Tarot by Hilary

This is another post in the “Ask a Tarot Reader” series. If you have a question for me that you’d like to see featured here, please email me at tarrytowntarot@gmail.com, Subject line: “Ask a Tarot Reader”. Please specify how you would like your name to appear or if you wish to remain anonymous.

This is my tarot bag… want to take a peek at which decks are inside?

This one comes from a twitter follower:

@hsparry I learned on the most loved + most falling apart Morgan-Greer deck. Are some decks better for some readings or is it your instinct?

— Kat McBride (@KatMcBrideArt) January 4, 2013

The short answer was this:

@katmcbrideart I think it’s a combo of both. I use Mystic Dreamer #tarot for love readings b/c it looks dreamy and romantic to me!

— Hilary Parry (@hsparry) January 4, 2013

The longer answer, well, is this blog post! The thing is, I try not to play favorites with my tarot decks. They only “become” my tried and true one subject decks if I calibrate them as such. Continue reading »

Readers Studio started a little differently for me this year. Last year, my friend Courtney and I were up far too early on the Friday morning to watch the Royal Wedding before heading to the conference, leading us to consume massive amounts of coffee once we arrived in order to stay awake. This year, I drove myself down to the conference from my home about 45 minutes away. I still needed the massive amounts of caffeine, however (some things never change). Continue reading »

It’s entirely possible that this is how many bags I’ll have by the end of the weekend.

It’s been a wild and wacky year of tarot, business, networking, and self-reflection. This weekend the Wheel (of Fortune) comes full circle, and I will be attending Readers Studio for the second time. I will not be on pins and needles this weekend, waiting for the results of the Tarot Apprentice contest. I will not be the shy new wallflower, hanging back and not making a peep, afraid to voice my opinions because I am a young(er) tarot reader. I will be full-throttle Hilary. Continue reading »

My darling tarot,

Just think, we have been together now for 15 years. How the time has flown by, but I still remember our first meeting like it was yesterday! You came to me in the guise of the Tarot Nova, and you evolved as I loved you new deck by new deck. I evolved too.

Continue reading »

I was about to give up on the “Wednesdays will be my new blog post day” idea when I thought I had nothing to write about. I shuffled and pulled a card on this issue. The Queen of Swords impassively stared back at me. I know, I know. She doesn’t need to say anything. She says it all with one look: “Get over yourself, you wench, and just blog. The words will come.” Okay, I’m blogging. You don’t mess with the Queen of Swords.


Today on twitter the tweets were aflame with my fellow tarot readers’ admissions of tarot deck addiction. It seemed the more decks we accumulate, the more we want (and I’m most certainly not immune). The newest, the latest, the prettiest, the edgiest. But no matter how you dress it up, the cards will still say what they want to say. For example, you can dress up the Queen of Swords, but no matter what, she’ll still kinda be a bitch. (It’s okay I’m saying this; she knows damn well what she is.)


The problem with tarot deck addiction is that if you have too many decks, it’s really hard to build a rapport with any one of them. It’s the “spreading yourself too thin” syndrome. The cards speak to me. Each deck has its own language of symbols. With each new deck, it is a new system of symbols to learn. Yes, the symbols are usually the same from deck to deck (rarely is the High Priestess unrecognizable, no matter what deck you’re looking at), but with artistic license comes additional symbols specific to that deck alone. I’m only talking about the people that build up a collection of decks that they read with. There are some people I know that simply collect decks for the art alone, and have never read with them. “Spreading yourself too thin” syndrome does not apply to collectors.


I admit, I have the attention span of a ferret sometimes. Pretty and shiny and new decks are like a siren call to me. But now that I think about it, it’s probably best that I stick with the collection that I have for now, and not drive myself crazy with amassing decks.


She says with three new decks in her possession…