A must-have for both readers and collectors, this highly innovative deck consists of simple yet striking images displayed on clear plastic, which are designed to be read in layers.
With a new chapter detailing how to use this deck in combination with other decks--Tarot or oracle--enhance your interpretations to unlock intuition and help discover hidden depths as you read.
The book offers new keyword charts with quick definitions to assist with reading right out of the box, as well as in-depth meanings for clearer associations.
Find original spreads and suggestions for methods that have never before been possible.
This deck offers a fun, original, and insightful tool for divination, meditation, brainstorming, magic, and more for beginners and advanced readers alike.
Contents included in the package:
- 78 Tarot cards of dimensions: 3 7/8" x 4 5/8"
- Smooth Finish Tarot cloth.
- Guidebook with card description and explanations for each card.
- Box to keep cards and all the above contents safe.
You can see the unboxing video on Tiktok or Youtube and the silent flickthrough showing each card is on Tiktok or Youtube. I posted two spreads, an interview spread and a three card spread.
This is a really innovative deck, a genuinely unique experience. Let's dive in and have a look at what makes it so unusual. Please note, this is the Second Edition of the deck, I can't comment on the First Edition as I've never seen or used it.
I. First Impressions
Minor Arcana: The Minor Arcana are fully illustrated, but as noted above those illustrations might be small and only take up a certain amount of the card. This seems like it should make reading hard, with all that empty space, but it actually really helps to focus your attention on the image itself and what it means. The images are RWS based. One thing to note is that the Court cards are the same across all suits; the Kings are all standing in the same pose in the same part of the card, the Queens are all the same, etc. This means that if you pull two of the same Court in different suits, they'll line up exactly and the layering won't be as effective, which is a shame.
Card Stock and Size: You should note that when you first open the deck, the cards are likely to have a bow backwards. This is normal and will ease as you use them, or you can put them under some heavy books to hurry it along.
IV. In Use
Final Thoughts
Unboxing Experience: The deck is presented in a cardboard box about the size of a paperback book, but fatter. It opens with a magnetic catch on the right hand side. Cleverly, the first thing you see when you open it is a plastic overlay with a card image; it's layered over the Little White Book, which also has an image on the front, so it gives you an idea of how the deck works before you even begin! The Book itself is chunky, at just over 300 pages. Underneath the Book, the cards sit in a well, and there's also a white silk cloth to display the cards on. If you're planning to read for other people, the cloth may need a quick iron as it's likely to be creased from the box, but if it's just for you it should be fine. Unfolded, the sheet is big enough for most spreads.
Artwork Style: This is a really unique style. Each card has a simple image on it to represent the meaning. For example, the Fool is a butterfly, the Two of Wands is two people each holding a wand, the Five of Pentacles is a figure sitting with their back to five coins. But to aid with the layering, these images might be anywhere on the cards. Majors are generally in the centre or take up the whole card, but Minors are much smaller; that Five of Pentacles is right down in one corner.
II. The Cards
Artwork Style: This is a really unique style. Each card has a simple image on it to represent the meaning. For example, the Fool is a butterfly, the Two of Wands is two people each holding a wand, the Five of Pentacles is a figure sitting with their back to five coins. But to aid with the layering, these images might be anywhere on the cards. Majors are generally in the centre or take up the whole card, but Minors are much smaller; that Five of Pentacles is right down in one corner.
II. The Cards
Major Arcana: The Majors have Justice at 8 and Strength at 11. Each card has its number, in Arabic, along either the top or bottom of the card; The Fool's 0 is the first on the top, then they move along towards the right with the Wheel of Fortune's 10 in the rightmost spot. Strength's 11 is the first one on the bottom and they continue along that way. The numbers are hard to see if you just hold up the card, but against the white cloth they're clear. Images are generally based on the RWS, but some of them I needed to read the book to see the thinking behind - they always made sense once I knew where Emily was coming from, but they weren't immediately obvious. For instance, the Magician is two dragons, calling back to myths about Merlin, the quintessential Magician. Makes sense when you know but hard to read at first glance!
Minor Arcana: The Minor Arcana are fully illustrated, but as noted above those illustrations might be small and only take up a certain amount of the card. This seems like it should make reading hard, with all that empty space, but it actually really helps to focus your attention on the image itself and what it means. The images are RWS based. One thing to note is that the Court cards are the same across all suits; the Kings are all standing in the same pose in the same part of the card, the Queens are all the same, etc. This means that if you pull two of the same Court in different suits, they'll line up exactly and the layering won't be as effective, which is a shame.
