US Games Systems are in a way old-fashioned, but also among the best in the market re quality of the cards. They are also less luxurious and curated as the most modern ones produced by Rockpool or Hayhouse publishing houses. GREAT
> Cards paper quality and size are perfect, on the medium side, with glossy flexible paper that shuffles well and is not heavy to handle despite the bulk.Cards slip off easily and that's the way I want my cards to come out.
> The cards back design is wonderful in its simplicity and the deck is easily recognisable. Also, the design is good because you cannot guess whether the cards are up or reversed before picking them up.
> Despite the guide booklet being very short, it goes to the point and summarizes well the meaning of each card and provides a brief description of the lovers' story depicted in each major arcana card. In that regard, it's perfect for beginners.
> Perfect for love and relationship readings without losing the spirit of
tarot. The cards are interpreted specifically for relationships, so
they are more straightforward to read than those in other generic decks.
> Beautiful artwork. The artwork reminds me of the early renaissance frescoes and painters but it also of the renaissance and pre-Raphafaelites.
DOWNSIDES
> Poor-quality box packaging.
> Booklet is minimal, bad quality paper and lettering is tiny so I need a magnifying glass to read it properly.
> Despite the seller advertising that this deck edition comes with a full-colour spread sheet, that this is not the case at all. I think that might be a listing error, yet, why not correcting it? There are other reviewers who just mentioned the same.
> I think they put the apostrophe in the title in the wrong place...
DECK STRUCTURE
MAJOR ARCANA EQUIVALENCES
0- Innocence = The Fool. 1- Magic = The Magician. 2- Wisdom = High Priestess.3- Fertility = Empress. 4- Power = Emperor. 5- Tradition = Hierophant. 6- Love = Lovers. 7-Desire = Chariot. 8- Strength. 9- Contemplation = Hermit. 10- Fortune = Wheel of fortune. 11- Justice. 12- Sacrifice = Hanged man. 13- Transformation = Death. 14- Balance = Temperance. 15- Temptation = Devil. 16- Oppression = Tower. 17-Grace = Star. 18- Illusion = Moon. 19- Awakening = Sun. 20- Judgement. 21- Triumph = World. As you can see the interpretation is respectful with the original tarot meanings but with some clearer names and some adjustments with regards to some cards (chariot, the hanged man, the tower., moon and the sun.)
SUITS
Cups (water), Staves (wands, fire), Arrows (swords, air), Coins (pentacles, earth).
Most cards show couples, relating in a way or another. All the pairs
come from historical and mythological stories and characters. Some of
the couples depicted in the cards are:
Pamina & Tamino, Merlin & Morgan le Fay, Shahrazade
&Shahriyar, Cleopatra & Anthony, Romeo & Juliet, Isis &
Osiris,
Tristan & Isolde, Brunnhilde & Siegfried, Danae & Zeus,
Penelope & Odysseus, Orpheus & Eurydice, Pluto & Persephone,
Venus & Vulcan, Paolo & Francesca, Aeneas & Dido, Dante
& Beatrice, Cupid & Psyche, Tannhauser & Elisabeth, Ariadne
& Bacchus.
I bought this gift seft in Kmart, at a bargain price, and really it is worth the price I paid for it. It is a Rider-Whit- based Tarot.
GOOD THINGS
> Cheap.
> Good set to start practising tarot without spending much money or worrying about damaging the cards.
> Helpful beginners booklet
> Nice back design.
> The deck is not bulky and can be shuffled easily.
> Card meanings are at the bottom of each card.
BAD THINGS
> Quality of card paper is horrendous, so cards get damaged quite easily.
> Digital imagery is passe, mostly because the digital images have a grunge-ish PSP overlay that might have been quite impressive 20 years ago, when digital art was just birthing, but it makes the images look amateur and not as nice as the deck might have been.
This tiny winy deck conquered my heart on the spot, from the first use, as I had an instant visual, tactile and energetic connection with it. The deck is structured in 8 suits, seven devoted to each chakra plus a chakra-balance with healing crystals.
The cards quality is terrific: Glossy flexible but sturdy cardboard, clean design on the front, and very modern colourful abstract back imagery. The deck comes in a good quality cardboard box, with upper non-detachable lid. The front has the symbol and colour of the chakra (1-Crown chakra, purple.
2- Third eye chakra, dark blue. 3-Throat chakra, light blue. 4- Heart
chakra, green. 5-Solar plexus chakra, yellow. 6- Sacral chakra, orange.
7-Root chakra, red) and the extra suit with a flower in fucsia. There is not artist
associated with the artwork in this deck. It was designed by using
stock images from Adobe Stock and Creative Market. It shows that you can
create a deck that ticks all the boxes without having to hire a
super-duper digital artist.
There is no guidebook or booklet. The instructions are provided on the inner lid and on the cards themselves. This might not be your deck if you have no knowledge of what chakras are, but even if you have a general knowledge of it, this deck will work for you. If you aren't into crystals, no worries, the advice on each card is still wise and valid on its own.
The deck is tiny, even for a person with small hands like me. You can see one of my photos with the deck by my keys. The good thing is that you can carry this in your pocket or in a small purse. The bad thing is that it, if you have big hands, it might be difficult to handle or shuffle for you.
