This is one of the most interesting oracles I've come across lately. The deck relies and draws on a very-strong feminist array of women archetypes. All of them are writers with lives that are/were out of the ordinary. Their life and work is the basis for the symbolic portraits (major arcana if you wish), while their materials (symbols associated with their writing and/or lives) are in the sepia simple icon-like cards.
CLAP CLAP CLAP
> Original concept. > Amazing 'odd' women and writers from different cultures, races, sexual orientations and historical periods (from historical figures to living legends), so the deck feels contemporary and in tune with the need of cultural diversity in our world.
> Beyond some renowned female writers, you'll get to know some others that are equally remarkable but not so well known.
> Horan's art is just great. The illustrations of the witches are the most evocative and helpful for intuitive readings. I'll give you an example:
I asked, 'What I have to know in my relationship with guy X?" The card that came up was Octavia E Buttler's The Future. The image depicts a woman opening a young man's chest, at the heart level, as if she was healing a wound or just a opening his heart. The man seems to be dreaming, surrounded by darkness and subject to the hold of subconscious tentacles. The man is white and the woman is black, so she might be his shadow side. Can you see the beauty of the card and how this would work on a romantic question? You don't really need to know who Octavia E. Buttler is to use the cards because the imagery is rich and multi-layered. You can still go to the booklet, look up Octavia's story and add some further elements. The summary says, for example, that she wrote novels that reflected on power dynamics about sexes, so you could see that the woman on the card has the upper hand in this relationship, she's bigger than the man perhaps she has power over him, she has power over his heart or is more mature, or more conscious. In other cases, the enquirer might find that the image depicts a woman breaking the guy's heart, for example. I took two other cards to clarify the message and I got the cat (a being that comes and goes, who attaches to people freely but needs its own space) and the snail (a being that is slow in movement, has a shell, and has a small house). Just beautiful, isn't it?
- Indie wonderful design.
- Elegant practical keepsake box, beautifully designed inside out. The box has an inner pull-up ribbon to help get the cards out.
- Great quality card stock with flexible textured luxurious cards that shuffle beautifully and don't stick to each other.
- Good printing quality.
> The deck seems to works for me. It gives precise answers to my questions. I have tried it with questions about people I know well, and then asked the cards, and boom, the answers have been spot-on.
THUMBS DOWN
> I get that this is a spin-off of the eponymous book, but this booklet doesn't say much. The summary about each artist is good enough, and the Wikipedia surely has more information. The booklet basically says, use your intuition with this deck, which is great, but doesn't help explain the concept behind the oracle. So, what's the point of producing an oracle that has no oracle guidance? And really, I don't want to buy the book just to understand the deck.
> Some design issues. For example, the witches cards have their name and keyword on the front; however, the materials cards have the keywords in the booklet. That's bad design because it doesn't seem to show design congruence.
> The materials cards relate to the witches, yet, we aren't told why and which materials belong to to each witch.
> The keyword attributed to each writer isn't always intuitive for me. Emily Dickinson is the epitome of the hermit and solitude. However, she's given the keyword 'soul' instead of 'solitude' which is given to Alejandra Pizarnik. This would not matter if both writers were unknown, but Dickinson is well known for her solitary life.
> Lettering in the booklet is diminutive and you might need a magnifying glass to read the text.
MIND
> The strong feminist blueprint might not be some people's cup of tea and men with strong male energy might not relate to the deck at all.
> This deck is bulky and the cards are on the large size so people with small hands might struggle shuffling.
GOOD STUFF
> Ceccoli's amazing artwork, which is a mix of toned up pastel oneiric surrealist art that is just my cup of tea. Each card is a piece of art.
> For whatever
reason I see this deck as very in tune with subconscious themes and
matters, and something that can be used in therapeutic settings as an
oracle or conversation started for people with trauma.
> Stunning printing quality.
> Great quality cardboard.
> Cards shuffle wonderfully.
> Sturdy keepsake box.
> Booklet in several languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, and German.)
> Perfect for people with small hands or when you want to have a deck to carry around in a small purse.
> A wonderful collectable.
DISAPPOINTING
> Despite the beauty of the deck, this feels like an odd Tarot deck and more a collection of beautiful art cards made fit in into a Tarot and not images created to be part of a Tarot. This is just my impression, at least with some of the cards. Some of them fit well with their RWS counterparts at least in spirit, but others do no do at all.
