Customer Reviews

Stories of the Wild Spirit

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a fellow Llewellyn author, I was lucky enough to be given this deck to read from at the London Bookfair this March. The first thing which strikes you about the deck is how visually stunning it is. The colours are vibrant and alive, the images detailed yet clear and extremely beautiful. There is a wealth of imagery from both the seen and the mythic dimensions of nature, from fairies, elves, wild spirited folk, animals, birds and many plants and flowers; the very essence of wildwood and meadow and hill. The pictures speak with a language of their own, resonating on a very deep level. Despite the unusualness of the deck and the innovative meanings and pictures, the cards are not at all difficult to read once you have played about with them for a little while; in fact they speak to a deep part of the reader. For anyone needing the reassurance of a written guide, the accompanying well crafted book explains not just the way the cards can be used, both in spreads and for self exploration, but also expounds a whole spiritual philosophy which offers the keys to a wholesome and magical world view. This is a wonderful card set which will unfold a realm of visionary delight and profound realisation to all who use it.
Author of In The Circle, The Sacred Round, and Praise to the Moon.

Ms. Palin's opening lines to the accompanying book gives us the essence of what her deck and her book reflects: "With an understanding of the seasons of Life and the natural enchantment of the Wild Realm, we can gain spiritual guidance."

The cards, like Ms. Palin's book, reflect her exuberance for the "Wild Realm" with bright primary colors, bold designs and free interpretation of the Journey of the Tarot.

Looking at the obverse of the cards is a quartet of what appear to be two fairy folk reflected across the card. This is much different from the usual abstract designs or monotones that usually are printed on decks.

The layout of the deck is similar to the Rider-Waite deck, with four suits and 21 trump cards. The focus of this deck is nature, so the suites are not magic oriented, they are nature oriented, being earth, air, fire and water. The trump cards also reflect the nature theme, and we have the "Cunning Man" rather than the magician, and "Mother Nature" rather than the Empress and "Lord of the Wild" rather than the Emperor, and so on.

The colors are bold primary, the designs range from well done children's illustration in feeling, as in the "Wandering Minstrel" or the fool, to very surrealistic, as all her fairy folk.

To wander through her cards is to understand her feelings for the natural world and to appreciate her talent for the arts. I feel it is a beautiful deck and working with it is a joy, as the symbolisms are clearly stated.

The book starts with Ms. Palin's intention for the cards, how to use them and the care of any kind of tarot deck. She then explores each card, giving very clear and almost poetic explanations of how she devised each card and its meaning. For example, her meaning of "Hunter - Spirit of Clarity" opens "Focus. This moment...strung, drawn, aimed... is all that there is. As the Hunter, I cannot allow myself to become distracted, for I must achieve what I set out to do here, or I shall not eat tonight." A wonderful clarity of vision for this card, which shows a hunters face focusing on the draw of a bow.

Overall, this deck presents itself as a connection to nature through the use of the tarot. The experience is being drawn into this deck through the illustrations. The similarity to the standard deck allows ease of use and understanding when augmented with the book.

This is an addition worth having if you collect decks and a good choice for those looking for a deck to express and grow their inner wild spirit. boudica

The main emphasis on Poppy Palin's Wild Spirit Tarot should be on the word spirit. It is a wonderfully spiritual collection of drawings and stories produced and written with a very passionate spirit. The cards images should delight anyone with one foot still firmly planted in the realm of the child. Human, animal, plant and spirit laugh and dance with each other throughout the whole pack. This pack does not contain the archetypal tarot images, yet their counterparts can be found if you look carefully enough. Approach the book and images as if going on a country walk. Tread carefully and mindfully, and you will see much more than blundering through, expecting the woodland creatures to be prostrate in front of you. The book is a guide to the cards, and yet is much more, in being a guide also to the realm of the spirit. Many philosophies from many ages seem to be wrapped up in the stories. The emphasis on letting go in order to gain dominates the message of this tarot. Could be tricky to read if you are expecting the tarot to tell you what you are going to get and when. It requires a rethink on the traditional ideas. Maybe this is where the wild makes itself known. Like the wild nothing is cut and dried with this pack. It is a wonderful achievement. The amount of hard work and dedication is evident in every word and line.

