I was gifted an early prototype of the Southeast Asian Myths and Stories (SEAMS) Tarot, which was hand-cut by the Chairman of Singapore’s Tarot & Cartomancy Association himself, and now one of my most prized possessions in my tarot deck collection.

Please go support their Kickstarter campaign, here.

What you’ll see in these photos are the reviewer’s copy (tarot equivalent of an ARC), so I won’t be commenting on production value, since that’s likely to change from the time of this ARC to what the SEAMS team can produce after successful funding.

In this review, we’re going to look at the art and talk about the deck as a whole. The deck is going to come with a companion e-book that delves into the stories, mythologies, and lore depicted on each card. I’ll try to give a sampling of just how rich a tapestry this deck is.

The above photograph is a card from the holographic version of the deck.

Each copy of the SEAMS Tarot will be empowered with crystal skull energies and the mantras of Guru Rinpoche and the Medicine Buddha. In many esoteric modalities of Taoist qi gong or each Southeast Asian region’s version of qi gong (I’m using the Mandarin Chinese term for it only because that’s the term I know), the Medicine Buddha is either the personification of or the creator of the pillar of source “reiki” spirit energy that empowers healers. In that sense, each deck is imbued with reiki.

Because the premise of this deck is to celebrate Southeast Asian artists and their cultures, I love that you can see the artist of each illustration and country of origin. The deck’s namesake, SEAMS, is also a reference to the cultural quilt that has been stitched together from many different tribes, peoples, and traditions.

Continue reading “Southeast Asian Myths and Stories (SEAMS) Tarot, a Collaborative Deck” →