> Not a beginners tarot.
> As the booklet is so small and limited, one gets lost in the beauty of the imagery and gets lost in it.
MIND
> If you really love this Tarot, get the full edition with the guidebook.
> If you have big hands this might not be your size.
GOOD STUFF
> Good-quality glossy flexible cardboard.
> Cards shuffle well.
> Good quality printing.
> Nice keepsake box.
> Some of the quotes are beautiful and are a good start to my day.
> The flower garlands illustrating each card are just beautiful.
> A Motivational pick me up in the morning or afternoon.
DOWNSIDES
> Artist/s of the artwork aren't mentioned anywhere.
> This is a collection of nice quotes. The Internet is full of free of quotes. Google Play has gazillion apps with free quotes. Just saying.
> A bit larger than I would have loved the deck to be.
> A product more than anything else. Something to sell,
> A bit expensive for what they are.
This is a beautiful colorful set of motivational cards that will remind you that your thoughts are responsible for your life, that you can change your life by changing your thoughts and that you have to love yourself as you are.
The deck was illustrated by five different artists (Anne Smith, Diane Bicda, Ann Boyajian, Donna Incemanson and Suy Pilgrim Waters) and I think one can clearly distinguish their five different styles. Despite this, the deck has artistic coherence and cohesiveness. The artwork is naive and looks a bit artcraft-ish but it has a wonderful positive vibe. The cards have messages both on the front and the back.
THUMBS UP
> Great quality printing and card cardboard.
> Beautiful sturdy keepsake box with upper lid.
> Good cards to boost your confidence and remind yourself how to change your reality.
> Perfect to start your day or go to bed with a positive affirmation.
DOWNSIDES
> Deck is unnecessarily bulky and heavy.
> Cards shuffling is deficient as the coating make the cards stick to each other.
> The contrast between the background and the lettering is not always good.
> The deck was first issued in 1999, so when this came out was very innovative. Today, it is another deck with Law of Attraction, New Age and Self-Improvement affirmations.
MIND
You can use this with other decks like Moon Magick, Chakra Love, Let Go, Inspired by Frida, and Don Miguel Ruiz's The Four Agreements Cards, among other motivational decks, to create a positive mindset each day.
Sandra Anne Taylor is really a master in creating decks that resonate with me, and this is another example.
This is one of the best decks I've purchased from Hay House in a long time regarding the quality of the artwork, deck design and production. It is overall a very feminine oracle, but also a very shamanic one, both very earthy and magical. Images of spirit animals, powerful feminine archetypes, natural forestry settings and Indigenous shamanic imagery blend together to perfection to bring us an oracle that will speak to people with strong feminine essence and into alternative spirituality.
THE ARTWORK
Webber's fine-art paintings for the deck are amazing. They are multilayered and richly metaphoric, exuberant but still sophisticated. The imagery has a predominance of earthy colors: ocher, golden, browns and greens that convey well the connection with Mother Earth and the world of spirit/totem animals. You could have any of the images in large format hanging from your walls. OTHER GOOD STUFF
> Although there are many oracles and decks devoted to the divine feminine, this one shines over the rest because of its mix of Gaian, Pagan, Wicca, Native-American, shamanic and reiki-like elements, which will resonate with anyone into alternative forms of spirituality and energy work.
> I love that this oracle imagery doesn't relate to Tarot major arcana as much as other oracles do. In that regard, this is not only an original deck, but also a true oracle.
> Imagery is potent enough to be used on its own in intuitive readings.
> A contemporary diversity-sensitive deck that depicts characters from several races and color skins.
> The cards stock is wonderful.
> Despite its size, the deck is not heavy or bulky.
> Very pleasurable easy shuffling.
> Great design and production from the interior of the keepsake box to the quality of the paper used to print the guidebook.
> Guidebook is wonderful. The quality of the paper is great and the texts are good. Each card meaning ends with a lovely affirmation.
OK STUFF
> No surprise, but except for the divine masculine card, all cards are feminine, so this is not a deck for men with strong masculine essence and energy.
> Cards are large-ish, so, people with small hands might find shuffling them a bit difficult.
> The card edges deteriorate easily with little shuffling.