Waking The Wild Spirit is the most beautiful tarot deck I have seen. Poppy Palin's extraordinary paintings conjure up images of the richly storied aspects of ourselves, and enable us to slip smoothly into the realm of the deep self. Her sense of colour and detail drew me inexorably into the cards, and left me awestruck with admiration. The accompanying book steps away from the more traditional methods of interpreting tarot cards. Each card tells its own story, from the perspective of the archetypal image, and reels us into a world that is filled with magic and possibilities. I highly recommend this tarot deck, both for beginners, and for experienced tarot enthusiasts!

Many of the tarot reviews on this deck are really negative. From a "tarot" perspective, this deck strays quite a bit from the traditional.. so much so that some say it would be better called a "divinatory deck" as opposed to "tarot".

The Majors stray heavily in some cases, using two sets of titles on each card, a title and subtitle.. such as Sky Dancer/Morning Star which is used instead of THE SUN. The minors use a "number + element" system.. If you've read books by Gail Fairfield, you know what I am talking about.

The book is also very different. Instead of using keywords, it tells a narrative, or story, for each card.. a good idea in concept.. but the stories just seem to go on and on and on.. I found this getting quite old after the first few cards.

Well, all this 'negativity' aside, I have to say the art on this deck is some of the mose beautiful I have ever seen. I absolutely adore Palin as an artist. I also love nature and faeries and this deck has a STRONG faerie feeling..

I do feel that this is a wonderful deck.. if you aren't looking for "traditional" and you can get past the book... I think this deck would be PERFECT for the person that reads from intuition. You can get SO MUCH from these pictures.

What an amazing deck!! I have been searching for a deck with depth and soul for meditation. Its a truly spiritual deck that speaks directly to my soul. The artwork and the "stories" for each card gently guide your spirit to what matters most.

If you are looking for a deck for quick, fortune telling type reading, this one probably isn't for you.

If you thirst for more. If you are looking for a way to feed your soul ... if you are looking for a practice that can open up your life to the spiritual... this deck is an absolute must! The beautiful, fantastical images on the cards, along with the rich, thought provoking stories that goes along with each card makes this an exceptionally magical deck.

If you have tried other decks and just feel like you just aren't getting enough... try this deck. This is the first deck I've gotten (Fifteen year, nine decks, millions of books later) that really speaks to me and gives me what I have been searching for: a deep, magical, spiritual practice.

I highly recommend this deck. It has made such a difference in my life!

This is truly a unique tarot deck full of fantasy and whimsical images. Based on natural forms, otherwordly archetypes, and fairy-tale characters, this deck acts as soul-poetry, a catalyst to bring about a resurgence of the Wild Self. Created by Poppy Palin and published by the well-established metaphysical company, Llewellyn, this deck can bring a new dimension to your tarot reading sessions. Poppy Palin is the author and illustrator of four books on her experiences as a natural psychic. Her work has appeared in many publications. She is a trained artist and professional tattooist, and is also an experienced teacher and lecturer. The kit comes with the richly colored and illustrated tarot deck, coupled with a 336 page illustrated guidebook. As the publisher describes, "In the companion book Stories of the Wild Spirit, the characters portrayed in the cards tell their own stories, using first person dialogue to immerse you in their tales and call forth the power of their energies. This unique approach provides a new way of working with the Tarot for those who learn more easily through strong visual cues and evocative prose, rather than elaborate lists of correspondences."

The Wild Spirit tarot has the same basic structure as more traditional tarot - 72 cards in total with 21 key Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana cards, sorted into four suits (click on the link to view illustrations of all 72 cards). Ms. Palin has renamed the traditional suits to mirror the four elements: earth, air, fire and water.

It is obvious that Poppy has spent hours contemplating the essence of each tarot card in order to deduce and express this nuance in a fairy-tale/folklore sort of way. For instance, the traditional King of Wands is presented as "The Chiefian" - a handsome fair, bearded Celtic looking man of medieval times, motioning to his regal falcon. In the book, we find out that this card means,...."Come, sit and have some mead with me; let me tell you how I facilitated this project (sic - his thriving community). Well, I have a tremendous amount of energy. I am physically vital, healthy and at my prime, and I wanted to create something that could be fed by this natural flow that courses through me. I have enthusiasm, and I want to inspire others to feel that same drive and ambition. I am not a greedy man. I did not wish to create a fortress for myself and bar others. No, what I saw was a living, breathing circle of friends and families, pooling their resources, sharing skills and creativity. Is that unusual? Well, as a leader I have to be an outstanding man. I don't mean this in a vain way, oh no, but I must have a strong will, a trustworthy and open disposition, and boundless energy to oversee a whole group of people." In essence, the Wild Spirit deck provides an inspiring storyteller interpretation that guides the reader to become enchanted with the spell like magic of each of the cards. Even if someone only drew one card from the deck, a great deal of meaning would be available to them.


