Therese Posted March 22, 2022 Posted March 22, 2022 On 3/17/2022 at 11:05 PM, katrinka said: The guidebook lists 41 artists, if I'm counting correctly. Maybe @BlueToy will pop in and tell us more? He was the director, and he did a wonderful job. Many thanks! That's a good number, an average of no more than two cards per artist. Really like the idea and the cards one can see! ❤️
Eno Posted March 31, 2022 Posted March 31, 2022 Today I got the Fulgur edition of Ithell Colquhoun's "Taro as Color", there also is a book, which I ordered too, but that wasn't worth it. The LWB that comes with the cards is more informative than the book, the book has mainly big prints of the cards, but since I have the cards I don't need them in book-form again. The Colquhoun Tarot was originally produced as a limited edition of 100 copies by Adam McLean (and I own one of those too), but the new edition is better. Adam's edition had blank backs and glossy cards, the new ones have a real back, are matte and the cards are bigger. The new edition has both titles for the cards, the traditional and initiated Golden Dawn names, Adam's edition only features the Golden Dawn names. I also like the brighter colors of the new edition.
Bodhiseed Posted April 1, 2022 Posted April 1, 2022 I recently received "Reading and Understanding the Marseille Tarot" by Anna Maria Morsucci and Antonella Aloi. Up to now, my go-to has been the little booklet written by Lee Bursten. I really wanted to like this book, but I'm terribly disappointed with it. I'm not sure if the translation got mucked up or if their writing simply meanders without making much of a point. It has little historical information - and after taking an online course with Jean-Michel David on the Marseille, this omission feels like a gaping hole. At times it feels like its more a book for the RWS than the Marseille. My advice is to give this one a pass.
ilweran Posted April 5, 2022 Posted April 5, 2022 I had a bit of a surprise mother's Day present arrive - Spirit of Cats Oracle, it is so cute! The book is translated to English which is great and the cards are too adorable.
sweeneyish Posted April 7, 2022 Posted April 7, 2022 (edited) My first official Tarot de Marseille deck appeared today - the Flornoy Jean Noblet. I'm totally gobsmacked by the beauty and simplicity of these cards. There's just something about them that is incredibly striking. The LWB is excellent. And I was super happy that I was able to order it from a supplier in Canada, and get it in two days! Edited April 7, 2022 by sweeneyish
Raggydoll Posted April 8, 2022 Author Posted April 8, 2022 6 hours ago, sweeneyish said: My first official Tarot de Marseille deck appeared today - the Flornoy Jean Noblet. I'm totally gobsmacked by the beauty and simplicity of these cards. There's just something about them that is incredibly striking. The LWB is excellent. And I was super happy that I was able to order it from a supplier in Canada, and get it in two days! It really is a lovely deck and the format is so nice!
Eno Posted April 12, 2022 Posted April 12, 2022 (edited) Today I got the Seams Tarot. It's theme is South East Asian Myths and Stories. It is a collaborative deck of Rowen Ong, Lynyrd-Jym Narciso and other South Asian Artists (their names and countries are on the cards) I absolutely love the artwork plus it has Aquaman on the Knight of Cups, but the card stock is to slippery for my taste and the box is one of those that are hard to open without distroying the flap. Edited April 12, 2022 by Eno
sweeneyish Posted April 28, 2022 Posted April 28, 2022 Today my Vanderborre Tarot arrived from the Cartomancer. First, considering my location and that each deck is custom printed, it came wonderfully quick. Here are some images. I like the simple tuck box and the deck itself is gorgeous - and delightfully strange. The quality of the cards themselves is fantastic - I can tell they will stand up to a beating, which is good, because I use my cards a lot! The nice, simple box: Ace of Batons and Ace of Swords: The Batons Court: And some of the assorted strange cards of the deck - The Spanish Captain (a comedia dell arte character, a puffed up vainglorious warrior) instead of the Papesse, Bacchus instead of the Pope, the Hanging Man from the opposite perspective, a unique and perplexing Moon, and La Foudre (Lightning or Thunder) instead of the Tower.
