Friday, January 20, 2012

Review: The Wildwood Tarot

A few days ago I decided to post about the vote on SOPA and PIPA that are upcoming in Congress on January 24, 2012. To all of you that read my post and took action, thank you. Take a look at the difference your emails, phone calls and petition signing did. To those who have not read my blog entry on SOPA and Tarot or have not taken action, please do so.

The blog I was going to write that day was a review of The Wildwood Tarot, so without further delay ...

The Wildwood Tarot - A Review

It's been a few weeks since I received The Wildwood Tarot as a Christmas Gift. I've been looking at it, shuffling the cards, and reading the book that came along with it. First I have to say, "Oh my God, it's gorgeous." I love the art work. Even my roommate, who is not a tarot enthusiast, commented on how stunning the art is.

The Wildwood Tarot grew out of the beloved Greenwood Tarot. I am not lucky enough to own the Greenwood and have never even seen, but from what I understand it is held in high regards. A check on Amazon sees used copies being sold for $900 or more.

I loved the book that accompanies the deck. It comes from a position of using tarot as a guidance tool, a tool of introspection instead of prediction. That aligns with my personal views on tarot and my reading style.

The deck renames the Major Arcana cards to be more inline with pagan traditions and the world the authors created. The mirror traditional RWS convention but twist a little bit. I enjoy the renaming and the additional meanings, sometimes deeper, sometimes completely different, the new names bring.

The Minors are also redone according to their world traditions. Instead of Swords we have Arrows. Bows instead of Wands. Stones instead of Pentacles. And Vessels instead of Cups. The journey from Ace to Ten also has a slightly different look. Each card is labelled with a meaning, Such as Injustice for the Two of Arrows, Empowerment for the Five of Bows, Exploitation for the Six of Stones, and  Rebirth for the Eight of Vessels.

The cards are large, almost oversized. For me, they are too large and I don't like the feel of them. This is not a deal breaker for the deck to enter into my regular rotation. It just won't become one of my "go to" decks.

It is packaged in an attractive box that is slim, holds the deck and book, and fits nicely on my bookshelf. My only complaint about the packaging is in order to create the sleekness of the box the deck had to be split into two piles. This requires you to split the deck every time you return the deck to the box. I prefer to keep my deck in one pile. It's a small thing I know. This means that my deck just sits unprotected on top of my bookshelf until I buy a tarot bag for it.

I have not yet performed a reading with this deck, preferring to review it first. The first reading I perform with any new deck is an "Interview Spread" and that will be posted in the next few days.

Overall, The Wildwood Tarot is a beautifully designed deck with a well thought out system. It would be a nice addition to anyone's tarot shelf.

1 comment:

  1. I took off the boarders of the cards from the sides and the top. I've left the bottom boarder on, as it contains the keywords :)

    And for me, it is beyond my "Go to" deck.... it's woven itself into my being and dreams! :)

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