot: Create Your Own Keys and plan to finish that when I return to spend time with this deck.

• Thera-Pets Emotional Support Animal Cards by Kate Allan my sister turned me on to Kate Allan's adorable art and I bought this deck. She later gifted me this deck, so I have gave the original to my mom. A definite keeper, and it's so cute!

• The Wildwood Tarot by Mark Ryan, John Matthews, and Will Worthington you're never gonna believe this, but I was in a mood. After ignoring this deck and other super celtic-pagany decks for a couple years, I thought, "oh, there's a book called A Year in the Wildwood (by Allison Cross and John Matthews), I'll get this deck and do that! It'll be a vibe!" and obsessed over that thought for a bit, but was finishing out a no buy at the time (or something similar). My husband took pity on my whining, which was incredibly kind, and got me the deck and book. ❤️ I haven't used it much, the cards are oversized and hard to shuffle (worse than Modern Witch), but I will be keeping this deck and intend to work with it.

• Rainbow Brainskull Oracle Deck by Ramin Nazer I saw this featured and thought it was cute, and that the messages on the cards would be pretty applicable to me. I was right. It is a pain to shuffle though.

• Trinity Tarot by Ari Wisner it was affordable, and small! The square cards are a little odd to shuffle. I like the simple illustrations. I have thought of using it for a study deck and writing correspondences and keywords on it to study them.

• Unicorn's Journey Oracle by Lisa Papez and Francesca Paiocchi I bought this deck because I had the tarot, even though I don't use it, and wanted the matching oracle. I also thought the oracle might help me get into using the tarot. Lisa has mentioned possibly making a matching lenormand deck and I'm basically planning to get it because it matches even though I don't read lenormand.

• Unicorn's Journey Tarot by Lisa Papez and Francesca Paiocchi I bought this deck because I'm a fan of the creator. Her Tarot with Training Wheels series was instrumental in my learning to read tarot and I followed along with her process videos as this deck was made. It's a very high quality production, but I find I rarely reach for it and even as I backed the Kickstarter I worried that the beautiful storybook art style wasn't quite for me. This one is especially painful to contemplate parting with, due to the price, having the set, and being a fan of the creator. I want to want to use it.

• Victorian Faery Tarot (mini) by Lunaea Weatherstone and Gary A. Lippincott (2023 Kickstarter) my notes on this deck are in my To Go Pile breakdown.

The contents of the To Go Pile, and why:

• Kawaii Tarot by Lulu Mayo: I bought this and the Take What You Need affirmation deck by Dani DiPirro at the same time because I saw them paired together and thought they looked cute. That's it, I was in a mood. And they are quite cute together, but the art isn't exactly my vibe for a tarot deck and I find the cardstock stiff, too thick, and hard to shuffle.

• Victorian Faery Tarot by Lunaea Weatherstone and Gary A. Lippincott (2023 Kickstarter): this deck is beautiful, and I backed it because I have many fond memories of the flower fairy books my mom loved and got for me as a child. The Kickstarter edition comes in a set of a full size and mini deck, and unfortunately the mini of the set I received was glued together by the gold gilding and many of the card images tore as I attempted to separate them. I reached out and the creator was kind enough to send me a whole new set, major props for customer service. That new set was in great condition, but this is in my To Go Pile because the full size deck was resized to be bigger than standard tarot size, making it, you guessed it, challenging for me to shuffle. I also find the art not as crisp as it should be, slightly blurry, and that's a thorough disappointment and very distracting. YouTuber Christa Chronicles addressed this in her video comparing the original mass market deck and Kickstarter editions, if you're interested in seeing the difference. I did manage to separate my original messed up mini deck and found that one decent to shuffle. That mini deck is currently in my Purgatory Drawer. I strongly suspect I will not be keeping it, but I thought it was worth experimenting with the mini to see if I wanted to keep the non-torn mini as I explore and downsize my collection.

• Woodland Wardens oracle by Jessica Roux: this is a classic case of "I should have bought an art print." Jessica Roux's artwork is fantastic. I bought this deck because it was priced low ("it's a trap!"), and because I wanted it to go with another deck I was purchasing also with artwork by Jessica, the Good Fortune Tarot (aesthetic tarot and oracle deck pairing, fun, but perilous). The size of the cardstock is simply too big for my hands to comfortably shuffle despite only being 52 cards, I don't find the guidebook descriptions very helpful, and the single keywords don't speak to me.

Trends noted as I've added in my explanations for how I acquired the decks I currently have:

• I use decks being affordable as a good excuse to say "screw it, I'll buy it!" I did not expect that to be a trend.
• Reflecting on my purchases, several were made when I was feeling down and in search of a dopamine hit.
• Many also were purchased to demonstrate/initiate a commitment to a new focus or practice.

Writing this over the course of the last few days has been a worthwhile, if sometimes uncomfortable, exercise. I am feeling a lot better about the concept of letting go of several of my decks. However, I am going to continue with my informal plan of using a deck at a time and swapping to the next when I feel like it because I don't want to make choices while in a "purge" mood that just allow me to continue the buying and getting rid of cycle. I think forcing myself to spend at least some time with everything I've accumulated will be a good learning experience.

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