DanielJUK Posted June 17, 2022 Posted June 17, 2022 My Tarot by Caro came about a week ago and omg I love it! I won't stop raving about it to anyone who will listen! 😆 It totally fits me and is my style and have done some readings with it and it's already one of my fave decks! I bought the matching reading cloth as well 🙂 I love the colours! There is a nice interview with Caro from last year here. In the interview she says her RWS based deck is inspired by Leonora Carrington. Carrington was born in Britain and moved to Mexico and lived in Mexico City until she died aged 94. She was one of the 1930's surrealists. I love female surrealists as an art style, especially North /South American. It's my fave art genre and so this deck fits me perfectly ❤️
KiMo Posted June 17, 2022 Posted June 17, 2022 Such a gorgeous deck @DanielJUK, no wonder you're delighted 🤩 And thank you for including the link to the interview, I'll read it with interest, I jumped out of my chair when I saw Leonora's name as I'm a total superfan!! 😅 Slightly off topic so apologies but I had the pleasure of seeing one of her works in the flesh not so long ago, along with three by her contemporary Remedios Varo, they were *stunning*
Niobium Posted June 28, 2022 Posted June 28, 2022 \o/ My Forgotten Legends deck has arrived! Lightning fast, I'm so happy. I'll post some pictures of the 2 versions in a little while here when I have a break from work. 🙂
gregory Posted July 10, 2022 Posted July 10, 2022 OK my decks made it. Nice - and the Four Cities is VERY strange., I do like a bit of strange. Niobium - you bought Forgotten Legends too. They said says there is a pdf book that you will get when you order. I don't have it - do you ? On the box it says "description book here:" - and - that's it ! no link !
Niobium Posted July 11, 2022 Posted July 11, 2022 3 hours ago, gregory said: OK my decks made it. Nice - and the Four Cities is VERY strange., I do like a bit of strange. Niobium - you bought Forgotten Legends too. They said says there is a pdf book that you will get when you order. I don't have it - do you ? On the box it says "description book here:" - and - that's it ! no link ! Ah, I was going to ask if they sent it to you. If not, I'm happy to do so--if you DM me an email address I can pass it along.
TheFeeLion Posted July 14, 2022 Posted July 14, 2022 Well my Dreamkeepers arrived a little while ago now but I've finally had a chance to play with it 😊 I did a quick interview spread (who are you, who am I, how will we work together) and the 'who are you' card was the 2W which shows a beautifully dressed lady in red, with another in white in the mirror behind her, both of them looking they are curtsying a greeting 😊 those 'who are you' card (6W) shows a Greek/Roman woman lifting a bunch of grapes to her mouth, which immediately made me think of Dionysus and his maenads. Rather appropriate considering my affinities to him and my vocation 😊 So far I'm enjoying this rather pretty deck. There seems to be plenty of substance to it too, just as I had imagined of a surrealist deck like this 😁 @gregory thank you! You definitely didn't steer me wrong! Here's a pic so you all can have an ogle at it 😁
AlbaTross Posted July 14, 2022 Posted July 14, 2022 (edited) My Adventure Cat Tarot set came yesterday: I guess I can say I finally achieved the rite of passage that is owning a cat deck. Design-wise, the box clearly doesn’t belong in a dude’s house, but thankfully I keep my Tarot stuff in a closet. The cards all individually had a piece of adhesive plastic, so getting that off of all 78 cards was a process. I think the idea was to protect the cards, and it seemed to work sometimes, but not all the time, as you can see below. I think these cards are quite prone to scratching, as I may have scratched them even by just shuffling them for my deck interview. At least the deck is flattering. It introduced itself as Justice, and thinks I’m The World (I’m really not, but I’ll take the compliment). It’s clearly here to teach me about moving on from the past, which I’m ok with.I likely would have gone with a much less anthropomorphized deck as my first cat deck, and I’m certainly not in need of a RWS clone, due to having a perfectly good RWS, but I was really interested in the transparent nature of this deck, and it works as advertised. The cards are plastic, and like I said, they do seem to scratch easily, but they don’t feel flimsy, which is good. Another thing to note, each suit, including the Majors and all four Minor suits all have a colour flow to them as cards ascend. Red flows to orange, which flows to yellow, which flows to green, which flows to blue, which flows to purple, which flows to pink, which flows to red, with plenty of transitional shades in between. Each suit has its own flow, meaning the Majors don’t flow into the Minors, nor does one suit’s King flow into the Ace of another, but it’s still an interesting pattern. All in all, I think it’s an alright deck. I don’t see it being a go-to deck, but it will likely have great utility for annual readings. I bought into a novelty, and that is what this deck is best for IMHO. I suppose it also works well as a safe for work RWS. The drawback of the cards scratching easily is worth noting though, and the cards are plastic, so they feel different from other card stock for better or worse. Edited July 14, 2022 by AlbaTross
Eno Posted July 16, 2022 Posted July 16, 2022 That's my new Everyday Enchantment Tarot. It has different colored borders for the different suits and the cards are quite big. The box is like they are always with Schiffer and it comes with a nice informative Guidebook.
