Deck and Book Reviews
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The Penumbra Tarot
Introduction I find it difficult to nail down and easily describe The Penumbra Tarot. Everyday scenes, merpeople, animals, sea goats, and fae all feature, so inclusive, mythical, elemental, traditional and fantastical all come to mind. Inspired by the RWS, Mary-El, Thoth, and the Shadowscapes tarot, artist Eris Elisabeth says it “straddles the mundane and the otherworldly” and I can see that. The first word that came to mind for me though was generous. There are two additional cards. On one you’ll find a William Blake quote and clear contact details to cover you just in case you have any issues with the deck. On the other you’re given access to…
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5 Different Versions of the RWS Tarot Compared
Introduction So many people say that if you want to learn tarot you should start with, or at least have, a version of the original RWS deck. And, for many reasons, I am one of them. The most basic reason of all is that, if you learn the RWS tarot, you can develop a solid base of knowledge that allows you to read any RWS-based deck more easily. Since the RWS tarot is the pictorial language that many creators have translated into their own artistic style, knowing the base language means you can draw additional meanings from your RWS-inspired deck. I find this is a two way process. If you’ve…
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Tarot: A Life Guided by the Cards by Maddy Elruna
Introduction I haven’t written a post about a tarot book, (you’ll find others here), for a while but that isn’t because I haven’t been reading them. I love reading tarot books and tarot guidebooks. They always add something to my understanding or remind me of something I have forgotten over the years. Tarot: A Life Guided by the Cards is a great book. Author, Maddy Elruna, writes about the book, “I aimed to create a practical “how to” book, but with my life story and real life spreads through out the book – a story to bring the cards to life,” and she succeeded. Focused on the RWS tarot, this…
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Traditional Manga Tarot
Introduction I am not a manga fan. I have never read manga nor watched anime, but recently I started looking at some manga-themed decks. The Traditional Manga Tarot is the first one I have added to my collection. I saw it while watching Swimming Through the Void on YouTube. I connected with it instantly and bought it as soon as I had the chance. After two readings, done back-to-back, the Traditional Manga Tarot went straight into one of the carved wooden boxes that live on my desk. That’s the level of connection I feel with this deck. Even though I was drawn to it when I first saw it, I…
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Crystal Skull Tarot
Introduction While flicking through Facebook, I came across the Crystal Skull Tarot quite by chance. It was being sold cheaply on one of the Tarot Buy, Swap and Sell pages and my curiosity got the better of me. After a quick bit of research I discovered it was originally a Kickstarter deck and that the accompanying book was written by Rachel Pollack. Due to shipping costs, living in Australia makes backing Kickstarter decks very expensive so I feel very fortunate to have come across this deck. However, it might not be for everyone. The other morning, I had the Crystal Skull Tarot all laid out on my desk when my…
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Voyager Tarot
Introduction Before purchasing The Voyager Tarot I had only ever worked with oracle cards. The Moon Oracle was my introduction to divinatory decks. Now I realise that neither of these are typical first decks but twenty-five years ago I didn’t. I had no idea what I was doing. So, when one day during a conversation with one of my massage clients she told me about an amazing reading she’d had using the Voyager Tarot I was curious. In those days she, and her husband, were the only people I opened up to about my “other” life, so, with no other idea about where to start, the Voyager Tarot became my…
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The Crystal Magic Tarot
Introduction I bought The Crystal Magic Tarot purely because I liked the idea of a crystal-inspired tarot deck. My love of crystals pre-dates my love of tarot by ten years, so this deck was always going to make its way into my collection. Prior to this deck, I only had crystal-based oracle decks, (Crystal Medicine Oracle, The Crystal Ally Cards, Crystal Connections Message Cards, and The Crystal Spirits Oracle). This deck unites my two passions. The Crystal Magic Tarot Cards Philosophy/Background The Crystal Magic Tarot was born from the individual passions of its creators, Kerry Ward – tarot, and Clare Gregory – crystals. They have combined their knowledge to create…
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The Herbcrafter’s Tarot
To be honest, I bought The Herbcrafter’s Tarot because I noticed it appeared on several people’s “decks they would not part with” and “top mass market decks” lists and I was curious as to why. I had no idea how I would work with it though. Then, as bad as it sounds, since it arrived with a batch of other decks I just put it on my shelf with the intention of getting to it later. Later took a while. There were a few false starts between then and now, but this time I was ready to dive in. This is such a soothing deck. Artist, Joanna Powell Colbert, creator…
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The Tarot of Vampyres
As someone who has never been drawn to vampires, I had no desire to buy The Tarot of Vampyres. But, I kept hearing about the amazing accompanying book, so I finally relented. I am so glad I did. The book is everything people had said about it and so much more. It drew me in completely and now I cannot imagine not having this deck in my collection. It is one of the most empowering decks I own. The Tarot of Vampyres Cards Ian Daniels, the deck’s creator, writes that “The Tarot of Vampyres is designed to help us face our fears – as well as our hopes, passions, and…
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Mystic Mondays Tarot
To understand how to approach writing the post for the Mystic Mondays Tarot I asked the cards themselves because I just was not sure where to begin. Fortunately the cards were quick to jump to my rescue. The first thing that stood out to me, which I have to admit surprised me, was how straight up and down-to-earth the deck is to work with. On my initial flick through all I saw was an abundance of colour and not much else. Laid out in a spread though, the colours and the bold artwork combined to guide my eyes towards whatever it is I need to see. There is little distraction,…
