THINGS I LOVE
> Caitlin Sholl's texts and the advice given are terrific. The author guides us and
allows us to deep dive into gratitude with prompts to make us find
things we are grateful for, and tips on how to express gratitude. Scholl's definition of and introduction to gratitude are wonderful and very unique.
> The deck structure. The cards are organised in three sections and energies: 1/ Affirmation, connected to the morning. 2/ Inspiration, connected to midday. 3/ Reflection, connected to the evening. They have three different coding colours (yellow, green and violet) and each card comes with an inspiration quote at the top, and some items of advice to follow on the day, plus the extended advice in the guidebook.
> The overall pastel colour scheme and the whole visual design of the deck, which is minimalist and very elegant.
> The plush deck bag, which is an awesome bonus.
> The quality of the cards and the fact that they shuffle well.
> You can use just the cards or just the booklet without missing anything.
> You can use the different sections at different times of the day or shuffle all of them at once. In that regard, the deck is very versatile.
> The booklet is printed in good quality glossy paper and is bound loosely so you can open it comfortably.
> Good value for money. NOT SO GOOD> The contrast between the background and the lettering is deficient overall, but especially noticeable in the yellow set.
> The booklet's deficiencies are unforgivable:
-- The binding is just lightly glued. I was just gently browsing the booklet and two came off unglued from the bottom. Can you imagine if I use this properly?
-- The cards aren't numbered, so the awesome extra information on each card has to be looked up in the guidebook manually, just within the corresponding section. As the cards are made to shuffle, this look-up can be a bit labyrinthine, time consuming and not very helpful. I find surprising that the editorial house didn't pay attention to something so important for a guidebook, because, otherwise, it's not a guide, it's a book where to search for information.
-- The index is too generic to be of any use.
-- The cover is just paper, not even a bit of cardboard to hold the whole thing together.
-- This being the case, I feel hesitant to gift someone with this deck, even though I think this is just a wonderful deck.
> I can use just the booklet or just the cards, not both combined for the reasons mentioned above.
MIND
The cards are on the large side, so if you, like me, have small hands, you might struggle with the shuffling.
WISH
I would love seeing the booklet properly reprinted and edited.
This is a 48 card deck containing words of advice and wisdom that reproduce the principles mentioned in Ruiz's eponymous book. There is no interpretation book as the message of each card is written at the back, while the front is a painting with a summary of the message.
The cards are divided in four coloured groups, each one corresponding to Ruiz's four principles or agreements, and the advice on each card is related to that specific agreement within that group.
This is not an oracle or tarot deck. In that regards, it won't speak to you if you're looking for a deck to harness your intuition or get messages from the divine. On the contrary, this is the sort of deck you use in the mornings, when you get up, to get a pearl of wisdom for day to apply and remember during the day.
If you don't want to read Ruiz's book, and still want to learn what is all about, this is a hassle- free tool which summarizes the book perfectly. If you have read the book, and want a reminder or refresher, this is also a perfect tool.
The artwork is colourful and cute, very naif in general. Somewhat reminds me of some Mexican mural art or tattoo imagery.There is a lack of artistic cohesiveness, and that is so because the deck was illustrated by 5 different illustrators, This is is one of the reasons that the deck doesn't speak to me visually and why I don't use it more often, even though the messages are wonderful.
The format of the cards is a bit odd as they are small and square and not rectangular and medium/large size. They shuffle well, though, and the cardboard is very good quality, a little satin, and it will last you for years.