Witches Tarot, by Ellen Cannon Reed and Martin Cannon (reviewed by Izolda) (Here are some comments from Martin Cannon, the artist of the deck)
This is a pagan/wiccan deck with the standard set of suits. However, because it is wiccan-oriented, there are some changes in the deck. The Devil is the Horned One and it is a card of passion and abandon, lust and the wild male archetype and not in a negative way. The High Priestess is in a "Drawing Down the Moon" stance and she has a garter belt on her thigh. As I said before, it has a wiccan focus.
This is a kind of a strange deck. It has some of the most beautiful and evocative cards I've ever seen like the Strength card (the deck is probably worth buying just for that card), the Seeker, and the three and two of cups. And, yet, there are some problems with the deck. For example, the court cards have the same painting for each of the suits (the queen is the same queen in each suit, and the king is the same king in each suit, etc.) and the only differences are the colors worn and prevalent in the painting and the season in which the painting is depicted (the season corresponds to the season for the suit, e.g., swords are winter, rods are summer, etc.) I find that distracting and, to be honest, I like having the court cards be different people because they can mean such radically different things from one another.
The other things that are kind of unusual are these strange colored circles and partial circles that appear, seemingly, for no reason, on the paintings. The Wheel of Fortune, an otherwise incredible card, has these two colored circles one on top and one on the bottom. Again, I find it distracting. Also, the six of swords is painted entirely differently from the rest of the deck. You have to see it to understand, I guess. It's done in an entirely different style, and I can't figure out why.
It seems to me that the cups suit is done the best. It has the most passion and depth, and the pentacles are the least effective of the suits. For example, the eight of pentacles is a painting of a bodybuilder, wearing green bathing trunks, in a library. I don't get it. (Actually, maybe the cups, being cups are supposed to be passionate and full of depth, and the pentacles being pentacles are supposed to be more angular and rougher somehow.)
But, then, the Aces in this deck are tremendous. They are mystical and full of wonder with starlit scenes depicting the ace of each suit. The threes are really excellent, especially the three of cups and the three of rods, both of which depict beautiful renditions of the maiden, mother and crone. Again, this makes a good collector's deck or a good deck for a practitioner of wicca, but I find it too distracting to use on a regular basis because of the incongruity of a lot of the cards with the rest of the deck. To see some of the cards...
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Here are some comments from Alan Ross regarding the colored circles that I had questioned earlier in this review: "I just wanted to mention that the colored circles you are refering to on the Major Arcana cards represent Sephiroth on the Qabalistic Tree of Life. Each Major Arcanum is associated with a particular path on the Tree and each path is bounded by two Sephiroth. The position of these Sephiroth and the color of each Sephirah (in Briah) is what is indicated on each card. This is a rather unorthodox way of indicating these associations. Most decks use the Hebrew alphabet for this purpose." (Look for more of Alan's reviews down below. He's insightful and explains things very well.)
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Here are some comments from Rox about this deck and Martin Cannon's comments above.
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Hello! I have recently purchased the Witches' Tarot by Ellen Cannon Reed and have just browsed through the comments by the illustrator, Martin Cannon.
I don't know if this message is going to the right source, but I would like to say that the artwork on this deck is gorgeous. As soon as I saw the "Chariot" picture in a book that gave examples of cards from many decks I KNEW this was the right deck for me. It was SO helpful reading these comments by the illustrator. Even if I was not interested in Tarot as a medium, I think I would have still bought the deck just for the artwork and it's tight organization of symbolism.
The depictions on the cards are of the highest quality. I guess I just wanted to say that in spite of the short amount of time that was given to Mr. Cannon the cards are still excellent, and as a freelance/pastime artist myself I know how frustrating it is to look back at the work you have done and see hundreds of ways to improve it. This deck, to me, doesn't just 'tell it like it is", like the Waite deck, but forces the reader or the subject to THINK, to grow.
It really looks great and the cards are very easy to read (with some
introductory knowledge of Kabbalah). Even the 6 of Swords!
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Mythic Tarot, by Juliet Sharman-Burke and Liz Greene, illustrated by Tricia Newell (reviewed by Izolda)
This deck has really nice paintings with lots of warm colors. It's based on Greek mythology, and the authors had some really innovative ideas and put them to great use. For example, the numbered cards in each suit tell a myth. The swords tell the Oresteia, the Cups tell, the story of Eros and Psyche, the Rods tell of Jason and the Argonauts and the Pentacles tell of Daedalus, who built the labyrinth for the King of Minos. The court cards are figures who embody the suit and its traits.
Another really great use of the characters in the myths is the Star which is Pandora. The sun is Apollo and Justice is Athena. However, there are some cards that I really don't agree with like Hercules taming the lion in Strength. To me the Strength card is about being in complete harmony and communion with nature; it's not about taming it. I think they needed to come up with a good myth that used a lion and chose that one with some disregard on what the card should or should not mean.
