Tarot that I own

[monkey5s]

*****
Edited to add more decks 20220806*


Ancestral Path Tarot- intriguing use of four specific historical cultures for the suites.

Animal Wisdom Tarot- first glance was not impressive- it fails my "Eight of Swords" check, among others. But then, so does Shadowscapes, which is one of the best decks I've seen. A more orderly contemplation of this deck shows some very intriguing concepts. And the artwork has its own evocative charm, when you take the time with it. I think it will be good for a meditation deck, I feel like I can learn from it. And the packaging is AMAZING- a side-slipped box closure. The only thing I am still just not getting is the Fool- they use Coyote, the Trickster. Which... is kind of the opposite of what I would say the Fool's role is?

Anna K Tarot

*Tarot Apokalypsis: Wow, what a disappointment. I managed to get a set with a book in some language I don't recognize- doesn't *quite* look Cyrillic, but it's something non-Romance. The cards are a bit too stiff for shuffling, in my opinion, so I would expect to use it foe meditation. But I was really looking forward to learning what the author intended. NOT GONNA HAPPEN. It's promoted as a companion to the Tarot Illuminati, and I have not yet opened that book, maybe it's in the same language! I should dig it out to check.

AQUARIAN TAROT by David Palladini

Barbara Walker Tarot

Bohemian Gothic Tarot

* Cat's Eye Tarot

Celtic Tarot, mini edition.

Chrysalis Tarot

First impression: beautiful and intriguing. I will have to examine the LWB that came with it to see how the unconventional aspects are intended (because my go-to cards for best representation of a deck were all off-putting, but in interesting ways).

Crowley Thoth Pocket Swiss Tarot Deck- I had resisted Thoth decks, because I have an unreasoned despisal of Aleister Crowley. But, I wanted to try, and the reviews for the pocket version seemed more positive, in some regards, than the full-size versions.

How was it I managed not to realize, before now, that it was a deck that just used pip cards for the minors? That alone would have taken it out of my interest range. The pips do have a single word on each card to characterize what you are supposed to get from them. So, you know, they acknowledge that you are supposed to get something, but they just can't be bothered to exert any effort to evoke it visually.

Still, the majors are thought-provoking. And it's good to stretch. But now I don't believe I will need to own any more pip-card-minors decks.

Dance of Life Cards: an intimate tarot- bought from publisher, one card was cut poorly on one side, e-mailed them, was told they'd send a replacement for that card, but they never did. Would be frustrating to try to shuffle. Just... looks bad. Also, cards were wrapped in plastic, put in paperboard frame that was size-matched to large book that came with them. The frame and book were stuffed in an mailing envelope, but they desperately need a case to contain them. I'm currently storing them, awkwardly, in the mailing envelope. The combination of disappointments has quelled my interest for now. I'm sure I'll get over it, eventually.

Da Vinci Enigma Tarot- very nice having all those drawings. Haven't really tried to read with it.

Deviant Moon Tarot

Dream Enchantress Tarot (but deck packaging shows Tarot of the Dream Enchantress). Same artist as the Secret Tarot. I like the clean lines and style, maaayyyybe having a little trouble with the kings being (apparently) women with full-face-covered helmets. Will be interesting to see if the energy is different.

DruidCraft Tarot

Elemental Tarot

Enchanted Tarot- beautiful, artwork came from fabric, and it looks like it ought to have fabric texture when you touch the cards.

Faery Wicca Tarot- haven't tried it much, the idea was attractive, and the deck is lovely.

The Fairy Tarot, mini edition. I like the majors, but I resent the fact that the minors are really only pip cards, with a sketched picture on each that has nothing much to do with the card depicted.

Feng Shui Tarot with book

Fey Tarot, by Riccardo Minetti.

The Fifth Tarot Initial opinion = why such large cards, when they don't seem to make use of the space? Need more time with it.

Forest Folklore Tarot Had been on my wish list for over two years when I finally picked it up. I've gone through it a few times, and seem to get over the attraction of individual cards more and more.

Gilded Tarot- looked dazzling in preview, got good reviews, but first glance? Off-putting. Will have to look in greater depth later, right now it's just disappointing.

The Goddess Tarot- would have preferred more background on the goddesses in the cards.

Golden Tarot of Klimt

GREEN WITCH TAROT

Haindl Tarot

The Herbcrafter's Tarot*

Tarot Illuminati. Really chroma-intense, heavy patterning detail. Haven't looked at the big book yet, but I do appreciate the magnet-closing box the set comes in. These cards are heavily edged in gilt, and I had trouble getting them separate when I opened the deck.

Joie de Vivre Tarot by Paulina Cassidy. Oh, what fun! The Fool is a woman who is nonchalantly about to step off the cliff without seeing the creature in the water below with all the sharp teeth in its mouth, waiting for her, while there's a little bat trying to tug on her scarf to get her attention. The Empress, wow, she's got a skirt with a belt of hearts, with skulls suspended below them. On her head is a nest full of eggs. The bottom edge of her skirt looks like opened trumpets of flowers, and she's standing above blooming flowers and red berries. The Tower, well, it seems to be coming down because of an infiltration by some kind of tentacle monster. There's a woman falling, with butterflies trying to hold her up by the bottom edge of her skirt. I know this is the artist's second deck, and I was torn between them, but the reviews indicated that these cards were simpler than the first. Which, these are plenty busy for me, so I am sure I chose the better option, for me. But I will leave her first deck on my want list. And I am definitely looking forward to reading with this one!

Tarot of the Journey to the Orient Bought this because of the concept- the tales of his trip, as told by Marco Polo when he returned from Asia.

