I've been saving this one for a while, just because I liked it so much.  Every day in the week I've had it, I have taken it out and looked at it at least one time.  It's rare that a deck is such a real pleasure to look at, that out of 78 cards there aren't any I dislike.  Usually there are at least a couple.

The artwork is rendered masterfully, with attention to detail that I've not seen in a long time.  Faces are even painted with the "peach fuzz" on them.  The detail is so exquisite I'm sure you could count each fuzzy little hair.  In most all of the pictures there are clips from torn out sheets of spiral notebook paper with the artist's notes on them in various languages about the meanings of the card.  Often there are small pencil renderings of the traditional images of the card.

The titling of the Major Arcana, as well as the Minor, appears to follow that of the Thoth deck.  Numbered cards in the suits have subtitles on them which are keywords in the Crowley tradition.  There is a decent amount of nudity and body "parts" in the deck, however these are all done tastefully.  There definitely is a "sexy" feeling to the deck, though.

The Suits are Wands, Cups, Swords and Disks, and the Court cards also follow Crowley's lead to become Prince, Princess, Knight and Queen.  The cards themselves are very large, which makes this an excellent "coffee table" deck, but the artwork is highly intuitive in a modern sense, so it is a viable tarot deck for divination as well.  Shuffling is difficult due to the large size but certainly not impossible.

There is a book available for this deck.  The little booklet which comes with the deck is a nice one, it is thin but the reason for that is partly due to its being six inches long and four inches wide.  The book had to be translated from the German and so did not become available until much more recently.  The quality of the book is excellent.  It is a worthwhile investment to get both the book and the deck.

I highly recommend this tarot to anyone who has worked well with the Thoth but would like something different.  Additionally, I feel this deck would appeal to a wide audience, and the artwork makes it a must-have for collectors.

Click here for pictures

or here to return

Please use your browser's back button to return from pictures

Review Copyright 1998 by Gina M. Pace