Category: deck review

Wisdom of Pooh Tarot: Christopher Robin Box Set

On By benebellIn deck review, tarot, tarot community10 Comments
Wisdom of Pooh Tarot. Created by Serefina & Angel Mesa. Illustrated by Kat L. Amsel.

Winnie-the-Pooh is my childhood, and to date remains one of my favorite characters and accompanying series of stories. To see one of the most beautifully produced tarot tributes to Pooh come alive by Rue & Vervain is an incredible honor.

The production quality of this box set is top tier, whether you’re talking indie or traditionally published. Not just production value, but Amsel’s artwork, staying true  – simultaneously – to the spirit of what Milne and Shepard created and to the spirit of the RWS tarot is no small feat, and few in the past have achieved it with a themed deck.

Also I just noticed the compass in the map — it spells out POOH!

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Lepus Tarot by Witchy Cauldron

On By benebellIn deck review4 Comments

The Lepus Tarot by Witchy Cauldron, with illustrations by Artem Chernobai, arrived in my mailbox under somewhat mysterious circumstances. I’m not entirely sure how I came to receive it, but I sure am glad I did!

The deck’s namesake, lepus, means hares, or rabbits, and is also a reference to the constellation Lepus, eternally hunted by Orion. I love how the card back design even has constellation map vibes.

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Tarot de El Dios de los Tres (The God of Three Tarot) by Javier Navarro

On By benebellIn deck review5 Comments

Javier Navarro‘s Tarot de El Dios de los Tres (Tarot of the God of Three) first came out in 2021 and I’ve had my eye on it since. There’s something about it that immediately sets it apart from most tarot decks I’ve come across on the market. It feels counterculture, cheeky, and yet not without depth and substance of thought.

Major Arcana, Chariot through The World; Ace, Two, and Three of Pentacles

Navarro is an Andalusian born artist and illustrator who blends sacred imagery from world religions and pop iconography to design a universe that is energetic, joyful, and liberating.

Four through King of Pentacles; Ace through Seven of Cups

This isn’t a deck review, just a walk-through, as I have not done readings with these cards. For me personally, this is a collector’s deck. It’s a deck I’ve acquired for the artwork, to get to hold a gallery of beautiful illustrations in my hands.

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The Knight-Waite Tarot by Astrologer and Psychic Michele Knight

On By benebellIn deck review7 Comments

Michele Knight-Waite is a celebrated, award-winning astrologer and psychic. Once voted “UK’s Favourite Psychic,” she is a media personality, best-selling author, and regular astrology columnist at various magazines. These days you can also find her on Instagram and YouTube where her generous spirit is on full display.

I love that she has channeled her many gifts into creating a modern RWS-based tarot deck that blends together the art of photo collage, with cameos from some of our favorite historical figures, and the familiar iconography of Pamela Colman Smith, who is featured on the High Priestess card.

There are notable graphic design elements here that I really love. Somehow, it’s both borderless and it has a border, where the full composition continues all the way to the edge, but then there is that classic tarot card white margin for the card title. See also how, for instance, in the Seven of Pentacles, the Pentacles “spill” over and out of the border.

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Frater Setnakh’s 72 Angels Talisman Coins and Cards

On By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, divination, free download, Magical in the Mundane, personal spirituality, promotional, tarot3 Comments

I previously showed the above in a #54321tarot tag. Whether you get the coins or cards, if you’re interested in the 72 angels correspondences, there’s a free download from me at the very end of this walk-through.

The download is so you can do a direct comparison between the 72 angels and tarot correspondences per Christine Payne-Towler’s Tarot of the Holy Light and the tarot correspondences per Frater Setnakh.

This post is a photographic walk-through of the 72 Angels Talisman Coins and Cards created by Frater Setnakh.

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Gold Lyre Tarot by Lacy Martin and Christine Scanlon

On By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review4 Comments

The Gold Lyre Tarot is a feminine spin on the classic RWS, representing the divine feminine of today’s blended American culture and gender-fluid evolution. It is the exquisite creation of two best friends, Lacy Martin and Christine Scanlon, who combined their talents in art and divination to produce this tarot deck that balances the scales between modern and traditional.

The deck’s namesake is attributed to Apollo’s lyre, Apollo being the god of prophecy and music, and the lyre a symbol of wisdom and moderation. Hermes was the creator of the golden lyre. Later merged with the Egyptian god Anubis to create the syncretized Hermanubis, the namesake also calls upon the god of translators, interpretors, and conductors of souls. Likewise, the Gold Lyre Tarot holds songs and messages that only you can hear.

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KLD Tarot by Kate La Dez Studios

On By benebellIn deck review1 Comment

This is a photo walk-through of the KLD Tarot by Kate La Dez Studios. It’s a modern photo collage deck that features a candy pink and midnight violet-blue color contrast that recurs throughout the cards.

It’s the 78-card RWS-based tarot with 2 bonus cards. Each scene takes place in a dreamscape, with the pink and violet-blue clouds representing the divine feminine and masculine aspects within each of us.

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Silvana Alasia’s Oracle of the Egyptian Gods

On By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, oracle deck3 Comments

Oracle of the Egyptian Gods by Silvana Alasia features portraits of Egyptian deities painted in tempera on papyrus in the ancient Egyptian drying method.

It was the art style really captivated me, and then as I explored the deck further, it turns out to be of the most well-done Kemetic-themed decks I’ve seen in a while.

This is a deck of 36 cards, each bringing messages of wisdom, warnings of danger, advice, and protection. Each card features a god or goddess from the Egyptian pantheon.

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Masonic Tarot by Patricio Diaz Silva

On By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, tarot, tarot symbolism2 Comments

The Masonic Tarot came out in October 2022, created and illustrated by Chilean artist and academic Patricio Diaz Silva, and it is in the top 10% of the most well-done tarot decks in recent years. The illustrations for the Major Arcana are exquisite, as are the court cards.

Do note, however, that this deck has elected to go with non-narrative illustrations for the pips, which works for the Masonic Tarot given its ceremonial leaning purposes.

The deck is designed as a “gateway into the secret mysteries of the soul” integrating the sacred symbolism of Freemasonry. The premise melds together the arcana of the tarot with models from Masonic rites, with heavy emphasis on alchemy.

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The Esoteric Buddhism of Japan Oracle Cards (Yuzui Kotaki and Miki Okuda)

On By benebellIn deck review, personal spirituality5 Comments

The Esoteric Buddhism of Japan Oracle Cards is so beautiful, so awe-inspiring that I treat it as I would a sutra — all the Buddhist etiquette applied to sacred texts I apply to how I handle this deck.

Acharya Yuzui Kotaki is a Shingon Buddhist teacher and a vice-chief priest of the Maginosan Ren-join Temple in Kanagawa, Japan. Miki Okuda is a painter, both in traditional and digital media who specializes in Buddhist religious art. The deck was first released in 2021, and I don’t know how it flew so under the radar in the tarot community.

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