What an amazing set of cards this is!  Despite the name, this deck-and-book set is indeed a true tarot in just about every sense of the word.  I have been eyeing this set in the stores for years, it's been around (and popular) for that long, and I've always known it would be a good one.  But I wasn't prepared to like it as much as I do.  I am really impressed with these cards.  This set is published by Bear and Co. which pretty much has my favorite packaging concept in all their sets.  An outer slipcase which opens on the side holds a large cloth-covered hardbound book (well stitched and very professionally printed) and a smaller box which holds the cards and there are inserts inside the smaller box to hold the cards in place.

I did not expect the cards to be as large as they are.  This shows off the magnificent artwork to its fullest potential.  The most vibrant and living use of color is used in this deck, I've rarely seen any cards more colorful, in fact.  Borders around the entire deck are also works of art in and of themselves, and even the circles which have the numbers of the cards in them are delicate little paintings.

The Major Arcana in this deck has painted borders of swirling primary colors and circles with suns in them at all four corners.  A circle in the top center of the card has an illustrated design with the Roman numerals for the card in the center.  Each of the 22 Major Arcana cards are represented by a figure, or group of figures, from classical fairy-tale literature.  Most, if not all, are immediately recognizable from childhood.  These replace the traditional order and titling of tarot, but an immediate correlation can be seen regardless.  For example, Little Red Cap (also known as Little Red Riding Hood) stands in nicely for The Fool.  The Midas Touch represents Justice, placing the Strength card at 8 and Justice 11.

The Minor Arcana in this deck are called The MagicWands, The Swords of Truth, The Winged Hearts and The Earth Crystals.  Wands and Swords need no explanation, Hearts correlate to the Cups suit, and Crystals to the Pentacles suit.  Each suit has a different border and top center circle design.  The Wands suit has a border of pansies and a butterfly in the top circle, the Swords have a border of clouds and a sword with roses in the top circle, Hearts have a border of shells and a winged heart in the top circle, and Crystals have a border of leaves and mushrooms and a crystal with a rainbow in the top circle.  Full scenes grace all the numbered cards.

Court Cards in the Minor Arcana are titled Child, Seeker, Guide and Guardian instead of the traditional Page, Knight, Queen and King.  Each court card in each suit (total of 16) has a specific fairy-tale character that it correlates to.  For example, my favorite is the Guide of Crystals, who is Saint Nicholas himself.  Lengthy explanations are included in the book for why each of these characters represents a court position in each suit.

The cards themselves are a bit bulky and difficult to shuffle because of their large size.  They are not just wide and tall, but printed on a thicker card stock as well, making the stack an inch and a half thick.  Glossy coatings on the cards make them stick together a little bit at first, but they are well worth it.  I like them well enough to work around the shuffling difficulty.

The book is a very nice and thorougly readable one, almost 300 pages long.  A lot of good material in the book is dedicated to the specifics of each card, but the introductory sections explaining the use of the tarot, and most especially in this set, the use of the cards in reading for children, are a wonderful and unique tool.  Six new layouts designed specifically for use with these cards are included;  all can be used with children, but none are exclusively for that purpose.  Most appear to be useable with any cards.

Frankly, I can't recommend this tarot deck-and-book set highly enough, I am impressed enough to rate it in the top ten of all the decks I have reviewed.  It is better than anything else I have seen for working with children; its healing properties make it an excellent source for pathworking within recovery as well.  Collectors will be absolutely enchanted by the artwork.  Beginners can start with this set with no prior knowledge of tarot, but the cards can be used by the experienced reader as well.

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Review Copyright 1999 by Gina M. Pace

Inner Child Cards by Isha Lerner and Mark Lerner, 1992
published by Bear and Co.  ISBN 0-939680-95-5