Thank you for covering some decks I've not seen before! My first deck was the Rider-Waite and I never get it to 'work' for me.
I agree with your suggestions and tips for choosing a deck. Good to have more than one for different energies.
I was told, when I was wondering why the cards have to be so big (I'm also a small handed person) that they were made that way so that you would have to pay attention, focus your energy, on the reading rather than feel that you could shuffle them in a more casual way like playing cards.
Oh, dear, I just realized this comment was here! Thank you for reading, and I'm glad you liked it. My decks do all have rather different energies and work better for different things—the Book of Shadows Vol. 2 is great for readings about practical matters (jobs, school stuff, and so on), while I tend to use the Wild Unknown for tarot spells or very strange questions. The Everyday Witch is great for whimsy, and I'm working up a review of my newest deck today, which will definitely be best for emotional issues.
On the topic of deck size, I've never heard that reasoning for it, but I find that assertion highly unlikely, since tarot cards were originally used as plain playing cards, from the 1400s until the 1800s, when systems of cartomancy using tarot decks began to be documented by occultists—it was very much a Victorian craze! (Victorians were bonkers, but they did occasionally have some good ideas...)
Anyway, there are modern decks that are all kinds of sizes, from 8.5 x 11 monstrosities to the 1.8 x 2.9 inch Rider-Waite-Smith mini.
Oh good, I look forward to a new review!
I have never read the 'big card' explanation anywhere, it was a friend and professional card reader who told me and I figured it was as good an explanation as any. :-) But yes, I've seen different sized cards and my grandmother 'read' regular playing cards. Too bad I was too young to learn her method. My deck of choice is the 'Osho Zen'.