Animal Tarot Cards by Doreen Virtue, Radleigh Valentine & Dan Craig

, 19 Mar 2021

GOOD
> Stunning deck and concept. Beforehand, I thought that it would be difficult to convey the usual Tarot suits and characters in an animal Tarot, but the authors and illustrator had done a stupendous job at capturing and putting together the essence of each card and the animal qualities that could be associated to them.
> The design and artwork are fantastic.
> Great quality card printing.
> The card back is absolutely gorgeous, especially if you're a cat lover.
>  The cards have the meaning summary at the bottom of the card, which makes it perfect to use them without having to consult the guidebook.
>  This deck is not as heavy as other Hay House decks and the glossy coating makes handling and shuffling very pleasurable and easy.
>  The packaging is really good, with a sturdy box that will keep the cards safe. Besides, it's really beautiful inside and out.
> What I like the most about this deck is that can be used as a tarot deck (following the arcana and suits structure) as an intuitive oracle (free association of feelings and thoughts to the animals/ scenes on display) or a as channelled message (by reading the meanings displayed at the bottom of each card) depending on what you want.


 DECK STRUCTURE

> Major arcana have some adaptations, which I find good and true to the Rider-White major arcana: 5 Unity (the hierophant), 12 Awakening (the hanged man), 13 Release (death), 14 Balance (temperance), 15 Ego (devil), 16 Life experience (the tower), and 20 Renewal (judgement).  
> The deck suits are the four seasons, each of them coloured with a different identifying colour that refers to the four elements. Spring is dark read (wands, fire). Summer is light blue (cups, water). Autumn is dark green (coins, earth) and Winter is dark blue (swords, air).
 > Court characters are prince/ss instead of page/s.


SO-SO

> Bulky deck.
> The images on each card not always connect well with the meaning written in them.
> The back illustration gives away whether the card is coming upright or reverse.
>  The cards are on the large side and not easy to shuffle if you have small hands.
> The cardboard is a bit stiff and the coating seems to peel off quite easily.
> As per the photo uploaded  the card back has a pixel dot that appears on all cards. Not sure whether is a printing issue or a pre-production issue.
> Guidebook printing quality and paper are average.
> Choosing a cat as the representation of The Devil is an insult to cat lovers. Just saying!
> It would have made more sense to me if the Summer/water deck had just fish and or water animals, the  Autumn/earth, just earthy underground animals, the Winter/air suit just birds, and the Spring/fire just grassy animals. I would have used big archetypal animals for the major arcana.

 

 

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Love Oracle Cards by Island Time Wellness

Island Time Wellness Oracle is a great oracle and one of those decks that has become a must-go-to by most Tarot readers. The popularity is well deserved as it has basic powerful easy-to-understand intuitive images and messages on the cards.

GOOD THINGS
> Great concept deck. Less is more. Sometimes the best ideas are the simplest and this is a perfect example.
> Mini deck, therefore, easy to carry. See the photo I've uploaded with the deck by my keys and passport, so that you can get an idea of the real size.
> Some people find the size a bit too small, but, if you have small hands, this is a great deck size, and that's my case.
> Meanings are on the front and therefore you don't need to use any booklet or anything else.
> Very simple child-like illustrations that are effective and easy to understand.
> Good semi-matte cardboard with a good coating that makes shuffling easy.
> No  reverse meanings.
> Very intuitive.

BAD THINGS

> The deck looks cheap, like an imitation of something else, as if it was a forfeit copy. Yet, it is not.
> Printing isn't good. This deck could be glorious. Imagine the same concept and design but done using a good card board with golden embossed images and text. However, the printing is grey-beige-ish and it has a gradient touch that affects lettering, which makes the whole thing look even cheaper.
> Bad quality boxing.
> Printing and design need of some sort of "deluxefication". 




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Let Go Cards by Akal Pritam

, 6 Mar 2021

This is a wonderful self-healing therapeutic affirmations deck that goes well with other tarot decks I have from Amazon, like the Mystical Healing reading cards, the Chakra Love mini deck, and the Four Agreements card deck.
 

THE CARDS
Each card back has a wonderfully colorful Gaian illustration, with women relating to the natural environment (beach , forests, gardens) with a predominance of green lush imagery, that I find refreshing and inviting. Like your are on a private garden. The back of the card has an affirmation or item of advice that can be connected to the image on the front. The whole deck has a spiritual Retreat/holiday in Fiji, Bali or Hawaii sort of vibe.



GOOD THINGS

> Totally Portable. Pocket size.
> Good sturdy packing box with upper lid, wonderfully colorful and illustrated on all sides. > Each card is unique.
> Wonderful Gaian illustrations and messages. The back is colorfully creative and inspiring and the illustration continues on to the back of the card, where the pearl of wisdom is written. 
> Characters are from different ethnic groups.
> Good value for money.
> Great to use as part of a self-healing practice together with other decks, like the Mystical Healing reading cards, the Crakra Love mini deck, and the Four Agreements card deck.
> The messages on the cards are good enough per se. 

 

DOWNSIDES
> This is a very female/feminine deck, so if you are non-binary or don't have a strong feminine essence this won't resonate with you.
> Both the containing box and the cards are of 'raw' non-coated, cardboard, which makes shuffling unnecessarily difficult and doesn't protect the cards or the box from dirt or stains.
> Unnecessarily stiff cardboard.
> No booklet further elaborating on the benefits of letting go, and we do not do so.
> The instructions on the inner lid can barely be read as the contrast between the bright green background and the white text is not good enough. That's simply bad design. A darker green would have been better, and would had still be in tune with the hues used in the cards.





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The Lover's Path Tarot by Kris Waldherr

, 5 Mar 2021

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.



 

 



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Secrets of Tarot Gift Box by Amanda Hall

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. 


 

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Chakra Love Deck by Katie Manershaw

, 26 Feb 2021

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.

 

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The Quantum Oracle by Sandra Anne Taylor & Kinga Britschgi

, 25 Feb 2021

 

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.

 

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The Akashic Tarot by Sandra Anne Taylor & Sharon Ann Kingler

, 16 Feb 2021

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.

 

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Fairy Tale Lenormand by Lisa Hunt & Arwen Lynch

, 13 Feb 2021

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 CONCEPT

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.

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