The words, "Pre-Celtic Shamanism of the Mythic Forest" scared me off right away.  Well-aware of the number of people out there passing themselves off as following Celtic traditions, most of which are founded in total fantasy, I had little hope that this deck would be anything more than another of those.

However, I couldn't have been more mistaken.  This deck is low-key and subtle, yet quite grounded in reality.  The artwork style is excellent, soft colors and tasteful expressions of early mythology from the British Isles and northern Europe.  This comes as a deck-and-book set only.

Included with the set is a paper printout of the "Wheel of the Year" and the correspondences of the Major Arcana cards to the seasons on the wheel.  This chart is also in the book.  The cards themselves are a standard 78-card deck, but more than half of the Major Arcana have not only been renamed, but reordered in accordance with the system in use here.

The new order is as follows: The Fool, The Ancestor, The Pole Star, The Archer, Justice, The Lovers, Balance, Greenwoman, Greenman, The Blasted Oak, Strength, Reflection, Wheel of Fortune, The Guardian, Death, The Hermit, Judgement, The Seer, The Moon, The Shaman, The Sun, and The World Tree.  These are well explained in the book.

A nice but short explanation is also there on the court cards, where each one is related to an animal (which is actually what is pictured on the cards instead of human figures) and their correspondence to various seasons of the year.  The courts in each suit are the traditional King, Queen, Knight and Page..... but traditional in title only…. And as I am given to understand, Ms. Potter initially designed the deck with appropriate court titles, but the publisher made her change the court titles to the traditional.

The suits in the Minor Arcana have also been renamed to comply with the pre-Celtic system in use here.  Wands and Cups remain the same, but Pentacles have been changed to Stones, and Swords become Arrows.  The numbered cards have full scenes and the book is sorely lacking here, for explanations of their meanings are very brief and little to no explanation of the actual symbolism in the picture is given.

Overall I think this is a tremendous tarot system especially recommended for those who are looking for a Celtic-type divination but wish to avoid the media hyped material.  A collector will also like this deck.

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Review Copyright 1998 by Gina M. Pace