Radiant Wisdom Tarot
The Radiant Wisdom Tarot was my first foray into indie decks and it holds a special place in my heart because my children bought it for me. In the “About the Author” section it says ‘She enjoys transforming the mysterious into the obvious and Tarot is one of her favourite tools for doing this.’ Therefore it came as no surprise to me that I was drawn to this deck. We share the same intention and the Radiant Wisdom Tarot serves this purpose well. It’s a clear and uplifting deck that presents simple, accessible imagery that feels user-friendly and non-threatening without compromising the power or scope of the messages available. The strength of the Radiant Wisdom Tarot is that it grounds spirituality in the everyday.
The Radiant Wisdom Tarot Deck
This is a bright and colourful deck without being gaudy. It doesn’t scream at you or overwhelm you with a multitude of images. Instead it presents an uncomplicated scene that’s pregnant with possibilities and meaning. Take the Nurture of Fire aka Queen of Wands complete with the keyword ‘Clarity’. Now let me say straight up that I’m not normally a fan of keywords on Tarot cards, but here I find they add to the card without diminishing the importance of the artwork.
The star-shaped sun is prominent on the card. This simple image is highly significant to me. Just like the sun, the Nurturer of Fire shines bright and everyone is aware of her presence. We may forget the sun, when compared to the billions of stars in the Universe, isn’t all that remarkable but the fact we experience warmth and light makes it so to us. That single element can signify so much. What makes us remarkable? This queen knows she’s a star and she owns it. There is no pretence. What you see is what you get. This can be related to any situation. Look at what’s right in front of you. Is it supporting you, helping you grow, or is there a chance you’re going to get burned? The truth is not hidden. You just need to trust in what’s being shown. There is so much more I could say here but I’m not writing a guidebook so I’ll move on. I just wanted to draw attention to how much can be drawn from the simple, yet aesthetically pleasing, artwork.
There are so many cards I’d like to talk about because I love the way the meanings are presented. The 9 of Earth provides another example. We’re shown a lady sitting knitting in front of a fire. The keyword is ‘Security’. Some portrayals of the 9 of Pentacles suggest she is isolated by her success and that maybe she is too independent, driven and controlling for her own good. I’m not a fan of that portrayal by the way and so I appreciate that isn’t the case here. Here the woman looks comfortable. She has what she needs. All the stars suggest her life is shining brightly and she is able to relax and enjoy what she has created.
And then there’s the 8 of Air – ‘Tradition’. The 8 of Swords traditionally represents feeling stuck, trapped, not acknowledging or trying to discover a way out of a situation. This card points you in a direction. Are the traditions you follow supporting or hindering you? The lady to the right is still. The lady to the left is moving and she may even be dancing. Her dress is more elaborate as is her headpiece. The lady seated at the front dressed in orange is creating yet another way to honour and yet personalise the “traditional” way of doing things. Trying to do things the way they’ve always been done may leave us feeling trapped and stagnant. The Radiant Wisdom Tarot seeks to nurture creativity and this card depicts that intention clearly.
I see the things they’re holding as tambourines. Each woman is playing the same instrument but they’re creating their own way of doing so. You don’t have to totally reinvent yourself or completely change your situation in order to feel less stuck. Just take steps to incorporate new ways of doing things until you find what works for you. There is no judgement in this card. Often times it’s easier to see from the outside what needs to be done and therefore judge others for not taking the necessary action. This card offers a suggestion for a way forward. That’s what I like about it.
You may have also noticed that the suits are colour-coded. I like decks with this feature. It allows me to see patterns and energy at a glance. The same colour-coding applies to the Major Arcana, but the creator has not followed typical elemental associations. Rather than IV The Emperor, here 4 Strategy, being associated with fire, she has linked the card to earth energy. Another example is XIII Death is 13 Transformation and linked to fire rather than water. That is not how I would normally conceive these cards, (her astrology generally differs wildly too), but I like being pushed to consider cards in different ways. I gravitate to what the card itself is showing me rather than relying purely on my knowledge base. Although I may say, “often this card is pictured in “x” way but here the emphasis is on “y” which to me suggests …..” I see others default to the general RWS meanings in these situations. We all have our own style which I think is awesome.
