The Best Tarot Cards for Hot, Spooky People

As with Stonehenge and squirting, no one is really, definitively sure where tarot cards came from. Many historians and occultists trace the fortune-telling practice back to a 15th-century Italian card game, but the exact details of the pipeline from bar game to esoteric party trick remains a mystery. 

If you want to start dabbling in tarot, there are plenty of YouTubers and guidebooks that go into great detail on the craft, whether you’re looking to hunker down with the OG Marseille tarot deck or try your hand at something a little more contemporary. (We’re still waiting for a Sopranos-themed deck.)

The best tarot decks truly run the gamut, but if you’re serious about getting into the art of divination, make sure you spend some time with your tarot deck of choice; form a relationship with the symbols and intent behind every card so that your readings have more depth and meaning. Most importantly, don’t poo-poo contemporary decks just because they’re different (spooky snobs = yeeted from this haus). Life is too short not to smash the order button on a pasta-themed deck, or shell-out for a set of custom Lisa Frank cards.  

There’s no better time to start dabbling in tarot than October, when the veil is thin and the ghouls are down to clown. So I’ve rounded up the best cards and decks for getting spooky this Halloween and beyond, whether you’re an amateur or a respected member of the Magic Castle. 

Maldon salt. Calvin Klein boxers. The Marseille tarot. There are many ubiquitous “greats” out there, and this tarot deck is one of them, because it’s the closest thing we have to the very first tarot deck. Known as the Tarot de Marseille, this deck was painstakingly restored by filmmaker and occultist Alejandro Jodorowsky over decades, down to every last brushstroke and color, and it’s the only deck I’ll use if I’m doing a serious reading for myself or a friend. Cop Jodorowsky’s guidebook (which is also just a wild and goofy read) to improve your skills as a tarot reader, and make your guests think you’re smarter than you are.  

It’s hard to find a French Jodo Marseille tarot deck, but you can cop this near-identical version on Amazon if you don’t feel like digging through the bowels of eBay (fair). The only differences I can see are slight variations in color. Still a vibe though. 

You’d be surprised how handy a miniature tarot deck is when you’re stuck in traffic, bored at the bar, or high by the beach. Whip these out after the third negroni sbagliato on the Tinder date. 

Edward Gorey walked so that Tim Burton could run. The late author, illustrator, and costume designer was behind some of the most iconic stories and television intros of our time, from Bram Stroker’s Dracula to that ghoulish PBS murder mystery sequence. This tarot deck is a perfectly spooky extension of his neo-Edwardian aesthetic. 

Next to the Marseille tarot, this is one of the most popular and widely accessible tarot decks. Known as the Rider-Waite Tarot deck, this set was created by (the super hot and smart) Pamela Colman Smith in 1909 under the direction of fellow mystic and British poet Arthur Edward Waite. If you like Freemasons and drum circles, you’ll dig this deck. 

Your past? Breadsticks. Your present? Panna cotta. Your future? Well, that depends on whether or not you smashed some TUMS before coming to the Garden, jabroni. But it’s OK. When you’re here, you’re part of the coven, and have the pasta tarot to prove it.  

If there was one thing Salvador Dalí liked more than broken eggs, sand, and melting clocks, it was finding new ways to monetize his artistic vision. We respect a Surrealist girlboss, and the late artist’s tarot deck is a gorgeous assembly of some of his best work from Taschen, whose stunning art books have long been our best home decor flex.  

Carl Jung (1875-1961) was the zaddy of analytical psychology, and esoteric as hell. In fact, the late Swiss psychiatrist’s falling-out with Sigmund Freud—the Blair Waldorf to his Serena Van Der Woodsen—was largely due to the former’s interest in mysticism, which wasn’t considered very ~academique~ by his colleagues (whatever; Freud does not pass the vibe check). Luckily, Jung, as with all hot girls, kept a secret journal of all his metaphysical doodles and reflections; it wasn’t until 2009 that they were released together as the groundbreaking Red Book, which looks like it rolled right out of the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood with its swirling, trippy illustrations and talk about spiritual archetypes. It’s almost as if they were begging to be applied to a tarot deck, and Dr. Robert Wang obliged with this gorgeous set, which is designed to serve as a “visual gateway into the complexities of Jungian psychology." 

Who TF are you, Roger Zanoni?? An Italian menswear designer? An actor from Holes who forgot to peep the call-sheet? We don’t know much about the mystery man behind this 1990s French tarot deck, but we don’t care to; all we know is that this deck’s Frasurbane-meets-Enyacore aesthetic is just what the bridge troll ordered for fall.   

Hold the phone, pause mass, and burn every other tarot deck you’ve ever owned. It’s time to make way for the high priestess herself, Lisa Frank, and this custom tarot deck made in homage to m’lady’s technicolor tigers and amorous aliens. 

See you at the seance. 

The Rec Room staff independently selected all of the stuff featured in this story. Want more reviews, recommendations, and red-hot deals?Sign up for our newsletter.