Some other cards that are perfect though are: Dionysis as the Fool, Demeter as the Empress, the three Fates as the Wheel of Fortune, and Hecate as the Moon. If you're into mythology and meditation, you'll love this deck. It may be a little difficult to read with because you might get lost in the stories of the deck, but it truly is a wonderful deck. To see some of the cards...
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Tarot of the Old Path, by Sylvia Gainsford and Howard Rodway (reviewed by Izolda)
This is another deck that is based on a wiccan/pagan tradition. It has some really great cards. The Magician is a Herne-like character with a wolf and runes and Stonehenge in the background. It strikes a really wild chord in me.
The High Priestess is a wonderful card. She stands with a deer, a unicorn, a black cat and a squirrel. And, the Priestess is beautiful and powerful and maintains her connection to the earth.
This wiccan deck has some different names for some of the traditional cards. It has Karma instead of Judgment and the card shows the cycle of death and rebirth. The Chariot, called Mastery, has horses in colors and painted in the four elements.
I'm not partial to the faces of the folk on the minor arcana.
The deck also makes use of color and pigment in some unusual ways. All of the cards are on white backgrounds and that is sometimes a bit distracting. The colors also correspond to the suits. For example, there's lots of red and orange in the Rods suit. And there's lots of blue in Cups. Also, silver is used to highlight some of the cards in the deck. In the Moon, called Illusion in this deck, the Goddess is the sky, her belly is the moon, her fin gers are the rivers, and her eyes are silver with a brighter sheen than the pigmentation of the rest of the card.
This is a great deck if you are pagan or wiccan and want a deck that reflects some of your beliefs. To see some of the cards....
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New Palladini Tarot, by David Palladini (review by Alan Ross)
The New Palladini is a very attractive RW clone in a style I've seen described somewhere as "art deco." The people in this deck are shown very close-up, generally only from the waist up. The colors used in this deck are more vivid, less muted, than the artist (David Palladini) used in his previous deck, the Aquarian Tarot (published in 1970 and probably the second or third deck that I bought). These same points are made by Michelle Jackson in her review of this deck http://www.erols.com/jacksn/. She also has reviews of the other decks as well. To see some of the cards...
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Voyager Tarot, by James Wanless & Ken Knutson (re view by Alan Ross)
Although I have the Voyager Tarot and the matching book by James Wanless, I haven't really worked much with this deck. It's a very beautiful deck; next to the Rohrig, it is artistically my favorite montage deck. But it is a little too cluttered for my taste. With so many images and so much symbology on each card, it might make a good choice for meditational use, particularly given the New Age/Spiritual orientation of this deck (my favorite meditational/spiritual deck is the Osho Zen Tarot). The Minors use an interpretative system completely different from the more usual Golden Dawn-based systems. To see some of the cards...
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Robin Wood Tarot, by Robin Wood (review by Alan Ross)
The Robin Wood is my favorite pagan deck. This deck feels very lively and full of good cheer (for contrast, compare it with the Hudes Tarot). There's even music in this deck! (The Fool plays a flute and the charioteer in The Chariot plays a harp.) The creator of this deck was careful to strip out all Judeo-Christian and Egyptian symbolism; This has lead to some unorthodox imagery in the Major Arcana. One of the more interesting changed cards is the Devil, with each character attem pting to drag the treasure chest in the opposite direction from the other. If you look on the lid of the chest, you will see engraved an illustration of the "monkey trap." This is where a fruit is placed in a heavy vase, tempting a monkey to reach in and grab the fruit. once the monkey grabs the fruit, it cannot withdraw its hand. To free itself from the vase, it would have to release the fruit; therefore, the monkey is trapped by its own greed. I also think the phoenix rising from the flames is a reasonable replacement for more traditional depictions of Judgement, although ironically the connotation of judgement, where one is judging or being judged, is lost. Perhaps this card should have been renamed Renewal.
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Osho Zen Tarot (reviewed by Cheryl)
When you begin reading cards, you hope for decks that will allow you to connect with them. This is one deck I've never, ever been sorry I've bought.
This isn't completely traditional tarot, but there are suits like clouds and rainbows. Thunderbolt replaces The Tower, and look for other variations like Existence, The Master (with Osho represented here).
The entire deck is alive with color and the feelings that the artwork bring out in yo u. Even the Postponement card (one of the more muted hued cards) draws you into it, and the fact that the cards can do that will enhance your reading skills.
Since traditional meanings don't work with this deck per se, a guide book containing not only the meanings but a meditation for each card gives you enough background to make the interpretation meaningful and accurate.
This is a great deck for those who do Reiki (as well as other types of healing energy work). It has a good sense of balance and healing to it, and the deck acclimates to the client quickly. It's also not intimidating as some traditional images can be.
Speads are included with the book, and I recommend the quickie past l ife spread, because it's accurate and REALLY fast.
There's a glossary of symbols that will enhance "playing" with the deck, which is encouraged above all. The deck itself is subtitled The Transcendental Game of Zen, and truly, you can play with it by making up your own spreads or by utilizing others.
