Anna K Tarot

The Anna K Tarot was created by Austrian artist Anna Klaffinger.  According to the notes on the back of the 230-page book—which is included with the card set I bought on Amazon.uk—Anna K devoted nearly 10 years to crafting the Anna K Tarot—her debut divination deck.  She self-published it at first, but Llewellyn Books.com has now made it available as a mass-produced deck-plus-book set—available from Amazon and other outlets.

Anna was awarded a scholarship to attend the Salzburg International Summer Academy of Fine Arts in 2003, and has degrees in sociology and philosophy.  She lives in Bergham, Austria.  Her website is: AnnaK-tarot.at.

This is a fantastic deck for beginners AND any other user who likes thought-provoking, clear, evocative imagery based on the RWS system. The people depicted in the deck are of all ages and body types.  The deck does not use religious symbolism, so it suits people who are not Christian/Religious.  (There is no racial or cultural diversity in this deck either, which may upset or annoy some users, but it is definitely human-centred, which is a good part of its charm.)  The facial expressions and body language depicted in the cards make this deck easy to interpret. They give a strong clue as to the meaning of each card.

There are some differences from the standard Rider-Waite-Smith deck, but the differences actually are more human-centred and less 'symbolic,' which makes it easier to use for interpretation.  There is no radical departure from the RWS meanings, though—simply an enhancement of them. 

For example, in Anna K's 4 of Swords—which, in most RWS-based decks, shows what looks like an effigy of a dead knight in a church chapel—we are shown a sick person in bed, being attended to by a loving relative or nurse. This makes it obvious the person isn't dead, but is in recovery and resting ...which is the usual way to interpret the 4 of Swords card.

This deck contains a slightly altered image of the 10 of Swords as well.  Instead of the usual face-down corpse pierced by 10 swords, the picture depicts 10 swords embedded in a pool of blood, but in the distance the injured person is walking away with a very bloodied back.  The person has suffered a great deal, but has survived and is moving on.  I find this a lot easier to use in a reading, when interpreting this normally very scary card.  

The Death Card is another one many people comment on.  Instead of the usual skeleton, this Death is a pale, dark-haired male angel with black wings and a calm demeanor, beckoning the watcher forward.  It's relatively non-scary, and certainly not violent ...but it does retain the idea that Death is final and inescapable.   

The Aces in The Anna K Tarot are a lot of fun.  Each one depicts a young person engaged in an activity that corresponds to the beginning of each suit. The Ace of Pentacles, for example, depicts a dirt-smeared child who has just dug a hole in the ground and uncovered a box full of coins.  She looks really pleased with herself! These images are much more fun to work with than just a picture of a sword, or a cup, or whatever.

Anna K's Strength and Justice cards are swapped from their usual order in the RWS system (Strength is card 11, while Justice is card 8.)  However, I find that easy to deal with. 

 Although Anna K does not use reversals herself—which she explains in her excellent book that accompanies the set—there is no reason why reversals can't be used, if the reader prefers.

This is a well-thought out, down-to-earth, easy- to-use deck, with clear, distinctive images that are easy to see during a reading—even in low light, like candlelight, or light from a salt lamp. 

This is one of my very favourite decks, and I use it often.