I find this deck perfect to use for self healing and self-improvement, together with the Mystical Healing Reading Cards and the Four Agreements Deck and the Yunoun Chakra stones. However, I find it useful to carry around to get advice during day, when feeling stressed, provoked or unbalanced because of our daily worries and struggles.
Good value for money.
This is a very beautiful set of cards with awesome digital artwork that mixes modernity, fairy-tale elements and magical and universal imagery, and the ensemble feels both timeless and contemporary. The card back design is really gorgeous in its simplicity and it perfectly reflects the deck overall energy. The deck is organized in seven suits: consciousness, energy, intention, people, events, spirit, and cycle, which represent and connect with universal and personal influences and cycles in life. Cards have both upright and reverse meanings, but, hey, nobody will force you to use the latter if you don't want to.
The cards are printed in matte colors and are mid sized. The card paper is a bit stiff and not glossy or polished, so it doesn't shuffle as well as it should be.
The guidebook is excellent re content but the quality of the printing paper is poor.
I love this deck, the details, the concept, everything. I use it often, it is just that my queries are not usually answered, that is, the cards coming up have nothing to do or advice for my queries. I found that, due to the shuffling quality of the deck being just OK, the same cards come up over and over. I don't think it's the universe, I think it is that the cards stick to each other and those who don't stick as much come out all the time.
I wanted to love this deck. Actually, I love this deck. However, for whatever reason, I haven't connected with it at an intra-psychic level as yet. Said differently, there hasn't been a deep connection with the deck, just a conceptual and artistic connection. It's like loving a man who has everything you want in a man on paper, except for the fact that there is something lacking that prevents passion and love from igniting.
Sturdy packing case, that will keep your deck protected.
This deck has been a great disappointment. Taylor produced one of my top five oracle decks ever, The Energy Oracle Cards, which is so reliable that is scary, so naturally I thought that this new deck would have the similar energy. However, it doesn't at any level. This looks like another angel/archangel/ascended masters tarot with reinvented suites that is a bit the same thin with a new dress. The suits are, Roses, Forces, Scrolls and Keys.
The deck contains 62 cards instead of the usual 78, which is not rare for a Tarot deck, but also not the standard.
Imagery is uninspired and so is the design of the cards. Back of the cards is pretty. There is too much unused space in the cards as the marquee is a bit too big.
The guidebook is great and has plenty of instructions about how to start and do a reading, how to do different spreads, what the Akashic records are, plus the individual meaning of all the cards. Overall, I don't find this deck good for intuitive readings, or at least doesn't work for me, and it is not especially inspired re anythjing. .
For the rest, Hay House has produced another bulky, unnecessarily big, inflexible deck, with thick unpolished cardboard and printing quality, that is difficult to handle and shuffle.
Returned to sender.
This is a Lenormand deck interpreted under the light of some world folk tales. The
number of cards is 36, which is what Lenormand cards are. This is so
because the Lenormand doesn't have suites, doesn't have reversed
meanings and, unlike the tarot, which has a spiritual and psychological
dimension, these cards are literal and are read syntactically. As the
guidebook says, Tarot readers wil interpret the same Tarot spread five
ways while five Lenormand readers will all come to nearly the identical
message when they read the same Lenormand layout. If you want to check
the differences between the Tarot and the Lenormand, check this blog post out.
THE ARTWORK
Lisa Hunt authored the magnificent Fairy Tale Tarot deck, so I was expecting great things from her. The images are very cute, some of the excellent, but they don't come close to the quality of her other deck. In fact, some of them feel like sketchy, more child-oriented and not as rich in symbols. In that regard, artistically speaking this deck doesn't suit my intuitive cravings, to put it that way. However, the reading cloth for the app is utterly beautiful and delicate.
The authors wanted to use mythology and folk tales within the straightforward structure of the Lenormand tarot, and they've done so. The tarot is not as intuitive as Hunt's previous one and the meanings are more set and less open to interpretation. That's all fine, but to me, this deck can be interpreted intuitively, it is just that the conception doesn't favour it as much as others.
THE GUIDEBOOK
The guidebook is short and sweet and comments on the folk tale image quite literally, providing a some summary keywords and how the meaning changes depending on the precedent and subsequent cards. Basic but practical. Yet, the keywords on the front of the card are also very useful and sum up the meaning very well. Good enough, practical and also uninspired.Yet, you can expect that from/for a Lenormand deck.
THE APP
This
Android app is fully functional and has all the pros of the Fool's Dog
apps, which make the experience very enjoyable. I've found that, once you get used
to the app, your readings are as precise as the ones you get from your
physical deck. My favourite app features are:
- > Great quality digital images.
- > Zoomable images, so that you can check every small detail in the picture.
- > The whole deck guidebook available.
- > Information about the deck's artist.
- > Customizable tablecloths.
- > Sound prompts for cards, which can be turned on/off.
- > You can add your personal meaning to the cards.
- > Journal.
- > Plenty of layouts to choose from.
- > Able to use the whole deck or just the major arcana for your readings.