The cards are shaped a bit chunky but they aren't very difficult to manage.
I recommend this deck to anyone of any age or belief system.
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Motherpeace Round Tarot by Karen Vogel and Vicki Noble (reviewed by Cheryl)
This deck comes in two sizes, and I own the larger size. Round decks seem to need a special coordination to work with, so I would recommend considering the smaller size if you find that you have trouble with the mechanics of shuffling.
Artwork on the deck is primitive but has a charm that many will relate to. I feel that there is a strong maternal aura to the deck, making it a good advisor for those on the Goddess path. In the booklet that accompanies the cards, it's stated that the artwork is derived from Goddess cultures of the world, but that doesn't mean that the deck should be limited to women reading from it. Male images are present as well as female.
Changes to traditional tarot include the Crone as the Hermit and Court cards King, Queen, Knight and Page are replaced by Shaman, Priestess, Son and Daughter. Traditional meanings are preserved for the numbered suits, and the explanations in the booklet for the Major Arcana and the Court cards I found to give a better understanding of the meaning, without a lot of verbage.
Backs of the cards are gold-toned with Goddess-spiralled disks. The Motherpeace layout is included, and though I've not tried it, it's similar to the Celtic Cross (but not laid out in that way) in what it looks for, and adds cards for "the lesson of the month" and "group or individual energy that dr ains or nourishes you", making a total of 11 cards in the spread.
I believe that there is a workbook that you can purchase separately, and the included information lists a book by Vicki Noble called "Motherpeace: A Way to the Goddess through Myth, Art and Tarot".
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Tarot of a Moon Garden (illustrations by Karen Marie Sweik) (reviewed by Cheryl)
The instructions on the deck were written by Laura E. Clarson, and the meanings for reversed and upright are given. The Ten Card Spread is your basic Celtic Cross.
I think that this deck is a good choice for individuals who want to read tarot but are anxious about the traditional renderings such as the Devil and Death. Each of these cards is portrayed in a fashion that diminishes the harshness found in many decks. The Devil card is actually quite pretty, and resembles a shaman's mask more than a behorned, enraged beast.
Some might find the deck a little too "cute", but that's what it is: a cute deck that works especially well if you're drawn to fairy images. If you like fairy tales and works of art that reflect that, then be prepared to find unicorns, hot air balloons, butterflies and dragonflies .
This would be my choice to gift a young person new to the tarot, or someone who is up in the age who has "always wanted to learn" but couldn't get past the propaganda of tarot's "dark" imagery.
If you're prone to storytelling, then this is a good deck to entertain a small child, because stories can be made up as cards are drawn. And that's what tarot amounts to anyway, isn't it? Forming a (true) story to counsel those in need of it.
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Santa Fe Tarot by Holly Huber and Tracy LeCocq (reviewed by Cheryl)
Sister team Huber and LeCocq created a deck based on Navajo myth and sandpaintings of Yeis, or supernatural beings.
Major Arcana have the traditional tarot name and the subtitle indicates the Navajo representation. For example, the Tower is subtitled Red Thunder Yei, and the Lovers card White Corn Man and Yellow Corn Woman. The traditional meanings stay largely intact, which is what the creators intended, and the Navajo myth is explained, further enhancing the meaning of the card.
These cards read marvelously, whether in yes or no spreads or in the Windway Spread, a spinoff of the Celtic Cross. They're versatile, but I recommend learning t he myth behind each rather than reading intuitively from the picture.
Suits are Rainbows, Lightning, Water and Buffalo (wands, swords, cups and coins). Each of these presents a Yei but no subtitle.
Court cards, however, are also titled with the Navajo name, such as Water Woman (Queen of Water).
Anyone interested in learning more or having an interest in Southwestern myth and legend might want to consider buying the boxed set, which has a companion book. However, the book is sold separately, too, I think, and you can always go back and pick it up.
Back of the cards have Navajo design that complements the theme of the deck. Of tarot gossip interest: Tracy LeCocq writes romantic suspense mysteries for Silhouette, publisher of multo romance novels.
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Rohrig Tarot by Carl Rohrig (reviewed by Cheryl)
These cards are *big*, and the artwork is even bigger. Though they are difficult for me to handle, I'd recommend them to anyone with large or unusually dexterous hands. You will focus on shuffling the cards, so if you love the deck, go for it anyway. This deck has suits of Disks, Cups, Swords and Wands, with a Major Arcana that has some adjust ments, too. Court cards are Knight, Prince, Queen and Princess. The Chariot modernizes itself to become a race car, and the imagery on all the cards will challenge your notions about what's tradtionally on the cards.
It's hip, it's modern, and boy oh boy is it sexy, so expect images of nude bodies and body parts. It's not pornographic, but it extols many features and forms, and clothing is in various states of array. This deck has enough imagery in the fore and backgrounds to allow for intuitive reading. Images like words and notes written on notepaper, a Hermit's face etched with a maze and Minor Arcana that are titled to cue you to a general meaning (the 3 of Wands is "Virtue", and a lone figure walks a deserted highway). Sigils are upon each Major Arcana (runes, Hebrew alphabet and Astrological signs). A beautiful fractal image of the universe is on the back of each card. I like good images on the backs of the cards because I recommend focusing upon them while shuffling, or just to meditate on before a reading. An interpretation book is sold separately, but I didn't bother with that or the booklet that comes with the cards, because I liked reading the imagery.
