While Raymond Buckland is extremely well-known for his books on Wicca and paganism, what is not as well known is that Buckland is an established authority on the history, life and wisdom of the Romani people, commonly referred to as the "gypsies."  Buckland is himself of Romani blood, which leaves him eminently qualified to write books and design decks illustrating this "gypsy" knowledge for all the world.  Someone should be preserving it, after all, and Buckland is completely up to the task.
 
His previous works on Romani legend, prediction and lore have been more along the lines of fortunetelling books and magickal works; this is his first genuine tarot deck.  I have to admit to having been extremely impressed with the deck from the get-go.  Aside from the fact that I've always loved Lissanne Lake's artwork (you may have seen it on various covers for Llewellyn titles, including the ever-popular Celtic Magic by D.J. Conway), the deck is just plain gorgeous.  It's not hollow art though, everything is extremely symbolic and evocative, and the theme is carried through with wonderful consistency of detail.  The end result is a spectacular deck that shouldn't be missed.
 
The thing that sets this apart from previous and similar types of decks is the same thing that makes Clive Barrett's Ancient Egyptian Tarot my absolute favorite Egyptian deck -- instead of attempting to force a cultural symbolism into the strict style of the tarot, Buckland and Lake have designed the deck to depict scenes from true Romani life, particularly the period of time directly after World War II which was the time Buckland was most familiar with through his Romani heritage.  Gypsy life, while never easy, was especially challenging and colorful in the days which are shown on the cards.  Much of the symbolism will actually have a familiar look and feel to it since Hollywood has always borrowed from post-WWII gypsy life in England whenever it needed to depict gypsies in films, etc.  I am thrilled to have such an expert as Buckland take the case in hand for the gypsy and clearly explain and depict what life must have been like for them; materially poor, yet so spiritually rich!
 
There are no real titles in this deck's Major Arcana, but instead each card features (in the book) the spelled-out language for the number of the card.  Buckland calls the Major Arcana in his deck the "Boro Lil" which is a Romani term for "Big Book."  That fits right in with the meaning of the tarot as a book of knowledge or secrets.  It seems as though the Boro Lil are mainly known by their numbers among the Romani.  Nicely, this removes any obstacles in working with them, in terms of wrestling with what to call them.  The cards are borderless, another wonderful thing; when the art is this good, you don't want to cut it smaller so you can put a bland border around them.  The little flags which contain the numbers for the cards (Arabic numerals all round) are kept very small and tasteful so you aren't distracted from the image.
 
Referring to the book, the numbers for the Majors are as follows:
 
0 - Kolo (The Fool)
1 - Yek (The Magician)
2 - Dui (The High Priestess)
3 - Trin (The Empress)
4 - Stor (The Emperor)
5 - Panch (The Hierophant)
6 - Shov (The Lovers)
7 - Efta (The Chariot)
8 - Teigh (Strength)
9 - Enin (The Hermit)
10 - Desh (Wheel of Fortune)
11 - Desh-ta-Yek (Justice)
12 - Desh-ta-Dui (The Hanged Man)
13 - Desh-ta-Trin (Death)
14 - Desh-ta-Stor (Temperance)
15 - Desh-ta-Panch (The Devil)
16 - Desh-ta-Shov (The Tower)
17 - Desh-ta-Efta (The Star)
18 - Desh-ta-Teigh (The Moon)
19 - Desh-ta-Enin (The Sun)
20 - Bish (Judgement)
21 -  Bish-ta-Yek (The World)
 
Similarly to the Boro Lil, the Minor Arcana is known as the "Tarno Lil" which is Romani for "little book."  The four suits have been thoroughly renamed to use things from everyday gypsy life which would hold the same significance as the traditional tarot icons.  So you have Bolers, which are Romani card wheels, replacing the suit of Pentacles or Disks; Koros, which are Romani cups or vessels, replacing the suit of Cups; Koshes, which are Romani whips or staves, replacing the suit of Wands; and finally, Chivs, which are Romani daggers or knives, replacing the suit of Swords.  Court cards are kept traditional, with Page, Knight, Queen and King in each suit.  All 78 cards are illustrated with scenes.
 
Imagery tends to follow the Rider-Waite model in meaning more than in direct imagery comparison, but it is definitely recognizable, making this deck easier to switch to than it sounds.  ALL of the imagery is very evocative of its meaning, making this a really intuitive deck to use.
 
The cards themselves are standard sized and are printed on a thin, flexible cardstock with a semi-gloss coating for protection.  The edges are polished very smoothly and the corners are rounded nicely.  This is a deck that is very comfortable to shuffle and handle.  The back is sectioned into four quarters, which are alternately colored avocado green and medium blue, with a Boler (wheel) centered on it in red.  This is a reversible design.  There is no little white booklet since there is an excellent full-sized trade paperback book, filled with a lot of information about Romani gypsy life, rich detailed meanings for each card, and a total of TEN different spreads to use for the cards.  Of course, the celtic cross (here spelled Keltic) is included, but the best of these spreads are the original and detailed spreads that Buckland has included.
 
I had a really hard time picking *only* six cards to use for this review; so many cards in this deck are terrific and it was difficult to choose which ones best represented the deck.  You can, however, see different cards at the review of this deck by Diane Wilkes at Tarot Passages.

I highly recommend this deck for anyone who is looking for a deck that follows the Rider-Waite tradition, but richly builds upon it to create a working deck that really adds a lot to a tarot reading.  There is also a lot to be said for the atmosphere of the gypsy, whether we as tarot readers like to admit it or not, there is an archetype of a "gypsy fortuneteller" that we all get compared to at some point and it is wise and wonderful to explore this with an open mind rather than run and hide from it.  A beginner can get almost as much out of this deck as an experienced reader, although I do recommend that someone not start with this as their very first deck.  This will remain one of my favorite decks for a long time, I can see it in the cards!
 
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Review Copyright 2001 by Gina M. Pace
 
other books on gypsy wisdom and lore by Raymond Buckland:
Secrets of Gypsy Fortunetelling
Secrets of Gypsy Love Magick
Gypsy Witchcraft and Magick
Gypsy Dream Dictionary
 
Buckland Romani Tarot by Raymond Buckland, 2001
published by Llewellyn Worldwide, Inc. St. Paul, MN
ISBN 1-56718-099-X