This is is a triple-juicy deck that mixes the Tarot (without reverse meanings), archangel guidance and chakras knowledge. You can use the Tarot straightforwardly or combine the associations that Valentine has enable between the major arcana and the angels, and the minor arcana with the major arcana and the angels as well.
The
suits used are as follow: Air (Swords, Intellect), Earth (Coins,
Material stuff), Water (Cups, emotions, relationships) and Fire (Wands,
passions).
One of the things I like the most about this deck, it's the mix of old and new. This Tarot deck, as any others, is anchored in centuries of human psychology and vital knowledge, but it has been translated, so to speak,
into 21st-century language, so it feels fresh, charming and approachable.
THE ARTWORK
> Dan Craig's artwork is wonderful. He has created clean wondrous images in vibrant but soft colors. Images are a modern twist on the classic Tarot imagery, but without distorting or reinventing them beyond recognition and all our Tarot heroes are still recognizable.
> The four elements are clearly distinguishable by the cards colored frames and symbols: green for earth with a leafy symbol; blue for air with a wind symbol; orange for fire with a fire symbol; dark blue for water with a water drop symbol, and the major arcana are in a gold-ish ocher. The summary of the meaning is at the bottom within a marquee, clearly distinguishable and readable.
> I love how diversity shows in this deck. We find characters from
different ages, races, skin colors, genders and eras, (from the
almost-medieval
characters, passing through the 18t century, to the late 1950s and early
1960s, to today's hipsters). The result is an organic human ensemble, a
magic world where angels watch over us, but are part of our daily
settings.
>
The imagery is, overall, full of positive energy. I cannot understand
some reviewers saying that they have negative vibes. To me, is just a
very joyful playful deck.
> For whatever reason, there is a mix of the 1950s and 1960s fashion vibe in there as well. > Gorgeous card back.
THE GUIDEBOOK
This is a terrific mini-guidebook to learn the basics of Tarot. It doesn't only explain the structure of the deck and of each card, and how to start using Tarot, but it also provides with the basic meanings of each suite and card, plus the main attributes of each archangel used in the deck (Ariel, Azrael, Chamuel, Gabriel, Haniel, Jeremiel, Jophiel, Metatron, Michael, Raguel, Raphael, Sandalphon, Uriel and Zadkiel).
Valentine offers instructions on how to do do a Celtic Cross spread and a three-card spread. One of the things that you'll notice is that the card interpretation is very current, very 21st century, concerned with issues that affect us today.
I miss, though, a bit of info about the Tarot numerology.
THE DECK
> Sturdy packing box.
> Over-200-page guidebook.
> Mate printing.
DOWNSIDES
> Large bulky deck, difficult to handle, especially if you have small hands.
> Cards are thick, stiff and difficult to shuffle.
> The back card illustration gives away whether the card is coming upright or reversed, so it is not good if you want to use the deck with reverse meanings and choose the card totally blind.
> In the guidebook I miss mention to the meaning of the numbers in each card.
IN SHORT
A visually stunning Tarot and guidebook that will delight new and old generations of Tarot lovers. This is a great deck for beginners who want to familiarize themselves with the cards without having to deal with reverse meanings. However, the deck is bulky, heavy and stiff and not easy to shuffle.
I've used this deck since first came to the market, 7-8 years ago, and it's still one of my favourite, more reliable, more attuned intuitive tools. They seem to reply to my queries on point, clearly, without me having to clarify. The artwork is wonderful for sure, but the most important thing is that this oracle gets my energy and how things are going in my life.
The deck is a mix of Tarot major arcana, angels cards, chakras and male and female archetypes.This is quite trendy in modern tarot/oracle decks nowadays, but it was totally new when the cards came out first.
DOWNSIDES
There is no racial or ethnic diversity in this deck, so be aware if you aren't Caucasian. Also, the deck has a strong female/male energy imprint so if you are non-binary, you might struggle with it. Personally, I find that some of the male models used to depict the angels are too metro-sexual or six-pack macho to be angelic. Yet, I confess, I really like those modern macho angels.
> Good quality glossy cardboard.
> Vibrant detailed good-quality-printing.
