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Tarot Deck Review: Dark Exact

Deck: The Dark Exact Tarot
Writer & Artist: Coleman Stevenson
Publisher: Self-Published
Overall Rating: 7/10

Cardstock: These cards are a different shape than the standard tarot card, a bit more square, more like some oracle decks I own, but larger than poker size – approximately 4 inches x 3 inches. They have a semi-matte texture, and they riffle shuffle pretty well. My only complaint any the cardstock is that small dings to the edges tend to expose the white of the card interior, which is in sharp contrast to the black face of the cards. But one could always take a sharpie to the edges.

Artwork: The artwork is very minimalist, tarot symbology pared down and distilled to its key essences. The minor cards are mostly pips, but arranged in an evocative manner with the occasional additional symbol, like an alchemical elemental triangle, and the heart in the Three of Swords. The Majors have more detailed images but still usually one main element: a flower bulb for The Hermit, lines on a person’s palm for Judgement, an ouroboros for Death.

Book: The booklet is very short and has very small font but manages to pack some really good keywords for upright and reversal readings of all the cards. It also has a very brief explanation of tarot in general, and two spreads: past/present/future, and a Celtic Cross. There is also a full sized guide book, but I haven’t purchased that (yet?) and can’t speak to its contents or quality.

Likes: I think that this deck really does what it set out to do: be a minimalist black and white, very readable deck. It fills its aesthetic niche very, very well. I also think that the inclusion of a second Fool card, so that there’s one for the beginning of the journey and one for the conclusion is a really interesting touch.

Dislikes: I think I might’ve liked these cards better if they were actually poker sized and if the edges were bonded or coated somehow but those are really very minor detractions and very personal preferences.

Overall Recommendation

I do really like this deck, I think it’s a great addition to my collection and really is the best of the black and white decks I was looking at with more minimalist artwork. It’s a nice counterpoint to some of my busier fantasy art decks. But I’m not sure I’d recommend this deck for a newbie reader or for someone reads more intuitively based on what in the artwork draws their eye. A newbie reader might be able to learn with this deck if they also buy the full sized guide book, but without having seen the book I couldn’t say for sure.

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Review: John Beckett’s Course on Pagan Monasticism as a Solitary Practitioner

I enrolled in John Beckett’s Course 7 at Under the Ancient Oaks on Pagan Monasticism as a Solitary Practitioner because after taking his one-hour class on the same topic at Mystic South back in July, I decided I needed to explore the monastic path more deeply. Now having finished the course and done some reflection and processing and discernment, I’m left with a feeling that roles of monastics/contemplatives and priests overlap considerably, especially the roles of Gods-facing temple priests (rather than a congregation-facing minister priests), which I have considered my calling for a few years now.

Part of my purpose is to (eventually) establish a retreat center that reflects a space in the Otherworlds where I am in service. It’s a bit like a temple and a bit like a hospital and a bit like a spa hotel, and I call it the Waystation. In this world, I envision a space nestled in the woods that hosts workshops, rituals, and retreats, serving the local pagan community. This kind of a space may also make a good space for an annual gathering of contemplatives, who otherwise live most of the time out in the world, as solitary monastics. More than being a monastic myself, I feel called to create and hold space for pagan monastics. In this, I’m not unlike Janet Munin, the editor of the book that served as the class text, “Polytheistic Monasticism: Voices from Pagan Cloisters”, who says she began working on the volume as she was exploring the path for herself, and then came to realize that the path was not her own calling, but writing about it was.

Both Beckett’s course and the book itself were helpful as I created a new structure for my practice, in this time of personal transition. I’ve been figuring out a new schedule for myself since the tail end of August, when the Acorn Sprout started full-time kindergarten. With a little more time on my hands, I needed a new organizational system to keep myself on track, and to keep myself from getting overwhelmed to the point of paralysis with everything I now had time to do that needed to get done. I needed a way to help myself prioritize, and the homework for the second module was to come up with a schedule or calendar for cycles of repetitive practice: daily, weekly, etc. So now I have foci for each day of the week (for my practice but also for my personal life) and hopefully this new schedule will also keep me blogging more regularly! In addition, I’ve adjusted my liturgical calendar to be monthly instead of just the eight neopagan holy days, and October is now the month of Na Morrigna.

