20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gorgeous Compendium of Fairy Tales, August 11, 2009
This review is from: The Fairy Tale Tarot (Paperback)
This beautifully illustrated deck brings the fairy tales from multiple cultures into the Tarot. Lisa Hunt's paintings remain soft and filled with as much mystery and subtlety as in her previous tarots. If you ever wanted an illustrated compendium of fairy tales at your finger tips, this is it.
Each card demands close examination, as one is sure to miss interesting details at a cursory glance, such as the occasional faces in the woods. Fortunately, the cards are borderless avoiding cutting into imagery for this regular sized deck. The back of the cards are fully reversible portraying two old fashion keys pointing in opposite direction from a centric adornment.
The cards in this deck are labeled at the bottom within an ornate scroll. The Major Arcana are numbered with roman numerals, but starting at 0 with The Fool, which had been renamed Innocence in this deck. In this regards, many of these cards has been renamed to follow the Fairy Tale Theme such as:
The Fool -> Innocence
The High Priestess -> The Sorceress
The Empress -> The Fairy Godmother
The Emperor -> The Wise Old Man
The Hierophant -> The Mentor
Strength -> Courage
Wheel of Fortune -> The Wheel
The Hanged Man -> Entrapment
Death -> Transformation
The Devil -> Temptation
The Tower -> Deception
Judgment -> Redemption
The World -> Happily Ever After
In this deck, Strength is 8 and Justice is 11.
I particularly like Innocence with Little Red Ridding Hood unaware of the ferocious wolf standing behind her, Deception with the Naked Emperor escorted by his court, and Happily Ever After with a castle seemingly reaching into the open sky.
The suits in the Minor Arcana (swords, wands, cups and pentacles) are subtly integrated within the imagery of each card. For example: the Five of Pentacles have the pentacles sewed into a quilt, while the Ten of Swords have swords as an adornment to the side of a flying coffer. However, the correspondence of the suits to the four elements (fire, air, water and earth) is not as clear as in previous Tarots illustrated by Hunt. The court cards are labeled Queen and King, Princes and Prince akin to Crowley's tradition, with a subtle break from the hierarchal arrangement to move away traditional stereotypes
The book that comes with this deck is perfectly suited to help you delve into the fairy tales portrayed on each card. Each card is described on three or four pages including title, culture of origin, keywords, brief story, symbols and meaning.
This deck is an easy recommendation for seasoned tarot collectors. It comes in a box, which opens on the front like a chest, and includes a black organdy bag, and a companion book.
Other decks by Lisa Hunt:
Fantastical Creatures Tarot
Animals Divine Tarot
The Celtic Dragon Tarot Kit
Shapeshifter Tarot
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24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Multi-levels of the Fairy Tale Tarot, August 8, 2009
This review is from: The Fairy Tale Tarot (Paperback)
The Fairy Tale Tarot cards have been produced as a tarot deck and and coincide nicely with traditonal tarot card meanings. The deck is wonderfully expressive as a tarot deck. However there is another "level". The deck can be read as an oracle, with no knowledge of tarot, simply using the rich images on the cards. The reader can simply let the images "speak" to her; the intuitive feeling about the image will provide rich fodder for readings. You can add another level, by observing and using the symbolism present in the individual cards and combining this with the intuitive reading of the card. Then let's add yet another level and that is the fairy tales themselves. Fairy tales have lessons to teach and these can be used to produce a reading using the fairy tale message. Then of course, all of these levels can be combined with any of the others to produce yet additional levels of meaning and interpretation.
Even someone with limited knowledge of tarot and symbolism can read with this deck by simply using the images and/or the fairy tale messages.
The images of the Fairy Tale Tarot evoke strong primal messages. Maybe they are part archetype and part collective consciousness or maybe they are just wonderful artwork full of symbolism that speaks to us on a subconscious level. Regardless of the reason, the messages are there and along with the tales themselves, they provide more than enough understanding and insight to "speak" to varied readers with all levels of knowledge and experience.
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11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A little further..., August 18, 2009
This review is from: The Fairy Tale Tarot (Paperback)
In this endless maze of tarot cards produced every year, this one jumped out at me. It brings a new twist to the genre. Your daily tarot reading mixed with a fairy tale. For me, this is revolutionary. All ot the occult trappings are left behind for this little gem. Instead, you are presented with an image from a classic fairy tale. Many of the images were unknown to me. The book, which is written with wit and skill, is invaluable for reference. These archetypes are timeless and universal, with lessons for readers of any age. Yes, this is suitable for parents who get stuck for a new story every night.
Perhaps one may pass this deck off as an erroneous tarot deck. This is not the case. It is important. There is a traffic jam of new contributions each year. Of course, a serious student/artist might find symbols that relate to the depth the meanings. This is honestly a new direction for both mediums. There have been other fairy tale/tarot decks, yet this one speaks to me and hopefully to a new generation. Indeed, the "princess generation" is coming of age. What a better way to emmerse yourself into a story to take you down your daily path, than drawing a card that gives you a fairy tale to relate to. Perhaps your boss is the troll under the bridge...
The art is superb, reminding me of all of those stories that is could not put down as a child. These illustrations let adults get in touch with that child that is left behind. This is a powerful, perhaps new approach to the tarot decks, which I have far too many of. I will perhaps use this before bed, drawing a card and then reading the accompaning story associated with my card for the night. Beware of the dark forests!
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