For some reason, I never felt a compulsion to even so much as look at this deck, until now.  It was just one of those you pass over in favor of more glamourous decks, or different styles, or whatnot.  The Sacred Rose Tarot, by Johanna Sherman, is a traditional deck which adds the symbolism of the kabbalah (or qabala, or qabbalah..... choose your spelling!) to the Rider symbology.

The artwork is pretty and for the most part follows the typical meanings of the Rider pack.  This makes them pretty simple to read with.  Almost none of the figures in any of the cards have eyes (well, they haven’t got any eyeballs in their heads! The eyes are solid white) which is kind of disconcerting.  Most of the figures are also looking head-on at you, another fact I found irritating.  Some people like this.

The suits are the traditional Swords, Wands, Cups and Pentacles.  The deck is standard size and shuffles fairly well.  The booklet goes into more detail on each of the Major Arcana cards than most.  I was irritated by the fact that the booklet was cut badly, a sign of a poor quality bindery.  I didn't feel that any of the supposedly added qabalistic symbolism added anything special to the cards.

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Review Copyright 1998 by Gina M. Pace