Customer Reviews

The Llewellyn Tarot

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is the only newly published tarot set I planned to purchase this year, and I was not disappointed. This is a loving tribute to the founder of Llewellyn publications. It could have easily been called the "Welsh Tarot". It is named after the now famous astrologer who established the prolific magical publisher.

Tarot is not new. This deck bears this in mind as the Minor arcana are careful reinterpretations of the Rider-Waite images. These symbols are now recognizable all over the world. Beginners can easily study and memorize the images.

Now, looking at the major Arcana, we get to the heart of the deck, as well as Celtic(Welsh) mythology. Other than the Mabinogion, very little is written concerning the subject. Miss Ferguson's accompaning book clearly tells of the Welsh Myth, with the "Gods" and larger than life personalities contained herein. One must see these images to truely appreciate them. The Star 17 is the most beautful I have ever seen!

The colors are warm, unlike the artist previous Arthurian Tarot. She has outdone that deck by leaps and bounds, creating images that are welcoming and endearing. One may wonder if she actually visited this Otherworld she talks about and illustrated it. In the great forest of Tarot decks. This one stands out like the tallest Sycamore.

Included in the set is the book and matching beaded Tarot protective bag. The cards themselves are a bit wider than average and a little too thin. I dont plan on reading with them often. As far as themed decks are concerned, this one is one of the best! Bravo Miss Ferguson!

When I first heard that Llewellyn was putting out a deck titled after itself, I thought the concept sounded a little too gimmicky. Once I saw it, however, I reconsidered. The deck is based on Welsh mythology, in honor of the publisher's founder's Welsh roots, and is actually very artistically attractive and usable.

The first thing you will notice when you open this box set is that some extra bells and whistles have been put into the packaging. Anyone who has bought any of Llewellyn's recently published box sets will now be familiar with the standard inclusion of a paperback companion book, white card box, and sheer black bag. For their namesake deck they went a step further. The card box is decorated with a red dragon motif that matches the card backs and the bag is the fancy gold bag with beads you see in the picture.

Luckily, Llewellyn didn't stop at pretty packaging. Ferguson did a superb job, particularly on the major arcana. The structure of the majors and minors follows the Rider-Waite convention. Titles, suits and court cards are the same or only altered slightly, with the exception of the substitution of The Horned One for The Devil card. The imagery, however, often departs from the RWS counterparts. Each major shows a figure or scene from Welsh mythology, which is identified at the top of the card. They are done in very detailed and atmospheric water-color paints. These are beautiful cards, and the computer scans I've seen do not do them justice. Some of the scenes are fairly close to the RWS illustrations. Gwydion as The Magician, for example, is pictured in a pose very close to the RWS Magician. Others have been changed drastically. For example, Temperance has moved underwater, where a water nymph tends to her sacred well. The Universe is represented by an austere, starlit view of the mountain Cadair Idris. The dancing woman of the R-W card is honored by the faint image of a spirit woman against the snow.

After the luscious majors, the minors were a bit dissatisfying. The mythological theme of the majors is not carried over into the minors. Ferguson explains in the companion book that mythology is the realm of the majors, while the minors represent ordinary life. This seems reasonable to me, but I'm less convinced by her assertion that the minors should be "minor art in comparison to the trumps." The art is still nice, but definitely looks second-rate when viewed side-by-side with the trumps. There is not only less detail on the minors, but the style is also slightly changed. Whereas the majors all have soft lines, the minors are line drawings colored with water-color. I do not find the visible line drawings particularly appealing, but this is a matter of personal preference. The illustrations are RWS derived, but include a few changes. I particularly noticed that quite a few cards (the 5 of Swords, the 8 of Cups and several others) depicted women where RWS has a male figure.

As well as keywords for upright and reversed interpretations of each card, the companion book gives a decent short introduction to tarot, and includes enough about the myths associated with each trump to help people unfamiliar with Welsh mythology understand the card. Ferguson also includes a description of the traditional images found on each trump card. Clearly, Llewellyn was trying to make a deck that would be both usable by complete beginners and innovative enough to appeal to more experienced readers and collectors. The result is quite successful.

This is not the first deck by Anna-Marie Ferguson. Previous to this she has "Legend: The Arthurian Tarot". Her artwork has graced the pages of books and has been exhibited in museums.

I must admit, her work is lovely and exquisite. Very detailed, the figures are full, graceful and inspired. Looking through this deck, it is well worth it for the artwork alone. But a tarot deck is much more than just lovely art. It needs to be functional and be able to illicit a response from both the client and the reader.

The book acknowledges Lewellyn Publishing's Welsh heritage as the inspiration for the topic of the deck. Llewellyn George, the founder of Llewellyn Publishing, was born in Wales, and was also a well known astrologer and theosophist. So, the inspiration from the Welsh tales become the foundation for this deck.

