Last month I got myself a Rider-Waite deck. It's my first tarot deck ever and I bought it while I'm halfway through my eleventh year of practice. I chose it because I'm most familiar with its cards and symbolism, having made use of them more than once in my work.
Some fanatics demand people get a tarot deck as soon as they begin their magical practice, making it seem indispensable to the work. It's not. It won't help you LBRP-ing yourself into exhaustion or in maintaining a constant regular practice. Quite the opposite, it can become addictive and distract one from magical work. So if you want to really practice the occult it's best to do the actual thing instead of wasting time playing with cards for trivialities.
It will help you in contemplating the symbolism behind the cards in order to better understand each of the forces they represent to a greater degree. It will help if using the cards as gateways to astral realms. Naturally, it will help if you want to learn, or become better at tarot divination.
