The Greenwood Tarot: Pre-Celtic Shamanism of the Mythic Forest [Paperback]

Mark Ryan (Author), Chesca Potter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1996

This tarot places protective woodland deities and mystical archetypes onto a simple nature-based system. It can be used as a tool for meditation, a divination oracle or as a reference work for the seeker of esoteric knowledge.

Product Details

• Paperback: 118 pages
• Publisher: Thorsons Pub; Cards edition (December 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1855383845
• ISBN-13: 978-1855383845
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 6.4 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,876,132 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent non-traditional tarot deck, December 2, 2001

By 

Steph (Oklahoma) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Greenwood Tarot: Pre-Celtic Shamanism of the Mythic Forest (Paperback)

I have owned this deck for quite some time. I am very satisfied with the symbolic content of this deck, which is a mix of world culture without being so complicated that one has to understand in depth every culture it draws upon. This deck is not in the traditional configuration of the average tarot deck, some of the cards have been combined to create new cards such as the "Blasted Oak" which is actually a combination of the Hanged Man and the Tower. Whereas in a traditional deck one has the Moon card, in this deck you have "The Moon" card and another major arcana, lunar card, "Reflection." This removes some of the ambiguity of the singular Moon card, where the querent asks, "Does is represent the actual moon, or does is represent illusion or deception?" The Devil has been replaced with "The Guardian," which is a propped up bear skeleton at a cave entrance. It is a powerful statement about the relationship between fear and imagination and self limitation. The whole deck communicates in this manner of mystery, harmony and contradiction.
The illustrations are eye catching without being so complicated that the querent or reader gets lost in the picture. The only reason I would not recommend this to a beginner is that if you learn this deck, you will not be able to use all that you learned in order to read other decks based on the traditional Rider-Waite configuration. The books that one buys that can be applicable to any deck, may not work with the Greenwood Tarot, simply because the cards are produced in a truly unique fashion in terms of symbolism, configuration and value.
The deck promotes an egalitarian mindset. It is also steeped in ecological themes. It is an excellent deck for NeoPagans because it does away with the Abrahamic symbolism found in more traditional decks, such as the Heirophant, and Judgement and The Devil and replaces those figures with NeoPagan principles that often deal with the same issues from a vastly different mindset. This is the best deck and competes artistically and philosophically with the Crowley Deck, which is quite a feat when one looks at the multitude of cheap tarot knock-off decks that are vapid, cheesy and useless.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful and useful deck, February 27, 1998

By 

[e-mail] (Colorado, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Greenwood Tarot: Pre-Celtic Shamanism of the Mythic Forest (Paperback)

I am a big fan of Chesca Potter's work, so I was excited to find this deck. It does an especially good job as a companion to the Celtic Shaman's Pack (which Potter also illustrated).

This deck serves very well as a divination tool (unlike the CS Pack), and I have had great success with it. My major complaint about it, and the reason it didn't score a 10, is that the cards are huge; even for readers with big hands, they can be awkward to handle. They have a beautiful back design, though--more attractive than the fronts of many decks I've seen.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Numinous depictions of Celtic spiritual experience, March 23, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Seattle, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Greenwood Tarot: Pre-Celtic Shamanism of the Mythic Forest (Paperback)

I am also a big fan of Chesca Potter and am fortunate enough to have several prints from this deck. I have both this deck and the Celtic Shaman's Pack. Chesca Potter is uniquely able to express the shamanic experience of ecstacy powerfully and with wonderful artistic technique in a Celtic context. She is able to express the contradictory feelings of movement and serenity, ecstacy and immanence, nature and spirit. She has a wonderful sense of color.