Deck Aesthetics: Do Your Decks Have To Match To Get The Most Impactful Readings?

In this video ramble, I share some of my personal musings about deck aesthetics and if it’s really an important factor in reading with Tarot and Oracle decks. The short answer is “no, of course not”, but it can add an element of fun!
I will share some of my personal experiences of when I had just a very few decks and my personal views. This video is just one small video creator’s opinion and if you have a differing one, please share it respectfully 😁.
As always, I appreciate your valuable time watching any part of my video. Thank you so much!
All music by Epidemic Sound
*Contact me at [e-mail]*

[@Lisa_Papez]

Love this - watchoing it now and am like WHYYYY didn't I include Vintage Wisdom in my curiosity decks vr! :D oof! I always thoroughly enjoy the chill vibes in your videos :) So happy to have you back! :)

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

Aww 🥰…thank you, Lisa! I’ve been thinking about doing that tag and now you’ve given me the idea of my first deck to include 😆

[@barbp2768]

I love hearing your stories of finding great deals on decks. It’s as if you’re magically drawn. to them. An interesting note on Pamela Colman Smith I discovered... I enjoy researching, especially concerning history in various areas. I was curious about Pamela Colman Smith and read that she took art lessons in Brooklyn, New York in her teen years during a time her father was working in New York. Her art teacher also taught at Columbia University. I researched her art teacher and was surprised to learn his home was in Ipswich, Massachusetts! I grew up in that area and my husband and I married in Ipswich. I had assumed Pamela Colman Smith would have been from a foreign country when I began my research but ended up with a big surprise! Thank you for another wonderful video. ☀️

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

Barb, thank you for sharing! I find Pamela Coleman Smith fascinating and hope to do more research on her in the future! Honestly, I was quite satisfied with my Universal Waite until I saw all the new decks on KZbin. I think I said in the past I was not drawn to her art, but that’s not entirely true. I’ve since obtained decks with her art, but with color palettes that resonate with me more and it’s made all the difference!

[@barbp2768]

@@oldsoulmermaid1543 Thank you for your wonderful response. Wikipedia has a nice write up on Pamela Colman Smith. Her remaining days were in Cornwall, England. Should I ever be fortunate to visit England in the future, I would love to see Cornwall and Glastonbury in addition to other places. ☀️

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

Oh, Barb… I’ve yet to visit the U.K.! It’s a dream of mine. Maybe when I’m done putting all of my kids through school. I too would love to visit Cornwall because that’s the setting for my beloved novels by Winston Graham ( Poldark series).

[@WinterWitchTarot]

Hello! I’m so happy you discussed matching oracle and tarot decks. I was thinking about that the other day! Thank you for the info! Love your channel. Also, I loved your description of the Morgan Greer deck: “Wam bam, thank you, ma’am” I laughed so hard at that.

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

Thank you so much, Richard! Yes, I guess I’m dating myself with that expression describing the Morgan Greer 😆

[@lauramayfair7887]

Sometimes deck pairings that appear to make no sense give incredible readings. I'm looking at you Awakened Soul Oracle and Shadowscapes Tarot. This pairing was like bringing the everyday world into concert with the unseen world of the fey. I paired these decks randomly with a RNG selector. And it remains one of the best pairings I have ever had. You never know what you will discover when you pair decks! Great insights, Bonnie.

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

Omg, Laura! The Shadowscapes and the Awakened Soul Oracle is an inspired combo! I no longer have my Shadowscapes deck because I found myself frustrated with the super detailed artwork on a small card, but I may try an Awakened Soul and Phantasma Tarot pairing!

[@lauramayfair7887]

@@oldsoulmermaid1543 That sounds like a great pairing, too.

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

😉

[@nataliewinters6735]

I had to chuckle at the "wham, Bam, Thank You Mam" - the best description for that quick and easy read 😂

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

Kind of crass…I know 😆😆

[@rickigill5206]

I think at times it is but not always ,great video

[@ultravioletpisces3666]

17:58 I love these together

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

😉

[@chelle1256]

Wonderful video Bonnie x

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

Thank you, Michele 🥰

[@ultravioletpisces3666]

I definitely don’t need my decks to match aesthetically for them to work together… generally it’s the contrast I want… otherwise I’d just use one deck 😊

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

Me too! I’ve re-homed most of my oracle decks as I don’t use them as much as tarot, but the ones I’ve kept are favorites that seem to go with everything.

