Customer Reviews

The Star That Never Walks Around: A Native American Tarot Package

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The reason I was attracted to this deck was because it was round. I adore circular tarot sets, particularly the sadly now out of print Tarot of the Cloisters.

That said, I also read the Medicine Wheel, and I enjoy greatly the set that I use, but it is not round. You see, with round decks, you have 360' of dignified and ill-dignified cards. This round deck understands that, like everything of which I can think in Nature, we ease into and out of our situations. Therefore the round cards enable us to ascertain whether we are just entering into this situation, whether we are finally leaving it, or whether we are on our heads smack in the middle of it.

The quality of the cards is good, too. They will withstand a lot of use, although it may take time to get used to handling their roundness. The images are pencil drawings, and while I have to admit the artist is not the most talented I have seen, she doesn't need to be. The images get their meanings across very well, with just over half the card being dedicated to the image and the rest of the card displaying the cards title. Where appropriate, astrological correlations have been included, and there is also room for the reader to make notes onto the cards too, which may be of great value when learning to use them.

The artist has blended traditions from different tribes and nations into this deck, and it flows very well for the most part. The suits are Butterflies, Thunderbirds, Turtles, and Frogs. This resonate with Sun Bears teachings of the Elemental Clans; Butterflies are air, or swords; Thunderbirds are fire, or wands; Turtles are earth, or pentacles; and Frogs represent water, or cups. (To learn more about these clans, try readings The Medicine Wheel by Sun Bear and Wabun Wind.) I found the correlations very easy to understand and use. The card the Hierophant is shown as a white buffalo in this set. Anyone who has studied the story of the White Buffalo Calf Woman as well as the Tarot should be able to grasp the similarity and thus the reasoning for this quite easily. More images and reviews on this deck can be found at [...].

The book that comes with the set is very detailed, and as the set deviates a bit from the usual 'Rider-Waite' tarot images is very useful. For someone reasonably proficient with the tarot they should be able to grasp using this set fairly easily, although I don't recommend it for absolute novices. A background in or passion for Native American traditions is also going to be an asset when using this set.

This set became one of my favorite as soon as I opened it and started to examine the cards, and I have since purchased several more sets as gifts.

The cards are round about 4" in diameter, because they are literally representing the Star that Never Walks Around ;-) The Suits are : Thunderbirds (Fire Red Wands), Frogs (Water Blue Cups), Butterflies (Air Purple Swords), Turtles (Green Earth Pentacles) and the Court cards: King, Queen, Knight, Page.

The artist and writer are one, and it is rather obvious she is not a great artist but honestly I like the art work better than the book attached. The majors are far too close to the RW to be anything but rather uninspired, though some are rather apropos. It is when you get to the minors, the deck shines. There is no timing other than the four aces for seasons and absolutely no Kabbalic referencesm here Stella breaks with the Rider Waite/Golden Dawn tradition.

But basically despite the difference this does read very RW. Of course since it is circular the author wants you to read it with waning and waxing for the moon, but you can use that as an advanced topic and ignore it in the early days. An example of a Major is the Chariot, which shows a warrior with his horse with what he bring home from victory. I use the message personally, and not the meanings as I think that they capture more of the spirit of the card. The Message for the Chariot is harness your energies in a fruitful direction. The meanings are self control and self confidence; victory. Reversed, misuse of our energies.

But in the minors like the two of frogs (pentacles) which show two bodies trying to become one, it says you must first know yourself before you can love another. I am amazed that the author does not use elements more, I guess she feels that the card placement is more important, it's an interesting departure.

It is a very pagan deck but not a shaman based one. If you would like that instead, look Laura Tuan's Native American Tarot
instead or as a supplement. I have both and while I love Tuan's this is a nice deck that works on a different level and I find having more than one not a problem. If you like Wanda Gonzalez NA Tarot you should definitely get that as well, but I don't like the art work though I do love the symbols.

This is my favorite Tarot deck. The cards were drawn by the author herself who has many years of experience reading tarot cards. The pictures drawn on the cards were inspired by the author's Native American heritage. The suits are Thunderbirds, Frogs, Turtles, and Butterflies each of which stem from Native American folk lore. The book that accompanies the deck is very thorough and clear in explaining each card, and helps the reader gain insight into what the cards are saying. In the book, the author also writes about her own personal experiences reading tarot cards. I highly recommend this deck. I felt a connection to these cards from the beginning, and the deck is now my favorite.

This Native American based deck is a standard 78 card Tarot with the 8 = Strength, 11 = Justice configuration. The Major Arcana cards retain their traditional names. That is pretty much where the "standard" Tarot ceases.

The suites are renamed: Wands are Thunderbirds, Cups are Frogs, Swords are Butterflies and Pentacles are Turtles. She holds to the Wands equating fire and Swords equating air thought form. Additionally, the deck is round. However, unlike many of the other round decks, this one is not so large (about 4.5 inches across) making it much easier to shuffle and handle. The card backs are decorated with an eight pointed star in the center, so you cannot tell inverted cards by the back.

According to the 200 pages book which accompanies the deck, this deck is meant to be read not only upright, but also in the "waxing" and "waning" to show the phases of the situation. I would not advise reading with this deck until one has read the companion book. I also do not feel this is a deck for a beginning Tarot student to use.

The illustrations for each card take up about 2/3 of the surface of the card. A budding branch acts as a divider between the art and the written title/number of the card. The artwork is very simplistic, drawn by the deck's creator with colored pencils. The pictures depict Native Americans and Native American themes. Do not expect to be able to identify the cards without reading their titles; very often there is no symbolism of the suit in the pips.

The card stock is fairly light weight with a laminate coating. For me, it is a deck that will spend its time on my shelf of collectible decks and not in my basket of working decks.

A deck is simply a tool, to be guided into the unknown light and spirit of another whom you do not know or have never met. Cards are very personal and should be studied by the reader and known in the heart, mind and spirit to be read properly by the reader. Stella, never feeling totally comfortable with the other available tarot cards available to her, created her own, from her own experience, native american beliefs and psychic intuition with an accompanied book. She does not proclaim to be an artist, however her artist she had in mind left abruptly and she was left her father's legacy's words of "If you want something done, you have to do it yourself." Still insecure about this, knowing she could not draw a 'straight line', her mother's spirit came through, an artist in her lifetime, promised that these cards needed to be made; you put the pencil to the paper and I will help guide you.
Through serendipity, spirit guides and ancestors, her cards were born - and were never meant to be published. Someone suggested sending to a publisher, she doubted they would be published, but the one who suggested such an idea said, "Everyone needs a 'rejection letter'". So she sent them off. Magically they were published first send off. This is a very personal deck to her and one that wasn't really meant to be.

I have read many cards before, medicine cards, dolphin cards, runes, and various tarot card decks. I went to a reader today, a humble woman with such a positive beautiful energy it is hard to put into words. We were together for over an hour and she had the light and energy of the high priestess and radiated light, joy and love. She shuffled the round deck I had never seen before and laid them out on the table, however simplistic the drawings were, they were the most beautiful deck I had ever seen. colorful, brilliant and seemed to bounce off the table. It felt magical to not only be in the presence of this woman but to witness and see this deck. I asked her about the deck. Then she explained, I never liked the other cards I worked with, so I created my own.

Her reading was right on, extremely reasonable in cost, and she also does light body activation. She sees energy and works with it - all in the name of love. Very humble, and definately in the presence of Spirit and light - she has created something beautiful and all of us should try to experience her journey through her words and her cards. I had the most awesome blessing today in meeting Mrs. Stella Bennett and I hope to remain lifelong friends.