The artwork is... uncomfortably obnoxious, in some ways. It's partly the ugly exaggeration of the eyes of the Asian people depicted, but it also defined a mental tic I didn't even realize I had. And it's so silly, when I put it down like this, but. The "pentacles" depicted on every relevant card are six-pointed, not five. I have no objection to using a Star of David, but it's not a pentacle. "Penta" means five. There is no shortage of other terms for the suit generally known as "pentacle"- call them disks, or coins, or anything but pentacle.

So, I'm going to have to be very careful when I look at this one again. I need to be able to get past this, but it's like something that has snagged my attention- once you've noticed, you can't unnotice it.

Light and Shadow Tarot- one of the clearest, most consistent artistic visions of any deck I've seen.

Light Seer's Tarot

Llewellyn Tarot

Lord of the Rings Tarot- "and card game", which tends to make me go "bzuh?!"

Ludy Lescot Tarot, art by Patrizio Evangelista

Manga Tarot- I like the gender-switching on this deck.

Motherpeace Round Tarot Deck- incredibly disappointing. The actual cards are pale, washed-out, and insipid; and the drawings are kind of the opposite of evocative, for me. I can't get rid of it, because I can't help feeling like it's a test, you know?

* Mystical Cats Tarot. REALLY nice! Looking forward to checking out the book that came with it.

Mystic Faerie Tarot, by Linda Ravenscroft

Tarot of the Mystic Spiral, written by Giovanni Pelosini, art by Guiseppe Palumbo

Tarot of the Old Path

Osho Zen Tarot- a good idea, haven't got much out of the deck, though.

Tarot of Pagan Cats, by Magdelina Messina and Lola Airaghi

Tarot of Pagan Cats, miniature ed.- smaller size loses too much detail from the full sized. Not the ideal portable deck after all, so will probably try to sell or trade for something else.

Tarot of the Pirates

Tarot of Prague- in the big presentation box with the full guidebook to where the sources of the images are located in the city.

Quantum Tarot

* The Raven's Prophecy Tarot by Maggie Stiefvater, who wrote the Raven Cycle YA books. I read the first one and it didn't do much for me, but the card images were intriguing so I made an impulse buy. We shall see how it goes when I get a chance to explore them in depth.

The Robin Wood Tarot- pretty, but am considering giving it to the niece. NOTE (two years later): thought I did give it to the niece, but she says no, she doesn't have it. Hmm. Perhaps it wandered off on its own, since I was bored with it?

Samurai Tarot- really like this one, but it has some differences that require an adjustment of my mindset. For example, the minor arcana? Not very representative of the number or the suite. Still, quite evocative. The biggest oddness? The court cards of the minor arcana are Knave, Knight, Queen and King. Yeah, there's only four women in the minors, and 12 men. But, it's for a reason- the artist used real historical figures for the court. They list them in the LWB, just their name and a brief note of their fame; but it's enough to go on, to look them up.

Sirian Starseed tarot - how did I miss that these cards are enormous? Vividly evocative, but there is no shuffling, no how, no way. Obviously designed to be a meditation deck.

Secret Tarot This one was an impulse buy, but I like several of the cards more than I anticipated. The artwork has a richness to the large blocks of solid color used in some cards. It feels like I am going to get a lot from this deck. OK, also? The Wheel has a flying monkey on it.

Tarot of the Secret Forest

Shadowscapes Tarot The card scans on Aeclectic for this really don't do the actual artwork justice, when you have it in your hands. It's one with an intensely personal artistic vision, and I can spend long minutes contemplating the details in each card.

Shapeshifter Tarot- attractive idea, haven't had it long enough to judge how it is.

Ship of Fools Tarot- found in the remaindered bin at a bookstore, I like the line drawings.

Tarot of the Silicon Dawn by Egypt Urnash (2 copies. :: sigh ::)

Silver Era Tarot written by Russell J Moon, art by Aunia Kahn. The packaging couldn't be more impressive. The box is sturdy cardboard with a strong magnetic closure. The cards themselves are the thickest I have ever seen. I don't think conventional shuffling would be possible- these you will have to just cut a lot. The images, though... they are rendered in newspaper format, where there's a grayscale point system. It makes parts of the images a little blurry- but it seems to be a conscious decision, since other parts of the same image will be clear.

Spiral Tarot- another great concept, haven't tried a reading.

The Steampunk Tarot, written by Barbara Moore, art by Aly Fell (there are two other steampunk tarot decks out there that I know of. Yes, I want them both). I was impressed with this deck. The steampunk theme is portrayed with varying levels of success card by card, but the overall feeling is quite Victorian/geary. Also, the artist appears to have a thing for West Highland White terriers. Will look forward to reading with this.

Sun and Moon Tarot

Tarot of the Sweet Twilight- some wonderfully unique artwork, intriguingly different images. Looking forward to checking it out in depth.

Transformational Tarot by Arnell Ando

Universal Fantasy Tarot

Victorian Fairy Tarot

Voyager Tarot

Wheel of Change Tarot, by Alexandra Genetti. Must point out the cards themselves are WAY more beautiful than the images onscreen.

WHEEL OF THE YEAR

The Wild Unknown Pocket Tarot*

The Wild Wood Tarot, written by Mark Ryan and John Matthews, art by Will Worthington

The World Spirit Tarot- hands down my favorite. Something about this artwork just sings to me.

Yarn Tarot* I funded this on Kickstarter, but here's a blurb in Vogue Knitting about it.


Trying to get organized is difficult, but I just bought a second copy of one deck because I hadn't listed it when I first got it. Timely record keeping: so tedious and yet so important.

Comments

[monkey5s]

Menacing is a good word for the Barbara Walker. I like it despite that. I find myself responding favorably to artists who have a strong vision that they express consistently. Of course, that doesn't mean I'd want to do a reading with it. Most of my decks I use as meditative aids, pull a card and look at it, you know?