AlbaTross Posted July 23, 2022 Posted July 23, 2022 So, I impulse-backed a RWS clone deck on Kickstarter because it was made by a six year old, and it finally came: The cards were wrapped in two separate packs, with one coming off easily, but I unfortunately ended up damaging one card quite extensively trying to get it out of the other packaging: Oh well, it still does its job, and I backed this deck more for the novelty than anything. My deck interview spread (who are you, who am I, what are you here to teach me) turned out quite interesting though: All Swords, and all reversed. I just realized, I’ve only actually shown Sword cards. Well, the others are the same idea. The Major cards all have their names and numbers, while the Minors only have numbers, except for the Aces and Court Cards. However, it’s generally pretty clear which suit a card is, though it can take a second to figure out. As I’ve established, the card stock isn’t the most sturdy, and the deck is actually quite small; the cards are the exact same size of Everyday Tarot (I compared them). All in all, I think I got what I paid for (I think it only set me back about $20USD, give or take). I don’t think I’d recommend this deck for serious reading, but it’s a novelty. I might use it for matters relating to children. It’s definitely not going to be one of my go-to decks, but that’s not why I invested in it.
KiMo Posted July 24, 2022 Posted July 24, 2022 So I've been meaning to write this post for a while and have only now found a few moments to get it done! My copy of The Lonely Dreamer Tarot arrived, I ordered it directly from the maker's (Melissa Wotherspoon) Etsy page, called Painterspoon. It's based on the artwork of one of my favourite artists, Odilon Redon. This is the second edition. Here are a few of my favourite cards... The deck really lives up to its name and is very dreamy, so much so that it can take me a bit of time to translate the feelings I get into words! The images are beautiful, there are a few cards that do suffer from the problem of fitting an existing piece of work into specific meaning, but ultimately I find that the artist did a lovely job with them and that the deck works really well. It comes in a magnetic flip-top box with a lwb that has brief descriptions, it all has an indie handmade feel to it but personally I don't mind that (although I appreciate the production work was outsourced). My one issue is the cardstock which is quite thin and the edges chip very easily. Also the embossed finish (not sure if it's linen or something else) makes some of the soft colours look pixelated when they're not, which is a shame. I feel like this is all just an encouragement to not be so precious, however, as I can be careful with things to the point of being too worried to use them, which is silly! All in all I'm very happy with it and look forward to exploring it further.
AlbaTross Posted August 7, 2022 Posted August 7, 2022 (edited) So, I’ve had two more Kickstarter decks arrive. The first is Tarot of Japanese Poetry: Here is my deck interview (who are you, who am I, what are you here to teach me?): Finally, as this deck was created by a Ukrainian company, who have thankfully safely relocated to Cyprus, I did a reading into the situation in Ukraine (one card for Ukraine, one for Russia, and what I need to know): I will say, this is a beautiful deck, and when I saw it, I knew I had to have it. I now have two Japan-related decks, neither of which is anime or manga-based. I really like the art in this one. The suits for the Minor Arcana are all replaced with seasons, though they still correspond to the four elements, so the general meaning still carries forward (Cups=Spring, Wands=Summer, Pentacles=Autumn, Swords=Winter). The deck is clearly themed around haikus and traditional Japanese art, with a strong historical vibe. As seasons are culturally important to the Japanese, it makes sense that the suits would be changed to fit that. I have no complaints with the card stock, the box is great, and while the guidebook isn't terribly detailed, it's still decent, and there is a haiku for every card. As you may have noticed, there are nine additional cards in this one. Four are actually the princesses, which are lifted from Thoth and Golden Dawn. Four are entirely new cards, which are the First Day of Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter, each with their own meanings. Finally, the Ten of Winter (Swords) was split into two cards. Both still essentially carry the same meaning, but focus more on different aspects of it, and/or denote different points in the process of dealing with pain. The first very much focuses on the beginning of the process, when pain is fresh, while the second focuses on a point of time when the querent is beginning to move past it. All in all, I've really been looking forward to this one, and I think it was well worth the wait. Edited August 7, 2022 by AlbaTross
AlbaTross Posted August 7, 2022 Posted August 7, 2022 And, here's the other one: Here is the deck interview I did with it (who are you, who am I, what are you here to teach me?): The Kinner Tarot deck is another deck that really appealed to me on Kickstarter (Kinner is actually the surname of the creator and artist, Rachel Kinner). I don't normally do near-monochrome decks, but this is the second one I own (with Yokai Yochi Tarot being my other one, which is also the other Japanese-themed deck I own, go figure). I really like the art in this one too. It was actually an impulse buy, as I wasn't actually planning on investing in another deck at the time, but I knew I had to have it. It has kind of a surreal feel to it, which I love. As you can tell, the Minor Arcana are partway between pips and more detailed art. The art here is more basic and abstract than the RWS art, but carries over the meanings if you're familiar with the original cards. The differences between each number card would be more apparent if I had shown two or more of the same suit, but the ones shown do reflect the cards they represent. There are six additional cards, some of which have more colour to them, but not all do, and all of the standard Tarot cards have the same black and goldish colour scheme. It is clear the creator really loves drawing. Apparently she was offering custom cards to be added to decks if the backer chose to pay for that tier, where the backer could commission her to draw an original card with the theme they wanted. I didn't, but I'm content with the standard deck. The card stock is decent enough. This is clearly a long deck, but I've come across others with similar dimensions. The only real drawback to this deck is it doesn't come with a guidebook of any kind. However, if I really need a refence I just use Biddy Tarot. The original cards will obviously have to be read intuitively when they come up. The deck comes in a standard tuckbox, though it is a decent quality one. All in all, this is another great deck. I definitely wouldn't recommend it as a beginner deck, but I wouldn't recommend Tarot of Japanese Poetry as a beginner deck either. Both are great decks for an intermediate to advanced reader.