As for the class itself, Beckett presents information in an accessible way that also invites deeper contemplation (as per usual). If you’ve enjoyed other classes of his and think this one sounds interesting, you won’t be disappointed! I think the interviews Beckett recorded with some of the authors were probably the most valuable parts of the course, for me; he asked them some of the same questions I would have, and they had enough time to really elaborate in ways it would have been hard to include in the book.

My new week is as follows:
Monday: Order and Organization
Tuesday: Divination and Trancework
Wednesday: Study and Writing
Thursday: Cleansing and Household Concerns
Friday: Divination and Trancework
Saturday: Nature Sprits and Ancestors
Sunday: Fair Folk and Gods

I could have read the book on my own and gotten some good ideas out of it, but I don’t think I would have gotten as much as I did without the format of the class. The structure and time delay for the each module, coupled with the reflective homework and the paired readings, really gave me a good scaffold to lay it all out and examine it more closely. And there was plenty of additional material comparing and contrasting the Benedictine (in a monastery) and Jesuit (out in the world) approaches, and information on various other traditions. The module about what our monastery jobs might be was particularly memorable to me, because the list Beckett gave of possible jobs for those without a physical monastery to upkeep read like a list of my hobbies: academic study, reading, writing, teaching, doing magic, crafting, gardening… Little wonder I’d found the path intriguing, I suppose!

Regarding the book itself (which I suppose I should also briefly review), some of the essays were more relevant to me than others, but that’s how it usually is with edited volumes. Chapter 4, “Called by the Spirits but not to the Priesthood” by Kimberly Kirner was perhaps the most relevant to me — and I came to the opposite conclusion, though for some of the same reasons, as Kirner was mostly contrasting monasticism with ministration. Kirner was also one of the authors that Beckett interviewed, and that helped clarify a few of her points. Chapter 8, “Of Hearth and Shadow: A Contemplative Norse Polytheist and a Fledgling Animist Abbey” by Danica Swanson also really helped me reflect on what I mean by “retreat space” when I say I feel a calling to create one, and I think following the development of the Black Stone Sanctuary will help me plan my own sanctuary as I move forward down my (now clarified) path.

TL;DR: I enjoyed this course and the book, and if either interest you, you should check them out!

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Review of Pagan Portals Brigid

A book standing on a shrine shelf, surrounded by jar candles and an offering cup. The book is a paperback volume of "Pagan Portals - Brigid" by Morgan Daimler, with an photo on the cover of  a woman with red hair working in a forge.

The book, resting on my shrine to the Tuatha Dé, next to the pink candle dedicated to Brigid, which sits atop my blessed cloth.

Pagan Portals — Brigid: Meeting the Celtic Goddess of Poetry, Forge, and Healing Well

by Morgan Daimler, published in 2016 by Moon Books

ISBN: 978-1-78535-320-8

I’ve owned this book basically since it came out, but so far had only used it as a sort of reference, so with my new intention this year of reading and reviewing one book for each of the 8 holidays in the neopagan wheel of the year, I decided to start by reading this one all the way through.

I own quite a few Pagan Portals books at this point, and most of them are by Morgan Daimler — I really find value both in the format and in the general quality of Daimler’s research and writings. I have a certain fondness for Brigid, as she was the first Pagan Deity I really had contact with, before I even realized who she was. When I was a child I used to try to pray to the Saints the way my Irish-American Catholic father expected me to, and although oddly I didn’t hear much about St. Brigid until later, I often found comfort in a presence that I first thought was Mary but came to understand was someone else, without knowing who exactly she was. I came to associate her with a rose quartz necklace I owned, and when I later began to explore Paganism, though I stopped trying to reach out to who I thought was a Saint, I still used the piece of jewelry for protection and healing because it had become imbued with her power. One more fast forward to my second ever big public ritual as an adult, on Imbolc, and while lightly trancing I saw a Goddess I assumed was Brigid, and when she came over she identified herself as the same entity I’d been praying to all those years ago. It was a big shift for me, seeing those threads all come together. Brigid the Saint, Brigid the Goddess — or a trio of Goddesses? I think it depends a little on your viewpoint, but for me they all seem to come from the same well — or perhaps the same forge.

