Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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29 of 31 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Deck I insist my students use., December 30, 2001
I've been reading Tarot for over 30 years and since the early 90's I have insisted that all of my students use this deck. The illustrations are richly detailed without being "noisy". The colors give strong vibrational input and the images are not so overly "styled" as to be useless. I know some Pagans will hesitate because of some of the Christian images, but within the context of a primarily Judeo-Christian culture, I find them useful and descriptive of most of the "seeking" public. The fact that the "Devil" is now "Materialism", and "Death" is "Transformation", makes them particularly useful in reading for the public. I've seen clients nearly faint at the sight of either card and it can be nearly impossible to convince some of them that they aren't doomed or cursed. Overall, I find this the most useable deck for teaching and reading.
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25 of 28 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A Good Deck Among Some Great Decks, March 23, 2002
I read Tarot professionally and have studied it for 32 years. I also collect decks and have over 200 different ones...so far. While I do not use this deck, it is one that stands out in my mind and I like it quite a lot. The bright sunset colors the artist used and the subtle black outlines of the pictures lend a stained glass look to the cards. There is a lot of turquoise, purple, magenta, and bright pink in these cards that one doesn't often see in the more common or popular decks. I go back and forth in my mind trying to decide if it is cloying or a fantasy touch of innovation. Some of the characters have a Botticelli look to them. Most of the men have long hair and a medieval look, but inexplicably the Emperor seems to have just come from the barber. There are far too many cherubs on these cards to suit my taste and they don't seem to have much rhyme or reason to them, just popping in there where you don't expect them, like leaning over the scaffold on the Hanged Man card, sticking up out of the goblet on the Ace of Cups, or four of the chubby little rascals flying around the solar disk on The Sun card, but I'm sure others will enjoy them. The illustrations are for the most part quite striking and always positive. The pips are all illustrated as well as the major arcana. There is a Judeo-Christian thread of symbolism but it is not overwhelming. The more traditional Death and Devil cards have been changed into Transition and Materialism, respectively. The Fool, dressed in magenta and pink stands at a purple crossroad with a tuquoise sea and white chalk cliffs in the distance with a Spuds MacKenzie look-alike at his feet, the symbol being changed it seems from the more traditional carefree naivte to cautious contemplation of the road not taken, but still the artwork is GOOD and all of the cards are engaging. I really love the suit of Wands which features oak staves complete with green oak leaves and sometimes acorns. The artist and the designer have given refreshingly new viewpoints while also maintaining imagery that will be familiar to those experienced with Tarot. The very fact of the different imagery encourages study and meditation. All in all this is a most worthy deck.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful and Positive deck, November 6, 2005
My husband studied with Ms. Connolly and introduced me to this deck, which I now use professionally and personally. The images are lovely and I find the symbolism clear and accessible to my clients.
Clients especially appreciate Ms. Connolly's view of a couple of problematic cards:the "Devil" represents "Materialism", and "Death" is "Transformation", a much more logical, and less scary, way of interpreting the Major Arcana. The entire aspect of this deck is informed by love and the ever-present opportunity towards bettering our circumstances through knowledge and understanding.
For anyone who learned on the popular Rider-Waite deck, the transition is pretty seamless. The symbolism is especially accessible to those venturing into the Tarot from a Christian background. The cherubs and Jesus-like figure in Materialism might make one think this Tarot was carried too far from its roots, but that would be misleading. This Tarot has abundant evidence of the designer's Kabbalah knowledge, which after all was the earth in which Christianity is rooted.
I also can't recommend Ms. Connolly's Tarot books highly enough. She is a clear, accessible writer with an encyclopedic knowledge of her subject.
My favorite deck!
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