I love when cards are confusing 
it makes you think really hard about what the artist and creator could have possibly meant! Tens are seen as the end of a cycle, for sure â I see the 10 of Swords not as an end of turmoil, but as rock-bottom. Nothing else âbadâ can happen because itâs all already happened. The only way to go now is up!
Now youâre making me want to get all my cards out and compare⌠
I do this often, actually, I just never really thought about it.
There are several cards I look for when I buy a new deck, so I went through my decks to grab those cards out of each one. They are The Tower, The Moon, The High Priestess, Temperance, and the Three of Swords. Yes, I know â all heavy cards! I look for these specifically, especially if I can browse the deck before I buy it, because if I can connect to the heaviness of the cards in the artwork, I can usually connect to everything else the deck has to offer. If I find The Tower too âsoftâ, or The Moon too âlightâ, then I know the deck probably isnât for me. Of course, it all dependsâŚ
Here are those cards from my tarot decks. There are four âexceptionsâ to my choosing these decks â I didnât buy the last four. Two of them were sent to me by the creator, one was a gift for Christmas, and the other was my very first deck that was given to me by a family member.
From top to bottom, these are The Traditional Manga Tarot, The Somnia Tarot, The This Might Hurt Tarot, and The Shadowscapes Tarot. Below, Iâve got some close-up pictures of each deck.
These are all decks I purchased myself. They each have their own âflavorâ, Iâd say. For example, The Somnia Tarot is a deck I use when Iâm struggling with a more mental or logical issue. Itâs also the one I gravitate toward when Iâm having a depression episode. The photographer who created this deck used his night terrors and sleep paralysis episodes as inspiration for the cards.
He also didnât use any special effects or digital manipulation to get the photos, either. Everything is done manually â so, yes, there was actually a dollhouse on fire on his back for The Tower! The Somnia Tarot is one of the more interesting decks I have. I did a video walkthrough here if youâre interested, and I highly encourage you to check out the photographer - Nicholas Bruno - if thatâs something you like.
The other deck links are here if youâre interested.
From top to bottom, these are Mother Tarot, Dark Days Tarot, Nightmare Before Christmas Tarot, and Hanson-Roberts Tarot.
Now, these four decks are ones that I did not purchase myself, nor did I have the option to look through for the cards I like before receiving them. While I do connect with these decks for different reasons, the five cards alone donât necessarily give me the feeling I look for.
Out of these four, I tend to use Mother Tarot and Dark Days Tarot the least. Theyâre difficult for me to shuffle, and I only feel drawn to the art at very specific times. The Nightmare Before Christmas Tarot is also a deck Iâm only drawn to on specific occasions. Despite being more traditional, I actually really enjoy the Hanson-Roberts Tarot. The cards are smaller and easy to shuffle, and the artwork isnât standard, but it still follows the traditional themes of Pamela Coleman-Smithâs original art.
Here are links to those decks, if youâre interested.
Looking at all of the cards together, you can see themes and symbols that cross all the artwork. For example, The Tower depicts a large structure experiencing a catastrophe. For some, thatâs a lightning strike. For another, itâs an erupting volcano. However, some of the cards are more ethereal and âlightâ than others â I would never pick up The Shadowscapes Deck if I needed a blunt and to-the-point answer. The artwork is flowy and the readings tend to be more flowery and poetic.
I have to say, I really enjoyed this little exercise and getting all the cards out â thanks for the inspiration, @Nikki-Phoenix 
I did a spread earlier, and one of the cards is quite different when compared to the RWS deck, and it feels different too. You know how each deck has their own energy and personality? Well, I was wondering what would happen if I took cards from one deck and then pulled the exact same cards from another deck to see if the message felt different, as well as looked different.
)
I love them. Tarot idiot here 
found my demon too, a nature animal loving demon who loves divination - so me. Spooky this 