Daimler’s first chapter, “Meeting Brigid”, introduces us not only to the trio of Sister-Goddesses, daughters of the Dagda, but also to the three Brigids from the Ulster Cycle, with whom I was much less familiar. The three sisters, Brigid of the Healing Well, Brigid of the Forge, and Brigid of the Poets, are probably the best known trio to modern Pagans, and Daimler stresses the importance of these being sisters, not the Triple Goddess of Graves’s imagination in the form of maiden, mother, and crone. The other trio, however, are all related to a semi-historical figure from the Ulster cycle, Senchan, a judge and poet of Ulster during the kingship of Conchobar Mac Nessa: Brig Brigiu (Brigid the Hospitaller) is his mother, Brig Brethach (Brigid of the Judgements) is his wife, and Brig Ambue (Brigid of the Cowless) is his daughter. I found the section on Brig Brigiu especially interesting, as there are several similarities to the Fairy Queen I serve, whom I call Starflower: her realm is an independent place of healing and respite, and I may need to do more research about the term “brigiu” and the general context of these hostels! Daimler also notes that Brigid “does have an unusually broad range of abilities and expertise which at least indicates that she held a significant and prominent place historically.” The second chapter discusses a few more Brigids: other Celtic Goddesses in the UK and on the continent, and, yes, the Saint!

Daimler’s third chapter was the sort of excellent summary mixed with direct quotations and some original translations that I have come to expect in their work, and it’s really worth buying the book for this section alone, in my opinion. It provides a really good foundation for understanding the general appearances of Brigid in the lore, and combined with the bibliography in the back, is an excellent road map for getting started doing your own research! (Since this is one of Daimler’s earlier books, however, some of their own more recent translation volumes aren’t mentioned in the back of this one, and I really do encourage people to check those out, too.)

The fourth chapter provides some really good ideas for celebrating Imbolc, Brigid’s main holiday (which is basically concurrent with the Feast Day of St. Bride), and this is one of the sections I’d referenced frequently before. The first half of the fifth chapter discusses modern myths and practices, what we might call Shared Gnosis (as opposed to Unverified Personal Gnosis, or UPG). Reading it all the way through, though, I was struck by how much of Brigid’s lore really does revolve around livestock healing and protection as well, though, and I think I know who to petition the next time one of my rabbits has a health issue!* The second half of the chapter has a guided meditation script, and a personal anecdote from Morgan Daimler. I did the journey the other day for the first time, and I thought I’d share a little bit of my experience, below. Chapter six I also referenced a fair amount before: it contains a lot of useful prayers and spoken charms. Some are original, some are translated, others are reworkings of Christian prayers to the Saint.

In general I highly recommend this book to anyone who’s interested in getting to know Brigid. The series of books are meant to be short introductions to a topic, so it would also be useful to anyone interested in Irish or Celtic Paganism generally, or as part of a reference library for a Pagan group of some sort.

* This isn’t really relevant to the book review, but because I just know someone is going to ask: yes, I have two bunnies. One is small and white, one is large and orangey-brown, and the small one has periodic issues with GI stasis, likely due to dwarfism genetics.


 

The second journey I ever did to Brigid (as far as I can remember) was a guided meditation to a farm where I met not one Brigid, and not three Brigids, but four. The Healer at the Well, the Smith in the Forge, and the Poet in the House. This time, on this meditation, I met seven.

Upon entering the farmhouse this time, I found myself in the presence of a woman who seemed younger than myself, standing and sway-bopping slightly as she nursed an infant. Brigid Ambue, she said to call her, Brigid the Cowless, and explained that the child was an orphan, and that no one in the world had less than an orphan less than a moon cycle old. She sent me into the kitchen, where I met a woman old enough to be my grandmother. The older woman was standing by a stove that was a bit old fashioned but still clearly a modern gas range, stirring a pot of porridge. Brigid Brethach, she called herself: Brigid the Judge. We spoke for a while, and then a woman almost as old as my mother entered, and introduced herself as Brigid Brigiu, Brigid the Hospitaller. She then took me out the back door, and we went around to visit the three I had expected. Brigid the Healer was at the well, and looked much the same as I remembered. So did Brigid the Smith, at the forge. Instead of in the house, this time Brigid the Poet was in a small shack, like a shepherd’s hut, past a field and towards the treeline, and she emerged to greet us as we came near. Satisfied, Brigid the Hospitaller then left me, and I began to make my own way back towards the house. On my way I met the one I first called Brigid the Tiny, who later revealed to me that she was the Saint, much younger than the others here and therefore in the guise of a girl of about nine. As in that earlier journey, she had me do a few farm chores before I left, and then saw me out the gate in the fence she closed behind me as I went. With each meeting I had given the Brigid a small vial of something pertaining to her craft, except the little Saint – she wished for nothing but a bit of companionship and help with her chores.

