Customer Reviews

Diamond Tarot Deck

5 star:		(5)
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This beautiful deck is a replica of the Rider deck -- but with several important differences and additions. The "replica" part is the center of the card, which is identical to the Rider card, but smaller and much more colorful. Unlike the flat and limited colors on the Rider cards, the colors on all the cards in the Diamond deck are lush and gorgeous! Surrounding the central picture is a large border, or frame, of what I can only term "mystical" design -- different on every card, and designed to enhance, by shapes and colors, the meaning of each card. These original designs give the effect of looking through a hallway of living color into the "room" of the card. They really must be seen to be appreciated. I must admit I was a bit put off at first by the "lights" on the borders of some of the cards, but as I continued to work with and meditate on them, I just fell in love with this deck. The backs are multi-colored, look the same upside down or rightside up ... I really don't know how to describe them, but they have many little petal-like parts that are also a bit like one of those shimmering, mirrored balls that sometimes hang from the ceilings above dance floors.

Earlier this year, I attended a beginner's class on reading the tarot, and while this class helped me better understand Rider-Waite symbology, I still wasn't interested in the cards themselves. They seemed very dull to me, and the Rider-Waite I had stayed mainly unused even after the class.

So, I packed up several decks that hadn't made sense to me, took them to a metaphysical store that buys used decks, and went hunting. Then I saw the Diamond Tarot.

This deck could suck for a beginner, because while it uses Pamela Colman Smith's illustrations for the R-W, they are reduced in size and set into a fractal-like border. The border sometimes includes obvious symbols from the particular card it surrounds, but most often reflects an assumed mood from the card. Also, the colors of the cards have been, I presume, digitally enhanced a tad so they don't appear quite as flat. The whole deck just seems livelier without being painful to look at.

My reaction to this deck was "oooooooh," a reaction that I have not had before or since to any other R-W deck. Diamond is Rider-Waitey enough to feel familiar and like a good workhorse deck, but pretty enough for me to want to work with it. Whodda thunk?

So, if you've pretty much given up on Rider-Waite as not being able to call to you, go to a new-agey store that has deck samples on display and see if they have the Diamond Tarot. Or find a deck review website that contains pictures. I think you'll find the research worth your while.

I like this version of the Rider Waite Deck. I have not been able to connect w/ the Rider Waite Deck for some reason, but this version of it is nice with all the colors and the way it's done in a 3-D window like format. I'm happy I bought it.

The images of the Rider Waite deck are old, familiar, and dear friends. So dear that, although I was looking for a new presentation of Tarot, I didn't want to move away from them. The Diamond deck was a good choice. It's a beautiful, fluid work, and mystically enticing at the same time.

I ran into this deck when I attended a tarot workshop and swapped readings with someone--she had this deck and frankly, I was just fascinated. I had never seen it before. I had never seen any references to it. And I had never seen anything like it. Here we have the classic RWS deck, only dressed up with colorful, individual borders. Such an interesting idea! And the colors of the RWS cards are indeed slightly more psychedelic than the other variants I have seen, while not being garish. If I had one complaint...and I haven't worked enough with the deck to know if this is going to hold true for me...it's that the RWS images are too small when surrounded by the borders. However, I have to add that I never noticed that until I actually got my own deck--at the workshop, when the participant was reading for me, I never noticed a thing about how small the images were because I was so totally hypnotized by the deck overall.

The card names are all in French (I don't know if there is an English version, but that's not what I was able to get as the deck is now OOP), which is fine with me. The size of the cards seems just perfect for shuffling, and I like the feel of the cardstock itself. All in all, I am really really happy with this deck and can envision using it in a variety of environments. Images can be seen at the AEclectic Tarot site if they aren't visible here. I am only sorry that this has gone out of print, causing the price to rise.