UPDATE:  This set has been republished and repackaged by Llewellyn in a small but lovely slipcased set which essentially removes the large book and instead replaces it with a small paperback that explains the system clearly, and much easier to use and better to work with and understand.  I've left the original review below but it should be noted that most of the problems I had with this set occurred in the first edition and have been removed from the new, current edition.
 
I've had numerous requests to review this set, so, thanks to the loan of a deck from a good friend, I am finally able to provide such a review.  The Faery Wicca Tarot is a deck-and-book set only, published by Llewellyn's, and is the latest part of a series of books by Kisma Stepanich on her self-created Faery Wicca tradition of witchcraft.  This deck is designed specifically to be used within said tradition, although it is not necessary to be involved in Faery Wicca as a religious belief system to use the tarot.

However, it is my sincere feeling that the majority of depth to this tarot system will make the best sense to those who have read both of Stepanich's other books on the subject, Faery Wicca Book One and Faery Wicca Book Two.  Both are also published by Llewellyn's.  The usual attractive, professional care has been applied to this tarot set as to the books, and the finished product is very nice indeed.

Artistically, the cards have a great deal of merit, as Yates' abilities are used well in the designs.  Technical flaws within the design of the cards do not reflect badly on the art.  I'm actually not sure whether these flaws are due to the artist or to the author, so will mention them only as far as their technical correctness.

The deck consists of 22 Major Arcana cards, or, as they are called in the Faery Wicca system, "Ancient Ones."  They correspond fairly well to the traditional Majors of other tarot decks.  Numbered 0 through 21, they are completely retitled according to the new system.  Titled The Seeker, The Druid, The High Priestess, The Mother Goddess, The Father God, The Guide, The Beloved, The Chariot, Poetical Justice (is Poetical a real word?), The Holy Man, The Sun Wheel, Strength of Will, The Hangman, The Banshee Crone, The Holy Waters, The Old One, The Round Tower, The Star, Old Witch Moon Hill, The Sun Child, The Judgment, and The Weaver Goddess.  The ordering puts the traditional Justice at 8 and Strength at 11.  Additionally, there is a card numbered 00, known as the "One Power" card, which is titled The Tree Of Life.

These Major Arcana cards have a grey border around the card image, but the image itself is bordered with a design that reminds me of black wrought iron framework.  In each corner is a circle, bearing the four colors (red, green, blue, yellow) which correspond to the four elements of earth, air, fire and water.  Since it is known that the ancient Celts did not, in fact, follow any traditions which used those four elemental correspondences, this must be a modern invention on the part of the author.  In each colored circle is a different Ogham symbol, those which represent the letters A, O, E and U.  I was unable to find adequate explanation in the enclosed 420 page book for these letters' use.

Each card has the Arabic numeral and title in English in the bottom border of the card, under the image.  Inside the image, at the bottom, is a box with the title of the card in "Gaelic."  The words are unmistakeably Gaelic, but essentially the arranging of them is incorrect according to Gaelic grammar; in other words, it is as if the author took the title in English, looked up the words in an English-Gaelic dictionary, stuck them together and called them the Gaelic title.  In fact, whenever translating to any foreign language, words are never literally carried over, but rather concepts are translated.  In many cases, the Gaelic combinations are redundant or just don't belong together.  An example of this is the Gaelic title on the High Priestess card, which is "Bansagart Ard Brigid."  In America we consider Brigid to be "just" a woman's name, so the title has been translated as if to say "Most High Queen Brigid."  When in fact in the Gaelic Brigid connotes both the name AND the high queenship, so this translates to say "Most high Queen High Queen Brigid."

The next set of cards in the deck are four "Gift of Faery" cards.  These are unique to this deck.  They have titles in the bottom border, but no numbers, as they are their own separate grouping, and represent gifts the seeker may use along the path to knowledge.  Their titles are The Apple Branch,  The Crane Bag, The Hazel Wand, and The Holy Stone.  I have heard of the Apple Branch and the Hazel Wand many times before, most recently in Caitlin Matthews' Celtic Book of the Dead.  The Holy Stone I at first assumed to be the legendary Lia Fail (the Stone of Truth) but in fact it is merely any stone with a natural hole in it which the gods place for us to find, apparently.  And the Crane Bag was a new one by me.

