Vision Quest Tarot
by Gayan S. Winter and Jo Dose
 
This newer tarot card deck combines excellent, stirring artwork, with Native American style and inspiration.  There are a full 78 cards in the deck.  I had only heard of this deck very recently, and the store I do my readings in got a copy in stock for me to review.  This is one of those decks that provokes the "Ooooh!  Aaaaahhhhh!" response almost immediately, and none of the cards turn out to be a disappointment.  It's a genuine pleasure to review.
 
The cards follow very different titling from normal tarot tradition, but with some familiarity with Rider-Waite title and ordering, the user can recognize the same underlying concepts behind the cards.  In other words, the titles are changed but not the actual meanings or concepts themselves.  Subtitled "The Native American Wisdom Tarot," it nevertheless states in  the booklet that "this tarot does not purport to embody the teachings of the Red Way.  Nevertheless, it helps us to view the events and changes in our lives from a fresh and more profoundly insightful angle."
 
Not all the titles are completely different.  As you will see from the list below, the correlation is recognizable.
 
Clown -- The Fool
Medicine Man -- The Magician
Medicine Woman -- The High Priestess
Grandmother -- The Empress
Grandfather -- The Emperor
Shaman -- The Hierophant
Lovers
Spiritual Warrior -- The Chariot
Balance -- Justice
Hermit
Small Medicine Wheel -- Wheel of Fortune
Life Force -- Strength
Vision Quest -- Hanged Man
Transformation -- Death
Integration -- Temperance
Torment -- Devil
Chaos -- The Tower
Star
Moon
Sun
Spirit Guide -- Judgment
Big Medicine Wheel -- The World
 
The cards follow traditional ordering, with the Justice card being 8 and Strength 11.  The Minor Arcana follow a similar trend, using new titles for essentially the traditional suits and courts.   The four suits in this deck are based on the elements instead of the suit items themselves, which is interesting since my experience with Native American tradition has always been that they don't use the Earth-Air-Fire-Water correspondences we are accustomed to.  Suit items are featured in the cards which have some similarity to traditional suits.  Suits are Fire (Wands) with arrows, glowing wands, smudge sticks and so on as the suit items; Air (Swords) with feathers as its suit item; Water (Cups) with clay bowls and vessels as the suit items; and Earth (Pentacles) with flowers and vegetables as the suit items.  Court cards are Father, Mother, Son and Daughter.
 
For the most part, I couldn't even tell by the quality of the writing on the booklet that it was actually written in another language and translated into English; the flow of words is very smooth and the translator took very good care to make sure the sentences make sense.  Interestingly enough, the largest translational error managed to slip through, not in the booklet, but in the cards themselves.  On each of the three cards in the deck, the word is spelled Tree not Three.  You'll see it in the Tree of Air, Tree of Fire, etc.  The number is three and in the booklet it refers to the card as the Three not the Tree, so it is indeed an error on the cards.  However, I was amused rather than annoyed by it, since trees are a part of nature that is considered sacred by the Native Americans, it's a kind of Freudian Slip perhaps!
 
The cards themselves are standard in size and printed on thin, flexible stock, making them easy and comfortable to both shuffle and handle.  A soft matte coating protects them while preventing them from sticking together.  They break in very smoothly.  Edges are buffed to a smooth finish.  Even the back design is an attractive dark blue starry sky effect with an eagle silhouetted against it.  The back design is not the same from both ends, so reversals would appear obvious if the cards were face down.
 
The little white booklet is a substantial piece of work which is thick enough to use a glue book binding method instead of stapling.  108 pages, but flexible paper, makes it easy to read and flip through.  A nice section on "Preparing for a Session" is included along with 5 layouts, none of which are the Celtic Cross (although one looks inspired by it).  Each card's meaning is covered in three segments; first the meaning is covered "In Essence;" followed by the "Inner Message" and concluded with the "Outward Manifestation."  This is a refreshing change of application in the typical little white booklets, since any one of these segments is longer than the standard meaning given in the booklets.  A good deal of information is useable by the novice as well as the experienced tarotist.
 
Overall, I have to recommend this deck.  Beginners will find it easy to relate to, the art is exceptional, and the overall consistency of symbolism is quite nice.  It's a pleasant deck which stays closer to the traditional Rider-Waite than to a totally Native American theme.  This deck will make an excellent addition to any collection.  It's new, but quite well available if you are willing to do a little legwork; or, email Wicce for more information.
 
Click here for pictures
 
or here to return
 
Please use your browser's back button to return from pictures
 
Review Copyright 1999 by Gina M. Pace
 
Vision Quest Tarot by Gayan S. Winter and Jo Dose, 1998
published by AGM AGMuller; ISBM 3-905219-44-1