Size Matters

Of no surprise to most, size can very much effect your enjoyment of your tarot card deck and therefore it can effect your  desire to work with it.

If you’re a member of the small hands club, very large format cards can be awkward to shuffle resulting in card slips. If you’re in the middle of a juicy tarot reading session and half your deck falls on the floor well that’s just a downer, isn't it?

TRADITIONAL SIZED TAROT CARDS

Standard size tarot cards are 2.75" by 4.75". This is about an inch longer than standard poker cards. As a woman with medium size hands I find this size very comfortable to use. The art is easily visible with plenty of detail. I can easily do various spreads on a TV table at this scale.

MINI SIZED TAROT CARDS

These days one can purchase mini sized tarot cards which are a relatively new trend in the 500 year old tradition of tarot. Besides, obviously, being smaller that traditionally sized tarot cards, this format takes less space to store and less space to do a reading. Once could do a spread on an airline tray with room to spare. This format is a petite 2" by 3.25". It can take a bit to get used to the shuffle at the smaller size but they fit easily in a pocket, backpack or purse.

GIANT SIZED TAROT CARDS

If you're a person with large hands you may find a better fit with a giant format tarot cards in terms of card feel and shuffling ease. These cards are very theatrical coming in at a hefty 3.94" by 6.89". Some may find these big cards are fantastic for those with less sharp vision or for those doing flashy card party pulls when you want the whole crowd to take in the card. One down side to using large cards, even if they fit your hands, is that they require quite a large area to do a tarot card spread.

CUSTOM FORMAT TAROT CARDS

With the opportunity for new custom format printing options, I have seen tarot cards in an ever-expanding array of shapes and sizes. I have seen round cards, oval cards, and perfectly square cards. At this point if you can dream it, someone is probably doing it.

SIZING TIPS

Here is a round up of what you should think about when you're considering a tarot card deck:

• What size is comfortable to hold and shuffle?
• What size is easy to see yourself or easy for others to see?
• Are you extremely pressed for either storage space or tarot card reading space?
• What is the purpose of the tarot card deck? Is a particular size that better fits your needs in that regard?

HAPPY READING!