Mirath Posted August 13, 2022 Posted August 13, 2022 So, the Kaleidadope deck was delivered yesterday. Nice sturdy yet pretty box, nice fitted guidebook, nice artwork (barely a white person in sight, and most cards are just symbolism), and I LOVE the holographic edging on the cards. Shiny shiny! However, probably because I’m comparing them to the RW I’ve been using for the past few days and gotten used to, the cards feel really thin and slippery. But maybe I just need to get to know them first. That, and the Death card is a chalk outline, which so appeals to me. It’s so simple yet so meaningful. And not just because I love roleplaying detectives. Okay, just a lil.
Agnes Posted August 13, 2022 Posted August 13, 2022 A couple of days ago I received Sonja Graves’ Happy Halloween tarot, which I bought off Etsy. (I think these are leftovers from her Kickstarter & there’s a limited supply. ) I really like the sturdy box the deck is in. The corner of mine got banged up in shipping, so I contacted the artist. She was very apologetic & is changing the way she will pack them in future; I was pleased with her response. I haven’t spent much time with this deck since I want to save it for October. But on first impression I like it very much. It’s cheerful but not saccharine. The minors are halfway between pips and pictures; they’re pleasant to look at but I’m not sure what they’ll be like in readings. The card backs are gorgeous and reversible. I like the way the tiny Halloween imagery only shows up if you look closely. The only accompanying material is a page of divinatory meanings; it does not fit in the box. I look forward to using this deck but for now it’s going into the closet.
AlbaTross Posted August 14, 2022 Posted August 14, 2022 (edited) Hi, I’m back again! All my Kickstarters seem to be arriving at the same time. I have two more coming, though I expect it will be some time before I receive them (watch this turn out to be a miscalculation, and for them to come much more quickly than expected). Anyways, I’m here to show off Titanic Tarot: Risen Spirits: I sprang for all the extras. I think due to apparent challenges with shipping glass, the note in a bottle didn’t come, but everything else is here. The playing cards with facts about the Titanic are also quite interesting. The deck box came inside of the wood box. I opted to stand the deck up in such a peculiar way next to the box because that seemed to be the best way for the light to catch it well enough to show off the gilding. And, here’s my deck interview (who are you, who am I, what are you here to teach me?) Once again, a deck flattered me by saying I’m The World. I believe another deck said the same thing. I still disagree, but I’ll take the compliment. As for the deck, I really like the art, and the historical theme. This is another deck on the more sombre, melancholic side, which could make for a good deck to read into topics such as loss. It is also technically an ocean themed deck, though I am waiting on a deck that will be more themed around that. The deck does have one extra Lovers card, because apparently there was demand to keep the one from the original deck, while also including one for this revision. The High Priestess was replaced with The Seer, but other than that, the deck sticks to the normal Major and Minor cards. I’m glad I backed this one after deciding against getting the original printing. I didn’t end up liking so much that that deck has merpeople in it, adding an unnecessary fantasy element. I have nothing against a fantasy theme, but it didn’t serve the historical theme IMHO. I did like that some cards just showed objects sinking under the sea, but I’m glad the number cards in the Minor Arcana were replaced in this second edition with much more theme-appropriate cards. The only minor criticism I have is that while all of the Court Cards appear to depict actual historical people, only the Kings and Queens are named in the guidebook, while the Knights and Pages aren't. I was able to look up The Queen of Cups pictured above, Dorothy Gibson, because she is named, but I guess half of the Court Cards can't be because I have no idea who they are. Other than that though, I have no issues. All in all, another great deck that I would highly recommend if you can get your hands on it. Edited August 14, 2022 by AlbaTross
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