Stella's Tarot, a review and discussion

[Raggydoll]

My journey with Stella’s tarot began quite a number of years ago when I first watched the Korean tv drama ”Mawang” (’Lucifer’). It is a really well made but rather lengthy mystery series which heavily features tarot and psychism. The show is available for free on Youtube, with English subtitles. (Just type in 'Mawang Lucifer 1' and you will find the playlist). The deck they had selected for the show was, as I later found out, called Stella’s tarot. This deck was created by Stella Kaoruko and painted by Takako Hoei. The images are really suggestive and there was something about the deck that spoke to me deeply. I decided I wanted to acquire a copy and do my best to find out as much as I could about the deck and its fascinating imagery.

 

What my copy looks like, the 2008 edition

 

The deck was first published as a Majors only version called Stella´s Simple Tarot. It came with a Korean booklet that contained a list of magical correspondences for each card, plus a section with interpretations for Love and for Business topics. A few of the cards also had suggestions for ’magical talismans’, like the Empress card which can be carried as a talisman by those that wish to become pregnant, or the High Priestess card which can work as an aid for deep studies.

 

The Lovely Empress with an egg floating above her hand. This card can be used as a fertility talisman, according to the deck creator. 

 

In 2008 the full deck was published by AGM, now under the name Stella’s tarot. This time there was an English booklet, but sadly it only contained the standard RWS descriptions that AGM uses for most of their decks. And this deck is not a typical RWS clone. The overall structure is based on Thoth and Marseille, but the images are a mix of both Thoth, Marseille and RWS, coupled with Stella's own visions. 

 

The size is pretty much identical to that of the Thoth deck, which means that it has the same width as a standard RWS but is slightly shorter. The borders are somewhat prominent and they do have copyright text on them. I work with two versions of this deck; one that is trimmed into a mini deck. I love both versions!

 

Here is what the trimmed version looks like next to the ordinary one:

 

Like I mentioned before, the titles and the order of the cards are almost entirely Thoth based, with a few alterations. For instance, card number 11 is called ”Miracle” in this deck. The court cards are Thoth based and rank Knight, Queen, Prince, Princess.

 

There are a few cards in particular that might prove challenging to those that are only familiar with RWS - the Seven of Swords and Seven of Disks. They follow the Thoth keywords. This is why the descriptions in the AGM booklet are not all that helpful. For 7 of disks (upright position) it says: Ingenuity, hard work, progress, wealth, successful dealings.

 

 

Comparing 7 of Disks in RWS, Thoth and Stella's tarot. 

 

After a couple of years, this deck went out of print and became quite rare and expensive. However, around 2012, Stella Kaoruko released a second print run of the full deck. This time it was released exclusively on the Asian market. The deck itself remained the same, but the LWB was now made especially for the deck and is written in English. There is also a boxed set with a bigger guidebook available, but as far as I am aware, that guidebook is only available in Japanese.

 

The English booklet does not contain descriptions of the images or their symbolism, but it does list keywords and suggests interpretations for Business and Love topics. I was however able to find information on the symbolism of each cards through Stella’s website, as well as on her blog (called Stella Fortune Up Diary). Both of these sources are written in Japanese and so I have had to rely on google translate.

 

Here is what is written about the 7 of Disks (according to Google translate):

 

”A woman trapped in a spider's web with seven coins. This card, with a slightly shocking picture, represents a situation in which no matter how hard you try, you can't get out of a difficult situation, and the more you try, the more you fail and the more painful it becomes. "Wealth" symbolized by money is blessed in its own way, but as it is, it cannot be used even if it is used, and its value cannot be utilized. A dragonfly is drawn on the woman's dress, which symbolizes her potential. It seems that letting this dragonfly fly freely, in other words, fully demonstrating her potential, is the key to getting out of her predicament.”

 

Looking further on these sites,we also learn that the Hierophant is a Shinto Priest, who is holding a staff engraved with the Akashic Records. As for The High Priestess - the book in her hands is the Book of Dead, and the wings on her chest represents ”all the memories of souls from previous lives beyond time and space”. The eye on both the Tower card and the Nine of Swords are meant to represent the Eye of Horus. The Ammonite on the Magicians chest represents ancient wisdom, and the egg on the table in front of him, portends a new birth. Just to name a few examples!

 

 

This deck contains some very powerful and suggestive images.

 

There are some unusual details in this stunning card, like the ammonite, the scroll and the egg. 

 

One other interesting piece of information is that Stella definitely created this deck with the intent of traditional fortune telling, or predictive readings. I believe it was on her web page where she explained that there are no guidebook instructions for looking into the past because she doesn’t think most people will benefit from looking back. She feels that it is much better to focus on what lies ahead. This of course doesn’t mean that the cards cannot be used in any way that the reader pleases, it just means that the only card descriptions you will find are those that align with Stellas own reading style.

 

Now, let’s get to some of my personal experiences from working with this deck. It has, after all, been my number one deck for several years now! I find this deck to be very straightforward in its messages and it reads really well for me. The imagery has a special quality to it which feels particularly suitable for intuitive readings. I have spent a lot of time meditating on the images, treating them as portals. If I study them long enough, I get the feeling that things start to move around and that the story begins to unfold. The way certain symbols repeat themselves in different cards really tie this deck together. There is so much to contemplate and tons of tiny, yet significant, details to discover. The very talented Takako Hoei has indeed crafted a magical universe, and I am very grateful to her and Stella for making this deck available yet again to all us tarot readers.

 

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The deck is still in print as of december 2022 and can be bought from the deck creator or the artist, plus it also seems to be available on international market places such as ebay.

 

Edited December 12, 2022 by Raggydoll

[Raggydoll]

If anyone has this deck and would like to share their experiences with it, I would love to hear about it!

[arecaceaye]

Hello Raggydoll,

 

Thank you for this post. I've had a copy of Stella's Tarot since 2020 and I've never come across a deck I enjoy more than this one - it's enchanting! I created this account to ask you if it is possible to reply back to me with a link to Stella Kaoruko's card meanings on her website? I am trying to find them myself, but I have to rely on the google translate function, it isn't helping too much. I'd love to create a document with each of her descriptions for personal use.

 

Love your review. :)

[arecaceaye]

Hi again! Nevermind, I have found Stella's descriptions of each of her cards! Yay! Sorry for the confusion. Happy to find another person on the wide web who also enjoys this deck as much as I do! ❤️

[Raggydoll]

49 minutes ago, arecaceaye said:

Hi again! Nevermind, I have found Stella's descriptions of each of her cards! Yay! Sorry for the confusion. Happy to find another person on the wide web who also enjoys this deck as much as I do! ❤️

Glad you found them! I believe I just used the google translate version of her website and then it was easy to find. And I’m delighted that you’re a fan of this deck too!