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Wonderland Tarot by Christopher and Morgana Abbey (reviewed by Izolda)
Based on the illustrations of Sir John Tenniel for Lewis Carroll's work, this is a deck that is ba sed on the traditional tarot images that you can find on decks like the Rider-Waite. It's a whimsical deck and the colors are bright and vivid. It differs from traditional decks in some fundamental ways. For example, instead of cups, swords, pentacles and rods, the suits are hats, flamingos, oysters, and peppermills. Oh, and the corresponding playing card suits are shown on the appropriate cards.
The creators chose some wonderful symbols from the Alice books to really bring across the meanings of the cards. I'm reminded here of the Shakespeare Tarot (review coming soon) in which Dolores Ashcroft Nowicki found just the right characters to portray different cards of the tarot. For example, on the two of cups, there are usually two lovers sharing a drink (of nectar?) and there is a benevolent face looking down on them. In this deck, we have the king and queen of hearts and the face looking down on them is the Chestershire cat. Also, the Lovers are Tweedledee and Tweedledum. The caterpillar (hookah and all) is the heirophant, and Alice, herself, is the High Priestess. One of my favorite choices for characters is the Mad Hatter for the Fool. The Doormouse is the Hermi t and we see him, eyes closed and lantern in hand, sitting in a teapot.
One card that doesn't make the transition all that well is the three of swords. Usually, there are three swords all piercing a heart. In this deck, there are three flamingos hanging out in front of a red heart. Somehow, the flamingos don't communicate the emotional intensity that the card suggests.
Now for my recommendation. Well, I like the deck and if you are a big Alice in Wonderland fan, you'll love the deck. However, although it was created in the style of the Rider-Waite and therefore should be easy to read with, I find myself distracted by the characters. I remember too much about them from the stories and that might color my judgement were I to try and read with the deck. However, on the other hand, knowing the characters from the books, might make it easier for some to read with this deck. In the end, I see this deck as more of a collector's deck than a reading deck. It's fun to have and I'mm glad I have it and I've used some of the cards on my altar, but I'm not sure that I'd ever want to read with the deck. However, someone who's a real fan of Alice might have a deep and old connection to the deck and therefore might really intuit well from the cards. I'm not sure if there's a companion book for the deck; it would be an interesting read.
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Shakespearian Tarot by Dolores Ashcroft-Nowicki, illustrated by Paul Hardy (reviewed by Izolda)
This is a nice deck especially if you love Shakespeare (and I do as I was an English drama major in college). Each card has a scene from a Shakespeare play on it that represents what the card should be and a quote that typifies the meaning of the card. For example, the World card is from "As You Like It" and the quote is: "All the world's a stage" (and all the men and women, merely players....).
This is an illustrated deck of scenes from Sheakspeare's plays that uses the scene to illustrate the meaning of each card. The colors are not too bright and not all that vivid and the suits are slightly different than traditional suits. Instead of cups, wands, swords and pentacles (or coins) they used orbs, sceptres, swords and crowns. The back of the cards looks like a tudor style woodworked carving (beautiful; I wouldn't mind having one). It comes with a 144-page book that explains the cards and the reasons for the choices of play and scene. Now, on to the review... There are a number of things to recommend this deck. First, Ms. Ashcroft-Nowicki has done a marvelous job researching the plays to find a lot of wonderful scenes that identif y the cards really well (she used a lot of the plays including Antony and Cleopatra, A Midsummer Night's Dream, King Lear, A Winter's Tale, most of the History plays and few of the comedies). With a few exceptions, the cards really carry the weight of the meaning well (however she chose them perfectly mostly with the Major Arcana cards and not quite as well with the minor suits). One of the best cards in the deck is the Tower. Usually, in a traditional deck, the Tower shows two people falling from a tower while lightning is striking the top of the tower. In this card, we get a different scene. We see the Tower from the inside from the play "Richard III." A shadowy, cloaked figure has cast out two children to fall to their deaths below. The quote is: "...heaved a'high and hurl'd down to below." In the play, we never really know who pushed the two boys out. But, this act brought great changes in England because this would herald the days of the Tudors (like Henry VIII and Elizabeth I). In the book, Ashcroft-Nowicki says that she wanted to show destruction from within and also that although the figure wears a signet ring, we can't really see what it is although it looks more like a rose (a Tudor Rose) than a boar's head. That is a definite choice on who threw the children out of the tower. I can't really make out the details of the ring (more on my feelings on the details of the paintings l ater), but I'll believe her.