 

Oracle Deck Review: Wild Wisdom of the Faery

Deck: Wild Wisdom of the Faery Oracle
Publisher: Blue Angel
Writer: Lucy Cavendish
Artist: Selina Fenech
Overall Rating: 5/10

image (c) Blue Angel. Cards shown are: Lift the Darkness, Acorn’s Invitation, Star Dust, and Into the Woods

Cardstock: They’re pretty flexible and smooth, but the cards are nearly too large for me to shuffle. They measure about 5.5″ tall and 3.75″ wide (or 14cm x 9.5 cm). Still, I manage to get them mixed up well with a combination of shuffling methods. The deck box is a two part hard case, which so far is holding up well.

Artwork: The artwork appears to be mostly traditional media, but the artist’s website says that she often begins with watercolor or acrylic, and then adds a little more in digital form afterwards. If you haven’t noticed yet, I’m generally a sucker for watercolors. A lot of the art is pretty “twee”, almost all the fairies have wings, and while there’s a range of sizes (from tiny to human-sized), there’s not much by way of diversity of body shape or skin tone (mostly femme, white, thin, and wearing filmy clothing). The cards also have the name and keywords written over the image, despite the rather large border, and the contrast isn’t great on a few of them.

Book: The booklet pretty large, about 170 pages, though the beginning is a bunch of New Age Fairy Nonsense that sees Them as mainly benevolent (if tricksy) nature angels, and says that all the stories of bad luck and negative encounters are a product of Church propaganda. For example, they define the Unseelie Court by saying: “not so fond of humans, as they feel we have been very harmful. Most of the Unseelie’s [sic] have ‘given up’ on us. ‘Tis up to us to prove them wrong.” Yeah okay, I guess maybe kelpies eat people because they… littered? Sure, okay, let’s just ignore several centuries of living belief and practice. [/sarcasm]
The booklet does include a few interesting spreads, though I still can’t advise invoking the Fair Folk or asking them for divinatory advice on your life situations, the way it recommends.
The descriptions of the cards themselves have a few paragraphs of description and then a few paragraphs each of divinatory meanings and reversed meanings, which is always helpful. The cards all have their number on the top border, so you can flip through the book to find them, but they aren’t in alphabetical order.

Likes: I like the general art style, though I wish it depicted a more diverse cast. I also do actually really like the amount of information the booklet gives for each card, because as I’m learning a new deck I really like to figure out what the writer and artist were both thinking, so I can better understand their symbolism, and build that into my intuitive readings. I do also like it when there are a couple of keywords on the card when it’s an oracle deck, because with those there’s no set of meanings like there is with tarot, lenormand, or runes.

Dislikes: Basically the entire introductory section in the the book. And the lack of diversity. And the borders, and how the keywords aren’t well contrasted. The size of the cards.

Overall Recommendation

TL;DR: if this one goes missing or gets water damaged, I probably won’t buy a new one. A lot of my clients seem to like the artwork, but I never use this one for my own personal readings unless I can’t use something better. I bought it a while back because it was pretty, but this one really is a bit too twee for my tastes. The Faery Forest Oracle by Lucy Cavendish again, but with artwork by Maxine Gadd, is a bit less twee, and I find that they work okay together, for better rounded answers. The Wild Wisdom of the Faery Oracle sugarcoats like a candy store, so if you’re looking for a very gentle deck with a sunny disposition and cute artwork, it’ll probably serve you well, but I think a fair few of my readers will be put off by the twee.

Tarot Deck Review: The Everyday Tarot

Deck: The Everyday Tarot
Publisher: Running Press
Writer: Brigit Esselmont of Biddy Tarot
Artist: Eleanor Grosch
Overall Rating: 7/10

image (c) Running Press. Cards shown are: Five of Swords, Death, and King of Wands

Cardstock: The cards are smaller than normal tarot cards, closer to poker card sized, and it can be a little awkward to shuffle all 78 of them. The cardstock is of good quality, though, not too slick and not too rough, and the printing is very vibrant. I find the borders not too distracting, and the gilded edges are a nice touch.