> There is a lack of synchrony between some of the images and the meanings given to them. I'd say that the deck is 50% congruent and 50% non-congruent. In some cases, the concepts the cards relate to are difficult to convey visually. In other cases, the connection is not clear to the user even though it might have been for Taylor. Take for example cards 38 sensuality (not very sensual), 25 go with the flow (character seems concerned and apprehensive more than going with the flow), 22 Telepathy (it takes two to tango for telepathy), 49 Achievement (It looks more like power/strength) or 33 Building your World (it looks like an hermit) , just to mention some of the cards that I don't think represent well the concepts. would loved more if they had not keyword associated as they don't seem to match. For the rest, card 14 seems out of tune with the rest of the lot, and looks more like a painted photograph. It reminds me of some countryside scenes that I saw in Turkey or the Middle East years ago. Taylor says that she chose the artwork and then channeled the energies to create the deck, so the artwork wasn't specifically created for the deck, or so it seems.
> In the guidebook, I miss a reproduction of each card before each card meaning..
MIND
> The authors recommend reading the whole guidebook before using the cards.
> Order of the cards was chosen randomly and intuitively and some of them, looking very similar, were put together, even though they relate to different matters.
GOOD STUFF
> Nice concept: put together the phases of the Moon with specific affirmations.
> Great affirmations.
> Great portability.
> Very small deck, so it's perfect for people with small hands and very portable.
> Beautiful digital moon-related imagery on the front and very elegant design on the affirmation side.
> Good quality glossy flexible cards that shuffle well and keep dirt and stains at bay.
> Very good quality keepsake box with upper non-detachable lid.
> Good value for money.
NOT SO GOOD STUFF
> Tiny deck, so if you have big hands, it might not be for you.
> 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 really want a deck that relates to the different phases of moon. I had the vibe that you could have used other images, concept and title and put the same affirmations and it would have not mattered.
GOOD THINGS > Fully portable.
> Light deck.
> Perfect for small hands and for children.
> Lovely illustrations overall. The back is really pretty and doesn't give away whether the card is coming upright or reverse.
> Deck shuffles well overall.
> Very good quality full-color guidebook with good basic content. Perhaps I like the booklet more than the deck.
> Good quality printing overall
> Multilingual wording on the cards: English, Spanish, Italian, French and German.
> Compact well-thought packaging
> It makes a nice inexpensive lovely gift.
NOT SO GOOD
> Quality of cardboard is deficient.It is more thick paper than cardboard so the cards start deteriorating after a few shuffles, especially the edges.
> Because the cardboard is so thin, cards tend to stick to each other.
> I Illustrations are wonderful but have a strong child-like vibe, so it might suit children and teens but not some adults, me in this case. Also, the proportions of the the heads in those characters depicted full body aren't natural. I know this is an artistic license, but this exacerbates the child-like vibe of the deck and it's not my cup of tea. .
> No racial diversity, so that might not resonate with some people.
> Deck has a strong dominant masculine energy overall.
UUS Games Systems produces my favorite paper decks. They understand better than any other card-making house that cards need specific thickness, texture, flexibility and coating for the cards to shuffle well. Shuffling, if good, can be a very enjoyable experience, but also the basis of a good tarot reading and a way to favor cards flying off the deck to let us something that is intuitively charged. Said differently, shuffling is one of the basis of intuition.
The Radiant Rider-Waiter Tarot Deck, which is the basis of this deck, is bright, colorful and feels fresh. The left of the card reproduces the card image, and the right hand side is in blank and has the card meaning.
GOOD > Card paper quality is awesome. Right thickness, texture, and coating, which make shuffling easy, natural and extremely pleasurable.
> Excellent printing quality.
> Bright vibrant colours and beautiful lettering.
> The card back is really pretty despite its simplicity and prevent us from guessing whether the card will pop up upright or reverse.
> No guidebook is needed as the the meaning is on the card front.
> Beautiful sturdy packing box.
> Totally portable.
> Great for small hands, but it can also be used at ease by people with average hand size.
> Perfect for beginners as the meaning is on the card and there are many questions and points for the use to ponder. Some are straightforward, like the text with The Fool. But others, are just something more personal to the author.
NOT SO GOOD
> The interpretations given to each card not always resonate with me. I agree with other reviewers that it would have been better if the author had given take-away keywords for both upright and reverse instead of proper interpretations.
> Pricey for what it is. A pocket Radiant Raider-Waite in a tin is less expensive and will get you the same results.