One of my other favorite cards in the deck is the Hanged Man. We see a castle wall at night. There is a ghostly figure of a knight in armor hanging a man upside down while he is only tethered by his foot. It is from Hamlet and the scene is when Hamlet's father's ghost speaks to Hamlet about avenging his death. The quote is "Angels and ministers of grace defend us." The Hanged Man is generally a card of contemplation and non-decision and of the space between breaths. In this case, at this point in the play Hamlet begins his journey of indecision. He is not sure how to avenge his father; he is not sure about what he saw; he cannot decide for Acts yet what to do, and we are not sure if he's gone mad. This trauma and dilemma have driven lots of productions of this play over the years. Again, though, unless you know the play, it's hard to get a full meaning for the card besides the overall surface visual illustration of a man being hung upside down.
Some other favorite cards are: the Wheel of Fortune (King Lear "The wheel hath come full circle") The Emperor (Julius Caesar, "I am as constant as the northern star") The Moon (A Midsummer Night's Dream, "Ill met by moonlight proud Titania") Nine of Swords (Macbeth "Out damned spot...out I say," Lady Macbeth as she has gone mad with grief over killing King Duncan; it's perfect) King of Orbs (A Midsummer N ight's Dream, "Certain stars shot madly from their spheres," can you think of a better king of orbs [cups] than Oberon, King of the fey?) Queen of Orbs (A Midsummer Night's Dream, "I am a spirit of no common rate," Titania, Queen of the fey says to an ass-headed Bottom), and last but definitely no least is the Devil (Othello, The Moor of Venice "Sweet soul take heed of perjury") Iago watches over Othello as he will kill his true love Desdemona. This is an incredible choice becase Iago has sworn to destroy Othello because Othello passed him over for promotion and with deceits and trickery, he convinces Othello that Desdemona, his wife, has been unfaithful. And even when he has a chance to stop everything by explaining all to Othello, Iago simply mounts the insidious pressure and mistrust on Othello until Othello is mad with rage and jealousy. Can't think of a better Devil in the traditional sense.
Here are some other choices that work and don't work for me. The Lovers is Romeo and Juliet (what else did we expect, I guess except for the fact that they die and the lovers cards means a more pure and passionate and happy love than Romeo and Juliet got to enjoy. I guess if you just look at how they loved each other and not what else was going on in the play it works great.). Oh and the illustrator made an interesting choice to show a church stained glass window with the Qabala (tree of life ) on it.
Another card that doesn't work is the three of orbs. It's from Hamlet and it's where the new King and Queen sit on their thrones. The new king, Claudius, got to the throne by killing his brother and the card is not a happy one. This is not the usual meaning of the card and so doesn't work for me. The last card I'll mention is the three of swords. Certainly, the scene in which Lear disinherits his daughter Cordelia is one that is full of emotional intensity (as befits the three of swords); however, the scene is shown with Cordelia on her knees being incredibly melodramatic with a hand to her forehead and everything. I've never gotten that from Cordelia; she has always seemed to me to be a level-headed young woman who wouldn't do that.
Now let me talk about the illustrations themselves. Unfortunately, they don't thrill me as I would love to be thrilled with a deck whose subject matter is so close to my heart. They are not terribly well-detailed and that takes away from my overall appreciation for the cards. For example, in the book, Ashcroft-Nowicki says that the signet ring on the hand of the figure who pushes the children out of the tower looks more like a rose than a boar's head. Well, honestly, you cannot tell that from the card. And also, the three of orbs is supposed to show tense and nervous expressions on the faces of the king and the queen. And I don' t see that either. I think perhaps, in the original illustrations, those details came through, but they did not reduce well. Also, I don't really care for the faces on any of the cards. they are too small and two-dimensional. That's one of the problems that I have with the deck; the illustrations are somewhat disappointing both because of the lack of detail and because of their lack of dimensionality and even life. Perhaps that is just my disappointment in not having a perfect deck to accompany the perfect plays. I am not sure.
The book that accompanies the deck gives great descriptions of the cards (often clarifying what you cannot see in the card perhaps because of the painting quality). Ashcroft-Nowicki also spent a lot of time giving a synopsis of each play and actually very little time giving the definition of each card. She does make a distinction between reversed and divinatory but you don't get a lot of information on those definitions. If you know the plays, you can intuit a lot of the meanings yourself, but it is nice to have that synopsis to fall back on.
This is another of the decks that I believe to be more of a collector's deck than a reading deck. It is great fun and educational to look at the cards and divine the meanings and think about the plays. However, for me, one of the essentials of any deck is to have good illustrations, and while I love the scholarly interpretations of Shakespeare and the choices that were made for each card, I am somewhat disappointed with the illustrations themselves. That would make it difficult for me to read with the deck. Other people; however, might find it easy to read with the deck because of the wealth of imagery from the plays themselves. So, if you love Shakespeare and are more interested in the information and the scholarly meanings that can be attached to the various tarot cards, this might be the deck for you. For me, it is a wonderful study in how Shakespeare brought in so many archetypes into his writing (no I won't get into whether or not he actually wrote the plays and yes, I realize that a lot of those archetypes were around long before him; for me, he just was the one to make the stories timeless.) but I don't think I'd ever read with this deck.