[@thrivingselfcarerenee]

I know it wasn't actually the point of this video, but the quick view of pairing the Heavenly Bodies Astrology Oracle and the Dreamkeepers Tarot is BRILLIANT! I hadn't thought to pair them before but that image was so wonderful! I'm absolutely going to give that a try! 💖😊 How you feel about the Morgan-Greer is how I feel about the New Palladini Tarot. A give it to me straight deck for me. I definitely agree with what you've said in general. Decks don't "have" to match. I personally do enjoy matching deck themes/aesthetics personally. I find it fun to cultivate my collection towards that, but mindfully. I also agree that we don't "need" all the decks. But I personally enjoy mindfully growing my collection. I learn different things from working with different decks. With being on a limited budget, I try to collect mindfully. I watch deck walk through videos before I decide to purchase. I consider if I've already got decks that are similar or fill that "niche" for lack of a better term. No criticism to those who collect in other ways or those who prefer a minimalist perspective. I'm just personally not a minimalist, at least not right now. I do love matchy-matchy decks. 💖😊 I love decks that match aeathetically. But it also doesn't have to be an aesthetic match. It can be that the decks are compatible energetically. Just found a pairing like that right before I watched this video. I tried pairing my Reclaim Oracle with my SpiritSong Tarot for the first time and they work so perfectly together for me. Their aeathetics are almost opposite, dark vs pastels, but the messages of them working together are so compatible. So ultimately I think it's about what works for each individual. We don't "need" more than 1 deck, Tarot and/or Oracle. But it sure can be fun and interesting to have more.

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

The New Palladini is on my wishlist because I love the Aquarian Tarot. It does rival my beloved Morgan Greer from time to time! I wholeheartedly agree with everything you generously shared here. I’ve had some conversations with a few subscribers who have related to me that they are having a hard time financially at the current moment and this video was meant to be a sort of hug to them. I often feel I lack the ability and the eloquence to relay certain messages when I do a video commentary. In the most simplest of terms…if it feels good and makes you happy…do it!

[@thrivingselfcarerenee]

@@oldsoulmermaid1543 I hope you'll love the New Palladini. I think it is so incredibly underrated as a more classic or older style deck. I personally like the color palette of it so much more than the Aquarian. But I almost never see it and there's hardly anything with it on KZbin. I really enjoyed this video. I feel we as a community need to have more open discussions about stuff like this. I think there's a balance to be found in deck purchasing, and that's going to vary from person to person. I absolutely agree that we need to find what works and makes us happy as individuals. I've seen a lot on the more extremes of the spectrum, of getting everything that comes out or extreme deck decluttering and minimalism. I feel a lot more towards the middle of the spectrum. I think we as a community could have more discussions about mindful purchasing and collecting. But I also value the creators who get lots of decks and do walk throughs because those help inform me for my mindful purchasing.

[@TrioofWitchesTarot]

I loved hearing your stories. You should post a vr to #tarotoriginstory. I use oracle decks to balance out or enhance a tarot deck. Maybe the tarot is a little to light and cheery, maybe it is a little too dark and heavy, maybe it's a little too esoteric, maybe it's a little too intuitive. They just have to have that little something special when they speak to each other. And somedays they work and somedays they don't. Pairings are not static.

[@steffymuze]

Nicely said 😊👍

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

Aww…thank you 🙏. That’s basically how I use my tarot and oracle as well. I seldom use oracle alone, except in the case of my astrology decks sometimes. Yes, I agree…sometimes the dialogue is clear and sometimes it isn’t.

[@rickigill5206]

I have Scandinavian ancestry to ,I like to use an oracle with my tarot

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

I also have Mexican ancestry! What else do you have?

