This round tarot deck is simply lovely to look at and work with.  Soft, gentle imagery combine with good use of color and an intriguing new take on modern tarot to create a thoroughly enchanting tarot set.  I purchased this set from the creators last summer at the 2nd World Tarot Congress in Chicago.  It is not cheap but considering that it comes with a 200 page paperback book, it is well worth the money spent.
 
Relying heavily on archetypal images, the cards speak to the reader on a subconscious level as well as consciously.  My first impression upon seeing the cards was "ooooh."  The appeal is immediate based on the style of the artwork and the colors used.  However, the more you look at the cards the more they grow on you, and there is always something new you notice each time you look.  This deck is one you savor, relish, take delight in.
 
The Major Arcana are a mixture of traditional titles with several new innovations.  For example, the Hierophant, which often has a negative association, is replaced with the Luminary.  Death is followed by Renewal instead of Temperance.  Instead of Judgment we have Beyond Judgment.  The World is here represented by Homecoming.  The deck is numbered with Roman Numerals in the Majors.  Justice is 8 and Strength 11.
 
A lot of changes also come in the Minor Arcana.  Each suits is done with the element in mind instead of an icon.  So you have Earth, Wind, Flame and Wave.  Each of the numbered cards in this deck has a title as well, which are Songs.  So 1 in the Earth Suit is Earth Song, and two would be Earth Songs, etc.  When you get to the court cards, the titles have changed both in name and meaning.  Instead of Page, Knight, Queen and King, the court titles are Innocence, Awakening, Creating and Resolving.  I really like the direction this is going in.  It is very helpful for those who have trouble with traditional court card meanings.  Full scenes grace all 78 cards, the numbered cards are not pips.
 
The cards themselves are standard sized for round decks, which is approximately 4 inches in diameter.  The cardstock used is excellent.  A matte finish coating is used to protect the cards, without glare.  The edges have a soft feel to them almost like cotton.  There are tiny nubbies around the edges where it looks like the cards were punched out of a perforated sheet.  There are obviously no corners.  Round decks are a particular challenge for shuffling but usually people find that they handle well enough once you develop your own style of shuffling them.  The back design is a soft purple color with an intriguing pattern of a star inside a shell, inside a sunburst.  There is no little white booklet since this deck comes with a large trade paperback book.  This book is among the finest I have seen for a tarot deck, sacrificing pictures of the cards to instead provide much more and better information.  Meditations and work with creative visualization is included with this.  Several layouts are also included and very thorough explanations are provided for everything.

I recommend this deck for just everyone.  A beginner will find very few decks that are this simple without going to the Rider-Waite clones.  If you like round decks, I have never seen a nicer one.  The artwork is beautiful and most people should like it right off the bat.  Gender polarity is restored in this deck without over-emphasizing the feminine *or* the masculine.  Obvious comparisons to the Motherpeace deck (because of the round shape) will find that the Motherpeace comes up short next to this one.  It takes some time to purchase this deck since it is published in New Zealand.  It is well worth any money and effort spent to get it.

Click here for pictures

or here to return

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

Review Copyright 2000 by Gina M. Pace

Songs for the Journey Home
Alchemy through Imagery: A Tarot Pathway
by Catherine Cook and Dwariko Sommaruga, 1993
published by Alchemists and Artists
P. O. Box 32305
Devonport, Auckland, NZ
ISBN0-473-02134 X