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Medicine Woman Tarot by Carol Bridges (reviewed by Izolda)
The Medicine Woman Tarot is a woman-centered, earth-centered deck that looks like it was created more to be a divination and life-changing, life-affirming system rather than necessarily a tarot deck. Bridges uses goddess/god/woman/man energy and all of the information in the cards for Healing Medicine. (Using the word, Medicine, she means the Native American form of the word for Healing.) This deck appears somewhat unlike other feminist decks. Although, this is a woman-oriented deck, it does not exclude the male. It instead, seems to be attempting to give greater emphasis to the female to create a balance.
First off, let me describe the cards. The suits in this deck are different from traditional decks. Instead of pentacles, cups, wands and swords, she has stones, bowls, pipes and arrows. On each card of the Major Arcana, she has the name of the card (traditional name) the number of the card and a one-word descripter of the card. The Minor Arcana are treated differently. See below.
The cards themselves are done in what appears to be watercolor pastels. They are not intricately done, but they do get their messages across extremely well, and they are peaceful. The back of the cards is beige with a darker brown medicine wheel. The fronts of the cards are pastels and the cards themselves are bordered by two color bars. Most of the action of a card takes place within a circle drawn on each card with supporting symbols above or below the circle.
Another difference between this deck and traditional decks is that instead of page, knight, queen and king, she has apprentice, totem, lodge and exemplar. To make things even more interesting she changes the lodges to correspond to the suit in which they appear. For example, for Stones (Earth, stability) we have the Harvest Lodge, for Pipes (Fire, action), we have the Power Lodge, for Arrows (Air, thought) we have the Teaching Lodge, and for Bowls (Water, emotion) we have the Nurturing Lodge. I like that she makes a distinction on each of the Lodges depending upon the suit's characteristics. She does the same with totems. Totems are: Coyote of the four-leggeds for arrows, Dolphins of the swimmers for bowls, Eagle of the flyers for pipes, and Snake of the crawlers for stones. She chose terrific correspondences for each of these, and I can see just how dolphins are perfect for the water symbolism as well as the emotional symbolism in the bowls suit. Also, snakes are perfect for stones (close to the earth, etc.)
Here are some cards that I feel really work in this deck. First, the Moon is Grandmothers. The card shows the Moon looking down on a sleeping woman while a Grandmother pours dreams into her head. Good use of colors here especially the color blue. Next, is the Wheel of Fortune. It is the Harvest. This card well shows the life cycle of the year and illustrates how as the year goes around there might be a good or bad harvest/fortune. This card really brought home to me the cycle that we all go through because, silly me, I'd never really seen the harvest cycle as being its own Wheel of Fortune before. The Empress is Bounty. It shows a woman breastfeeding a baby and corn growing near them. There is also a basket of fruit. It is a simply-rendered and yet poignant card. It works because she's gotten to the heart of the card without having to give a lot of extraneous information. Another good card is the Lovers - Ecstacy. I love the descripter word choice for this one. You can feel that in the card as well - that ecstatic feeling of love beyond all in part because of new passion and in part because of age-old connection. I don't care too much for the orange color of the bodies, but I do love thei r positioning. The man is seated before the woman opening his arms to her to welcome her into him as she welcomes him into her. The Fool - Seed is also wonderful. The Sun - Rebirth is a great card. There is a newborn with her parents with the rising sun behind them. I love the symbolism but I'm not too sure thatI care for the 60's hippy look of the parents. Oh yes, and last but not least is Temperence - Blend. Perfect word choice.
There is a book that comes with this deck. It's really very informative. It gives a lot of information for each card. In the Major Arcana, there is a number and its meaning, the traditional name for the card, the Medicine Woman energy of the card (quality about the card in terms of Medicine) an affirmation to use with the card, an explanation of the card, questions for yourself, an exercise to do with the card, a meditation, a visualization and astroligical sign for the card. Sometimes, Bridges includes foods and colors as well. That's a lot and it actually may be too much for some; I guess it depends on what you will use the deck for. The Minor Arcana are treated differently. They are broken up as the Four Powers and are considered to be lesser situations. She also gives a Prayer and a Lesson for each Minor Arcana card. She also goes into her philosophy and her intentions for the deck quite a bit and it's an interesting read. In the book, she suggests different readings. One reading is a card a day and another, for example, is a 6-card Medicine Wheel spread.
All in all, it's a good deck. However, I think it's not so much for meditating (on each card because of their simplicity although that could certainly work) or for readings for others. I think this deck is better used as a personal/spiritual journey tool. And I like what she says and how she says it. She's managed to bring across some complicated messages with simple tools and still infuse magic and symbolism into each card.