> Jena DellaGrottaglia's digital artwork is beautiful and has congruent style. Digital artwork has evolved enormously in the last 8 years, yet, the cards feel fresh and contemporary.
> Wonderful card back design that doesn't give away whether the card is coming reverse or upright.
> A perfect deck for intuitive readings.
> Detailed guidebook with upright and reversed meanings, plus an affirmation assigned to each card, all of which adds depth to the deck and makes it more versatile.
> Very good sturdy beautifully printed packing box.
PAPER DECK DOWNSIDES
> There is no racial or ethnic diversity in this deck, so be aware if you aren't Caucasian.
> Personally, I find that some of the male models used to depict the angels are too metro-sexual or six-pack macho to be angelic. Yet, I confess, I really like those modern macho angels.
> Cards are on the larger side, so not good for people with small hands.
> Unnecessary bulky and heavy deck.
> Cards are stiff and tend to stick to each other, so they don't shuffle well.
> Average quality printing guidebook.
APP UPSIDES
> Very easy to use and navigate.
> Many different spreads to use from.
> Shuffle with or without sound.
> You can email and share your reading.
> You can save your reading.
> Great deal of information about the artist, the cards, the app developer.
APP DOWNSIDES
> The apt is no longer in the Oceanhouse developer main page, which is odd. They might be re-packaging or updating it. The app page is still available HERE.
> The return from the card back to the front is not intuitive. It would be just natural using the back arrow on the smartphone bottom menu to go back, but, if you do that, you'll be out of the application. Instead, you have to use the curly back arrow button in the cards, and the triangular back arrow in the information area. I have been using Oceanhouse apps for years and I still have trouble remembering the curly back arrow, just because is contra smart-phone use natura.
> Impossible to zoom in the image to focus on the small details.
> Just one way of shuffling the cards, not several. In that regards, Oceanhouse has plenty to learn from the other major tarot app house, The Fool's Dog.
> No tablecloths available. There is one background.
> Users cannot add their own meaning to the cards to customize the deck.
> Oceanhouse, now and then, inserts promotional info when they are launching a new app. That's annoying because all of their decks must be paid in full to be used, aren't cheap, and there is no need to bother customers with something that they might naturally be interested on and look up themselves. At least that is my case. It is also true that sometimes they advertise discounts and special pricing, but I would rather not have adds on my fully-paid app.
IN SHORT
One of my best oracle decks with regards to he way it reads my energy and replies to my queries in precise on-point ways. However, the deck is heavy, bulky and difficult to shuffle, so the app is, to me, a better option.
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.
This a colourful little deck that has a lovely strong early-1900s vibe. The illustrations are cute and very elaborate with intricate beautiful decorative garlands around he card borders. The back of the cards is also adorable.
As the deck booklet says, this is a Tarot full of people, and that's OK, yet, I cannot relate to the people in this deck. I have another Kipper tarot, which is among my fav decks, and is uncannily accurate, but this one, nope, nada, niente. Messages are random and unrelated to my queries and the main woman and main man being repeated, I get confused about who's who.
It might be that I connect with the deck later in time, something that sometimes happens to me with some decks. If that were the case, I'll update this review.
THE DECK
> This is a mini deck that fits perfectly in the palm of a small hand, and you can carry it around in a small bag or even a pencil case.
> The packaging is not really good.
> The cards material is quite sturdy, but also very rigid and it doesn't favour natural fluid shuffling.
> The cards borders have different coloured borders, which seems to indicate a sort of suite, but that's not the case.
This deck has been a total surprise to me. I bought it in one of those Amazon flash offers, for 5 bucks, just because it was so cheap. It was in my wish list but not at the top, because I wasn't sure what this deck was about. Well, now that I have it, I have to say that the deck is mind blowing, regarding conception, artwork, structure, relation image/text and my connection with the cards.
