Whimsical Tarot: 78-Card Deck with Book(s) (Cards)

We were wrong. The deck captivated all of us at the store, including me.. and I *despise* most cute decks. The pictures are drawn from fairy tales, some of which are well known, others less so, so getting the book (or the set) is a good idea, but even without the book it is very readable. The pictures hit you at a subconscious level, very strongly.

The artist is Mary Hanson Roberts, the author of the Hanson Roberts deck, which I knew to be excellent (and I recomend). If you like the art style of the Hanson Roberts deck, you will likely appreciate the art in this deck. The author of this deck is Dorothy Morrison, who has written extensively on Pagan topics. The deck is ,however, quite able to stand on its own without the prior acheivements of the author and artist.

Yes, the cards are somewhat softened. The tower, death, etc have all been re-done in a more approachable style. My professional readers all agree they are less likely to frighten a first time or skittish querant, while being just as readable. The one problem with using this deck is that many people simply wont take it as seriously.

The Magician is "Puss in Boots" and instantly understandable to anyone who has read that fable. When you draw this card you know you are dealing with someone who lives by their wits, and parleys their natural talents into extraordinary and often magical feats, but is a trickster, and bears watching. A valued ally, and a dangerous opponant.

The one card I might argue with is "Temperance", here depicted as "Jack and Jill". The picture shows Jack and Jill tumbled down the hill, with the water buckets spilling and overturned, through lack of wisdom and restraint. It simply doesnt read the same way as I expect Temperance to read from the Rider Waite deck. It is a valid and understandable reading, but not the same.

The best way to get a feel for any Tarot deck is to actually see it, and handle it, of course, but I do strongly recomend this deck for personal readings, and for proffessionals, with the caveat about not being taken seriously by some querants.

This deck makes it very easy on me! All the pictures have little stories behind them that make their meanings easy to recall. Especially the suit cards! My other tarot deck just has pictures of two swords or three cups and whatnot. It had nothing on them to help the beginner guess at what they meant.

The benefits of this deck are that it helps you remember the significance of each card, the pictures are colorfully and wonderfully drawn with much detail. It is an all around beautiful deck and the images are very light and happy.

The down sides to this deck are that it is almost TOO optimistic at times. The three little pigs having their house blown down just doesn't quite capture the essence of The Tower to me. Also, the cards have a thin width and long height which kind of makes for uncomfortable shuffling if you've got small hands.

This deck is wonderful for me though. I like it's optimistic outlook and it's innocence.