I'm not really sure why, but this deck reminds me of the Crowley deck in a big way.  It has what I think of as modern impressionist art on it, stunning rather than beautiful, and many of the cards are positively amazing.  There is a lot of intuitive design present in this deck, designed to help the user achieve spiritual enlightenment.

The Major Arcana follow relatively traditional form as far as names and meanings.  It is the Minor Arcana which has a vast departure from the standard.  The suits are renamed to become elemental correspondences of Earth, Wind, Fire and Water.  Each of the numbered cards in each suit has a keyword meaning at the bottom, similar to the Crowley deck.  The court cards are also renamed, to become Father, Mother, Sister and Brother.

The deck is standard-sized, and is about as easy to handle and shuffle as usual.  Small Hebrew symbols are embedded in the design of the cards here and there, as well as a few elemental and qabbalistic symbols.  If you aren't aware of their meaning, they don't detract from the card's usefulness, but if you do understand them, they add to its richness.  I think this is very thoughtful on the part of the designers since there isn't any feeling of having the cards go over your head.

This is a very good deck for people who want to do some serious personal work, also I feel it would be good to use for clients of a higher intellect or opened mind.

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