Tarot, Tea, & Me - A Tarot Readers Community - The Tarot Forum

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((Cross Posted from My Pillowfort))

I supported the Children of Litha Tarot by Xiahunt project on Kickstarter some months ago. Here's my original review of the deck that I stand by today. 

Pros:

• Cards are sturdy and unlikely to bend.
• Gilded edges will prevent wear and tear.
• GORGEOUSLY stunning art.
• Box that's also very sturdily made and likely to last a while.
• Includes a booklet!
• Backside of cards is completely symmetrical: I know when I do readings with reversals I struggle with knowing which side is rightside up just by looking at the backs. With this deck, it's completely symmetrical which will make it easier to be unswayed by fear of a reversal.
• Art includes many POC of different cultures with a variety of gender expression and body shapes.

Cons:

• The booklet was either not proofed or not

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Fantastic Menagerie Tarot
By Jewel

Published in March of 2006, The Fantastic Menagerie was the fourth Tarot deck published by Magic Realist Press (MRP).  It was published as a deck and book set.  If you have read any of the previous reviews I have written about MRP decks then you know I am a huge fan of their decks and books, and this one is no exception.  I will admit, when I purchased the deck it was more because it was created by Baba Studios than my interest in the art, and I will also confess that it took me some time to warm up to this deck.  In my desire to connect with it I chose The Fantastic Menagerie to complete both the Apprentice and Journeyman levels of “21 Ways to Read a Tarot Card” by Mary Greer, and worked with the deck for about a year and half solid.  Needless to say, by the time I completed the work, I was in love with it. 

As usual, Karen Mahoney and Alex Ukolov did their research...

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Shadowscapes Tarot
By Jewel

This is a deck I was chomping at the bit to get from watching images of it surface while it was in progress.  Published in 2010 by Llewellyn, Shadowscapes is one of the prettiest decks I have seen.  Stephanie began painting the deck in 2004, in her own words “Like the Fool, I stood on the precipice of this project, teetering on the edge of a vast unknown – … Each one [cards] bears the mark of my meditations as I wondered through a changing landscape of existence.”  The meditative work she did is reflected in the infinite details contained in the images.  A true to gift to the tarot world.

Stephanie Pui-Mun Law’s watercolor art is simply breathtaking.  There is a dreaminess and other worldliness to it that just draws me in and transports me to its magical landscape that flows like poetry.  Call it faerie or fantasy it is like walking in a dream.  Both Major and Minor Araca...