Category: deck review

Review of the Labyrinth Wisdom Cards

On By benebellIn deck review, oracle deck6 Comments

Labryinth Wisdom Cards 01 Box Set
It was love at first sight, between me and the Labyrinth Wisdom Cards by Tony Christie. You can buy the deck here, and check out some videos of the deck creator here and here. Definitely watch the videos.

Labryinth Wisdom Cards 02 Cards

Tony Christie is an author, inspirational speaker, artist, spiritual healer, and labyrinth designer. The labyrinth is an ancient symbol that is over 4000 years old, and what it is in a nutshell is a winding, circular path from a perimeter outer point to the center, or the heart of a matter.

Use the labyrinth as a form of walking meditation. You ask a question before the walk, hold that issue in your mind, then walk the labyrinth and when you reach the center, the revelation will come to you.

Likewise, the Labyrinth Wisdom Cards are intended to operate in the same way. Hold an issue in your mind, then pick a Labyrinth Wisdom oracle card, and see what the labyrinth card has to say to you.

Choose a card, left, center, or right
Choose a card, left, center, or right

Let’s give it a try. Think of a question or issue that you’d like an answer for. Hold that matter in your mind through the course of this post, before selecting a card, and then at the end of the post, you’ll select one of those three Labyrinth cards.

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Review of the Corporate Tarot

On By benebellIn deck review, tarot6 Comments

Corporate Tarot 01 Box and Deck

The Corporate Tarot by Melanie McCarthy is an incredible tool for employee training that re-polishes the tarot structure so that it might lend itself to the corporate world. Team building, corporate and operational strategic planning, and team brainstorming are big things these days among the midsize to large corporations. Perhaps I may be in an exceptional bubble in the Silicon Valley, but around here, every CEO and ED is looking for an “innovative, creative” way to get their employees to work together more cohesively. What better way to achieve that than through McCarthy’s Corporate Tarot?

Corporate Tarot 02 Majors Front

Photographs with a corporate aesthetic illustrate this deck. I love the “stock photo” vibe here, honoring the frequent use of stock photos in corporate documents and marketing materials. Of course, I also love the diversity, which is subtle, seamless, and well done. Each card is assigned a keyword, one that represents a factor for corporate success (or hindrance to corporate success, e.g., “Conflict” or “Negativity,” etc.).

Corporate Tarot 03 Majors Back

Another beautiful feature of the deck are the card backs. Each one is different and I believe they can fit together like puzzle pieces to create a unified urban landscape. The metaphor there is also clever.

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Review of the Gaian Tarot

On By benebellIn book review, cartomancy, deck review, tarot, tarot community, tarot symbolism9 Comments

Gaian Tarot 01 Box Set

A deck that taps into earth consciousness like no other deck, the Gaian Tarot is the much talked about, beloved, and exceptional deck borne from the genius of artist and writer Joanna Powell Colbert.

The Gaian Tarot was initially self-published by Colbert in 2010, and then it’s popularity convinced Llewellyn to publish it in 2011, and then somehow mysteriously, it went out of print. Copies of the deck were going for outrageous prices all over the interwebs as folks clamored to get themselves a copy of this beloved deck. Now, be happy all my friends, because the Gaian Tarot is back in a new published version by Schiffer Publishing and I’ve got to say, Schiffer has done a remarkable job with Colbert’s work.

Gaian Tarot 02 Box and Cards

Here’s an interesting point about this deck. At least four professional writers I am connected with use the Gaian Tarot for creative writing. One writes women’s fiction, one writes metaphysical books, one writes literary fiction (with a collection of short stories that has won prestigious book awards), and one is a bestselling author. Only one of them– that I know of– subscribes to a pagan-based spiritual path, and the only reason I mention that is to showcase the diversity and versatility of this deck. I don’t know if it was ever intentionally meant to become a “writer’s tarot deck,” but that it certainly has!

Be sure to read about Colbert’s creative process for the deck here. From what I could gather, Colbert works with mixed media. The inspiration for each Gaian Tarot card image begins with photographs– with one single photograph as the main focal point. Then a photographic collage is used for the background. Layered, the deck image is created. Then Colbert transitions into working by hand. The photographic collage becomes a line drawing and colored pencil sketch, and the final colored pencil sketch is cleaned up digitally.

Gaian Tarot 23 Reading

Let’s try a reading for you. Left to right above, the cards represent Mind, Body, and Spirit respectively. However, you’re to choose only one of those three cards. Which would you like to divine upon today? About your Mind, your Body, or your Spirit? Left, center, or right-most card? Remember your selection.

