Big Love for Tiny Tarot

Big Love for Tiny Tarot

There are plenty of novelty tarot decks that we don’t think of as actually being created for, or appropriate for, conducting serious tarot readings.

My very first tarot deck was a novelty deck. I got “World’s Smallest Tarot Deck” for five dollars from Herman Slater’s Magickal Childe shop in New York City. It was a miniature Waite Rider. I bought it because I felt called to learn tarot but still felt very skeptical about card reading. I simply wasn’t convinced I should invest real money in a proper deck. How silly that seems now!

I soon discovered I couldn’t learn tarot with a miniature deck. I ponied up the money for the standard-sized Rider Waite in the familiar yellow box. This became the first deck I read with professionally eight years later.

I kept the miniature tarot. In fact, I still have it. I used it for tarot magick with good success.

Over the years people have given me novelty tarot sets, many of the miniature. I love to display them in my office and my home.

When preparing to evacuate my home for Hurricane Dorian I snatched Tiny Tarot off the shelf by the door and stuck it in my purse. I was thinking about remedies for boredom during the hurricane and thought that it couldn’t hurt to have a miniature tarot in a little plastic box.

Once I got to the family home further from the flood zone, I had some time on my hands, and started playing with Tiny Tarot for the first time.

I bet you have seen this deck, even if you don’t own one. It is a full Universal Waite in a plastic box with a keychain, measuring all of 1.2” by 1”. It’s published by U.S. Games, Inc.

Tiny Tarot Cards - KeyChain by US Games by US Games

USGAMES

Here’s what I discovered while playing with Tiny Tarot.

If you really know the card images well, the small cards read every bit as well as normal-sized cards.

You can put the cards in a pouch and reach in and grab the number of cards you want in one hand.

Because you can pull from a pouch you never need to shuffle.

There is something powerful about holding an eleven-card Celtic Cross in your closed fist.

An entire spread fits on a very small surface.

When you come to my office for a reading, I promise I won’t read for you with my Tiny Tarot; I will use normal-sized cards, of course. I also still believe it is very hard to learn tarot with a doll-sized deck.

Yet, doing readings with Tiny Tarot gave this seasoned pro a new perspective on those familiar Universal Waite cards. And new perspective is what tarot is all about, isn’t it?

Answers to your Questions about Tarot: Moving from a Marseille Deck to a Waite Deck

Here’s another installment in my Answers to your Questions about Tarot. This question comes from Matteo. He writes:

Dear Christiana,

I'm Matteo, from Italy, and I'm 23. I'm a big fan of your videos and I loved your Tarot Tour Guide book. I have two questions for you, and I hope you can help me. The first one is quite simple: could you please tell me what is the name of the deck you used in your book cover?

The second question is: I'm a Marseille reader, but I would like to start using a Waite deck as well. The problem is that I'm so used to non-illustrated pip cards that, when I'm using my RWS cards I end up feeling constrained by the images in the minor arcana. Do you have any useful tips?

Thank you very much!

Best wishes

Matteo

Thanks, Matteo. You really made my day!

First, the cards used on my book covers are from Hallmark Tarot by Darla Hallmark. You’re right, that was the easy question.

Your second question was much more challenging! Here are some of my thoughts about moving from a Marseille deck to a Waite deck. In some ways these thoughts could apply to moving from any one tarot tradition into another.

First I think you need to reflect on how the cards speak to you. Do you have memorized interpretations? Do you use associations like numerology, astrology or kabbalah? Do you look at the image and let the image guide you?

I am betting that you do use the images quite a bit, based on your question. I am thinking, too, that non-illustrated pips allow for more scrying, while illustrated pips have us looking at what the person in the picture is actually doing.

I think it is really good to push out of your comfort zone and work into a new tarot tradition. Here are four things that may help.

1. Use your regular interpretations and associations, regardless of what deck you are using.
2. Learn your cards so well that you can divine simply by knowing the name of the card, rather than looking at the image.
3. If you study many decks, remember how the cards are depicted. Whatever deck you are working with, draw on all the images you know for a card when that card comes up in a reading.
4. When you look at the image, whether Major or Minor Arcana, don’t focus on what the people in the picture are doing. Let your intuition guide your eyes to small aspects of the picture. Make psychic connections about the things you see in those individual aspects of the picture. That way you are scrying into the picture rather than worrying about what the person in the picture is doing.

I hope that helps!

Thanks again, Matteo! Enjoy the video.

Please email me if you have a question about tarot!

Christiana Gaudet Answers a Question about Reading with Different Decks

Video of Christiana Gaudet Answers a Question about Reading with Different Decks