If you are interested in Celtic mythology, you will love this new tarot. The art is reminiscent to the art of the Daughters of the Moon tarot -- to me, anyway. It's not a feminist deck, by any stretch of the imagination, but the colors are very vibrant, the art is almost cartoonish -- but very, very beautiful with a lot of texture. The cardstock is coated with a very shiny film.

The system is the same, but different. <g> All the Majors have been renamed. The Fool is the Soul, the Magician is the Decider, etc. Each represents a Celtic god or goddess. Courts are Women (pages), Warriors (Knights), Queens and Kings. Suits are Battle (Swords), Skill (Wands), Art (Cups), and Knowledge (Pentacles). All the number cards are assigned a
quality: 1s are Auguries, 2s are Dialogues, 3 are Courtships, 4s are Judgments, 5s are Combats, 6s are Foundations, 7s are Adventures, 8s are Elopements, 9s are Revelations, and 10s are Quests. So the traditional 5 of Swords is the Combat of Battle, etc. Like the traditional card, the Combat of Battle card is about conquest and defeat, and the story of the card is
the Brown Bull of Cuailgne. In this myth, the Otherworldly Macha cursed her enemy before engaging them in battle. They were too weak to fight, so it all came down to a brutal fight between the hero Cuchulainn and Ferdiad. Each minor is one of the great stories of Ireland.

The art is beautiful. I already love the stories. You know, this deck is what I had hoped the Faery Wicca would be. Very unassuming, charming, yet deep stories of life from the Celtic perspective. And very accessible.

The book that accompanies the deck is full color and well illustrated. It's a story book in itself. There is a brief synopsis of each story or myth, with correspondences and meanings on each page. There are seven new spreads in the back. It's a glossy hardback -- not a lot of pages, and I have to say, I'm already having a problem with the binding.

This is my first impression of the deck. I haven't studied it closely or even done a reading. Just got it tonight. It's another wonderful, wonderful gift from Caitlin Matthews, who along with her husband John gave us the Arthurian Tarot.

Guest Review Copyright 1999 by Yvonne Loveday; used with permission