The Cards
The Rohrig Tarot Cards
I've used several decks over the years but settled on the Rohrig as my primary deck early on.  The combination of beautiful art and a traditional arrangement of the cards works very well for me.  The Rohrig deck bears a great deal of similarity to the Thoth

Click here to see the wikipedia article or here to see the aeclectic tarot version but the art is not quite as dark. 

One of my other favorite decks is the Faeries Oracle with the beautiful art of Brian Froud. It is an oracle deck rather than traditional tarot and seems to lend itself well to more free form readings. 

My first deck was a pretty little deck called Tarot Nova.

This is a great beginner's deck and is one I still turn to when reading for children as the images are sweet and simple but very clear.  Another great deck for young people is the Inner Child Cards, which are designed around a fairy tale theme.