This was the second deck I purchased, when I first began to be dissatisfied with the Rider-Waite.  These cards are also highly popular due to the style of artwork used, and, like the Rider-Waite, are readily available in most retail establishments, including the mall.  Many years ago, when I first started reading tarot, there only were a few tarot decks on the market, and since then there have been hundreds.  Really more than anything else, I found this deck suffered in comparison to others, but taken on its own merits was quite nice.

I found the deck to be difficult to work with, however, due to the fact that while the cards are nice to look at, the images do not truly inspire the meanings of the cards themselves.  Intuitive artwork is imperative to the truly successful tarot deck.  These images just kind of left me cold when it came right down to it.  Another problem I had with them was that the cards were printed on very stiff card stock and didn't flex, but rather developed creases and bent when I shuffled them.
 
Of course, this has remained one of US Games' top sellers for 20 years now, so there has to be something really good about it if it has done so well over the years.  Artistically, David Palladini's images can be astoundingly attractive.  His rendition of the Star is, to this day, my favorite version of this card from any deck.
 
For the collector, however, this is a fine deck to purchase.  The deck uses the traditional suits of Rods, Cups, Pentacles and Swords.  The deck is also available in French, German, Spanish and five-language editions.  Those who like this deck will also want to check out the Linweave Tarot and the New Palladini Tarot.

Here are a few examples of Palladini's artwork.

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also by David Palladini:
The New Palladini Tarot

Review Copyright 1998 by Gina M. Pace