Yes, you can buy your own tarot deck. There is no rule, no curse and no magic lost at the checkout. The idea that your first deck must be gifted is a piece of modern folklore, and it has talked a genuinely alarming number of people out of ever starting. A deck you chose yourself works exactly as well as one that arrived with a bow on it, and in most cases it suits you better.
Below: where the "must be gifted" belief seems to come from (the honest answer is murkier than most articles admit), what tarot's actual history says about buying decks, and how to choose a first deck you will still be using in a year.
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Open the reading helperThe Short Answer: Buy the Deck
Working tarot readers are remarkably united on this. Writing for The Old Farmer's Almanac, tarot author Theresa Reed lists "you must be gifted your first tarot deck" as the first of her tarot myths and dismisses it in two sentences:
"This is untrue. You don't have to wait around for anyone to purchase a deck."Theresa Reed, tarot reader and author, The Old Farmer's Almanac
Speaking to Refinery29, Reed was less polite, calling the myth "total rubbish" and noting that "most of the decks that I have been gifted sit in a dark drawer somewhere." (Refinery29). Which is the real problem with gifted decks: someone else is guessing at your taste.
Where the "Must Be Gifted" Myth Comes From
Here is the honest bit most articles skip: nobody has documented a clear origin. There is no rule about gifting in A. E. Waite's instructions for the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, and no historian has traced the belief to a specific text or tradition. What we have instead are practitioners' best guesses.
- A practice that had to stay underground. Tarot enthusiast Laura Hokstad, speaking to The Superstitious Times, recalled the belief directly: "There used to be this theory that you couldn't buy your tarot deck for the first time. You had to be gifted it." She called it a sentiment that "speaks to how maybe underground it had to be and had to operate back in the day", adding that it now feels more like a barrier and can be discouraging (The Superstitious Times).
- Teacher-to-student gatekeeping. Hokstad also noted that some communities still practise this kind of gatekeeping, and a deck handed from teacher to student would have signalled you were accepted into a closed circle. That is a plausible explanation, not a proven one.
- The general "luckier as a gift" superstition. Plenty of meaningful objects pick up the same idea. It sounds lovely, so it sticks.
So treat the origin as unknown, with a likely mix of secrecy, gatekeeping and romance. What is known is the history, and the history is not on the myth's side.
What Tarot's Actual History Says About Buying Decks
For most of their 580-odd years, tarot decks were bought, commissioned or made to sell.
| Period | What happened | How decks were obtained |
|---|---|---|
| 1440s to 1460s, Italy | The first documented tarot decks appear in Milan, Ferrara, Florence and Bologna as cards for a trick-taking game | Luxury decks like the Visconti-Sforza tarot were commissioned by the Dukes of Milan |
| 1600s to 1700s, France | The Tarot of Marseilles pattern spreads; the earliest surviving example is dated 1639 | Printed from woodcuts, coloured by hand or stencil, and sold by commercial card makers |
| c. 1750 to 1789 | The earliest evidence of tarot used for cartomancy; Court de Gébelin's 1781 essay and Etteilla's occult deck follow | Still a printed, commercial product |
| 1909, London | The Rider-Waite-Smith deck is first published by William Rider & Son | Sold by a publisher, as it still is |
The dates come from the history of tarot as documented by card historians, and you can read the full story in our own history of tarot. The point is simple: a deck that was a commercial product for centuries does not need a ceremonial gift to switch on. Even the world's most famous deck began as a job: in 1909 Waite commissioned Pamela Colman Smith to illustrate it for publication.
Why Choosing Your Own Is the Better Start
- You pick art you want to stare at. You will spend hours looking at these images, and you learn fastest from a deck you enjoy.
- You pick a deck built to teach. A well-meaning friend might choose something gorgeous with bare, unillustrated number cards. You can make sure every card has a scene.
- You pick the size and feel. Card size and stock vary a lot, and only your hands know what shuffles comfortably.
- The choosing is practice. Noticing which deck pulls you in, and why, is the same reflective muscle tarot uses.