CONCEPTION
II have so many tarot and oracle decks that I rarely get wowed by anything I get, and that is usually a wow from the artwork. In this case, I am also wowed by the eclectic approach to tarot/oracles by the Modern Witch Australian Demarco. We still have the four Tarot elements and some reinvented major arcana. Yet, there is a great emphasis on energy, whether is inner or outer, and the link between both, and also between the real and the magical, the earthy and the spacey. The result is an inebriating fresh, unique but timeless approach to oracle that relies on both imagery, words and energies to provide us with multilayered readings and accurate answers to our queries.
Demarco's introduction to the deck is short and sweet. Really interesting and beautifully explains her inspiration sources. There is a marked influence of Nordic, Aboriginal, Polynesian, Latin and Greek mythologies among others. That also shows in the pages devoted to each card interpretation in the booklet. Of course, you can intuitively use the card imagery and words to read, but the interpretations on the book are really good.
One of the things that I love is that there aren't reverse meanings in this deck.
ARTWORK
I am amazed by the beauty, complexity and quality of Hungarian Kinga Britschgi's digital imagery. Really powerful for intuitive readings.
There is artistic imagery congruence in the deck, which gives the whole unity and purpose. There is a predominance of green, blue and amber colours, except for the beautiful card back, which is a simple pastel mix of pink, purple and white.
This is a very Gaian matriarchal deck, with an overwhelming presence of feminine energies and characters. I love the fact that there are people from different ethnic groups, skin color and ages represented in the deck, too.
THE DECK
Good quality slightly-glossy card.
Cards have the right thickness, so they can be easily shuffled and handled as the deck is not bulky or heavy.
The card edges are silvered, so that's always a bonus and a touch of magic.
Good quality detailed 104-page booklet, with colored mini-reproductions of the cards.
Sturdy packing box, with iridescent print.
THE SUITES
Directions: North, South, East, West, Equator, Moon, Sun.
Fire Element: Fire, Volcanoes, Bushfires, Hearth, Outer Core, Dessert, Passion.
Earth Element: Earth, Mountain, Cave, Inner core, Plants, Rock, Animals.
Air element: Air, Storms, Wind, Voice, Pressure, Breath, Music.
Water element: Water, Oceans, Lake, Marine Life, Ice, Snow, Rain.
Universal Forces: Electricity, Magnetism, Dark Matter, Gravity, Atoms.
Time: Time, Speed, Magic, Biome.
IN SHORT
A wonderful oracle, both artistically and conceptually that speaks to me. Oracles and tarot decks speak our intuive symbolic language or not, and this speaks mine beautifully.
Visual artistry 9/10
Readings results 6/10
Tarot Concept 7/10
ARTWORK
I bought this deck because I truly love Holly Sierra's artwork, and her technique, colours, hues, themes, motifs and style are just my cup of tea.
The images are a feast for the eyes, and really matched my expectations. This is a deck made from scratch not from digital collage and it's truly artistic. The characters, backgrounds and the tiniest element in each card are amazingly drawn and coloured. Moreover, each suit has a different background undertone that makes each card in it immediately distinctive (stones are green, mirrors blue, spirals are brown, and scrolls are purple, while the major arcane are mostly golden). The whole desk has a mother-earth folk feminine vibe that I love, and it is whimsical and magic.
I love the fact that the deck is a mix of Tarot, Jungian+Campbell and New Age spirituality themes and concept. The front of the card shows the title of the card, but also an archetypal or theme equivalent.
READINGS
I don't mind eclecticism or new ideas and reinventions of the tarot, some that will work better for modern sensitivities and needs, but I somewhat expect the major Arcana and its symbolic elements not to be fancifully altered. For example, the Phoenix, a traditional symbol of death and rebirth (Death in Tarot) is used here as the symbol of judgment; Merlin, a magician, is used as the image of the Fool; the crows are used as the image of the Magician, just to mention a few things. It is confusing to me, and a put-off. I am not saying that the associations aren't valid once you read the booklet, but my mind is still going to be put off when I find an element out of place, so to speak, because the traditional symbolism of the Tarot is, how to put it?, the core of the Tarot itself.
Also, the earthy vibe somewhat gets diluted by the appearance of goddesses from different cultures. I am more into eclectic fusion than into eclectic juxtaposition, if you know what I mean. In other words, it is not bad, it is just that it does not work for me because it gets me confused and distracted.
