Hanson-Roberts Tarot

The characters who initially seemed a little unusual made sense to me once I reimagined the Hanson-Roberts Tarot as a portal into a fairy tale world. Then everything changed. Once upon a time I looked at the cards and saw frozen figures and the lack of movement in the images bothered me.

But, during my interview with the deck it suggested to me that was exactly what I needed to see. I wrote, “I want to bring you into the now, show you a snapshot of the current moment.” From then on I understood the role of this deck for me. It is my here and now deck. A focus, and oftentimes a celebration, of what is going on right now. It reminds me to look at the magic in my own world.

The Hanson-Roberts Tarot Deck

The Hanson-Roberts Tarot is a fantastic beginner’s deck, although I didn’t add it to my collection until recently – now that I’m more than twenty-five years in. Previously I fell into the, “it’s too cutesy trap” as if that’s a bad thing. The more I work with, and the deeper I dive into the tarot, the more I steer away from the idea of what a deck should be like. Rather than focusing on what may or may not be missing, I’m much more interested in what’s there.

So what do I see? For starters I see bright and colourful pencil drawings that both make me want to pull out a colouring book and remind me of a recent afternoon spent with my seven year old granddaughter as she gave me an art lesson on how to draw Disney princesses. Sweet, innocent, joyful and calm thoughts come to the fore. These are not emotions that I ever want to dismiss or underappreciate, even though I still do.

I’ve heard people accuse the Hanson-Roberts Tarot of being overly happy, and maybe I have added to that impression myself, but I don’t actually see it like that. Everyone is not smiling back at you. Even some people that you’d expect to be aren’t.

Take the King of Pentacles as an example. He doesn’t look like a jovial, successful man enjoying the finer things in life to me. So it makes me wonder why. And, even thought Stuart Kaplan writes of the Seven of Pentacles, “A young man leans tiredly on his hoe at the ends of a day’s work” with the upright “Divinatory Meanings: Ingenuity. Growth. Hard work. Progress. Successful dealings. Money. Wealth. Treasure. Gain,” I don’t see that in the image. Instead I feel a sense of discontent and a lack of enthusiasm and I wonder what these two people would say to each other. Maybe the answer is simple – it’s time for a little less work and a lot more play.

General information about the cards

The size of Hanson-Roberts Tarot cards surprised me and I have to admit I was a little disappointed when I discovered it was only 6cm x 10cm. But, like my other small decks, (African Tarot, White Sage Tarot, Smith Waite Tarot Deck Centennial Edition in a tin), the size has grown on me. Plus, since it definitely isn’t lacking in detail, now I see the benefits. For one, it’s great for big spreads.

Given its size, I was surprised at how well it riffles and I love how smooth it is to fan. The cardstock is okay. If you bend a card too far it will stay bent but fortunately you can return it back to shape fairly easily so it isn’t really an issue. It’s smaller size also makes it easy to work with overall. And, as you can see below, the card backs are reversible.

One of the reasons I say this is a great beginner deck is because it adheres closely to the RWS system. The only change to the standard RWS nominations is that Wands are Rods. The Major Arcana remains the same with Strength VIII and Justice XI.

Discussions on some individual cards

Three of Cups & Five of Rods

I love the immediacy of the Hanson-Roberts Tarot deck. For most cards you’re right there in the thick of everything. On the Five of Rods you’re that close you might need to duck. Or maybe, you take a step back and move towards the Six of Wands. It doesn’t look like these people are going to get anywhere with their current approach.

In contrast, the Three of Cups stands out to me because you’re not privy to the conversation. It very much feels as if you are on the outside of this group. I see this and a range of interpretations come to mind. On one hand I see gossip and secrets. On the other I see a magical, tight knit friendships.

I do wonder why the hair on the girl on the left defies gravity though. Is she caught up elsewhere? Other aspects in the image make me wonder what is really going on also. For instance, why are the two sides of the tree different? One side features vibrant colours and abundant fruit while the other doesn’t.

Taken together are they suggesting different approaches to conflict resolution or maybe the cause of the conflict. Or are they showing the contrast between confrontation and acceptance? Or different forms of conflict – overt versus passive? Maybe it’s as simple as active versus quiet play and which feels more appealing at the time.

VIII Strength & Seven of Cups

This version of the Seven of Cups is reminiscent of many RWS-based versions but the addition of the wizard changes it considerably for me. Here I see the magic of choice and/or the ability to conjure options. It is less about confusion and more about multiple opportunities.

When I link the Seven of Cups and the Strength card with the Five of Rods and the Three of Cups above I see that we have options on how we approach situations based on what we are hoping to get out of the experience. Sometimes we might need to “fight” for what we want. Other times, just like the octopus in the cup, we need to adapt to the circumstances.

The Strength card puts it all into perspective for me though. Both the lion and the woman have their eyes closed. They are serene. There is no battle, nothing to prove. Instead there is just an inner knowing of what each are capable of. Imagine if we made all our choices from this perspective.