The fire energy I would normally associate with this card is still present in that her clothing is flame-like in colour and depiction. Plus there is the follow through of the colour to her crown region which further suggested to me the fire element. But this card feels more balanced than many emperors. The picture shows she is actively trying to work out the best approach so she knows the best way to proceed. The addition of the green, which signifies earth in this deck, suggests the need to come up with a way forward that’s practical and sustainable. Further, I see the green as aligned with the heart chakra and therefore serving as a reminder not to ignore your heart when coming up with solutions. I like that her back is turned also. It tells me she is focused on coming up with viable solutions without worrying about what others may think about the unsuccessful ideas that were part of the process.
And, I think 17 Gratitude as a renaming for The Star is perfect. I believe true gratitude is a necessary step in any transformation and this is a wonderful reminder. This card is purple which aligns it with an additional suit that is included with this deck. Radiant Wisdom Tarot is actually a 92-card Tarot deck. However, obviously you can remove the Bridges suit if you so choose. In fact, the creator suggests you can work with them on their own. She describes this extra suit as ‘a roadmap to successful manifestation, providing a bridge between inspired intention and physical plane results’ and I welcome their inclusion.
For the most part though, the Radiant Wisdom Tarot is a typical tarot deck, albeit with several name changes to the cards. With the exception of the Strength card, XI in this deck, all Major Arcana cards have been renamed.
- 0 The Fool – 0 Simplicity
- I The Magician – 1 Manifestation
- II The High Priestess – 2 Spirit Guide
- III The Empress – 3 Generosity
- IV The Emperor – 4 Strategy
- V The Hierophant – 5 Conformity
- VI The Lovers – 6 Love
- VII The Chariot – 7 Success
- VIII Justice – 8 Balance
- IX The Hermit – 9 Solitude
- X Wheel of Fortune – 10 Opportunity
- XII The Hanged Man – 12 Perspective
- XIII Death – 13 Transformation
- XIV Temperance – 14 Flexibility
- XV The Devil – 15 Breakthrough
- XVI The Tower – 16 Awakening
- XVII The Star – 17 Gratitude
- XVIII The Moon – 18 Intuition
- XIX The Sun – 19 Expansion
- XX Judgement – 20 Consciousness
- XXI The World – 21 Wholeness
These changes are akin to keywords that could be associated with the Major Arcana and so are fairly easy to navigate. The suits are Earth, Fire, Water, Air and Bridges with Mystic, Achiever, Nurturer and Keeper as the court.
The cards are on the smaller side measuring 7½ x 10cm which makes the large number of cards easier to handle. I’ve read complaints about the cardstock but I don’t have an issue with it. They’ve hacked up a bit over the years but they’ve held up fine. They’re bendy which makes them great to riffle although if you bend an individual card they don’t spring back fully. That being said, my deck isn’t warped from all my shuffling. The only thing I would say is that when I pulled these cards out to write this I decided to edge them. Unfortunately the colour bled a bit on the front of the cards. This doesn’t overly bother me because it’s not excessive but if you tend to modify decks it is something to bear in mind. If I’d done a test card, (something I generally do if there is one available), I would probably have decided against edging them.
The Radiant Wisdom Tarot Book
There’s a lot to love about the 212-paged full-size book. There’s also some things I struggle with. However, since it takes quite a unique approach it makes for an interesting read. From the opening message:
You are free to be your most radiant your most loving your most amazing self,
to its concluding one:
Thank you for being all of who you are,
this book, just like the cards, is welcoming and encouraging. The Introduction set the tone and the book continues in an easy-to-read, conversational manner. Before the card meaning section, there’s information on ‘Working with the Chakras,’ ‘Working with Crystals and Other Stones,’ and ‘Grounding’ followed by an explanation of how the card definitions are laid out. This provides necessary clarity. Without these explanations, I feel the ‘Live the ease of this card’ and the ‘Live the effort of this card’ would be confusing. Wouldn’t the ease make more sense? But no, that’s not always the case. Here, “the ease describes how to flow with the card’s energy in ways that typically invite you to replenish yourself as part of the experience.”
