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31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Halloween whimsy for the whole year through!!, May 17, 2001
The Halloween Tarot Submitted 5/17/01Halloween whimsy all through the year! Just like Ms. West, the creator of the Halloween tarot, I LOVE Halloween. My birthday is in October, I love dressing up in costumes, one of my favorite movies is "Nightmare Before Christmas", and I even got MARRIED on Halloween! (Hey, if you're gonna do something scary, might as well do it on the scariest nite of the year!!) So, when I found Ms. West's deck, of course I had to get it; do not pass Go, do not collect $200. The cards are very well drawn with crisp lines and clear, bright colors. Not surprisingly, black and orange are main colors of this deck, though white, blue and red are prominently featured as well. The figures of the tarot are drawn from a number of different Halloweenish sources: costumed trick-or-treaters, movie monsters, scarecrows, and the European vegetable people of a century ago. The Empress, for example, is the Bride of Frankenstein, the Hermit, a mad scientist brewing up strange concoctions. Temperance is a young witch pouring potions and the Fool is a gleeful clown in motley. None of these images are frightening or spooky, so the overall effect is more of childhood play than of Halloween terror. In this respect, I think this makes the deck more open and playful to the querent than other more gothic or "serious" decks. The symbolism of the cards in both Major and Minor Arcana is very similar to that of one of the most well known decks, the Rider-Waite. This makes it a good choice for the beginning-to-intermediate reader who is just learning all the symbols of the deck. The Minor Arcana have had their suits changed a bit to suit the holiday, pumpkins represent pentacles, bats represent swords, ghosts represent cups and imps (small, red devil creatures) represent wands in the more traditional decks. Still, even with these changes the symbols are very clear and easy to read. What's more, each card of both the Major and Minor Arcana have a black cat on it; he acts as a sort of touchstone or common thread through the deck that ties everything together very nicely. I always recommend that the absolute beginner start with the Rider-Waite, simply because it's one of the most well known decks and most books about the tarot use the Rider to illustrate the cards. However, even as a beginner, I found myself able to use the Halloween tarot just as easily (if not MORE easily in my case--the Rider sometimes seems too serious for my blood) as any other deck. I've also found that people who are leery around tarot cards loosen up when they see these fun, playful cards: it seems more like a childhood game than a heavy-duty inquiry, and that allows them to relax a bit and let the reading resonate with them more than they might have otherwise allowed themselves to. You don't have to be a nut over Halloween and collect pumpkins, skeletons and black cats like Ms. West (or me!) to enjoy these cards, nor do you have to wait until October to use them. They're great icebreakers at parties (Halloween or not!) and for people with a playful, whimsical side to their nature, this deck would be a fine choice! Highly recommended!!
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