I've find Baron-Reid's oracles magnificent. Some of the best oracles in the market to me, due to the accuracy and depth of the answers given to my queries.
What is the Wisdom of the House of Night? It is a world between worlds, the fantasy world created by novelist P. C. Cast. The story is loosely based on the Greek myth of the Godless Nyx, the Goddess of the Night. Mother of Hypnos (Sleep), Tanathos (Death), The Oneroi (Dreams) and Erebus (Darkness) among other mythological characters. Nyx's realms are liminal, those interstitial spaces between he day and the night, waking life and dreams, the conscious and the unconscious. In short, those in which the occult dwells. It is still nothing really dark or Lovecraft-ish. The cards, on the other hand, draw on Norse runes, Tarot, Greek mythology and I-Ching elements.
GOOD
> Very original concept.
> Good quality cards. Flexible, light and glossy, the cards glide beautifully in your hands.
> Excellent quality printing.
> Wonderful atmospheric artwork. The deck has artistic harmony and
integrity, an the images seem to connect to each other well.
> I
also love that the oracle has 50 cards and not just 40.
> Silver edges.
> Good size card, not too big, not too small. Perfect for everyone's hands.
> Decent quality guidebook with a nice description of the Nyx's story on which this oracle card is based.
> Durable deck. I have had this for several years now and is still in a good condition.
> Good quality packing box.
> This is overall, one of the best decks, re quality, I own.
> Pointy square edges.
>
Some of the images and the meaning attributed to them do not match. In
my case, those are: Loyalty, Denial, Invisible, Rigid, Honesty.
Complicated, Hope, Individuality, Understanding, Confidence,
Fulfillment, and Listening.
> The cards not always respond to my queries, that's why I don't use them as often as other oracle decks.Sometimes the guidance is spot on, but others the cards have nothing to say or to advice on or, said differently, do not resonate with me. As other reviewers have commented, I might need to warm up to the deck. Sometimes decks have spoken to me at the beginning and stopped speaking to me later on, and vice versa. This might be the case with this deck.
> As the card back is glossy dark, your fingerprints will be visible right there as long as you have two eyes.
Ciro Marchetti is one of my favorite Tarot artists because he's not only a wonderful digital artist but he as a deep knowledge of the Tarot. I have several of his decks in digital app format and they are my go-to every time. I was really excited about getting this mini-deck not just because mini decks fit perfectly in my hands, but because it's a Marchetti's. Now that I have it in my hands, I have mixed feelings about it. and I wish I had ordered the full size version so I could enjoy the colours and many details of Marchetti's imagery in full.
THE GOOD
> Wonderful artwork, with amazing colorful multilayered images full of symbolism, so they are perfect for strict Tarot readings or just intuitive symbolism.Said differently, each card is a world in itself, pregnant with meaning.
> I love the way Marchetti portraits masculine and feminine energies (sexy, athletic rock-star warrior-like men, and sexy erotic dancing Venus-likes), that's personal, and not might be your case, but it's mine.
> Amazing backgrounds and details in each image. The Gilded Tarot has a strong bucolic vibe and countryside scenes and small animals are a recurrence in most images.
> Presence of characters of different ages an races, and, I'd dare to say, sexual orientation (see for example the Hanged Man and The Devil).
> Some of the imagery captures the meaning of the cards is not only explanatory and helpful for the newbie, but also absolutely artistic. Some images in this deck are among my favs in Tarot decks: The Strength, King of Cups, Nine of Pentacles, Ace of Pentacles, Two of Swords. or The Hermit, to mention some.
> Good for traveling and taking it around in your purse.
> Perfect for people with small hands.
> Lightweight deck.
> The cards shuffle wonderfully.
> Box looks flimsy, but it opens and closes well without getting damaged.
THE NOT SO GOOD
> Tiny more than mini. You'll struggle shuffling these if you have large hands, or just not small hands.
> The many details and colors of the original are lost in this mini cards.
> Printing quality is just OK, not especially neat. This is a huge problem because Marchetti's images are baroque in a way. As I've mentioned above, they are full of details, symbolic elements and this size just washes away part of the wonder that the original deck has
> Not gilded or luxurious. Why did they called gilded to start with?
> No booklet/guidebook.
> No black characters in deck. There is just a couple of mulattoes, not black people.
MIND
This is a RWS-inspired Tarot.
Nudity.
ADVICE
Get the full size version or the app format.
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