The Fairytale Tarot Deck: For a Happy Ever After... [Cards]

Wow. What a fab deck. I just knew it was going to be beautiful and ordered without even doing my usual hunt on the net to get sneak advance peaks! (Silly of me really, as there is a site called fairytaletarot.com where you can see loads of cards and read the foreword by Rachel Pollack too!)

Anyway, the artwork is gorgeous, detailed and beautifully coloured. The colours are perfect - it's not bright, like the inner child cards - nor pastelly - but neither is it dark. The book gives the tale behind each card - there are some I knew, and many I didn't. I recommend buying the kit, as the tales give more to the meanings of the cards.

Is this a Rider-Waite clone? I have no idea. You'd need to visit one of the many tarot review websites to get their more professional opinion - I'm just a collector of cards with beautiful artwork - not an expert.

The cards are made nicely too - reversible backs, nice stock which should stand up to use. And the book has an illustration of each card at the beginning of the relevant story, which is a plus for me.

Note: This is definitely not for use with children, like Inner Child and the other fairytale deck by I can't quite remember who. It is a deck for adults, as the fairytales here are the real versions, not the expurgated ones normally found in kids's books - and thus much more interesting!

Highly recommended.

(Note: While this deck is gorgeous on its own, I feel that the Boxed Set version with Ms. Mahony's paperback book (ISBN: 095450075X) is much better. Many of the fairy tales may be unfamiliar to you, so getting the box set with the paperback will not only provide you with the tales themselves, but also the hows and whys of both the tale choices and their correlation to the RWS. Thus, when I comment about the "companion book", I'm referring to ISBN: 095450075X, the box set.)

"Fairy stories open out a parallel and hidden world in our own minds-and therein lies their power and fascination, and their great potential as a partner for tarot. Because after all, isn't tarot at its best, also a form of story?" - From The Fairytale Tarot companion book

Like the tarot, fairy tales weave layers of shadow and light, with interpretation often in the eye of the beholder. Containing brutality and beauty, the obvious and the ambiguous, the complexity of fairy tales seemed a suitable partnership to the tarot in the mind of Karen Mahony. The designer of The Fairytale Tarot, she and Alex Ukolov (illustrator) and Irena Triskova (artist) have created an exquisite set of 78 cards reflecting mostly European tales-in addition to several Asian, Indian, and Middle Eastern stories.

Rather than merely grafting fairytales to fit Rider-Waite-Smith iconography, the Magic Realist Press team selected stories and designed images that are congruent with acceptable card meaning, yet expand these correlations into something more: a deck that is fresh, thought provoking, and potentially transformative.

Blending the transcendent and the ordinary, fairy tales have captured the imagination of children around the world for centuries. However, The Fairytale Tarot doesn't "Disney-fy" the stories, making this deck decidedly adult. For example, the stepsisters hacking parts off their feet to fit into the glass slipper in Cinderella (The Empress) preserves the vision of the Brothers Grimm. Hans Christian Anderson's tale of The Little Mermaid (Nine of Swords) finds the mermaid permitting the sea witch to take her singing voice by cutting out her tongue in exchange for "legs...that felt like walking on knife blades."

Like life itself, both fairy tales and tarot reflect sorrow, sacrifice, betrayal, and loss-as well as the happier themes of marriage, recovery, justice, and fortune. As is often the case, some stories lack satisfactory resolution-and Ms. Mahony is sure to include several of these untidy tales which stir the imagination and beg for a closer look. However, even the well-known stories that are chosen-The Ugly Duckling (Ace of Cups), The Sorcerer's Apprentice (10 of Wands), and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Judgement) offer new, intriguing insights into the cards. This is in large part to the magnificent prose of Ms. Mahony, whose astute observations make the companion book a treasure in itself. But when these tales-many unfamiliar-are coupled with the exquisite artwork and illustration of Mr. Ukolov and Ms. Triskova, the result is truly magical.

The Fairytale Tarot uses the suits of Swords (Air), Cups (Water), Wands (Fire) and Coins (Earth), with the Court cards following the Page, Knight, Queen, and King designation. Cards measure approximately 5 x 3 inches, and although the card stock is flexible, they appear to hold up acceptably. Nevertheless, I've noticed a few of the edges beginning to turn up, so you may want to take extra care with this deck. At first glance, the backs appear fully reversible, but upon closer inspection, they are not. However, since the design is rather intricate and filigreed, you'd only notice the position if you paid particular attention to the four corners.

As previously mentioned, the Fairytale Tarot comes with a companion book: 232 glossy pages that feature a smaller version of the card image, corresponding fairy tale, keywords and phrases, Ms. Mahony's adept commentary, and additional artwork. Several spreads, with interpretations, are also included, as is some historical background and a bibliography. A unique addition to the companion book is a tale created for the 10 of Coins by Rachel Pollack. Ms. Pollack did not know the original tale and used the picture to suggest a fresh story culled from her own imagination-The Girl Who Was Too Shy. In the book proper, Ms. Mahony provides the actual tale for the 10 of Coins-The Goose Girl by the Brothers Grimm.

As a professional Tarot reader, I've used The Fairytale Tarot the last several weeks with great success-especially with a 3-card Life Purpose spread using a "separated" deck (dividing the deck up in Majors, Courts, and Minors). My clients report amazing accuracy, and reading with this deck has been a joy. The expressiveness of the images lends itself to personal intuitive interpretation, and the tales themselves add depth to readings. There are many symbolic "jump off points" in the Fairytale Tarot!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the companion book, especially discovering new tales and gaining fresh insights into several tarot cards. Some of the tales-such as The Nightingale and the Rose (3 of Swords) and The Constant Tin Solider (10 of Swords) were positively heartbreaking. Other stories-such as The Emperor and the Nightingale (The Emperor) and Water and Salt (Temperance) seem ordinary at first (as far as fairytales go!), but their lessons add depth and breadth to these two Majors. I look forward to re-reading the tales and working further with the Fairytale Tarot. Kudos goes to Ms. Mahony, Mr. Ukolov, and Ms. Triskova for creating a most delightful deck! It may not be a good deck for beginners, but for those who enjoy the complexity of fairytales, it is a very readable, very engaging deck.

(To see 10 images from The Fairytale Tarot, visit the Reviews--Decks section at JanetBoyer.com)

I am very impressed with these cards - I have 2 sets as I don't feel they are very good quality though the ones who make them quarantee they are, they are flimsy & I didn't want to be without so I bought a second set, I contacted the makers first and as I mentioned they quarantee they are of high quality personally I have over a hundred decks & I find it hard to believe these would stand the test of time compared to other cards, I certainly wouldn't buy 2 decks and spend all that money otherwise. I was hoping they may offer me a discount on the second purchase but that didn't happen
So to say whether one should buy this set or not - I would & am glad I did, I am quite easy on the cards & having so many sets I doubt I would wear a set out but it's too late when one is damaged and I can no longer get a replacement set
Overall the card designs are beautiful & the stories in the book make it a must as opposed to the booklet

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  3.6 out of 5 stars