Customer Reviews

Tarot of the Orishas Book

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

When this deck and book set first came out, way back in the 90's, I was very happy and anxious to own the deck. Finally a tarot deck in homage of the African Orishas. Boy was I disappointed when I got this deck. Let me begin with the book, which infect I enjoyed immensely, the book is good, and an excellent introduction to Santeria and Candomble. It also has a section with prayers. Which are not traditional Orisha prayers, but more a modern "New Age" style prayers, not commonly used in Casa de Santos, or Ile Houses. But they are good enough for the beginners to get a jist at various ways to pray and communicate with the Orishas.

know it is not the book that is the problem, it is the deck. It is titled The Orisha Tarot, but I have to completely disagree with this title. Okay first of all what do Gnomes, mermaids and fairies have to do with the wisdom of Orisha and African Spirituality. NOTHING!! Yet these images are portrayed abundantly throught the deck. Also what does Lucifer El Diable have to do with Yoruba wisdom. Again, nothing, this is a Christian Concept, not an Orisha concept. In fact their is no spirit of complete evil in our religious philosophies. Then their is the Karma card. This has to do with Indian Hindu, not African Yoruba. This card does not belong their.

Also another thing that I found enoying was how the most of the Orishas where portrayed as having white skin. Obatala is white, this is fine, but!! Yemaya, Oya, Oba, Pombagira, are all white. Eshu is chalk white. And Ochun and Chango are mulattos. None of the Orisha are black. The Babalawo is white. Also notice how every one who is black seams to be punished or in trouble, such as. The Outcast, The Enslaved prisoner, and 5 of water. And also what does a cruise Liner, 8 of water or a Greek building 2 of fire, have to do with Yoruba orisha Spirituality. NOTHING!!

I was so disappointed with this deck. It had potential, but all of the wisdom and knowledge of Candomble, and Lucumi, is missing. The Minor Arcana should be dedicated to the ancient paikis of the religion, while the Major to the Orishas, Orixas ect. As for El karma card, which really anoied me, this should have been Ori. and the...... Oh why bother torturing my self. Who am I kidding, this deck needs a complete makeover from beginning to end.

These cards are beautifully illustrated! I was surprised at the rich colors and beautiful depictions of the Orishas. I highly reccomend the "how to" book, because the booklet that comes with the cards is kind of crappy. They are an excellent collector's item AND perfect for everyday use. (If you can imagine that!) I really like them and suggest any serious tarot card reader or person interested in Santeria or reading get these.

How could a book starring Yoruba gods and goddess, have depictions of said deities that are all white or mulatto with the only Black representation being that of "bad people"?

When you are a white supremacist and/or you don't know a hoot about the religion and had no business writing this book.

This book is a scam. And anyone who likes the book is suspect too as to their knowledge about the religion and their...um..."intentions."

Don't walk...run from this...there are plenty of other truly good books out there that don't demean Africanness or deliberately peddle false information about African religion. Plenty. This qualifies as one of the worst books on Amazon.

This book is very dangerous and not in a good way. Woe to those who think it ok buy it regardless of its falsehoods and inaccuracies, I guess...

I can't believe this got published. Wow.

What a total and utter disgrace.

The author should be ashamed or at least de-sheeted.

El libro es un completo engaño. No dudo que la intenciòn del autor fuera buena, sin embargo, el sistema que propone no tiene nada que ver con el tarot y tampoco con la religiòn Yoruba, sòlo toma algunos aspectos de ambos. Los conceptos que maneja son erròneos, asì como los sìmbolos y los sincretismos. Si alguien que no conoce la religiòn desea acercarse por este medio, seguramente resultarà confundido y equivocado; por otra parte, el tarot no es algo que uno se inventa de la noche a la mañana, es un conjunto simbòlico de tradiciòn milenaria, que contiene en sì un gran conocimiento. Uno no puede tomar sìmbolos de la nada y crear un sistema sin fundamento. No es ètico. La ùnica forma en que alguien podrìa consultar a otra persona y entregarle un mensaje correcto a travès de este mazo es siendo un muy buen espiritista y muertero, y encomendàndose mucho a su cuadro espiritual. Lo que sì puedo admitir es que las ilustraciones son llamativas. Sòlo por eso adquirirìa el tarot.

I am an aleyo in this religion, however I felt very drawn to these cards. (I do own other Tarot cards). I do agree with a previous reviewer that the Fairies, Gnomes, Sylphs, etc. do not belong with the Orishas. They have NOTHING to do with this religion! I do however, think that this is a very powerful deck. As far as I am concerned, the readings that I have done with this deck have proven to be very accurate (even more so than with other tarot decks that I own!) I think that Zolrak could have done a better job with the book in terms of what he added and/or should have added (i.e. should have added other orishas instead of the fairies & gnomes!). That just means that someone else should come up with another Orisha Tarot deck......
Overall, if you are into Santeria/Candomble and Tarot cards, I would recommend this book & deck of cards. Just don't do like I did....I made the mistake of ordering only the book from a seller here, and wound up having to go to a botanica halfway across town just to buy the deck of cards. Make sure you buy the complete set!!!