- > Several ways of shuffling.
- > Several draw options to select your card (from the top, from a fan, from a list).
- > You can share your readings.
MY EXPERIENCE WITH THIS DECK
Lenormand,
or just this deck, doesn't speak to me. Rather, the readings I get are a
mix bag, some of them seem to relate to my query and others not at all.
As I am an intuitive reader and I rely on imagery to anchor my
intuition, this deck doesn't specially speak to me.
This is one my favourite tarot decks among all of the many I own, and also my favourite fairy/folk tarot, because of the artwork, the concept, the guidebook and the app. It's the whole package, the real deal, the mother of all fairy tale decks.
ARTWORK
Lisa Hunt's artwork is fabulous. She has a great drawing technique, an earthy colour palette, and an eye for detail. Besides, she has captured the essence of each fairy tale with insight and playfulness, and with a deep knowledge of symbolism.
THE CONCEPT
This is a full tarot deck, somewhat reinvented to fit in the messages, archetypes and symbols that pervade most folklore and fairy tales. The tales come from all over the planet: Europe, Asia, Africa, America, Pacific Islands, although there is a predominance of European folk tales. The major arcana names have been readjusted to allow the folk archetypes and symbols to blend more naturally, but we can still find the major and minor arcana in this deck.
THE GUIDEBOOK
The guidebook is worth a browse in itself, and a fabulous addition to the deck. The short version of the meaning at the card back is insightful enough. However, if you click the 'Full text from the book' link at the bottom, you'll get an in-depth analysis of the folk tale:
- The name of the tale.
- The culture from which the tale comes from,
- Summary Keywords.
- The whole account of the tale.
- A Jungian-like analysis of the
tale and imagery symbols.
MY EXPERIENCE WITH THE DECK
I can honestly say that this deck is one of my favourites, not only because I love folk tales in general, but because the deck is versatile enough to be used intuitively (using the imagery as a main guide), or comprehensively (using the main summary info at the back of the deck, or delving into the Jungian interpretation of the symbols). It's up to you, your your query or how much you want to dig into each card message. Do you want a quickie or an extra nosey reading? You can do anything and everything with this deck. Beyond what I've said, this app brings many memories from my childhood, from all those fairy tales that I read on books, my mom told me about or watched movies about.
THE APP
This Android app is fully functional and has all the pros of the Fool's Dog apps, which make the experience very enjoyable. There is nothing like the physical deck, for sure. However, I've found that, once you get used to the app, your readings are as precise as the ones you get from your physical deck. My favourite app features are:
- > Great quality digital images.
- > Zoomable images, so that you can check every small detail in the picture.
- > The whole deck guidebook available.
- > Information about the deck's artist.
- > Customizable tablecloths.
- > Sound prompts for cards, which can be turned on/off.
- > You can add your personal meaning to the cards.
- > Journal.
- > Plenty of layouts to choose from.
- > Able to use the whole deck or just the major arcana for your readings.
- > Able to use upright and reverse readings, or just upright.
- > Several ways of shuffling.
- > Several draw options to select your card (from the top, from a fan, from a list).
- > You can share your readings.
Mystical Healing Card is a deluxe deck with an unique self-improvement and healing deck to help you face those inner obstacles that keep you stuck and prevent you from achieving your goals, experiencing a happier life and growing to your full potential.
GOOD THINGS
> Amazing artwork. I could spend hours wandering around the colors, the details and symbolism of the cards. They have an almost sacred feeling to them, but they are also very oneiric. Jake Baddeley's images have an
ancient patina, colors and symbolism that seems to take you into an old Medieval church where many candles had been on and created that golden darkish coating. The imagery reminds me of the Byzantine Medieval mosaics, the Renaissance painters, Venice Carnival and modern surrealism. For whatever reason, Da Vinci's notebook is what comes to mind when looking at the cards back.
> Very well-thought healing deck. I think this deck would be a great tool in psychotherapy.
> For whatever reason, I see this deck connected to another healing or self-improvement deck as it is The Four Agreements Deck. > I really connect with this deck at a deep level as it eplies to my queries with precision and give real good advice. Two examples. I asked what can I do to heal my romantic relationships and the card
that popped up was "Unlock your Heart". I asked what should I be focusing right now and the card that popped up was "Focus on Higher Truths". How on point are those answers?!
> Esoteric in conception, therefore, something unique.
NOT SO GOOD
> Mismatch between the images and the meaning attributed to them. That affects most cards. There is
an obvious connection for the artist, and that's fine, but it is not for most readers. To me, when I look to most images and I look at the meaning of them, it's like, this is a pastiche, something that you put together but do not belong together.
> The imagery has, overall, a dark feeling to it. A shadow feeling, if you want.
> It could be too esoteric and counterintuitive for many people.
THE DECK
> Great quality packaging.
> Full-color excellent-quality guidebook.
> Flexible good quality glossy cards, easy to shuffle and handle.
> Light deck.
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.
Posts
US Games Systems are in a way old-fashioned, but also among the best in the market re quality of the cards. They are also less luxurious and curated as the most modern ones produced by Rockpool or Hayhouse publishing houses. 