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Morgan-Gree r Tarot: illustrations by Bill Greer under the direction of Lloyd Morgan and the book by Susan Gerulskis-Estes. (reviewed by Izolda)
This is a nice, colorful deck based on the Waite deck. I have just a few things to say about the deck since the cards can pretty much be described as having the same content as other traditional (by that I mean based on the Rider-Waite) decks. There are no borders around the cards (they bleed to the edges) and the colors are vivid (if sometimes a bit too warm for my taste). It looks as if it is set in the Renaissance, perhaps. The back of the cards is a faded dark sky blue with white six- and five-pointed stars on it.
What's interesting to me about this deck is that some of the faces have been done very close up with thickly or broadly drawn lines and others are seen from farther away. It appears that they can be pretty easily split down between the major and minor arcana. The faces on almost all of the minor arcana are seen as very close up (witness the three of cups [there is at least one exception, the six of rods looks like a face from the major arcana]). And the faces on the major arcana are done seemingly with almost a few perfunctory lines (the Magician card comes to mind here). A notable exception is: the Strength card, where the detail is not great on the face of the woman holding the lion, but where the lines have bee n lightly drawn and yet she's still seen from farther away like the rest of the major arcana. I guess maybe that's what I'm trying to say: the Major arcana faces look like the lines were drawn very thick with the exception of Strength, Temperance, the Hanged Man, the Empress, and Judgment. These faces are seen from farther away like the other major arcana, but they have the more delicate lines.
It's almost as if the artists chose very different drawing styles to create various cards. If there is a method as to why they did this, I haven't yet found it. The deck does seem to have different styles in it. For example, the Moon looks very cartoony with almost no shadow work or cross-hatching to make things look more three-dimensional. The exceptions to that are the two towers (one square one circular) that sit in the background of the card. It feels almost like there wasn't a lot of thought given to the overall look of the cards in favor of getting the symbols on the page. And, I think the deck suffers a bit for that. I understand the need to get all of the symbols in, but I am reminded here of the Medicine Woman deck where Bridges got the point of her cards across with minimal symbolism because she chose so carefully. And, yet, this is a traditional deck, based on the Waite deck, and so I see why the symbols are all in the deck.
It feels almost like one of the types of car ds was done in a minimalist Pre-Raphaelite style. The three of cups (almost always one I look for in a deck to see if it's one that I'd like to own) is a lovely card and the three women on it are drawn with round faces, big eyes and quite rosebud-shaped mouths. There are flowers in their hair with ivy all around, and there are fruit and goblets on the table in front of them.
The King of Pentacles is another card I enjoy. First of all, the illustrator made him quite handsome with strong lins on the jaw, chin and nose. In this card, there is some fine detail work on his face with actual shadowing done to indicate cheekbones, upper lip and chin. That is missing from a number of the cards and it makes them look two-dimensional to me.
One card that looks quite two-dimensional and is therefore disappointing, is the Sun. In the card, we see the sun (for all intents and purposes an orange circle outlined in a thin black line with some orange smudges around the periphery to indicate rays, I believe), sunflowers, and a wall. Two people, in profile, face each other at the bottom of the card. First, there is almost no shadowing on the faces and they look anything but life-like or alive. This card, which can be so full of life and energy, looks drab and lifeless to me. Certainly, the illustrator used very warm oranges and yellows in the card to symbolize sun energy, but the card f alls quite flat to me. The cards that are done with the broad lines and with minimal shadowing are almost a bit overpowering and heavy-handed. The cards like Strength and Judgment sit very well with me because I feel invited to look at them more. However cards like the Sun and the Knight of Swords are too big and broad and I don't really feel like I want to study them or meditate on them. That might make it more difficult for some to really get to know the deck should they choose to read with it.
One card where this broad look works very well is the Devil. We see a fanged black goat head with slitted, yellow eyes with a an upsidedown five-pointed star above it. There is a red circle in the background and a lit candle on top of the star. Because this card is so big and broad and sweeping, it seems, actually, much bigger than its rougly 3 x 5 inch size. It's full of forboding and excess all at the same time. It's a great representation of what I'd imagine the Devil card to mean in a traditional deck.
The book. The book gives a couple of interesting theories on the origination of the tarot, and also talks a bit about the Qabala and the tarot. It then goes into a brief description of numerology and its relationship to tarot. Then, the book goes into the major and minor arcana. For each card, we see the black and white version of the card and both the numeral and a strological influences of the card. Next there is a detailed description of the card itself with an explanation of each symbol on the card. This is a nice explanation of why traditional cards had the various symbols that were depicted on them. And last, we see both the divinatory and the reversed meanings of the card. I like, really like, the description of the cards, but once again, I feel like a lot of time is spent on the symbols and their meanings and relatively little time is spent on the possible meanings of the cards themselves. I suppose that it is a good way to give the reader a chance to develop her/his own ideas about the cards' meanings from gleaning inuited information from the symbols chosen for each card. Actually, that might make for a better reading because the knowledge of the symbolism really can help in the intuitive interpretation of the cards the cards in a spread.
If one is familiar with the tarot and with traditional decks especially, the book is a nice refresher of the various meanings and symbols and their justifications, but it is not necessary for enjoying the deck and reading with it.
