A lovely Tarot Deck Worth Splurging For - Tarot of Dreams
Oct 14 '05
The Bottom Line This is a deck that is very beautiful, meaningful and I highly recommend it to anyone who reads Tarot Decks.
Because I have been unsuccessful at having this deck added to the database, because it is privately published, I still wanted to share this. The artist is very talented and I really like the deck, so forgive me if this is not where this should be. It is coming up on Samhain, and this would make a lovely gift for that special witch or tarot reader in your life.
This product I have had much fun working with. Not just because it is another tarot deck, but because this is a beautiful tarot deck that comes with a most wonderful and beautifully put together tool.
Ciro Marchetti is the artist who brought us the "Gilded Tarot" last year. He told me, at that time, that he was working on another deck. If you have been to his website at http://www.ciromarchetti.com you may have seen his Gilded Tarot deck illustrations and his promotion for this deck, "Tarot of Dreams".
The deck that was sent to me contains 80 cards, in a large 3.5 X 5.5 format. They are gloss finished and sturdy cards. Probably the only thing I was concerned about was the size of the cards. I prefer cards a bit smaller, but the artwork in the designs made the larger cards more desirable in this case, and I bypassed my preference in favor of the graphics.
The deck comes with a spare card that is numbered and signed by the artist. The box gives us a lovely presentation, all glossy and covered in graphics. It houses the deck, a nice gauzy bag to hold your deck and a CD that I will cover further down.
The deck is very traditional in feel, looks and design and has a very Qabalahistic flavor, with the reference card in the deck being the Qabalah Tree of Life. The deck has 21 Major Archana cards, and four suits: Swords for Air, Wands for Fire, Coins for Earth and Cups for water. The Swords/Wands reversal is present here for fire and air. Also, coins have been chosen to represent earth, rather than pentacles.
Each card is labeled clearly as to the name of the card, the number and the suit, as well as the Sphere of Influence, which is noted on the Major Archana along with the astrological association. The Minor Archana notes two astrological associations on each card.
The imagery and designs are stunning, the symbolism is for the most part traditional, interesting and easy to follow. Much is traditional, but developed to seem timely, current and all of this has a very "dreamy" feel to it, hence the name of the deck.
Looking at the cards, we see the journey of the Fool followed in the Major Archana, with the designs helping the reader to follow this journey. I love the images, the Fool with no face but having a jesters hat and mask; the very motherly Empress; the Hierophant replaced with a card called "Faith", excellently chosen; the Wheel of Life simply the Wheel, so mechanical yet so mystical in appearance; Death is haunting yet not horrible, the Devil is menacing yet gives a feeling that we have created our own trap there. The cards draw the reader into them, and allows the reader to hear them speak quietly and yet strongly.
The Minor Archana is done just as well. The deck keeps to the traditional meanings and provides some new insights. There is the feeling of Divine in many of them, more so than the materialistic feeling some other decks have. They appear more inspired than threatening. The Court Cards are the traditional Page, Knight, Queen and King cards, with very elemental influences.
The colors are rich, deep hues. The Minor Archana cards all keep to the same color family so it makes it easy to tell where you are by looking at the borders surrounding the designs. I am accustomed to swords being fire, and wands being air. With this deck, the wands are done with rich red tones in the borders and the designs are predominately red, making fire obvious in this suit. The same with the swords, with sky blue being the dominate color, making the association, again, very obvious. Earth is a rich emerald green and water is a golden color.
Instead of having a small booklet or book, this deck has a CD. This is expertly produced and contains some surprises as well as what you usually expect to find in a book accompanying a tarot deck. It is a wonderful tool!
There is an opening introduction of music and graphics, which is lovely to watch. Do give this a look all the way through. It is the artists message about his deck, and is very simply expressed with his artwork.
The menu is a rendition of the reverse pattern on the deck, a sun/starburst with the elemental symbols. The menu contains a bit more in the way of adding direction to the various parts of the CD. You can choose to explore the Major Archana, the various suits or some extras the artist has included, such as production, credits, symbols & spreads and some links. The extras include a screen saver, wallpaper, a copy of the Orphalese Tarot Reading software for installation on your computer, and other such goodies.
As you choose the areas of the cards to browse, the card is presented with some associations and suggested meanings. This is the handbook part of the deck, and is nicely done. It is recommended that you load this onto older machines, as it will run faster and more smoothly. I ran it from the disk, but I also have a new and much faster machine, but it still took time for the graphics to load.
The "goodies" also includes animated Major Archana cards. The cards are presented as they appear in the deck, and then are animated, or put into motion, to present some additional aspects of the card that may aid the reader. The animations are gorgeous, insightful and a lovely addition. I have played with this CD, exploring all the information contained in it, and found it most useful, wonderful eye candy, and fun to play with.
I found reading this deck was actually almost distracting at first, going over all the graphics and designs, but as the newness wore off, I found readings went much smoother, and the ease of reading this deck was a big plus. It is surrealistic in feel but traditional in design. It is a wonderful interpretation of well known material, and will not hinder the experienced reader in the slightest. The new reader will also find this deck easy to work with. It can be used by anyone and is not path specific.
Note that for now the deck is only available from the artist’s website. It is, for all intents and purposes, a piece of art, and this is reflected in the price. However, if you feel as I do that the deck and the art are inseparable, and quality decks are preferable, then the price for this deck is very reasonable. I have seen artistic decks go for much, much more. The quality is here in this deck, and the artwork is far above average.
For the deck collector, the serious tarot reader and the lover of art, this is a winning deck. It will grace the hands of any competent reader and compliment any reading done with them. It will dazzle your clients. And it will open yet another window for the reader to explore with their client, one colored and styled by the dreams of a very talented artist. boudica
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
boudica_
|
|
Member: Boudica
Location: elsewhere
Reviews written: 205
Trusted by: 86 members
About Me:
Yes, I am a witch. And?
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.