Allcento Tarot

This Allcento Tarot captivated me instantly. This surprised me, as it's a ‘cartoon-y’ deck—which I usually don’t go for.  I’m not a deck collector either, but only buy decks I intend to use for readings.  So instant love surprised me a bit, while I watched a YouTube flip-through of this deck.

The Allcento Tarot has so much going for it.  The images are colourful, yet distinct, labeled clearly, and can be easily recognised during a reading, even in relatively dim light. The images are cartoon-like (drawn by the author of the deck, Michael Auger) but contain perfectly recognisable RiderWaiteSmith images. In most cases, the Auger-drawn images manage to add to—or clarify—the meanings of standard RWS cards.  This means The Allcento Tarot doesn’t operate as a mere clone, but is a very intelligent deck in its own right.

So much to like.  For one thing, each suit in the Minor Arcana has its own particular colour (as illustrated above.)  So when looking at a complicated reading, it’s easy to see instantly which suits are prominent in the reading, etc.  The Major Arcana cards all have a purple tint to them.  This colour-coding is a very effective trick, enabling easy visual recognition during a reading.

Another plus for me is how easy the cards are to handle and shuffle. They are not as narrow as some tarot cards, but certainly easy to handle for me, and I have relatively small hands.  The card stock seems durable, but the cards are thin and flexible enough enough to riffle-shuffle. They are also smooth enough to deal out without clumping or sticking together.  The edging is black, if that matters. I don’t particularly care for edging myself, but this edging certainly doesn’t detract.

The overall impact of the cards is lighthearted, which might not suit every situation.  However, if you want an occasional break from a serious sort of tarot, this would be an excellent option. I did my first reading with this deck last night, and got an accurate reading regarding a not-too-weighty question.  Whether this deck will work in weightier situations, only time will tell.

Many of the cards are quite amusing …notice the Queen of Swords here.  She means business! She’s just sliced off somebody’s head!  Don’t mess with this Queen.

The Hierophant also made me smile. He’s obviously some guru-ish fellow, filled with self-importance regarding his role in the world.  Here he is dispensing not so much innate wisdom as a list of Do’s and Dont’s. The two young people listening to him are being respectful, but they aren’t groveling, either.

The 5 of Wands illustrates the concept of too many cooks spoiling the soup—an aspect of the 5 of Wands I’ve always subscribed to. (The Committee Card!)

The 9 of Swords literally depicts the Monkey Mind at work, disturbing the person’s sleep and causing worry and agitation.

The 6 of Disks depicts a King and wealthy lady dispensing food and drink to needy subjects (including a begging dog!)

One of my favourite cards in this deck is the 6 of Cups. It clearly depicts a person looking through a filmy window onto his personal past.  It’s clear that these children don’t exist in the present day, but are as this elderly man remembers them during his childhood or his past in general.  It’s definitely a ‘nostalgia’ or ‘memories’ card.

While this deck does include some degree of racial diversity (a few non-caucasian faces), and quite a lot of gender diversity, neither of these concepts are ‘in your face.’  This might not suit people who want emphatic racial or gender-diverse decks.  But as these images are so RWS-based, I think the artist has done a good job with this aspect of the cards.

There are a few Major Arcana cards that have been re-named …The Choice instead of The Lovers; Time instead of The Hermit;  Fortitude instead of Strength; The Thunderbolt instead of The Tower; Fame instead of Judgement; and The World Soul instead of The World.  Whether these changes help or hinder the readings is up to the individual.  Personally, I just ignore the changes and read as if the cards were named like the normal RWS cards, as the images are actually the same—more or less.

What I have ignored in this review is the fact that the author has added 22 MORE cards to the deck, giving us a total of 100 cards.  I haven’t attempted to use these extra cards yet.  Not sure if they will enhance the experience or not.  I also found myself slightly put off by the comprehensive book included with the deck. It’s very comprehensive and illustrated as well, but I thought it would be straightforwardly written because the cards are straightforwardly illlustrated.  Instead, I found it slightly vague in tone and not much overall help in understanding Mr Auger’s intentions for each card.  This vagueness especially impacts the extra cards, which is one of the reasons I’ve not really looked at them much.  However, if you already have a good grounding in the RWS system, you will be able to dive in without the book, and use the usual 78 cards with no bother at all.

I love this deck.  Despite a few peripheral flaws as noted above (in my opinion), I highly recommend it to RWS system readers.  Maybe not as a first deck, due to the vague tone of the book’s explanation of card meanings. But if you’re already ‘there’ with RWS, you will probably enjoy using the Allcento Tarot whenever you’re in a lighthearted mood.