Artwork: The artwork is tricolor (white, gold, and purple) and combines flat white, luminous gold, and a watercolor textured purple. The images are done mainly with the human figures in silhouette, and a sort of minimalistic theme overall, but they’re recognizable to those familiar with the Rider-Waite-Smith system, and have enough intricacies to be beautiful, rather than boring.

Book: The booklet is about the same size as the cards and 87 pages long. It has a short paragraph for each upright and reversed meaning for each card, which is a pretty good amount of information, but does not contain a list of keywords. Somewhat unusually, there isn’t any more information on the majors than there is on the pips.

Likes: It’s pretty straightforward, like a minimalist version of the RWS, and therefore an easy deck to read for anyone used to that system. I really do like the artwork, though I wasn’t sure about it at first. It grew on me.

Dislikes: I was somewhat surprised that the deck didn’t contain the two lists of keywords that are listed on the Biddy Tarot website! And the cards are somewhat awkward to shuffle, as I mentioned above. I also don’t really like the box. It’s a magnetic clasp wrap like the cover of a book, with no top or bottom, but there’s a clear plastic case for the cards that’s rather flimsy, and to get the booklet to stay in, it has to be inserted in a slot in the cover. I’ll be moving this one to a knit bag, probably.

Overall Recommendation

I think in a different carrying case this would make a very good travel deck. I think it would make a good first deck for new readers, if combined with the resources on the Biddy Tarot website. It occupies a niche in my collection somewhere around “neutral-pretty”, and may make a good in-person reading deck, though because of the pandemic I really haven’t been doing that lately. I’m glad I own it, but this is not one of the ones I’d buy again immediately if I misplaced it.

Oracle Deck Review: The Vintage Wisdom Oracle

Deck: The Vintage Wisdom Oracle
Publisher: US Games Systems, Inc
Writer & Artist: Victoria Mosely
Overall Rating: 8/10

image (c) US Games Systems. Cards shown are Release and Ancestors

Cardstock: They’re maybe a little thicker than I would like, considering the size of the cards. They measure 5.5″ tall and 3.75″ wide (or 14cm x 9.5 cm). My hands can’t riffle shuffle them very easily, but I manage with a combination of shuffling methods. The deck box is a two part hard case, which holds up well.

Artwork: The artwork is mixed media, using old photographs and paintings as the base, onto which the artist has added embellishments, both physical and digital. I really enjoy the dreamlike quality of it, and some of the base images are recognizable to me. (At least one of the cards is a Waterhouse painting.) If the art doesn’t speak to you, though, that would probably knock a whole point off my review.

Book: The booklet pretty large, 75+ pages, with 5-8 paragraphs describing each card and its meaning. The cards are all in alphabetical order which is a really nice feature, and makes it easier to look up a card. It also includes five example spreads at the end, and instructions for laying the cards.

Likes: I really like the artwork. It matches the card titles pretty well, and also most of card titles are pretty straightforward: Abundance, Adventure, Ancestors, Awakening, etc. This deck lends itself well to intuitive reading.

Dislikes: I would have liked the cards a touch smaller for easier shuffling. Also, some of the cards have more Christian symbolism than I prefer, despite the deck in general being very new age neutral.

Overall Recommendation

This is my go-to deck for messages from Ancestors, partly because it’s so easy to read intuitively. But as with some of the others I’ve reviewed, one’s enjoyment of the art will make or break this deck. If you don’t like the art style, if it doesn’t speak to you, it will lose most of its magic.

Tarot Deck Review: The Mini Tarot of Pagan Cats

Deck: The Mini Tarot of Pagan Cats
Publisher: Lo Scarabeo
Writer: Magdelina Messina
Artist: Lola Airaghi
Overall Rating: 8/10

image (c) Lo Scarabeo

Cardstock: It appears to be Lo Scarabeo’s regular cardstock, so these are pretty sturdy despite being only 3 inches tall. They’re semi glossy and not too hard to riffle shuffle once you get used to the small size. The box is a little beat up, however, because this is the deck I usually take with in my purse.

