This nifty tarot deck and book set is a perfect example of how a very nice product can fall totally through the cracks to be almost completely unnoticed and possibly undersold (and eventually allowed to go out of print) because of poor marketing.  I have never heard of Collins and Brown publishers, so I don't know if this is their very first foray into tarot publishing, but I really almost came upon this deck by accident, and so whatever marketing and advertising they are doing, is not getting through to the right audience.  Not one person has even mentioned it to me, either here or in my store, and I've never seen anything on it anywhere else on the web.  Borders and Barnes and Noble do carry it, so it's out there, but it's like someone just put it out on the shelves without saying anything to anyone.  At any rate, hopefully that is a situation which will improve.
 
The Destiny Tarot appears to be packaged and marketed (such as it is) to a beginner tarot audience.  One reads on the back of the box, "Tarot is the most popular form of divination today."  And claims to provide "everything you need to read the cards for yourself or for others."  It's a beautiful package, being a glossy rigid cardboard box with what I want to call a lift-off lid, except that the lid slides off the right side instead of off the top of the box.  The deck of cards and the hardbound book are very tightly packaged inside, in fitted slots with really no chance of slipping accidentally.  I've seen few boxes more securely packed.
 
The cards in the Major Arcana bear the traditional Rider-Waite titles and in their imagery seem to be a combination of symbolism from both the Rider-Waite and the Marseilles style decks.  A good example of this is the Hierophant, being clearly an imitation of the Rider-Waite card, yet the Lovers features the two women and the man in the middle a la Marseilles.  The art style is fairly primitive but not unattractive.  A wide white border surrounds the image area and the title appears in English at the bottom center.  Roman numerals are above the top of the image in the center.  The order is also Rider-Waite, with Strength being 8 and Justice 11.
 
The Minor Arcana are much more influenced by the Marseilles than the Majors were.  Numbered cards are pretty much straightforward pips, no scenes here whatsoever.  Each suit has a different color background but the really funny thing is that it looks like the artist took a sheet of paper and drew a suit icon, then copied it 55 times, then cut out all 55 tiny icons and then glued them on top of 10 sheets which had been painted with the background color.  You can see that the background is painted, but I'll be damned if those aren't cutouts situated against them!  It isn't a bad effect though, just funny.  The suits are the standard Cups, Swords, Pentacles and Wands.  On the 2 through 10 in each suit, the number appears (a separate little cutout) four times in the four corners.  It kind of reminds me of ransom notes cut out from newspaper headlines, you know, in the cheesy B movies.  LOL  The King, Queen, Knight and Page are full paintings and are colored to go with the suit they appear in.
 
The cards themselves are much larger than standard and are printed on a heavily glossy cardstock which stuck together when new and never fails to make a satisfying *cracking* sound when fanned.  The edges are perfectly smooth and the corners rounded.  This deck is not easy to shuffle and handle but after a while you can get used to it.  The back design is simple but tasteful and features a sun against a red background, attractively off-center.  There is no little white booklet as the set comes with a hardcover, full color book printed on glossy paper.  It's a very nice presentation overall.  The book features many new and different spreads, but also includes the typical Celtic Cross.
 
This is an interesting deck and it was a pleasant surprise to stumble across it as I did.  Anyone who collects tarot will probably want this in their collection, but it is a decent gift set for anyone who wants to begin reading.  None of the information seemed to be incorrect or anything, and it's written well and not over-the-heads of anyone new to tarot.  I also feel that it's important to support new tarot publishing ventures, although if the product was not worthwhile, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend against it.  This deck is definitely worth a try!
 
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Review Copyright 2001 by Gina M. Pace

Destiny Tarot by Jane Struthers, 2000
published by Collins & Brown, London
ISBN 1-85585-741-3