As a randomly chosen example, 7 – Success, for ease suggests trusting your ability to do what you’re trying to do. Be prepared to be the one who makes any necessary decisions. The effort describes how to flow with the card’s energy in ways that typically invite you to replenish yourself outside of the experience. Again with 7 – Success, the effort suggests to always keep a new goal in front of you. This is a really interesting way to look at the card. I don’t know what words I’d use instead of “ease” and “effort” but I think “effort” especially is misleading.
The card meaning section layout is the same for all cards. The title is followed by an explanation of the card which includes a “Creativity is supported by” line. In the case of 7 – Success, it reads, “Creativity is supported through accomplishments.” What it means when this card appears in a reading and a black and white card image follows. On the next page are the sections on ease and effort, a key phrase, (the 7 – Success phrase is “I can and I will”), followed by correspondences. Here it gets a bit murky for me.
Firstly, for all the Major Arcana, the Minor Arcana suit and the cards she considers the Major Arcana card corresponds to are noted. I initially thought these may have been linked through the Kabbalah Tree of Life but that isn’t the case. For the Minor Arcana she lists the Major Arcana cards she believes correspond. This is followed by astrological correspondences that are not consistent with how they are generally represented. 7 – Success is listed as Mars in Sagittarius in 10th house. I cannot tell you how that applies because astrology is not my strong point at this stage, (I’m working to change that). Nevertheless most Tarot books and decks with associations printed on the cards, (e.g. Haindl Tarot, Celestial Tarot, Tarot of Dreams, The Hermetic Tarot to name but a few in my collection). Therefore, until my understanding changes I will work with what I know in this area. Since there is no explanation as to why her interpretations differ I won’t just take them at face value. Everyone is free to do whatever they choose and to connect with whatever suits them. I realise there are different approaches to astrology but while I’m trying to deepen my knowledge in this area I haven’t ventured into the other systems too much. I’m guessing she has followed a particular system. I just wished she had acknowledged which one.
She also includes correspondences for time of day, direction, element, season, chakras, colours and runes. I don’t adhere to directions either because I live in the Southern Hemisphere. So again I would say personal discretion is needed. Crystal suggestions are provided within the ease and effort sections too. Yet, even though I have been collecting and working with crystals for over 30 years I don’t have all she recommends at my disposal. Some I haven’t heard of but many are easily available and as someone who began working with crystals before tarot I love that they’re included here.
Spreads
The book offers six spreads:
- Radiant Wisdom Reading (7)
- Dynamic Reading (12 or 18)
- Personal Alignment Reading (6)
- Manifestation Reading (6)
- Harmony Reading (8)
- General Reading (15)
With the exception of the Harmony Reading, I really found these spreads valuable. I prefer to read for clients one-on-one but this reading suggests having both the arguing parties present. That is not part of my practice so it wasn’t relevant to me. The Dynamic Reading is one that I fully intend to offer for client readings though. I found it to be a great layout.
Overall this deck is like my “soul sister” deck. We get each other, what we’re both about, and what we seek to offer. Working with this deck is like sitting down with your best friend and having a chat about the best way forward in something you’re trying to create. There’s no tough parental love here. It’s more a ‘Yeah you can so do it sister’ followed by an, ‘as long as you consider this, this and this and then actually take steps to bring your dream to fruition’ type energy. If you’re looking for a kind, encouraging deck that will motivate/push you to act then this could well be the one for you.
Publishing Details
Deck Creator:
Laughing Womyn Ashonosheni
Published by:
Sophronia Press in 2012
Website:
