Customer Reviews

The Lover's Path Tarot premier edition

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I think the deck is totally awesome. I love them. My GF however does not care for them because the major arcana deviate too much from the norm... the "booklette" stinks if you like to keep those around as i do. consider getting the set with the HB Book in that case for a few bucks more. if you don't use those books coming with the decks then who cares. the art is fantastic

"The Lover's Path Tarot is a tool to examine and improve relationships--whether they be [sic] with yourself, with your beloved, or with the world. Examining our preconceptions about love, the ways we yearn to connect with another, what we desire in a partner, is an act of self-illumination. More importantly, it's one way to take personal responsibility for our lives." - From the Little White Book

According to artist and author Kris Waldherr, relationships mirror our relationship with ourselves, as well as the world at large. In fact, love relationships, she says, can embody our perspective of how the Universe supports and nurtures us.

It is in this spirit that Ms. Waldherr offers The Lover's Path Tarot, a 78-card deck portraying the complex romantic relationships of couples from myth and history. From Cleopatra and Caesar in the Fertility card (Empress) to Romeo and Juliet in Tradition (Hierophant), central themes of devotion, decision, sacrifice and enduring love find expression in the Major Arcana.

The names of each couple are shown within the illustrations of the Majors, and most of the cards have been renamed:

0 Innocence
I Magic
II Wisdom
III Fertility
IV Power
V Tradition
VI Love
VII Desire
VIII Strength
IX Contemplation
X Fortune
XI Justice
XII Sacrifice
XIII Transformation
XIV Balance
XV Temptation
XVI Oppression
XVII Grace
XVIII Illusion
XIX Awakening
XX Judgment
XXI Triumph

The Minor Arcana of The Lover's Path Tarot depicts the progression of a classic love story for each of the four suits:

Cups: Tristan and Isolde - "...lives ruled by extreme emotions such as love, desire, sorrow, yearning and anger."

Staves: Siegfried and Brunnhilde - "...shows how the force of love can spur us to great deeds, making us strong where we were once weak."

Arrows: Cupid and Psyche - "...depicts how love grants wisdom."

Coins: Danae and Zeus - "...depicts the power of the suit of coins to transform lives."

The art, architecture, books and maps of the Italian Renaissance inspired the lovely paintings done by Ms. Waldherr. Using models of friends and associates, the main card art are watercolor underpaintings sealed with acrylic gel medium, with oil paints glazes layered over the top. The decorative borders were painted in gouache on handmade paper.

The 35-page LWB provides upright and reversed meanings for all cards, with brief notations on the correlating myth/history of the couples found on the Majors. Two relationship-oriented spreads are also included.

The two elements I found the most striking in The Lover's Path Tarot is the gorgeous portrayal of the Arrows suit (especially the heart-tipped arrows) and the small elemental painting on the bottom of the Minor cards (e.g. lush leaves for Coins/Earth, starry skies for Arrows/Air and so on.) Another nice touch is a folded pull-out showing five spreads--the "Lover's Path Spreadsheet".

At 4 ¾ x 3 ½ inches, the cards from this deck a more square than most, but although they're wider, smaller hands should have no trouble shuffling the deck (I have small hands and I can shuffle them fine; any bigger, though, and I'd probably have some difficulty). The backs appear fully reversible, but upon closer inspection, the marbling on the background isn't uniform.

I was disappointed to discover that The Lover's Path Tarot did NOT come with a full-size book. Judging by the size and heft of the box, I assumed that this deck came with a companion book. Alas, only a LWB is included in this over-packaged Tarot.

Unfortunately, there is no discussion about the scenes portrayed in the Minor Arcana, which supposedly arise from the components of four specific myths. In addition, Ms. Waldherr doesn't explain why she chose the myths to represent certain Majors (e.g., why Penelope and Odysseus were selected for the Justice card).

Although brief, the upright and reversed meanings in the LWB are surprisingly insightful, for the most part. Although I think The Lover's Path Tarot would be good for relationship readings and perhaps personal meditation, it's not a deck that I would use for reading--especially since I don't resonate with all the romantic drama central to this deck.

However, if you are drawn to dramatic stories of love and loss, and tend to have relationship issues crop up repeatedly in your life, The Lover's Path Tarot may be a great deck for gaining insight. In addition, those who admire Renaissance art will likely want The Lover's Path Tarot as an art deck.

(To see 12 images from this deck, visit the Reviews--Decks section at JanetBoyer.com)

Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present (coming Fall 2008 from Hampton Roads Publishing)

I really like the fantastic art and imagery on the cards. I paid around $40 for it in a local shop amd see it on Amazon for about $15. Even at $40, it was worth it. I've read the other reviews and agree it's great for relationship questions.

The author of this deck had taken care of all the fine details that make a deck not only a work of art, but an excellent instrument for reading. Had been using the deck for relationships readings, of all kind, and the results had been amazing. The myths help improve the metaphors for my consultants reflections. Excellent work. Many empty decks are publish every day, so I feel lucky that this deck is so full of meaning.

The packaging is very appealing to me, I like the spread sheet being included, the cards are very good quality in my opinion with the designs appealing to me. The accompanying booklet details the story very well behind the Major Cards & gives a good one of the Minor Cards. Overall I would highly recommend this deck to others but also want to mention that someone totally new to Tarot may find it a bit hard to understand.
I rated this a 5 because I don't find anything about this set that would indicate less mind you the cards are a bit oversized but I don't find it difficult to shuffle them, someone with small hands could. I feel it also important to mention that it will sometime advertise it's hardcover but it is not always hardcover, again I didn't feel this worth rating it less... It's a 5 in my opinion...