Four of Swords & XII The Hanged Man

The previous cards were bright and therefore full of life. Here the colours are much more subdued. This really quietens the energy. However, for me, this plays out in different ways. On the Four of Swords the energy feels passive and stiff. There is nothing soft and comfortable about this card. It feels like enforced rest rather than a choice. Could he move if he wanted to? Or has he made the decision to hand over control to someone or something else? Sometimes that is the best way forward, but I find it hard to read this card in that light.

XII The Hanged Man feels very different. It might not be as vibrant as many of the other cards but with so much growth surrounding him it is hard to imagine there is not also growth going on within. He looks serene rather than stuck. Given their relative positions it seems strange to say, but it appears that The Hanged Man made the choice to assume his position in order to take time out. When he appears in a reading I feel he would be encouraging me to do the same. The man on the Four of Swords looks like that choice was taken out of his hands though. He feels more like a cautionary tale to me.

II The High Priestess & Two of Rods

However, I am more than willing to concede that my impressions about the cards I’m discussing could change considerably when they appear next to other cards in a spread. Things aren’t always as they seem. The Hanson-Roberts Tarot shows that in different ways.

From the very first time I looked at II The High Priestess she reminded me of a Babushka doll. She appears wooden but when I look at her I hear, “I see you but you only see the parts of my world I show you.” Taken together, this made sense to me. It readily aligns with the idea of there being more beneath the surface. Strangely, because this is not a thought I have ever associated with The High Priestess before, social media came to mind.

The scale-like backdrop added to the idea that looks can be deceiving and what you see isn’t what you get. Whether they be snake scales or fish scales, I find it hard to ignore the idea of something being a bit “slippery” when I look at this card. I normally love the High Priestess but this one suggests the darker side of her nature to me.

The man on the Two of Rods has turned his back on the High Priestess and therefore maybe any deception as well. The way he is holding the world changes the energy of the card for me. There is no sense of weighing up his world. Here it looks like he wants to give it away. “Walk a mile in my shoes before you wish you were me” comes to mind. Again, not something I would normally associate with this card.

I get “same old, same old” vibes as well. The sun is rising on a beautiful new day and yet he isn’t paying it any attention whatsoever. Is his “comfort zone, ” no longer comfortable? The idea of a comfort zone surfaces with many versions of this card, but in most instances I feel the person is weighing up their current world with another option. Maybe in this case he has already made his decision. He’s had enough, and he’s ready to give it all away.

As I said earlier, this deck is not all “happily ever after” unless you’re prepared to put in the work to make it so.

The Hanson-Roberts Tarot Guidebook

Commensurate with the size of the the deck, the Hanson-Roberts Tarot comes with a little 47-paged LWB. Little is the operative word. Due to its size, the font is even-with-my-glasses-on-I-have-to-hold-the-book-at-a-distance small. Honestly, I don’t understand why the book is smaller than the already small card size. It definitely wasn’t comfortable to read. Of note is that the book is only in English. Since the card titles are in multiple languages this surprised me.

Written by Stuart S Kaplan, founder of US Games, the guidebook opens with a very brief overview of tarot before moving on to discuss the artist, Mary Hanson-Roberts. I like that the information about her is up front rather than relegated to the final pages of the book. From there though, starting with the Major Arcana, it is straight into the card meanings.

Sample from the book – XVI The Tower

I like the way he starts the meanings with a description of the card since this section is the most relevant to the deck. For XVI The Tower pictured above it reads:

A tall tower with a crowned roof has been struck violently by a blast of lightning and fire. Only the top, the crown, is severed, signifying a clean break from the past. The flame is a symbol of a strong and dominating occurrence. Two persons fall to the ground. The falling figures represent escape from the past and sudden immersion into new events. The card is variously called The Lightning Struck Tower, The House of God, The Hospital, Fire of Heaven, or the Tower of Babel.

This is followed by key words and key phrases for both the upright and reversed presentations.

The Minor Arcana meanings

The Minor Arcana are grouped by suit and move from the King to the Ace. They receive the same, albeit much briefer, treatment as the Major Arcana. It would have been nice to see more written to describe the card. For example, the Ten of Rods reads:

A man is burdened by the weight of ten flowering rods that he carries toward a castle.

That’s it. Yet, when I look at this man I feel he is managing his load well and I see someone about to reach his goal. In the Divinatory Meanings section it does offer “Problems soon to be resolved” as one of the key phrases. So, that idea is shared, but so much more could have been covered.

For example, the path is clear and the castle is clearly visible but why the clouds? Are they the clouds from the base of The Tower? Does arriving at the castle signal an escape from the past and the immersion in the new? The sun’s rays suggest possibly. While I am happy, and thoroughly enjoy, unravelling the scenes, I think that since this is such a beautiful deck for beginners to work with, more could have been done with the book.

It ends suddenly with The Ten-Card Spread. This is a version of the Celtic Cross.

Wrapping it all up

It took me a while to come to the Hanson-Roberts Tarot because every time I went to buy it I bought something else. However, having worked with it now, I believe that it came to me at the right time.