My results with the readings have been a bit of mismatch, and I think it has do with my inability to connect with this specific deck. I think this desk is wonderful for intuitive aleatory readings due to the details and symbolic elements drawn in each image.
MIND
The traditional suits have been changed as follows
Stones = pentacles
Mirrors = cups
Spirals = wands
Scrolls = swords
THE APP
I no longer have the physical deck but I have the Fool's Dog app, which is excellent. Some of the things you can do with the app are:
> Customizable tablecloths.
> Sound prompts for cards, which can be turned on and off.
> Journal.
> You can add your personal meaning to the cards.
> Plenty of layouts to choose from.
> Able to choose the major arcana or the whole deck, upright and reverse readings, or switch off reverse meanings.
> Several kinds of shuffles and several options for selecting your card after shuffling.
> Zoomable images, so that you can check every small detail in the image.
> Sharing feature.
> Great quality digital images.
> The whole deck booklet or booklet available.
> Information about the deck and its authors.
IN SHORT
This is one of those decks that you
want to have, need to have, if you collect Tarot decks. It is one of the
most beautiful decks I have ever owned.
This is one of the best fully free tarot apps on Google Play. It is a sampler of the different tarot and oracle decks that the Fool's Dog developer has on the market, and chooses images and cards from all of her available decks.If you don't know which deck you'd like to purchase or connect with or want to know how the decks work on your smartphone or tablet, this is the perfect primer. Besides, the variety makes every reading different and never boring as you don't know which decks are going to be used. Furthermore, the mismatch sometimes brings further insights.
The Fool's Dog has digitally published some of the best decks out there, so the selection is fantastic and covers all imaginable art styles. The main downside is, of course, the lack of image style consistency and visual congruence, which can be very important for some people to connect with any given deck. Yet, you won't notice that on 1- or 2-card readings. To be fair, I installed this app thinking that I would uninstall it quickly and this deck has become of my favs because the answers I usually get from my queries are quire on point and give me real guidance.
THE APP
The app
is fully functional and has all the pros of the Fool's Dog, which make the experience quite close to what is having a reading with real cards. It is not the same, not so tactile and energetic, but I've found that once you get used to the app, your readings are as precise as the ones you get with your real decks. The features that the app has are:
> Customizable tablecloths.
> Sound prompts for cards, which can be turned on and off.
> Journal.
> You can add your personal meaning to the cards.
> Plenty of layouts to choose from.
> Able to choose the major arcana or the whole deck, upright and reverse readings, or switch off reverse meanings.
> Several kinds of shuffles and several options for selecting your card after shuffling.
> Zoomable images, so that you can check every small detail in the image.
> Sharing feature.
> Great quality digital images.
> The whole deck booklet or booklet available.
> Information about the deck and its authors.
The Oracle of Mystical Moments is both a joy and a disappointment.
THE ARTWORK
I bought this deck because I absolutely love Welz-Stein artwork, and in that regard, I knew I would love the deck imagery. Indeed, the cards are a pleasure on their own. There is artistic congruence in the style and coloring, something that I don't take for granted, which gives the deck personality and the special surreal mood it has. The artist's world is a mix of fin-de-siecle, circus revival and oneiric images, with a predominant presence of air, water and earth elements. The moon, flying and the garden are the most predominant settings. The resulting deck is an unique wondrous mix. .
THE ORACLE
This is a totally intuitive deck, as there are no given rules.The intuitive way is my favourite way, but for whatever reason, despite loving the art, I can barely connect with the cards. I don't always see the connection between the image and the meaning chosen when I cast the oracle. The cute accompanying booklet is too brief to provide much insight, except for the artist's own interpretation.
The first impression I got was that there are some suits in the deck, as the card bottom, where the meaning is written, is coloured in different pastel colours. However, upon closer inspection, these are decorative elements and seem not to connect cards between themselves. I find that confusing from a reading point of view.
I think this is a very personal deck for the artist, a deck that reflects who she is, and how she sees the world. Something done for her personal use and that she's sharing with us.