Minor cards have a number along the left hand side, starting with A for Ace at the top and proceeding downwards, and a suit symbol on the right hand side.
Card Stock and Size: You should note that when you first open the deck, the cards are likely to have a bow backwards. This is normal and will ease as you use them, or you can put them under some heavy books to hurry it along.
The cards are standard tarot size. Being plastic, they're a bit stiffer to shuffle than usual cards, but they're perfectly easy to handle. The 'top' side has a slightly rough feel, while the 'bottom' side is smooth, making it easy to know if they're the right way around or not.
I did find that I had to be careful picking them up as they occasionally slid out of my grip, but I've had that happen with other decks as well!
III. The Guidebook
III. The Guidebook
Writing Style and Readability: Emily's writing style is chatty and easy to understand. She repeatedly emphasises that whatever way we, the reader, choose to use the cards is correct, and that her advice is only advice, not a set of hard and fast rules.
Card Meanings: Major cards have several pages; Emily discusses why she chose the symbol she did, gives upright and reversed meanings, and gives a layer of three cards to show how the process works. The book doesn't say if the other two cards are random or specifically chosen, but it's very clever either way. Minor cards are arranged by numbers, with some explanation of the meaning of the number beforehand, and has the image description, upright and reversed meanings, but not the layered example. The book would be even longer if she tried to do three cards for every single card!
Spreads and Techniques: The only spread included is the Celtic Cross, but Emily talks about how to adapt other spreads to the cards and even how to use them with other decks - not something I've tried yet, but I plan to! There are keyword tables to provide a starting point for each card. Finally, Emily suggests some other uses for the cards, like meditation or creating sigils.
Card Meanings: Major cards have several pages; Emily discusses why she chose the symbol she did, gives upright and reversed meanings, and gives a layer of three cards to show how the process works. The book doesn't say if the other two cards are random or specifically chosen, but it's very clever either way. Minor cards are arranged by numbers, with some explanation of the meaning of the number beforehand, and has the image description, upright and reversed meanings, but not the layered example. The book would be even longer if she tried to do three cards for every single card!
Spreads and Techniques: The only spread included is the Celtic Cross, but Emily talks about how to adapt other spreads to the cards and even how to use them with other decks - not something I've tried yet, but I plan to! There are keyword tables to provide a starting point for each card. Finally, Emily suggests some other uses for the cards, like meditation or creating sigils.
IV. In Use
Intuition and Connection: When I first opened this deck, I was so immersed in how unique the cards are that I wasn't thinking about reading with them! As I mentioned above, some of the images weren't immediately intuitive, but using the Book was a big help. I'd be interested to know how a total beginner found this deck - my knowledge of the cards might actually have been holding me back in this case! The more I worked with the deck the more easily meanings were coming to me.
Clarity of Readings: Using one at a time wasn't going too well for me, but the Book suggests reading three at a time and once I got the hang of that, I found that my readings were flowing beautifully. My usual Querant really enjoyed this deck, loved the unusual concept and said that several readings were really accurate.
Suitability for Different Skill Levels: As I mentioned above, I'd be interested to hear how this would work for a complete beginner! I think it would be a really interesting first deck. I've learned a lot using it and expect to keep learning as I work with it. It really is a whole new concept in Tarot.
V. Overall Impression
Clarity of Readings: Using one at a time wasn't going too well for me, but the Book suggests reading three at a time and once I got the hang of that, I found that my readings were flowing beautifully. My usual Querant really enjoyed this deck, loved the unusual concept and said that several readings were really accurate.
Suitability for Different Skill Levels: As I mentioned above, I'd be interested to hear how this would work for a complete beginner! I think it would be a really interesting first deck. I've learned a lot using it and expect to keep learning as I work with it. It really is a whole new concept in Tarot.
V. Overall Impression
Strengths:
- Really unique concept
- Reads very nicely
- There's a lot to learn when using it
Weaknesses:
- Might be complicated for newcomers
- Cards can be slippery and arrive slightly bowed
- Court cards are very similar to each other
Final Thoughts
This is such a fun deck. I've been coveting it since I first saw it online and I'm so glad I've got to use it! I highly recommend it for anyone looking to expand their practise. It's been such a help to me in threading cards together and interpreting them as one, which has always been difficult for me. I'm going to enjoy using this for a long time.
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