The William Blake Tarot of the Creative Imagination  by Ed Buryn   This deck-and-book set is a marvelous example of what an art deck should be like.  Using clips and copy from the great painter and poet, William Blake, Buryn has created a masterpiece which skilfully blends artistic talent and style with symbolism and meaning.  The result is a system which, while it looks really attractive, also really works.   All of the Major Arcana in this deck have been renamed.  The names indicate the nature of the traditional cards, such that the experienced tarotist will be able to see which card is which anyway.  They are also numbered, so the beginner will also be able to see the correspondences. There is an extra card, numbered 00, titled Eternity, which comes at the end of the Majors.  The rest of the ordering appears to be intact.   The suits are totally renamed also.  Here we have Painting, which corresponds to Pentacles; Science, which replaces Swords; Music, which takes the place of Cups; and Poetry, instead of Wands.  The court cards are similarly changed; instead of King, Queen, Knight and Page, we have Man, Woman, Child and Angel.  Buryn explains that while the Angel replaces the Knight and the Child replaces the Page, the ordering is changed so that the Angel comes before the Child because of the levels of development they represent.   The cards themselves are slightly wider than standard, but handle fairly well and shuffle decently.  I found that I had a tendency to treat them as art collectibles, even though this is meant to be a reading deck, to be used as well as admired.  The book which comes with the set goes into quite good detail about how and why each card means what it does.  Several new spreads are described as well.  I did not see the Celtic Cross among them.  The spreads seem designed to bring out creativity in the user.   This is one of the most attractive and yet usable decks I have seen in a long time.  I highly recommend it.  Period.  Anyone who likes art, poetry, etc, should be able to use it and get a lot out of it.  Collectors -- it's a must.  It's also becoming increasingly unavailable, although I've not been able to get a straight answer on whether it is out of print or not.  My advice?  if you see it, grab it!   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