Gaian Tarot 24 Guidebook Three Card Reading

Here I’m lifting the idea of the “Mind, Body, Spirit” spread from the accompanying guidebook comes with instructions for three-card readings.

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Review of the Gypsy Palace Tarot

On By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, divination, tarot, tarot community4 Comments

Gypsy Palace Tarot 01 Box Set

The Gypsy Palace Tarot by Nora Huszka is a potent deck for intuitive readings that articulates the “death and the maiden” motif. Gypsy Palace showcases a postmodern macabre aesthetic that blends tribal-aboriginal inspirations with Fauvist flavors. In other words, I love it.

I don’t know and can’t and didn’t verify, but I have the very strong hunch that Huszka is witchy. That hunch is so strong in me that I’m willing to speculate openly about it. =) Here’s why. There is such power invested into this deck and anyone sensitive will feel it. It’s really undeniable. So I have a strong hunch Huszka knows a thing or two about craft. (But again, it’s purely my speculation. I have no idea whether she does or not and didn’t bother to confirm it.) xoxo

Gypsy Palace Tarot 02 Deck and Guidebook

Your deck, when you order it from Huszka, will come with a beautiful drawstring bag that matches the fabric of the accompanying guidebook. (However, that drawstring bag is not shown here.) If you’re going to get the Gypsy Palace Tarot, then I recommend ordering the set with the guidebook. You won’t regret it. I’ll show you why later on in this review.

Gypsy Palace Tarot 03 Cards Spread

This is a self-published deck that you can buy from the deck creatrix herself, via Etsy. You’ll want this deck in your collection if you’re a collector and you’ll want to work with this deck if you consider yourself an intuitive reader. There is also this “fortune-teller-traveller” boho consciousness infused into the Gypsy Palace Tarot deck that is going to resonate strongly with those who identify as a fortune-teller.

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Review of the Dark Tarot

On By benebellIn deck review, promotional, tarot30 Comments

Dark Tarot 01 Majors I

The Dark Tarot is a Tarot de Marseille based deck designed by M. over at darktarot.com. I say “M.” because I don’t know whether this person wants to be identified, so there we go. I’ve been working with this deck for a few months now and just love it.

M. reached out and gifted me with this deck and not for any promotional purposes either. This deck isn’t for sale. In fact, digital files to the cards are available for free download at darktarot.com and you can use those files to print out your own copy of the deck. Free! Yet M. gifted me with a hard copy of the deck just because. And I am so glad to have become acquainted with this TdM deck!

Above, just look at the beautiful imagery in the Majors.

Dark Tarot 07 Card Backs

I don’t know a lot about the deck so I’m not able to give a lot of information, but I can tell you it reads beautifully. It’s a piecemeal of several public domain TdM-based decks. I’ve been working with the deck in client readings, for my Learning the Opening of the Key master class over at Tarot Summer School, and for those who follow me on Instagram, posting tons of lovely photos of the deck over there. Also, stay tuned to the end of this post for details on a giveaway. M. and I are giving away a free copy of this deck.

Dark Tarot 02 Majors II

These cards look absolutely beautiful in a spread, and if you’ve been wanting to learn to read the Tarot de Marseille, the Dark Tarot is an ideal deck to learn on. In some of the Marseille decks, the suit of Wands and the suit of Swords can look alike and get confusing for novices. Not here.

Dark Tarot 03 Wands

There are white borders here but it’s easy to trim this deck if you so choose to. I love the faux antiqued look here and this will easily be a beloved deck by any Marseille (TdM) reader.

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Review of the Hezicos Tarot by Mary Griffin

On By benebellIn deck review, tarot5 Comments

Hezicos Tarot 01 Whole View

The Hezicos Tarot by Mary Griffin is a self-published Rider-Waite-Smith based deck that blends a multicultural point of view with fairytale fantasy. It is a versatile, readable, and easily accessible tarot deck for novices, beautiful imagery that is fit for professional readers, and artwork that will tempt any tarot deck collector.

My favorite artistic style for tarot decks is unembellished hand-rendered line art, and that’s exactly what we have here. The Hezicos Tarot is done in watercolor and ink. There is a contemporary style to Griffin’s art. The imagery here leans feminine, storybook, with a fable and fantasy tone that works really well with a modern tarot deck.

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The Eternal Crystals Oracle Cards by Jade-Sky

On By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, gemstones and crystals, oracle deck6 Comments

Eternal Crystals Oracle Cards 02 Whole Set

The Eternal Crystals Oracle Cards by Jade-Sky and illustrated by Jane Marin is a beautifully produced high-gloss deck that features 44 gemstones and crystals. Jade-Sky is a self-professed psychic-medium and channel and Jane Marin, in addition to being an artist, is a healer and life coach. The two have come together to create a visually spectacular deck.

