Forest of Enchantment Tarot
When I opened the Forest of Enchantment Tarot I was instantly enchanted. From my first flip through I felt at home. I just wanted to wander through the forest and learn from the characters and creatures. This deck is stunning. The artist, Meraylah Allwood, is truly amazing. Each original painting is said to be only slightly larger than the tarot cards themselves. When you consider the detail on each card this is incredible. Some decks become too busy when the paintings are reduced to card size but that isn’t the case with this one. I cannot speak highly enough of the artwork.
The book opens with a quote from Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey, but it stops short of the most important part of the quote.
If you follow someone else’s way, you are not going to realise your full potential.
This to me is the power of tarot. It affirms what we know to be true about ourselves. Or, it helps us to see what has been buried. Stories rule our lives. When we consider our life as a story it becomes clear that we are in control, However, sometimes, (I would go so far as to say often), our story could do with some heavy editing to remove the untruths and the misrepresentations, to improve the story arc, and most importantly to keep us focused. Tarot can help with this in so many ways.
For me the Forest of Enchantment Tarot is a perfect story telling deck. The imagery obviously facilitates this. At university I took a subject called Children’s Fantasy Literature and as part of the course I read The Wind in the Willows. To me IX The Hermit will always be Badger from that book and he is the perfect representation of the hermit archetype.
In the Six of Spells I am transported to Harry Potter and and the scene in Hagrid’s hut when his dragon egg hatches. And in the Seven of Spells I have experienced the dragon as Shrek when he stood up to Lord Farquaad’s men. What do those scenes mean? What thoughts do they trigger? What happens next? Maybe another time the dragon will be the St George dragon of the Australian banking ads. Who knows? I trust my intuition to guide me to the answer I’m seeking. The cards provide the backdrop and from their the story generates.
Lunaea Weatherstone seems to agree. She points out in the introduction that the Forest of Enchantment Tarot is inspired by many tales but that no card adheres to any strict story line. Instead we are encouraged to make our own meaning. This is encouraged in many decks but some are more successful in achieving it than others. The Forest of Enchantment Tarot receives a High Distinction.
Stories are powerful and they help us make sense of our world. This is probably why the Forest of Enchantment Tarot is so powerful for me. I have a strong belief in the power of stories and the need to revisit our own stories regularly so as to edit them as necessary. While not a light-hearted deck, it provides a way in to our innermost stories and the scenes are powerful triggers that can be easily remembered when necessary.
The Forest of Enchantment Tarot Cards
The Forest of Enchantment Tarot is a Smith-Waite inspired deck however many of the Major Arcana have been renamed, as have the suits. The Fool becomes the White Hart, The Magician The Enchanter, The High Priestess The Wisewoman, The Empress The Green Mother, the Emperor the Forest Lord, The Hierophant the Oldest Ones (I love this change), the Chariot the Faery Wind, The Wheel of Fortune The Enchanter’s Wheel, Justice The Huntsman, The Hanged Man Suspension, Death is changed to Black Shuck (for me Sirius Black from Harry Potter in dog form), Temperance becomes The Forge (a brilliant rendering), The Devil The Liar, The Tower The Folly, The Star Starlight, The Moon Moonlight, The Sun Sunlight, Judgment The Council of Animals and finally, The World is renamed The Wide World.
For the Minor Arcana, Wands become Spells, Cups Visions, Swords Challenges, and Pentacles are now Boons. The Court has also been given a name change: Child, Seeker, Weaver and Keeper replace Page, Knight, Queen and King.
The cards are a pretty standard size for a tarot deck. They’re fairly shiny but I haven’t had any issues with glare, even as I look at them at night under artificial light. They are very easy to shuffle, regardless of your shuffling style and they fan out easily – which I love. I also love that they are borderless and that the card names are unobtrusive. The imagery is the hero of the card, as I believe it should be.
The Book – Your Path Through the Enchanted Forest
The book presents each card in full colour, making the book truly beautiful to flip through. There is much to love in the book. I like the “A Closer Look” section which encourages you to go deeper into the cards by pointing things out you may not have noticed or realised. I have definitely benefited from this section.
For example, the closer look on the White Hart (The Fool) encouraged me to look deeper into the symbolism of plants. A Closer Look for the Six of Challenges reads, “Wolves in the mundane world aren’t menacing, but these are old-world storybook wolves, notoriously big and bad, and they will eat you up.” This card for me is now a reminder to reconsider the story I am telling myself. Have I given something power that it doesn’t really have? Am I running from an illusion I need to face? Is my perception of a person/situation accurate?
Spreads
Several spreads are included in the book. There are the quick Your Day in the Forest – a single card draw, and The White Hart which uses two cards. But for me the “better” spreads are the Breadcrumbs and Moonstones, The Owl’s Advice, and The Council of Animals. At the time of writing this I have not tried the Shining Eyes, Creeping Feet. But, having revisited the book to write this it is definitely on my to do list.
The Breadcrumbs and Moonstones is my favourite in the book. Hansel and Gretel provide the inspiration. The book advises you to deal the deck into two piles, allocating one as the breadcrumbs (not the best thing to use to mark your trail in a forest) and the other as the moonstones (something a little more permanent and possibly even illuminating), then, with your question in mind turn over the top cards in each pile and compare them. You repeat this process as many times as you choose. If you decide to give it a try, let me know what you think.
I have given Meraylah Allwood much praise for this deck but it would be remiss of me not to state that the book’s author, Lunaea Weatherstone has also done a fantastic job. Together they have produced a stunning deck. Even the card back is beautiful.
I am obviously a huge fan of this deck. If you are aware of any similar decks I would love to know about them. I am so looking forward to the release of the Forest of Enchantment Oracle.
Publishing Details
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Pictured version:
Llewellyn Publications, First Edition, Second Printing 2019