The next set of cards are the 16 "Helper" cards which correlate to the Court Cards in the Minor Arcana.  In each of four suits, there are four "Helpers" and their titles are Ridire, Ard Ri, Ainnir, and Banrion.  What is really interesting is that each of the 16 helpers represents an actual figure in Celtic mythology and lore, and their names are carried on a banner box in various places on the image, with the card title at the bottom in the border.  These cards are also unnumbered.  The black wrought iron border is gone, being only on the Major Arcana cards.

Finally, there are the 40 Minor Arcana suit cards, here called "Element Cards."  They correlate directly to the elements of Earth, Air, Fire and Water, or Domhan, Aer, Tine, and Uisce in Gaelic.  Once again I would like to emphasize that the Ancient Celts did not follow this elemental correspondence system, which makes this a modern Celtic system.  In each suit, the cards follow Ace through Ten as in a traditional tarot deck.  Instead of the black wrought iron border there is a white ribbon border around the images.  A note here to the fact that while the suits are titled earth, air, fire and water, the images contain pentacles, swords, wands and cups, just like a traditional deck, so it won't be difficult to make the transition.

As lovely as the deck is, one technical detail which really stuck in my craw is the incorrect use of Norse or Anglo-Saxon runes throughout the deck in the depiction of magic "words" in many scenes.  There will be the word "Power" spelled out on a stone, for example, but the runes used are the ones that, to the untrained eye, look like they spell power.  In fact, they are the runes for W (which looks like a P) and three homemade runes constructed to look like an O, a W, and an E, and then the rune for the letter R.  I do not profess to be an expert on these, but I have many books by experts, and while I don't use runes for divination, I am fluent in reading and writing them, have been for years.  I found it irritating in the extreme that they would be used incorrectly like this.  It seems like the author is trying to say the reader doesn't have the ability to look up the real runes so fake ones have to be made that can be understood by simple minds.  At least that is the implication I got.  Or perhaps she herself didn't understand the runes.  I guess if she was able to look up the Celtic terminology she should have been able to look up the correct runes, there are only a hundred and fifty publications to choose from that have the runic alphabet in them.

Okay, rant done.  Irritation aside, the cards themselves are a very attractive set and are standard sized and handle and shuffle easily.  The edges are buffed to a shiny polished finish, with the usual care taken by Llewellyn's to create a professional product.  Card stock is light and flexible without being flimsy.  Cards are coated with a thin protective coat but are not slippery or sticky.

The book is an excellent one, although many things seem to have been left out (if that's possible, with 420 pages in the book!).  I would have liked very much to see a pronunciation guide provided.  None is.  With all of the Gaelic words being tossed around in this system (and a lot of them at that) I would have really appreciated knowing how to say them.  There are many very good points to this book, though.  It is rich with lore and tables of correspondences.  Heavily illustrated and diagrammed.  Several new original spreads are provided, and, this is unique to this system, some of the spreads work with only suit cards, only court cards, only major arcana cards, etc.

One of my favorite things about the book is its treatment of each card.  Instead of the bland set of divinatory meanings and descriptions, this book shows the card and gives a short "Classical Tarot Meaning," then goes ahead and gives the reader a kind of visualization/meditation which explores the rich potential of the card.  Faery lore which is associated with the card is also indicated after the visualization, and necessary correspondences are shown right there.  A section on Integration ties all the different parts of the tarot together at the end for the reader.  End notes refer mainly to the Faery Wicca Books One and Two written by Stepanich, making it sort of necessary to at least have access to these books as well.  This would make for an expensive investment to use the entire system, at roughly $60 for the tarot set and the two other books.

Overall, while there are some real good hits in this deck, the misses make it so that I really can't recommend it to anyone save those following the Faery Wicca Tradition of Witchcraft already, and those who collect tarots for the art.  A beginner will, in my opinion, be confused more by this set than educated by it.  And of course those who don't believe in or practice any form of religious belief which accepts witchcraft will probably not get much out of this either, since it is geared towards that system of belief.

Click here for pictures
 
or here to purchase the current edition of this deck and book set

or here to return

Please use your browser's back button to return from pictures

Review Copyright 1999 by Gina M. Pace

Consultation on Celtic Authenticity courtesy of the Clannada
see the Clannada Home Page

Faery Wicca Tarot by Kisma Stepanich, 1998
published by Llewellyn Publications ISBN 1-56718-696-3