Ms. Ferguson is a member of the Arthurian Society and the Pendragon Society, and was a good choice for the research and attribution of this deck. Her background in these myths and legends lend to some good references and insightful attributions of the figures for this deck.

I needed to reference the book for some of the insights, as I was unsure where the author/artist was going with this. As an example, while Peredur is perfect for the Fool card, Ceridwen I needed to reference, and her attribution of "Queen of the Witches" as told by the folklorist Elias Owen put that into better perspective for me. The choice of "Taliesin" for Hierophant was interesting, softening the original Raider-Waite interpretations.

Yes, there is the word - softening. This deck softens many of the edges off the original interpretations of the Rider-Waite system. Reading through the interpretations of many of the cards, The Death Card, which is usually images that make some folks cringe, here is Arawn, and truly represents the meaning of evolution, change or transformation. While death is mentioned, the story that accompanies this card is more suggestive of the idea of change and evolution.

In the book, each of the Major Arcana cards has a story explaining the choice of the figure by retelling a shortened version of that figure. A nice touch, as it clearly helps the reader identify the elements suggested in the imagery and how to read the card.

The cards do follow the Raider-Waite system, with 21 recognizable Major Arcana cards, four suits of ten cards and four court cards. While some of the names of the Major Arcana cards are changed, they are still easily recognizable. The Court cards remain Page, Knight, Queen and King.

Again we return to the images on the cards. Going through the deck, the traditional elements of the cards are held on to. We have Swords, Wands, Cups and Pentacles. We see familiar elements, like the Two of Cups reflects the traditional meaning of lovers, often considered a minor lovers card. We even see some of the familiar imagery of the Raider-Waite deck. The Four of Pentacles is almost a dead ringer, with the figure seated, his feet on one each, he holds one in his lap, and one is above his head. Behind him is the images of a town/city. The meanings are, again, much softer than the original meaning of the card, and one which I think allows for more of a personal interpretation.

We also see some greater changes in some of the images. The Three of Pentacles is completely changed. Instead of the familiar scene of a "sculpture at work in a monastery" we see a woman sitting in a field sewing. A simpler design, but it still gets across the idea of skill or trade or one who is artistic.

If you are like me, and not all that familiar with the Welsh legends and major figures, the Major Arcana will take a bit to read through, examine and find the meanings, but I believe after a small learning curve, you will find this material easy to work with and lovely to read and understand.

I used this deck with a few clients, and they were not just impressed with the artwork but they also were fascinated with the stories and associations. I think this deck will fit well into my working decks.

Llewellyn has a winner here, with a lovely deck, original content and an easy to use product. I even love the golden patterned bag with the beaded accents that holds the deck. This will make a lovely presentation to students or as gifts for your favorite tarot reader. boudica

I just tore open the box and dove into this new deck and it is everything I had hoped. The artwork is luscious, the book is very, very well done and the organza bag is delightful. Can you tell I am just a little bit smitten with this deck?

I have gone through the deck a couple of times and after this initial "looking over" I did not have any negative feelings about any of the cards. The artwork is totally mouth watering, each card is just spectacular and I am lusting for a big print of quite a few of the majors.

The minors are more so in the RWS style and more of a watercolor with pen and ink overlay, but it works! The majors should be more lush and opulent and i can see why the artist created the deck in this way. The minors round out the majors. Any beginner could pick up this deck and learn to read with it very, very quickly. A more seasoned reader will enjoy the new tales of Welsh mythology (many of somewhat familiar) and will quickly see how the myths blend into the tarot symbolism.

This deck is destined to capture the hearts of readers, collectors and enthusiasts alike! BIG BIG recommendation!

I haven't gotten a new Tarot deck in years, and now I have a new favorite. Years ago I began working with Anna Marie Ferguson's Arthurian Tarot which has been a favorite of mine, and I must say she has definitely topped herself with her latest project, The Llewellyn Tarot!

The first thing I noticed was the classy way Llewellyn packaged their new signature deck. I love their new box style, as you don't have to destroy the box to get everything out, and you can store everything in there if you want and keep it on a bookshelf. The little inner box for storage is lovely featuring yet more of Anna Marie's decorative art, and the organdy bag is pretty fancy with sparkling beads dripping off the bottom. I appreciate her creation of a beautiful back design for this deck featuring the Welsh red dragon as there is nothing worse than a beautiful deck with a boring, or worse yet, unattractive back design. Her warm and inviting back design enhances the overall effect very well.

