jiastar's Full Review: Dorothy Morrison - The Whimsical Tarot: A Deck for...
I bought this deck quite a while ago, mainly because of the kid-friendly illustrations as I had it ear-marked for my daughter's first moon-time.
She has been peaking at my other decks for a while, in fact one of them is no longer completely intact because one of the cards is somewhere in the void that she (and her younger sister) call a bedroom. She still has to pay dearly for that crime .... one day anyhow .... like by buying me a pretty new deck when she's old enough to oh get a job and earn a wage.
Back to the topic at hand ....
I bought her a deck of her own so that, hopefully, she'll leave my decks alone and so that she can start taking her first steps toward learning about the Craft I practice. Additionally it will provide us with an activity to share.
On to the review:
The cards are illustrated by Mary Hanson Roberts
The text is by Dorothy Morrison
They refer to the deck as being "... for children and the young at heart." And recommend its use to "help your child begin to explore a Higher Self, as you rediscover your Inner Child."
The pictures draw their imagery from symbols and stories from fairy tales, folk tales, nursery rhymes, and fables. Even the occasional "modern classic" finds it's way here.
The back of the cards is a lovely design involving a flower and knotwork in shades of teal, purples, pink and yellow.
The illustrations themselves are done is soft gentle tones, with the look of colored pencil, or chalk pastels. There is no dark or frightening imagery. Great care has been taken to find a story who's moral matches the lesson of the card.
The deck, as expected, comes with an instructional booklet. But, the booklet does not go into more than just the interpretations of the cards. Because the stories have each been chosen with such care this is a situation where I would advise buying not just the deck but the book as well.
The booklet, however, does show examples of 4 different spreads:
a one card pull for "daily advice"
a "story spread"
a 9-card "past, present, future" spread
10-card Celtic Cross spread
The cards are a traditional 78 card deck:
The Major Arcana includes characters from classic stories such as The Wizard of Oz and Pinocchio; nursey rhymes such as The Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe and Little Bo Peep, as well as fairy tales such as Cinderella.
The Minor Arcana is made up of the traditional quartet of suits:
Swords - highlights include Humpty Dumpty (10), Rapunzel (9), The Pied Piper (5), Hansel & Gretel (3)
Rods - highlights include Little Boy Blue (9), Jack & the Beanstalk (7), Stone Soup (3)
Cups - highlights include Genie from the Bottle (9), Captain Hook (5), Emperor's New Clothes (4)
Pentacles - highlights include a Leprechaun (9), Shoemaker & the Elves (6), The Ugly Duckling (5)
The cards remind me of an old-fashioned book of nursey tales. Lots of color, lots of detail, flowers, scrollwork, dreamy scenes far in the distace, little "hidden" surprises to look for. I "almost" want to keep it for myself.
This is a great way to introduce a pre-teen to learning the Tarot.
The Whimsical Tarot Book was written especially for children & beginners. The easy to read style makes it both a wonderful introduction to tarot and t...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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