This is the tarot deck my friend Marie uses.  The Swiss Tarot is one of the older decks commercially available, but neither the deck nor the booklet that accompanies it actually has any real history of the deck available, so I'm not sure if it is really old, or just old in comparison to the recent flood of new decks on the market.

It has a classic style to it, and all the card titles are in French.  This can be confusing to people who don't have any familiarity with the language, but it is an obstacle that is easily overcome.  The French lends an air of old-world grace to the cards, in my opinion.  There are several "classic" decks available; this is by far my favorite of them.

The suits are Batons (Clubs, Wands, Rods), Coupes (Cups), Epees (Swords), and Deniers (Coins).  The deck is a comfortable small size and handles easily, shuffles really nicely, and just feels good overall.  Something I find interesting, the Tower in the Major Arcana is called "La Maison De Dieu" which for those of you who don't speak French, translates into "The House of God."

One disappointing thing here is that the Minor Arcana cards are merely figured representations of the number of items in the suit, the ten of batons is literally ten batons crossed over each other.  There is virtually no symbolism here.

Overall, like I said, the nicest of the "classic" styled decks.  Not a bad choice, especially if one is planning to use it for Major Arcana readings....

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Review Copyright 1998 by Gina M. Pace