While it sounds like it would be another of the Native American style decks, this deck is, in fact, about women and feminine empowerment.  No, I don't mean the feminist movement and the emasculation of male gendered things.  This deck strives to correct the imbalance in traditional tarot by using female figures and energies where there has typically been a lack of them, and adds male energies and figures in where they have been denied before.

The artwork itself is childlike and happy-looking.  Light colors are used and the people in the cards could represent just about anyone.  They are meant to evoke images of "you" and "me" when associating the meanings of the cards.  There are keywords on each card which correlate to Native American theology, most probably due to the fact that the Native peoples honor their women and their elderly for the good they bring, and don't consider them lesser citizens.

The suits are Stones, Pipes, Bowls and Arrows.  An experienced reader will easily see the connection to the traditional suits.  However, the court cards are completely changed, to represent the psychological development of the ideal self in four stages, instead of crippling them with gender associations.  The court cards are Apprentice, Totem, Lodge and Exemplar.

This is not a deck to be picked up and used casually in place of the Rider pack or some similar deck.  This requires a lot of re-learning what has already been learned, and uses a very different style of reading.  I believe this would make an excellent deck for self-illumination.  I recommend buying the accompanying book, The Medicine Woman Inner Guidebook.

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Review Copyright 1998 by Gina M. Pace