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I Am One Tarot
by Maya Britan
Incredibly simple yet
astoundingly accurate, this new tarot deck is one that might slip by your
attention if you weren't looking. Independent publishing often is
unable to capture the same market share that the larger corporations are
able to command. However, this is rarely an indication of the quality
of the deck, and the I Am One Tarot is no exception to this rule.
Gorgeous artwork combines with a new direction -- each card's meaning is
intimately personal because it is about YOU, the reader. This makes
the deck perfect for self-readings, more so than most decks because you
do not have to extrapolate the meanings to fit your own situation.
However, I actually gave it a try reading for others as well, and found
it worked astonishingly well.
The Major Arcana cards
have almost completely new titles, but those familiar with tarot will recognize
similarities running directly through all of them. It is as if the
concepts have been given a new translation, bringing out the same basic
ideas in a clear new light. This pretty much means you have to take
the entire set on its own terms, don't worry about whether Justice is 8
or 11.... each card is completely unique. Aside from the main title,
the cards have a small reference meaning such as "I am Master Communication"
at the bottom. Each Major Arcana card has "I Am Master __________"
because these are the major powers for change and reaction that guide and
teach in our lives. They are numbered 1 through 22 and are as follows:
If you start with number
one being the Magician, these correlate nearly perfectly with the Thoth
Deck or any other esoteric deck. I can also see matches with the
Waite deck, but not in its beginner stages; these give very strong understandings
of the energies behind each card. The Major Arcana cards are framed
in a black border.
The Minor Arcana are
similarly unique in their style and titling. Each suit is framed
in a different color which *does* somewhat follow energy and elemental
connections; red for fire, yellow for earth, green for water, and purple
for air. Ok, so they're not the usual connections. The new
titles take some getting used to; suit titles are as follows:
Two Headed Serpent -
the suit of fire, equivalent to wands
Pear of Tears - the suit
of water, equivalent to cups
Curved Blade - the suit
of air, equivalent to swords
Stone of Age - the suit
of earth, equivalent to disks
Court titles are Knight,
Queen, Prince and Princess, modeled after the Thoth style. Each of
the Minor Arcana cards also has, in addition to the number and suit title,
a meaning underneath the image, for example, the 7 Pear of Tears, which
says "I Am Sorrow." or the 8 Stone of Age, which says "I Am Slow
Process." I am not quite sure whether I would say these are full
scenes or pip cards; the imagery is very abstract and while it's not a
picture of suit icons and nothing more, it's also not a straight-up realistic
scene that you can always grasp directly. Instead, these images work
more slowly on the mind. These cards give you something to digest,
process, and learn from.
The cards themselves
are slightly smaller than standard, and reminded me very strongly of the
Black Tarot in terms of feel. It's a very comfortable deck to work
with. The cardstock is excellent quality and flexes very well with
a nice semi-gloss protective coating; edges and corners are rounded nicely.
You can shuffle and handle this deck as well as any I've ever used.
The back design is a simple Star of David
on a black background, but the word "ONE" inside the center of the star
renders it a one-way deal. You could tell if the cards were upright
or reversed by looking at the back. The little white booklet which
comes with this deck is cut and stapled to open and read in more of a landscape
orientation instead of a portrait orientation; I found this a little weird
and took some getting used to. Both the cards, and the booklet, are
printed in three languages; English, French and Spanish. On the deck
it's not a big deal but in the booklet it's somewhat annoying to have to
flip through the languages you don't want in order to get to the one you
do. Somewhat reminded me of a Video Recorder instruction manual in
this respect.
I can't recommend this
deck highly enough! I don't feel it's enough to merely say it's a
good deck. I want to stress that everyone should go out and get one
of these! If you are experienced in reading tarot, this deck will
shake you to your foundations and break you out of your complacent rut
and make you think again. If you're new to tarot, it is a deep learning
experience not to be taken lightly. If you're accustomed to reading
for yourself, you'll get a lot out of this, but if you read for others
you'll find it just as exciting to explore with someone else. I think
I've found my new personal reading deck!
Note: for some reason,
Amazon is not offering this deck (yet) but I am able to get it through
the distributor my store buys through; so if you are unable to locate a
copy of the deck in your local shops, drop me a line and I can get you
a copy. You can also find out more at the website for the deck:
http://www.saint-art.com
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Review Copyright 2002
by Gina M. Pace
I Am One Tarot Deck by
Maya Britan
published by Saint-Art.com,
Los Angeles, CA, USA
ISBN 0-943832-33-0