This is a book without cards

This amazing book and deck allow for a truly supernatural experience in Tarot reading. Not only was I impressed with the results of the reading with this deck but it's consistent accuracy is a thing of wonder!

The authors bring to vivid reality the Candomble religion and it's symbolism, and the Tarot's depictions of the Orishas are nothing short of breathtaking....

It has changed my life....

This is a very personal book to the writers system and path. You will either like it or pass it over as a personal belief system. If you are an open minded practitioner or a tarot collector you will delight in the work that has gone into this book and its translation. Keep in mind that Santeria in this more pure form will lend little to your Hoodoo practice, it is a very serious presentation of this mans training and life work and beliefs in Santeria. I am not a Santeria practitioner so I can not rate it in that category , but I enjoy reading this book from a old tarot readers prospective.

The African Black men who taught the rest of the world our spirituality would be turning over in their graves today if they knew how the nonAfricans they taught were disgracing their ancestors. The Orixa are not pale skinned nor mulattoes! They were dark black Africans LLOONNGG before we Africans came to the west and taught you people who were completely ignorant of true spirituality and/or ancestral recognition, about the Orixa...yes, you nonAfricans should never forget, that it was the black man who taught you who the Orixa was and what they looked like. You nonAfricans were taught by Africans the little bits and peices you know about spirituality a measley few hundred years ago.....and we have been doing it for Thousands upon thousands of years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Now you people, like this idiotic author who wrote this silly little book, sit and talk like you are some kind of authority on African spirituality...you nonAfricans are babies in African spirituality and you would do well not to forget that.
We, Africans have known and been in contact with the spirit world long before any of you foreigners to African spirituality ever even heard of santeria or condomble or palo or any of the other systems we Africans blessed you unworthy people with...and you people dare to misrepresent what was never yours to misrespresent in the first place!!??
If the author of this very sorry book and inexcusably horrific tarot deck, and whomever else saw no problem with this book whitewashing African spirits,why dont you go find some white or lightskinned spirits to call on?.... Why does everyone seem to want to deal with African spirits even when they obviously have some dislike toward their skin texture? Why not call on some european or spanish spirits?....Maybe because, in spite of the western worlds racism, bigotry and general hatred of Black Africans, they still know and understand certain spiritual concepts that parallel certain historical concepts, that both stay understood but unspoken by popular concensus.....maybe the europeans in new orleans and abroad that study Vodun and the spanish that predominately deals with African mysticisms havent figured out how to call their own forefathers yet...or maybe their forefathers dont have enough strength or power to affect significant change for a positive effect on this plane of existence...or maybe the nonAfricans have no ancestral protection whatsoever so they are forced to call on the Black mans ancestors. Maybe thats why authors like the one who wrote this book whitewashed African spirits and made them look sickly and distastefully white or mulato...because of the painful truth that the pale, mulattoe and/or european ancestral spirits are either nonexistent and insignificant, or weak and feeble and arent worth calling on...the proof of that is in the fact that all the nonafricans are running to the Black man's ancestors and not their own...
and you people should be looking to your own ancestors because the black man's ancestors will never like you people.....at least never how they love their own children.
and its also interesting, that to everyone who is really into African spirituality, if you have read enough or know a good amount about African spirituality, they know for surety that the African black man has the potential to become something beyond great when he leaves this plane of existence...(which is proven by different phenomena including literal physical possession by beings who will tell you they are African spirits) and no other people have this potential..but the original man, the father of all races, the Long-lived and blameless Black man.
Anyway this book should be burned and this author should be sued and exposed for his racism and bigotry.
Africans will soon stop teaching and initiating you nonAfricans because of this pattern of disrespect that occurs whenever the black man teaches an unworthy people....its a shame....the western world appears to dislike the dark black man without reason and without limits, yet, they all still want to learn all about...The Black's Magic.

The Tarot of the Orishas has given me a new perspective on the Tarot. As a resident of Los Angeles, every day I deal with the blend of African, European, Asian, Latin American, and Indiginous beliefs of our citizens, many of us of mixed ethnicity. When a friend who had met the authors showed me the deck and the book, I was extremely impressed by its inclusiveness and also by the thorough nature of the book that accompanies the deck. Wow. If only other decks had books that included such specific instructions for working with the deck, preparing oneself for reading, and also included prayers, background info, etc.

While I do sympathize with those who feel that all of the human images on the deck should be African and understand their reasoning, here in the Americas people of all backgrounds follow the orisha traditions. I have images of Yemaya on my altar that are black, brown, and white. I do not believe that the deities (orishas included) care what color one's skin is. I believe we are all equal in the deities' eyes. (And I find the Yemaya card in this deck to be one of the most powerful images of this orisha I've ever seen.)

The only problem I have with this deck is with one card: II of Earth. It portrays what appears to be a walrus which is anatomically incorrect (walruses do not have external ears!) and is emerging from a cave. Friends and I have laughed about this card, but in a good-natured way. The author relates this animal to the mythical M'Koo, a creature I am not familiar with. Oh well; one funny-looking walrus shouldn't invalidate an entire deck, so I'll shut up about it!

All in all, I would not hesitate to recommend this deck to any tarot reader who wants a different perspective on the cards.

Ashé!

Dion-Isis