Customer Reviews

Shapeshifter Tarot (Book Only)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This gorgeous tarot deck succeeds in so many ways! The creators of these beautiful cards and companion reference book succeeded at combining elements from many wisdom traditions into the most meaningful divination deck and book I've yet encountered. Bravo! It's rare to find a work of such beauty, grace and wisdom that is so useful and practical. Of the three tarot decks I've used, this one is the very best. I've used this deck with friends who've worked with many different decks, and they agree that Shapeshifter is the most sensitive and information-packed. The deck is extremely easy to work with, since the basic meaning of each card appears on the front of the card. In addition to the regular cards one finds in a tarot deck, this deck contains three new major arcana cards (the Double, the Journey, and the Dreamer), which I found to be some of the most interesting and useful cards in the deck. Unless you are already familiar with a traditional tarot deck that you feel comfortable with, I'm sure you'll enjoy and probably even prefer this deck. Obviously, any divination tools will work (even stones or tortoise shells), but an outstanding tarot deck like Shapeshifter sets itself apart from all the rest with elegance and eloquence; it's simply in a class by itself.

This deck sparkles in thine eyes! The illustratiions are soft but powerful, and the cards are labeled as such to give the beginner a very comfortable time with the tarot. But the readings you will be able to do with these cards are amazing. The cards have been molded to the norm of the ancient shamanic ways and are an excellent tool from witches to shamans to animal lovers. I am a beginner myself and I have done successful readings in important places. Trust me.

I bought this expecting it to be a helpful adjunct deck, and it has become my favorite deck for daily use. There are several strengths: it is beautiful visually; the images and their spiritual/archetypal/historical connections are thoroughly explained; and there are some very powerful spreads. No interpretation of reversed cards is provided because none is needed -- the interpretation presents an energetic and spirtitual frame of reference as a whole -- with the seeker's actions determining how that energy will be used. I'm impressed with the Major Arcana interpretations particularly, as the good card/bad card shtick is bypassed altogether. Instead the authors look at the NATURE of each card, so that the reader can work with energetic resonances instead of simplistic prophecies of joy or doom.

I'm still struggling a bit with the elemental assignments (Swords to Fire and Wands to Air), but I find the interpretation of the cards themselves excellent. Swords, as a suit, is always difficult to interpret (most of the cards seem so negative that one wonders what the point of the suit is), but in this deck, the energetic and spiritual purpose of the often difficult cards is made clear as part of a complete life.

While this is a fine deck for a beginner, I think those who have experience with more traditional decks will really appreciate what the authors and artist have accomplished -- a beautiful deck that encourages an expanded and responsible spiritual life.

"The Shapeshifter Tarot is very impressive. The images on the cards are so ethereal, magically rendered from the realm of Camelot and the land of fairies. The book is a magical catalyst. Sirona Knight and D.J. Conway are a dynamic duo of writers whose styles and visions synthesize gloriously. "The Shapeshifter Tarot" stretched my magical vision beyond its limits. I predict that this will establish these authors as leaders in the spiritual writing field. There is a wonderful feeling of spiring and of nature's unexpected potential in this deck...Michael Peter Langevin, Publisher, Magical Blend Magazine.

I agree with all of the previous reviews about this deck but I do want to note one disappointment I found. The cards are not manufactured as thickly or solidly as all of my other decks. They are quite flimsy. I find I'm almost afraid to shuffle them as they might crease or bend permanently and distort the beautiful pictures.

When I first used the new Shapeshifter Tarot I had the experience that every student of divination most desires, that of picking up a deck and being able to use it right away. Now, I am a great believer in the power of working with a tool to make it mine in order to infuse it with my energy, things always seem to flow better for me when I follow some sort of process. I also know it takes some time and attention to become adept or even adequate with a new tarot deck. But, really, I was able to pick this deck up and just read it, based on the imagery it contained and the keywords listed on each card. The book is relatively easy to navigate around in, and to find what I was wanted to know when I needed to look something up. This set is designed for use as a daily tool whether for divination, meditation, spellworking or aligning with animal allies. The deck is based on the Celtic traditions and brings to light obscure information about Western European cultural practices of shamanism and shapeshifting. Very Goddess oriented in its scope; this tarot deck contains a traditional 9 times 9 or 81 cards rather than the typical 78 of most Rider-Waite types of decks. The three additional major arcana cards expand the tarot's archetypal imagery with #21-The Double, #22-The Journey and #23-The Dreamer. Oneness, the equivalent of The World card now becomes #24. The authors have given appropriate new titles to the cards that convey the general meanings in such a way that those familiar with the tarot can pick it up easily. The correspondence tables and keys words listed in the Appendix are quite helpful and user-friendly. The Shapeshifter Tarot is a strong collaborative effort between D.J. Conway and Sirona Knight. Both respected and prolific authors have their own unique styles. Each section of the book or description of an individual card is designated with a moon symbol representing D.J. or a sun symbol representing Sirona at the end of each passage. Their writing styles are distinctive but balance well, presenting many different aspects of working with the tarot. Each card is described in visual detail and an accompanying prophecy gives options of the various significances portrayed in a reading. There is an interesting selection of card layouts to try, although the deck does work well with the more traditional spreads like the Celtic Cross. I especially like the Standing Stones layout that is based on the past, present, future and the elements. In my experience, this method of query has uncannily depicted situations and probable outcomes during personal readings or for others. Lisa Hunt did a beautiful job of illustrating the images from the author's descriptions. The artwork is sensitive and striking. The colors would have been more vivid had the cards been printed on a higher quality of glossy cardstock. I also feel the cards should have been larger so that the detail of the paintings would be more prominent and facilitate going into the images more deeply. Overall, this tarot deck is now one of my favorites to work with because it offers imagery that provides insight, helps bring clarity to the situation and evokes transformation