How to Choose Your First Tarot Deck
Use this checklist and you will avoid the classic beginner purchase that ends up in the drawer.
| Check | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Rider-Waite-Smith structure | Most meaning guides, books and apps are written for RWS imagery, so what you look up matches what you see. |
| Illustrated Minor Arcana | Scenes on all 56 Minor Arcana cards give you a story to read; bare pips make you memorise. |
| 78 cards, 22 Major and 56 Minor | Confirms it is a tarot deck, not an oracle deck with its own structure. |
| Card size | Smaller hands may find standard or mini decks easier to shuffle than oversized art decks. |
| Guidebook included | A short booklet is enough to start; you can grow into fuller guides. |
| Art you genuinely like | The deck you enjoy is the deck you will actually use. |
If you are stuck between styles, our what tarot deck is right for me quiz narrows it down in a couple of minutes. For named recommendations, see the best tarot decks for beginners, and for the longer buying guide, how to choose your first tarot deck.
Tarot deck or oracle deck?
If a deck does not have 78 cards split into Major and Minor Arcana, it is probably an oracle deck. Oracle decks are lovely, but each one has its own number of cards and its own system, so they will not teach you tarot. Our explainer on what an oracle deck is covers the difference.
Making a Bought Deck Feel Like Yours
If part of you still wants a moment of ceremony, give yourself one. It changes nothing metaphysical. It does help you get familiar with the cards, which is the useful part.
- Look through every card. All 78, slowly, before you read with any of them.
- Put them in order once. Major Arcana from The Fool to The World, then each suit from Ace to King.
- Shuffle properly. New cards are stiff; a long shuffle loosens them up.
- Draw a hello card. Pull one card and describe it, with no pressure to read it perfectly.
- Give it a home. A cloth, box or drawer of its own.
Want more? Our guides to bonding with a new tarot deck and cleansing tarot cards go further, both optional.
And If Someone Wants to Gift You One
Lovely. A gifted deck from someone who knows you is a genuinely nice thing, and if a friend asks what you would like, you are entirely allowed to send them a link to the exact deck. A deck can be bought, gifted, inherited or found in an op shop, and every one of those beginnings counts. Then start learning with our guide to how to read tarot cards, and find everything else on the tarot hub.
Frequently asked questions
You can buy your own tarot deck, and most working readers recommend it. There is no rule in tarot's history or in the Rider-Waite-Smith instructions that a deck must be gifted. Choosing your own lets you pick art you connect with, a size that suits your hands and a deck with fully illustrated cards, which makes learning much easier.
It is not bad luck to buy your own tarot cards. The idea is modern folklore with no documented source, and for most of tarot's history decks were commissioned, printed and sold commercially. A deck you bought yourself works exactly as well as a gifted one, because the reading comes from your knowledge and attention, not from how the deck arrived.
People say your first tarot deck should be gifted because of an old belief passed between readers, but no clear origin has been documented. Practitioners suggest it may reflect a time when tarot circles were secretive and gatekept, plus the general idea that meaningful objects are luckier as gifts. It is a sentiment, not a rule.
Choose your first tarot deck by looking for a Rider-Waite-Smith style deck with illustrated scenes on all 78 cards, a size that shuffles comfortably in your hands, a short guidebook, and art you genuinely enjoy. Most meaning guides are written for Rider-Waite-Smith imagery, so starting there means what you look up matches what you see.
You can buy tarot cards for yourself as a beginner, and it is the most common way people start. Pick a beginner-friendly Rider-Waite-Smith style deck, look through every card before your first reading, and practise with one card a day. Nothing about buying it yourself limits how well you can learn to read.
The difference between a tarot deck and an oracle deck is structure. A tarot deck has 78 cards split into 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana in four suits. An oracle deck has no fixed structure, so each one has its own number of cards and its own meanings. Oracle decks are lovely, but they will not teach you tarot.
A gifted tarot deck is not more powerful than one you bought. It can be meaningful because of who gave it to you, and that is worth honouring. But what shapes a reading is your familiarity with the cards, the quality of your question and your honesty in reading them, none of which depends on a gift.