This is a predominantly feminine deck, with very few males in it, so I find difficult to inquire about things regarding relationships and males in general. I find the seduction/lovers card very funny because the guy is not there, is like she's like a rash on him, but he's not interested in her. He's somewhat frigid.
THE DECK
> The deck size is perfect, not too small not too big. Easy to carry.
> Packaging is simple but the containing box is utterly beautiful.
> The card backs is simple and classy, without any fanciful detail, which is a nice contrast to the fanciful front images.
> Cardboard is the right thickness, not too thin not too thick, and flexible. The paper has a bit of satin, so the handling is pleasurable, and the shuffle easy and enjoyable.
> Cards don't have reverse meanings.
IN SHORT
I see this deck mostly as a collectable, something you want to have because it is beautiful, original and unique, not as much to use it on a daily basis for your oracle casts.
I use this app mostly to ask about how other people perceive me, see me and feel me, therefore to help me in relational queries. That is, I don't use the deck to ask the fairies about predictions or advice for myself or queries about other people. I use it to be aware of which of the fairies' archetypes is working in me. Readings are usually very accurate and they match the energy that I felt I had on the day of the query. This is, needless to say, a very feminine deck and, that being the case, it might not resonate with some male users.
I LOVE
> The imagery is wonderful re concept, digital quality, coloring and overall artistic congruence.
> One can use the app freely, intuitively, or use the guidebook to get the advice that each fairy wants to convey to the reader.
> Several layouts to choose from.
> You can shuffle with/without shuffle sound.
> Readings can be saved and shared.
DECK APP DOWNSIDES
In this specific deck, the contrast between the text meaning and the background is really poor, as you can see in the screenshot below.
OCEANHOUSE APPS DOWNSIDES
> The return from the card back to the front is not intuitive. It would be just natural using the back arrow on the smartphone bottom menu to go back, but, if you do that, you'll be out of the application. Instead, you have to use the curly back arrow button in the cards, and the triangular back arrow in the information area. I have been using Oceanhouse apps for years and I still have trouble remembering the curly back arrow, just because is contra smart-phone use natura.
> Impossible to zoom in the image to focus on the small details.
> Just one way of shuffling the cards, not several. In that regards, Oceanhouse has plenty to learn from the other major tarot app house, The Fool's Dog.
> No tablecloths available. There is one background.
> Users cannot add their own meaning to the cards to customize the deck.
> Oceanhouse, now and then, inserts promotional info when they are launching a new app. That's annoying because all of their decks must be paid in full to be used, aren't cheap, and there is no need to bother customers with something that they might naturally be interested on and look up themselves. At least that is my case. It is also true that sometimes they advertise discounts and special pricing, but I would rather not have adds on my fully-paid app.
I have plenty of tarot apps, many of the Fool's Dog
among them, and this has become an instant favorite. The artwork is
superb: painting-like, classy, full of symbolism, wondrous and
whimsical, multilayered, all of which make it not only pleasing to the
eye but also perfect for intuitive readings. Although it is a proper
Tarot, it has all the qualities that I look for in an oracle deck, i.e.
the ability of reply to specific questions with specific questions
without the reading having to have any specific knowledge of the Tarot.
I
use this app every day and the replies to my queries are always on
point and relevant to the question posed. However, we find the four
elements and main
Tarot suits also here, but reinvented in the following
way:
Combustion = Fire = Wands
Aether = Air = Swords
Fungi = Earth = Pentacles
Octopi = Water = Cups
THE APP
Like
the rest of the Fool's Dog Tarots, the app is versatile, easy to use,
intuitive and muti-functional. There are plenty of spreads layouts, even a
free one, and extra functionalities like:
* Allow reversed cards or not.
* Option to use Major Arcana only.
* Zoom in to enlarge card details.
* Share reading via e-mail, Facebook, and Twitter.
* Animated shuffle & cut.
* Optional voice prompts.
* Customizable reading cloths, shuffling and card selection among others.
The
text book, unabridged, is also fantastic. The main summary in bold at
the beginning of each card is very helpful and goes to the point, and
sometimes it is just perfect in itself. Otherwise, you keep reading.
Overall, one of my most reliable and favorite Tarot and Tarot apps ever.
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