[@lauriemadsen9051]

This was so fun hearing about your early tarot purchases! You were so brave to read for strangers early on!! Morgan Greer was the first deck I purchased, after seeing it on "best beginners decks" videos and loving the art. Once I had it in hand though, despite a couple poignant readings, the manly-man, male-centric-ness of it was giving me rage (I'd only recently woken up to the depth of the male-centric sexism in the LDS church) so I passed it on to my brother. Of course now I want it again, lol, probably in the tin version next time. (I do really wish the queens and Empress especially didn't look so young in it!) I've noticed I've gone through stages with my tarot collecting obsession (which started at the end of 2018). At first, I just wanted to see everything that was out there! I watched so many long reviews and was content to just occasionally pick up a mm deck. I moved onto indie decks and the spending/accumulating really increased (dang that fomo with indie decks)! And the most recent stage has been the drive to buy the perfect pairing decks. Sometimes that's worked well (like when I picked up Sasuraibito primarily to pair with Oracle of Echoes, and ended up loving it as a stand-alone tarot, and, oddly, not being drawn to Oracle of Echoes much), but I really have to watch myself with this temptation and try to stick with decks that I like for the deck itself, not primarily for how it pairs with something else --because that's not the kind of collection I ultimately want and because it leads to overspending. Perfect example is two decks by the same creator, Language of Flowers and Flowers of the Night; Language of Flowers I love all on its own. Flowers of the Night, however, I love primarily because I saw it paired with Wild Unknown and it was an amazing match. I have to remind myself that a match for WU will likely come along at some point, and I don't need to force it or have the best possible match anyway! Even more, not all my decks even need a great aesthetic match! I want to spend my time and money on the decks I really love, and if they pair well with something I already have, that's an added bonus! ...And yet, I'd be lying if I said the main reason I'm planning to pick up Wisdom of Hafiz wasn't to pair it with Mystical Moments. Oh boy, LOL!

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

I guess we could use the “what else in my closet would go with this” approach when picking up oracle decks to go with our tarot. It’s fun when they match, but honestly, I’ve found that any combo will work if the intention is there 😁. So many wonderful choices though!

[@angelaschredl9245]

Great topic you chose. I have to admit, I always want an oracle deck to combine with my tarot decks. I love to read them together. But they do not have to be an aesthetical match. Sometimes it happens to look as if the decks were made for each other, and sometimes they look as different as possible. The important thing for me when it comes to oracle decks are the keywords or phrases. I have to bond with them. The art of the cards is not that important. Whereas when it comes to tarot my preference is the artwork and the story told in the depictions. I have to bond with the cards in this way. This is the reason why I own a few oracle decks that go so well with all my tarot decks, no matter what the pairing looks like. My Allrounders are: the prism oracle, Woodland wardens, the daily crystals, soul coaching oracle cards, the quantum oracle, the animal kin, spirit animal oracle, soul lessons and the selfcare wisdom cards. I just thought about this very topic these days because my Rosebud tarot arrived two days ago. Gosh, it was so expensive to have this shipped to Germany 😱but I love it😍 It is my only collage deck besides my intuitive night goddess and I was thinking of buying a collage oracle to match it. Yesterday evening I try to combine it with some of my Allrounder oracle decks and they match perfectly, because of the keywords/phrases. No need to buy anything!!

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

Yes, it’s wonderful when you bring a deck in and you already have a deck dialogues with it well! Preferences and practices are so individual that there are so many approaches to having a working relationship with our decks. I’m excited to hear about your experience with the Rosebud Tarot. I’m working with the Rosebud Tarot right now and am enjoying it very much!

[@angelaschredl9245]

@@oldsoulmermaid1543 oh, yes, I am so looking forward to work with the Rosebud Tarot in the next months. I'll let you know how it worked out 😀

[@steffymuze]

Great topic & one I've been pondering lately as I've gotten more Oracles than I've ever had. Not having them most of my life, only Tarot, is a whole new world

[@oldsoulmermaid1543]

I’m very picky with purchasing oracles. I have far fewer than my tarot. I think part of the reason for that is because I never use my Oracles alone…just in conjunction with Tarot. The exception would be my Astrology oracle decks. That may change someday though 😁

[@steffymuze]

@@oldsoulmermaid1543 yep same 💯