DEFFINITELY THE BEST TAROT DECK OUT THERE! After buying the deck, I sat down and did some readings for some of my friends, and we were all amazed at how right on the cards were. The images are splendid, and the book very informative although the cards are so easy to use that I found myself not having to refer to the book. This deck is for people who are looking for something more than just a traditional deck. The idea of shapeshifting and using power animals is great, and I'm looking forward to other books on this subject. I highly recommend this deck to all who use tarot to do readings for themselves and others. The cards are very accurate.

Rarely does a tarot deck capture me just from the picture of the artwork I see in a catalog. This is one exceptional divinitory tool. The images are completely accessible for anyone regardless of how much experience they have in using tarot. I was utterly enthralled by Lisa Hunt's artwork. The images alone are enough to help me lose myself on a different plane of existence. Add to them the descriptions by D.J. Conway and Sirona Knight, and you have the makings of an extremely useful and powerful tool for enhancing one's abilities to transcend the material world. This tarot deck takes shamanism into a more easily accessible realm for many individuals who wouldn't have thought contacting the primal forces of our own animal natures could be done.

I had received this deck quite a while ago to review. I am a diehard Capricorn and change is not something I take to lightly. I have worked with the Rider-Waite deck all my adult life and a new deck that was different did not appeal to me. So, I left this deck to someone else, as usual, and moved on.

What happened was it came back to me. While visiting my house, a friend pulled out the deck and she began looking at it. She loved the imagery, really liked the changes to the deck and she was working with it before the end of the day.

I then had to reconsidered the deck. My friend went out and bought herself this deck and was working with it and is very pleased with how it was handling and with the correspondences so, I took the deck out and began to really look at it.

First of all, the illustrations by Lisa Hunt make this deck. They are beautiful images that speak to you. I can see the attraction here. I had to find the book and look up the correspondences because many had changed and I was at a loss. The Chariot becomes Power. The Hierophant becomes Knowledge. Justice becomes Nature. The Hanged Man becomes the Shapeshifter. Some are obvious. The Emperor is the Father. The Empress is the Mother. Some are cleaver. Death becomes Rebirth. The Wheel of Fortune becomes the Circle.

The lesser cards were confusing to me at first. But each card is labeled with its correspondence written right on the card. Each of the suits is labeled to its elemental correspondence and its suit. Cups to water, pentacles to earth, swords to fire and air to wands. The number of the suit is marked on the bottom, and a *Key Word* is written on the bottom. While D. J. Conway and Sirona Knight have changed some of the meanings, they are not that far off from the original card meanings. They also appear to be a bit *softer* in expression to me, but then again, all things are left open to interpretation. While the Ace of Cups is now The Well, the meaning as interpreted by Conway and Knight can be modified, as in all cards, to what you associate with most. The suggestion of the images is probably the way most of us interpret the cards, along with intuition and gifted insight.

The *Court Cards* are changed a bit too. The Page becomes the Seeker. The Knight becomes the Warrior and the Queen is God and the King is Goddess. While this is totally different from the traditional decks, it can be worked around. The associations of Gods and Goddesses to the suits of the decks may also present a problem with more traditional readers, as these things are always left open to personal interpretation. You may agree, you may disagree, but I do believe if you take what speaks to you, you may find this deck a bit easier to work with rather than relying solely on the meanings as defined by Conway and Knight.

A deck of cards should speak to you personally. They should attract your attention and grasp your imagination. When you work with the deck, it should work with you. If you find you can not identify with the images, or the images are not to your liking, then maybe you should find another deck.

There are so many decks now because there are so many different kinds of readers. Where once I thought having so many different kinds of decks was not necessarily useful, now I see how people relate to different images and how they speak to each of us on a different level. We are not all the same, we do not all travel the same path, and the deck we choose to work with can be a useful tool if it speaks to us directly. Days of bumbling around with decks that have so many mystical and unseen meanings are gone, and it's good to see plain English and variations on the themes.

The artwork of this deck is beautiful, no doubt. There are some differences between these cards and the tradition ones. First, there are no reversed meanings. Second, there are three extra cards in the deck that play into the shapeshifting aspect. If you're looking for something a little different and want a deck that caters to mental growth and energy, I highly recommend this.