What kinds of decks exist and which to take
There is no best deck, only one that suits the task. A portrait deck and a scene deck give different conversations about the same situation, and choosing between them affects the result more than the quality of the artwork.
Five types and what each gives
The classification in the method is wider, but these five are what practice uses. The type follows from what is depicted, and from that follows which questions make sense.
Portrait
Faces and human figures. They give you roles, relationships and parts of yourself: talking about someone else's face is easier than your own. Poor when you need the context of a situation.
Scene
A scene rather than a single object. They show what is happening and where it is going. Taken for situations, choices and transitions.
Resource
Images of support and calm. For getting your footing back rather than taking a problem apart. The first thing to open when it is hard.
Coaching
Built around goals, choices and momentum. They fit techniques with steps and decisions, such as GROW.
Specialised
For one kind of work: a couple, children, the body, money. Stronger than a universal deck inside their theme and useless outside it.
There are also abstract decks (colour and form without a scene) and universal ones (every type mixed in a single set). We do not have those yet, and we say so plainly on the decks page.
Choosing by task
The most practical way to choose: start not with a deck but with what you are about to think about.
- It is hard, I need footing – a resource deck, calm images without a storyline
- A choice, a fork, a transition – a scene deck about thresholds, forks and movement
- Relationships and roles – a portrait deck: faces you speak about yourself through
- A couple, closeness and distance – a specialised deck for work with pairs
- Work, money, burnout – a coaching deck about energy and momentum
- A conversation with a child or teenager – a portrait deck about emotions and bodily signals
What to start with
A beginner is served by a deck with a wide range of images, holding people, scenes and calm pictures alike. A narrow specialised deck narrows the first conversation with it.
Second criterion: the artwork should appeal to you enough that you come back to it, and little enough that it does not eclipse the situation. A deck that is too beautiful pulls attention onto itself.
Third: the number of cards matters less than it seems. Eighty images is already more than you can work through in a year of weekly sessions.
How to tell a deck does not suit you
Sometimes the problem is neither the question nor the technique but the set of pictures. Three signs.
First: the cards bring up nothing three times running. Not resistance, not "this is hard", but flat emptiness. The visual language of the deck is passing you by, and that is fine: artwork is a matter of taste, and here taste works as an instrument.
Second: every answer comes out about the same thing. A narrow deck pulls the conversation into its theme, and if the theme is not yours, every session will be about it. Test it by changing the deck type, not the question.
Third: you keep explaining the picture to yourself instead of reacting to it. That happens with images that are too complex and symbolically loaded: the head switches on before the feeling, and no projection occurs.
What not to judge a deck by
Three criteria look important and barely affect the result.
How well known it is
A deck being famous says something about its age and its publisher, not about whether it suits you. The first deck of the method came out in 1983, and that does not make it the best choice for a conversation about your career.
Whether it has word cards
Text narrows the association: the word sets a direction before you have looked at the image. Sometimes useful, more often in the way. A beginner is better off without.
Price and packaging
Thick card stock and a nice box are pleasant and unrelated to what you will see in the picture. An online deck with no box works the same.
And one thing that does not exist among metaphorical decks: a deck with ready interpretations. If a set comes with a table of card meanings, you are holding an oracle or a divination deck, not MAC. Neither better nor worse, simply another instrument with another logic.
How many decks you need
One lasts a long time. A second makes sense once the first starts giving repeating answers, and it should be of another type: a portrait deck next to a scene one, a resource deck next to a portrait one.
Collecting decks just in case is pointless: what works is the precision of the question, not the variety of pictures. Test it by asking the same question of two different decks: the wording of the answer will differ, the content will not.
We have 10 decks of our own, 859 cards, all free and without sign-up: see the catalogue. Each lists the techniques it works with: Momentum, for instance, with GROW and money flow.
One limit unrelated to theme: a children's deck does not by itself make work with a child safe. An adult runs the process, and the limits of the method are the same as for adult practice: what to know beforehand.
FAQ
Which metaphorical cards are best?
What types of metaphorical cards are there?
How does a portrait deck differ from a scene deck?
How many cards should a deck have?
Can I mix decks in one layout?
Open the decks
Next: catalogue of 8 decks, a first session in 10 minutes, techniques by task, glossary.