This deck invites the tarot enthusiast to linger long and ponder well. To truly "feel" the energy in each of the cards. The bright colors and pleasant illustrations also facilitate this. It is easy to become enchanted by the wonderful images - to be led to a land of wonderful nature creatures and the whispers of times gone by. Well worth the investment, this deck is available for a reasonable price directly from the Amazon website.

As a tarot collector, reader and lover, I bought this deck set because of the eye catching tarot graphics and with an open tarot reviewing mind.
This is a lovely deck, more so if you are fairy inclined.
There is a strong fairy flavor blended in amongst the artwork.
The art in this deck is very very good. For that, it gets 4 stars.
Once into the accompanying book that comes with the deck set,
I was left wondering.....The book itself tells a story for each
card in the major and minor arcana. It is not traditional in tarot interpretations. You will find none. This may throw beginner tarot readers looking for the quick "what this means" explanations.
It will not tell you what each card means. It offers you a story
instead. Interesting, but very different, especially if you are
attempting to use the book for tarot meanings, confirmations.
In my opinion, the book will either bore you after one run through with it or you will find the whole "a story for each card" concept may be exciting in a novelty type of way (?) I personally had a hard time aligning the story with the card (s) I pulled. Basically I found the story takes you away from the card. I was left, after reading the story, feeling non commital. It didn't move me into any form of higher clarity for the stories sake and the accompanying book just didn't seem
to resonate with the deck.
I think the deck will be more popular if used on its own than with the accompanying book. Go with your own interpretation and intuition first.

Was drawn to the tarot cards this January 2006, after my little brother read my cards January 1, 2006. This waken a long time interest and a spirit within me to start learning again about tarot cards.

I was drawn to the name "Waking the Wild Spirit Tarot". I imagine so many other women and men, who are not traditionalist-are drawn to the different elements and spirits of life.

Poppy Palin wrote a magical book for us to understand the different levels of life! I loved her card "The Nest" page 223
with a baby laying in a pool of water with a stork by her side. Quoted " As it is with all beings, so is it with me, I have taken leave of my teachers and guardians, my parents and flown into freedom. Now I am here. I must put all my learning to good use, for I need a home of my own in order to continue my existence" etc..

Waking the Wild Spirit's minor arcana is bordered in 4 different colors, instead of the usual swords, cups=she has done this in "the Spirit of Earth, Water, Fire and Air.

Poppy has also left out the most feared card "the Death" card, and instead has added "Rebirth."

The book consists of 285 pages and this was remarkably well done that us, the layperson, can understand what is written. Some of the other tarot books are so hard to understand, almost lulling one to sleep.

This book is truly amazing and to me, it lifts one up magically into the air with all its neat and new illustrations of the different labels on the tarot cards.

I love her titles - Free Spirit, the Wild Spirit, Faery Queen for the tarot cards. This is so different and unique.

I am drawn to the non traditional cards, it seems. My brother told me to start with the traditional card, but I am drawn to the non traditional tarot cards.

Waking the Wild Spirit is hard to find, but I was able to get a hold of a copy and my money was well spent on this!!

I got this a few months back and am completely in love! Most of the artwork on these cards are incredible. It's evocative, stimulating, vibrant and very intuitive. I've read interviews with Palin where it seems she wanted to do this as more a oracle dinvination that was only somewhat focused around the tarot structure. But for marketing purposes they went ahead and called it tarot, which it really isn't IMO. The system is loosely based on tarot, but I would look at this set as more of an nature/pagan centered spiritual oracle.

The book is very indepth and there are numerous lilting, enchanting passages in the first person for each card. For the most part it works, in some cases it doesn't. As some have mentioned in reviews some of the stories sound defensive or angry. But those are only a couple. Some have accused Poppy of pushing her agenda.....but isn't an artist's deck creation and writings always going to push their worldview and ideas? It's VERY personal when creating a tarot.

If you love nature centered tarot decks, or just nature themes in general and love the style of artwork (you can see many scans all over the web) then you will most assuredly love this deck. Also there is a very strong faery presence in this deck, they're everywhere! It is a very earthy spiritual centered deck which along with divination works wonderfully with meditation and visulization.

I just want to note that the backs of these cards are the absolutely most gorgeous backs on ANY cards I have ever seen. It's like an hypnotic waterfall when you shuffle!