Artwork: The artwork is pretty Rider-Waite-Smith inspired, except with cats. The art style is pretty realistic, and reminds me of some children’s books, with pretty detailed foregrounds and backgrounds that are either more sketched or just a solid color on a lot of the cards. Most of the cats are realistically proportioned and in natural poses, even when they’re depicted engaging in more human or fantastical activities.

Book: The booklet is in English, Italian, Spanish, and German, so each card has barely more than a phrase or a few keywords. I definitely would not recommend anyone using it as a main interpretation aid, unless they’ve already studied the tarot in depth and are using it as more of mnemonic aid. The booklet also contains one suggested 5-card spread.

Likes: I like the artwork; I think it’s cute. There are certainly a lot of pagans who like cats, and it’s somewhat easier not to project unconscious biases of race or gender accidentally when intuitive reading, because there aren’t human figures (although some of the titles are still gendered: The Empress, The King of Pentacles, etc). The small size is a plus, since I can carry it around with me, though Lo Scarabeo has quite a few decks in their catalog that are this mini size.

Dislikes: I think the booklet is basically useless, and could have been written much better than it was, even including the space constraints, but that’s really my only dislike.

Overall Recommendation

Obviously you’re not going to love this deck if you don’t like cats, but otherwise I think it’s a pretty good travel deck for anyone who’s a seasoned reader and familiar with the RWS system. The artwork lends itself well to intuitive interpretation, but has recognizable RWS imagery. There’s also a regular size edition of this deck, though I haven’t looked at that one in person, which may work better for those who want cards in the standard size, instead of the mini ones, which measure 3 inches x 1.75 inches.

Tarot Deck Review: The Numinous Tarot

Deck: The Numinous Tarot
Publisher: self-published, Numinous Spirit Press
Writer & Artist: Cedar McCloud
Overall Rating: 10/10

image (c) Numinous Spirit Press

Cardstock: It’s pretty thick without being too stiff, and has lovely gilded edges. So far it’s holding up very well to moderate usage for the past year or so. It feels pretty good to riffle shuffle, and the cards don’t stick much but they are pretty glossy.

Artwork: I don’t think I’ve ever seen a deck with artwork this representative. Age, race, ability, gender, size – the artwork is truly diverse. Some of the cards don’t have people on them at all, and those are all gorgeous as well. The attention to detail here, and the patterns on everything from the floors to the clothing, are very impressive. It’s a riot of color!

Book: This deck comes with a full paperback guidebook, not a LWB, with each card in black and white. The Major Arcana have about two pages each, and the Minors just one, but there’s a lot of material here, from descriptions of the scene itself, to keywords and thought-prompting discussions of both upright and reversed meanings. The language is pretty gender-neutral throughout, and the meanings are immersed in themes of social justice and healthy boundaries. The writing style is very accessible.

Likes: I love the diversity of the artwork and how queer it is, from depictions of gender-non-conforming folks, to the subversion of traditionally gendered tarot cards. Instead of Page, Knight, Queen, King, we have Dreamers, Explorers, Creators, and Mystics. The High Priestess becomes The Diviner, The Empress is The Nurturer, The Emperor is The Founder, The Hierophant is The Visionary. They are all still numbered for easy recall. Also, The Devil has been aptly renamed The Shadow, Judgement is now The Awakening, and McCloud added a 23rd Major, called The Numinous (whence the deck title). Suits have been renamed as well, but follow the traditional elements: Candles for Fire, Bells for Air, Vials for Water, and Tomes for Earth. The deck is at once tarot radically reimagined, and also familiar to students of the Rider-Waite-Smith system.

Dislikes: I think my only complaint is that some of the artwork is a little inconsistent, with some cards feeling more polished and some more sketchy, but there might be an intentional pattern to that seeming inconsistency.

Overall Recommendation

If you want a radically accepting queer-friendly deck that has truly diverse representation, you need this deck. I’ve been bringing it to pagan events just to show people! And for an indie deck, it’s really not very expensive. The artwork is very evocative, and is perfect for either a collector or an intuitive reader. It may take a little longer for students of the RWS system to get used to than the sort of decks that simply copying RWS imagery with cats or the like, but it isn’t an entirely new system and I found the transition fairly easy.

This is also my deck of the month for my Patreon for June, in honor of Pride Month!