This deck is stunning on so many levels. First of all she has clearly researched her subject matter intently, and the connections that she has made between the old Welsh tales and the Major archana are sound. Her portrayal of the Gods and Goddesses are truly inspired and in the scope of her work she seems to be deeply in touch with another plane. It is interesting the way her techniques differ a bit from the major to minor archana, the high amount of detail in the major archana denotes the importance of the card in the reading. Her use of color and light are amazing, and her figures are beautiful and wonderfully expressive. She manages to keep her images rooted to the classic Tarot but with a fresh interpretations that often makes the cards even more accessible. For example, I was intrigued by the angle that she chose for the Magician card, the viewer is looking up a slight incline towards the figure at his altar, giving him a very larger than life air, you feel as if you are an audience to this highly charasmatic figure. I sincerely hope that she offers prints of these pieces.

The book is very well written, as I would have expected by Anna Marie's previous efforts, her text is a treasure trove of the legends and mysteries of Wales. Her definitions of the cards are clear and easy to understand, and give enough variety to be intuitive as well. The stories behind each card offer insight into the meanings of the cards and they are also a great reference to the legends of the Gods of Wales. I often used the book accompanying the Arthur deck as a quick reference anytime I was looking up something about Arthurian legend, and I can see myself using this book in the same way. So far the readings I have done with it really hit the mark, it is very intuitive to read and speaks quite well. I would highly recommend The Llewellyn Tarot skillfully crafted by Anna Marie Ferguson.

Mickie Mueller,
Illustrator of The Well Worn Path deck

The cards are gorgeous,the book is really nice and the bag is really nice. However, my one complaint would be that the cards are made really cheaply. They aren't thick and sturdy like most tarot decks.

I have a suggestion to make which I hope will be seriously considered.
The cards are lovely BUT the images are too small and the cards are too large..SO......reverse this and make more sales...and for gods sake, why is this deck being produced in China?

If you are looking for a deck to add to your collection that has wonderful art, beautiful accessories and a wealth of mythical lore and legend behind it: This deck is a grand investment for any collector of such. You won't be disappointed- by either the art or the effort put into trying to bring the legends of Wales and celtic legend in general to life.

On a purely technical and divinatory side however... I'm sad to say the deck is not up to par. Though beautiful, it is easy to tell the main concentration was on the art and lore rather than on the meanings of the cards. The stock is delicate and the cards wider than normal- this indicates that shuffling and laying were not what this deck was intended for. Their awkward width and frail stock could easily lead to unintentional damage to the cards if frequently used.

A good investment for collectors, but if you are looking for a divining deck- you may wish to look elsewhere. Beautiful; very beautiful- but hollow.

The artwork on this deck is quite lovely & many of the characters used for the major arcana work well (Arawn for Death, for example.)
I was a LITTLE bummed that not only are SO many of the images "negative," but that even "negative" meanings reversed were (typically,) even MORE negative, rather than positive, as I would have expected. I suspect I'll be developing my own meanings for some of these cards, but I like to personalize that way, anyway.
The tarot bag that comes with the set is kind of cheap & cheesy. Mine came with some beads already off & the material is pretty see-through, but I won't need the bag, fortunately. Also, the top card in my deck came "marked" with a rectangular indentation on one side (obviously created in the manufacturing or packaging process,) although I hardly consider it worth worrying much about.
The pronunciations for Welsh words included in the book were not quite right, however. The Welsh letter "ll," for example, does NOT sound like "tl," as suggested. There IS no equivalent sound in English, so using English letters to approximate it will never work right. The Welsh "y" has different sounds, depending on the syllable it's in, & the suggestions in the book don't reflect that at all.
Some others have complained about the size of the cards, but my hands are only 6" long from the base of my palm to the tip of my middle finger & I have no problem shuffling these cards.
All in all, a beautiful deck, regardless.

I love this deck. The images on the cards are very beautiful and portray the cards well. The Swords have lovely rich bluish-purple tones that are nice and colorful. The Pentacles(Coins and Discs in other decks) have mainly golden and red earthtones. The Wands have soft blue and golden tones. The Cups mainly have blue and lavendar colors with greens and earthtones. The Majors are very colorful with every color you can imagine. The only cards that have the names on them (Death, The Moon, etc.) are the Majors and the Minors only have the number and suit(9 of Swords, Ace of Cups, etc.). This is no problem though, because like I said, the images represent what the card is very well. There are two extra cards that have a spread on each of them..Llew's Spread and Red Dragon Spread.
The thickness of the cards is similar to regular playing cards, but not so thin that I would be afraid of ripping them easily. The cards are slippery, but I like this because it makes shuffling and spreading them easy. Be careful they don't slip away from you though until you get the feel of them. The book has shorter "to the point" descriptions with history as well and is a good companion book. The book and deck come in a good quality box that opens almost like a book and includes a lovely reddish golden bag with beads hanging from the bottom of it and golden tassles on the drawstrings.
I am very satisfied with my purchase of The Llewellyn Tarot and would recommend it for everyone.