Now for the recommendation. I like this deck. I must say that I am biased towards the Hanson-Roberts deck for a new vision of the traditional deck, but this is a nice deck. I wish that more attention was paid to the entire style of the deck because I feel at times that the deck is a bit disjointed (sort of like the Witches Tarot) and that the various styles make it more diffiuclt to develop a true understanding of the deck. However, some might find this deck, with its broad strokes and strong use of color easy to read because of the emphasis on symbolism and the stress on the traditional. This would make a good reading deck, but I don't think that I'd ever try it for meditation.
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The Rider Tarot as conceived by Arthur Edward Waite and designed by Pamela Colman Smith.
It's the grandmother (or sometimes distant ancestor) of most of the modern day decks. And, in part because of that, it deserves respect all on its own. A great number of decks (including my favorite, The Hanson-Roberts Tarot) have relied on the drawings of the Rider deck in order to develop new and oftentimes more innovative decks. It is as if the Rider is the springboard from which a lot of other decks have been conceived. The symbolism on so many decks can be seen as being derived from the Rider. As examples, I can list the Aquarian, the Hanson-Roberts, the Wonderland, the Morgan Greer, The Herbal, just to name a few. And other decks like the Robin Wood, the Ancestral Path, the Tarot of the Old Path and the Witches Tarot can be thematically traced back to the Rider deck even though their individual themes often go in other directions.
This is the first modern deck to give actual images on minor arcana number cards.1 Previous to this deck, the minor arcana simply showed images of, say, six wands or three swords to designate those cards in the deck. The tarot decks that were around in Italy during the Renaissance did not depict anything other than the objects on the cards. It appears that Waite had other ideas and this deck showed actual scenes that could be interpreted much easier than previous decks. Does that perhaps bias the reader? I am not certain. Actually, I believe that probably just knowing what the cards meant might bias the reader. I guess it depends on whether or not the reader thinks in words or in images. For me, personally, it is much easier to interpret from an image that tells a story rather than from three cups on a card. The maidens who are raising their glasses on the three of cups show me much more of a celebration than I might otherwise see if just looking at three cups.
Although this is the first deck to show images on the minor arcana, the actual drawings are somewhat simplistic. I believe that they do their job because the symbolism does show through, but I have to say in all honesty that aesthetically I don't care for the drawings. The actual drawings could be better drawn and have been better drawn by folks like Mary Hanson-Roberts who based her deck on the Rider-Waite in symbolism and content and yet her characters have more life and vitality in them. For example, the faces on the cards of the Rider deck are classically drawn but not terribly well-detailed. For coloring, mostly primary colors are used. And there are a lot of broad lines that leave little room for the delicate details one might want. For me, there isn't a whole lot of life to these images and so they leave me rather cold. In the end, I don't find an emotional connection to these cards.
When looking at more (for lack of a better word) beautiful decks, I find myself wanting to study the images and really learn them and enjoy them. In this deck; however, that is just not the case. I find the cards somewhat stark and almost unfriendly. In the end, though, I am a lover of art nouveau and the pre-Raphaelites and other forms of lush and vibrant painting/drawing so that is more than likely my bias because I want more pleasing or inviting images from which to draw interpretations.
The background of the deck I am reviewing is a blue, black, and white plaid and the coloring of the cards themselves is monotoned with no shadowing to speak of. The coloring is only so so with spottily done colors that sometimes go over the lines. That's not a bad thing but it does look a bit sloppy to me and therefore it's a bit distracting. Also there are no variations to the colors. Once a color is used for, say, a dress or a sky, it's the only color used and there is no deviation for shadowing or cross-hatching. A couple of times, like in the Empress, something will be striped in color to give it some texture. However, that technique is used only seldom. I am not certain if this is a stylistic choice or if perhaps that is what was available when the deck was first printed.
With a few notable exceptions, the background colors are all yellow, blue (most are blue), black, or gray. I guess when the deck was originally done there were few choices in colors and primary colors with some different backgrounds were used as much as possible. That is probably why so many of the Rider or Waite decks' series have been reissued with a new color job (witness the Universal, the Rider-Waite, etc.).
The cards that I like are: the Aces (they are thematically linked by a d ivine hand holding the suit object. The hand and the clouds surrounding it is black and white and the suit object, is in color.), and the Empress (really, I like her face).
My overall impression of this deck is that it was once a most amazing achievement. And, for its historic value, it still is a most amazing and innovative accomplishment. I believe that tarot officionados everywhere can be grateful that this deck was created. However, with the proliferation of modern decks that have captured the themes and symbolism of the cards with better and more vibrant images, I have to say that I don't find this deck one that I would recommend unless someone wants to start looking at the tarot with the grandmother of many modern-day decks.
1 Lyons' Predicting the Future
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More reviews coming soon.
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Go to: Bio, Tarot, Energy Work, Therapeutic Creativity
Created by: Izolda
Email: izolda@folknouveau.com
Last Updated: November 4, 2005