Tarot Deck Review: Tarot of the Hidden Realm

Deck: Tarot of the Hidden Realm
Publisher: Llewellyn Books
Writer: Barbara Moore
Artist: Julia Jeffries
Overall Rating: 10/10

image (c) Llewellyn Books

Cardstock: It’s supple and very shuffly, but doesn’t feel like I could tear it quite as easily as some of the other decks I’ve reviewed.

Artwork: I LOVE the artwork! The facial expressions are clear and the backgrounds are detailed. There’s plenty of symbolism for intuitive reading. I also really like that these are borderless!

Book: This deck comes with a full paperback guidebook, not a LWB. I like the book – there’s plenty of detail in it to jive off of without it feeling heavy handed. The writer describes the activities of the people in the art, too, to clarify some of the artwork and symbolism. There’s a whole chapter in the front if you’re new to divination, and a chapter in the back with a few spreads.

Likes: Um, Everything? I especially like that this deck is Fairy Themed without being really twee. (Spoilers: most Fae aren’t twee.) I also like some of the renamed Major Arcana (like Life Renewed, depicted above, to replace the very Christian “Judgement”). By far my favorite part is really just the amazing artwork, though!

Dislikes: Ummmmmmm a couple of the cards have artwork reminds me of a celebrity who may have been used as a reference and it’s a tiny bit distracting? That’s a bit of a reach, though. Otherwise… There’s no tuck box, just a large box that fits the book, so I had to find a bag for the cards to keep them in, because the original cardboard bit wasn’t going to keep the cards undamaged, long-term. I really can’t think of anything major.

Overall Recommendation

Now that I own this deck I am astonished that I let it linger on a wishlist for so long! This is quickly becoming one of my favorite decks, and probably my new go-to when dealing with any random personal spiritual nonsense in my life. If you like the artwork you might need this.

Tarot Deck Review: Radiant Rider-Waite-Smith

Deck: Radiant Rider-Waite
Publisher: Currently published by US Games Systems, Inc; original deck was published by William Rider & Son in London in 1909
Writer: originally the companion books, The Key to the Tarot, and the revised The Pictorial Key to the Tarot, were written by A.E. Waite.
Artist: original artwork was by Pamela “Pixie” Colman Smith; has been digitized and saturated for this deck.
Overall Rating: 6/10

Radiant Rider-Waite Tarot, published by US Games Systems Inc

Cardstock: A little thin, maybe, but pretty standard for US Games. Nothing to write home about. Nice and wiffly but I would bet they’d show wear if I used them more often. Especially those stark white borders!

Artwork: The symbolism is super heavy – everything from the color of the robes to how many stars is pretty much on purpose. So if that’s your thing, more power to you. Besides the Pictorial Key there are dozens of other books about RWS symbolism. I’m really not super fond of Smith’s human figures, though. They all seem a little doll-like to me, but that seems to be her style so it’s more a matter of my personal dislike than her lack of talent.

LWB: It has decent descriptions of the majors but only a few keywords for upright and reversed for other cards, and those seem a little sparse or overly simplistic. I haven’t read the Pictorial Key so I’m not sure how well it compares, but I did buy one of the aforementioned several other books, so I use that instead. (Because, no, I do not have all the zodiac stuff memorized and some of the color symbolism is different from my own understandings.)

Likes: If you want to read tarot books, it helps to have this deck because a lot of them are about this one in particular. Also, a lot of other decks use this same imagery, turned into dragons or elves or cats or whatever. It’s useful if you want to understand the history of tarot divination, too.

Dislikes: I really dislike the Kabbalistic symbolism because I have Feelings about goyim using it. But I think if you’re unfamiliar with that it is easy enough to just ignore and gloss over. I also don’t like how the human figures’ faces have very little expression – I have a few other decks with very expressive artwork and that vibes a lot better with my intuitive reading style.

Overall Recommendation

I really got this deck so that I could start to go “deeper” into the tarot and then I found out that the zodiac stuff and the alchemical symbolism just really don’t jive as well with my reading style. I’m an intuitive reader, not an intellectual reader, and that’s too much conscious analysis. So this is sort of a fall-back deck, more of a collector’s piece than something I use often. Some of my clients like it, though, because it’s recognizable. Ultimately, it doesn’t jive well with me but I would recommend it to newbies or anyone who likes the depth of symbolism.

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