Eternal Crystals Oracle Cards 04 Box Cover Open

No complaints here about the packaging. You’ve got a sturdy, high-gloss deck with an equally impressive companion guide.

Let’s start by having you choose a card, shall we? See below. Choose a card– left, center, or right, and remember which position you chose. We’ll revisit this reading later.

Eternal Crystals Oracle Cards 05 Three Cards Select

The deck features mesmerizing photographic art, mostly abstract, and selected I’m guessing in large part to invoke color therapy. These cards are incredibly calming to gaze at. Cutely, I sort of used this deck as a checklist of the gemstones I have in my collection. In the below selection of cards, I’m missing apophyllite, cerussite, and chiastolite, admittedly stones I’ve never even heard of before.

Eternal Crystals Oracle Cards 10 Cards

The imagery for each card is specifically selected to facilitate a connection between practitioner and the crystal in question, and by concentrating on that connection, you can experience the healing vibrations of the crystal… or so goes the companion guidebook.

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The Starchild Tarot — Akashic Edition

On By benebellIn cartomancy, deck review, tarot15 Comments

Starchild Akashic 01 Deck Set

The New Age spiritual movement as it manifests in 2015 and 2016, the years of publication for the Starchild Tarot, embraces the importance of developing personal intuition through cards, like tarot. Decks like the Starchild have introduced a new generation and new class of tarot readers that didn’t exist before. Starchild is one of those decks that makes tarot more accessible to mainstream Millennials. While timeless and other-worldly in its vision, the Starchild Tarot manages to also be very much about the “now,” and the present.

I have both the first edition Starchild Tarot, which I reviewed here back in June of 2015 and now the latest 2016 Starchild Tarot Akashic Edition, which I love even more than the first. As of this posting, the Akashic Edition is sold out, so you’ll have to contact the artist and creator, Danielle Noel directly to see if there is a pre-order option or waitlist for the next edition.

The tarot blogosphere has been gushing over the Akashic Edition and I am a little late to the party (as usual). I figure I’ll use my review time to compare the two editions.

Starchild Akashic 02 Box Compare

On the left is the first edition and on the right the Akashic edition. You can see from the above photograph that the Akashic is just a sidge larger than the original. I’m also loving the new box design. Both boxes are of amazing quality.

Starchild Akashic 02 Deck Compare

Noel’s signature style comes through in both. We talked about the card backs from the original edition in my last review, which feels more mathematical than the new card back design. Here, hmm… I’m actually thinking I prefer the original card backs! But it’s an entirely subjective judgment call.

Starchild Akashic 03 LWB Compare

The coloring for the Akashic Edition has been muted, giving the design a more “ascended” feel… if a design could be ascended. I do prefer the new cover to the companion guidebook over the original cover.

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Update & Addendum to My Dame Darcy’s Mermaid Tarot Deck Review

On By benebellIn deck review, tarot, tarot community41 Comments

This is an update and addendum to the review I did of Dame Darcy’s Mermaid Tarot back in December of 2014.

A friend of mine alerted me to a fascinating thread going on over at Aeclectic, “‘Recycled’ art in Dame Darcy deck.” Worth reading through. It seems there are allegations of copying or at the very least hostile reactions toward the striking similarity between some of the imagery in Dame Darcy’s mermaids deck and the Tarot of Mermaids by Lo Scarabeo published back in 2003. So I took a look for myself. I’ve created easy side by side comparisons of selected cards from both decks so you can be the judge for yourself. I didn’t discover any of these similarities on my own. They all came from the discoveries noted on the Aeclectic thread, which again, definitely read.

DD Empress v ToM Fool
DD Empress vs ToM Fool

So this is the Empress versus the Fool from the two decks and there are clear differences, of course. But… fishy? Hmm…

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Living Magick Learning Cards Series: Tree of Life Kabbalah

On By benebellIn deck review7 Comments

Tree of Life Kabbalah Learning Cards 01 Deck

I reviewed the Palmistry Learning Cards from the Living Magick Learning Card Series not too long ago. I’m now moving on to the Tree of Life Learning Cards. The deck contains 60 cards and are the same size and dimensions as the Palmistry Learning Cards.

Tree of Life Kabbalah Learning Cards 02 Deck and LWB

It comes with a fold-out little white booklet (LWB) and a deck that’s very easy to work with. It’s high-gloss, sturdy, will definitely withstand some wear and tear, and most important of all, is effective in teaching the basics and fundamentals of the Kabbalah.

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