Modern Spellcaster's Tarot Cards – September 8, 2016

Absolutely amazing artwork - just got this deck a few hours ago. I've been studying the imagery and it is absolutely beautiful. Yes, it is printed on flimsy cardstock :( But the cards have a nice matte finish to them and feel great to hold and shuffle. I love the cardback design. The box is very nice with a magnetic cover and pull-ribbon to easily lift the book or cards out.I am in love with all of the symbols and my naturally curious nature wants to know what they are (I am not familiar to the meanings behind pagan/wiccan/celtic symbols). I flipped through the book to see if I could decode some of the symbology, but alas, there's only card meanings/interpretations and no mention of the symbols/images of the cards. Perhaps there will be some mention, but it doesn't seem to be the case. However, I've been googling the symbols and learning more about them. The designer definitely chose symbols to align with the card's meanings. For instance, on the Eight of Swords, the man has two circles with a dot in the center, one on each hand. This is the circumpunct and is a symbol that represents pausing, re-assessing your situation, withdrawing inside oneself and looking for spiritual answers from within. This aligns very well with the Eight of Swords as it is a card that gives a sense of feeling trapped, but needing to use your intellect or reasoning to see the path forward to a better situation. (I'm also seeing that this symbol has many other meanings in other traditions such as Kabbalah, so I'm not sure which the deck designer was going for - but I enjoy looking this stuff up and learning)I saw this deck online and you can easily find images of every card in the deck. I fell in love with it online and paid for next day shipping - it was worth the money. I have an instant connection with this deck and the lovely, gorgeous images in it. Don't worry if you don't know pagan/wiccan symbolism - I largely do not and each card is very easy to read if you're familiar with the Rider-Waite-Smith system.If you're even considering this deck - then get it! You will not be disappointed!PS: I also like that there are diverse people depicted in the deck (Asian, Indian, Black, Native American possibly) as well as different types of relationships (2 men on the 2 of cups, 2 women on the 4 of wands, and hints of polyamory on some cards). But there are still white people and heterosexual relationships depicted too - it's a great balance, just like real life! This is a breath of fresh air from the many white hetero-normative decks that exist today.

In most Wicčan Traditions the Wand is a Fire Tool and the Athame is an Air tool. This is an ideal that was borrowed from the Golden Dawn, the first Magical Order to assign Elements to Magical Tools. And most Tarot decks are based on the Rider-Waite deck, which was created to be a Golden Dawn Tarot deck. And so, most decks have Wands as Fire cards and Swords as Air Cards.However, there are some Wicčan Traditions that use Wands as Air tools, based on the idea that it should not be possible for a tool to be consumed by it’s Element. Wooden Wands burn when you set them on fire. Wood comes from trees, which produce air. On the hand, Blades are forged in Fire. So having the Athame be a Fire tool makes more sense to some. But if you are one of these people who use Wands as an Air tool and Swords as a Fire tool, it can sometimes be difficult to find a Tarot deck to fits your tradition.The Modern Spellcaster’s Tarot is one such deck. It uses the Wand as an Air tool and Swords as a Fire tool. It has beautiful illustrations on each card. And comes with a book printed on glossy paper with full sized pictures of the cards and a full page of explanation of how to interpret each card.Unfortunately, although the book spends a full page on how to interpret each card, it tells nothing about what is in the picture of each card or who these people are. If the Lover’s card is a picture of Perseus and Andromeda or Samson and Delilah, knowing that and the story behind that couple adds a whole layer to the possible way to interpret that card. On the other hand, if the author gives not clue as to who the people are on the card, then my interpretations are more difficult. Another problem with the cards is that the labels that tell the name of that card are in a very small font and printed in black on a dark brown background. This makes it very difficult to read the cards in dim light. And finally, I wish that the cards had astrological symbols on them. Other decks, which have these on them makes it easer for me to interpret because I have another layer of meaning beyond the picture on each card. For example, in this deck, the The Five of Wands has a picture of a group of men playing pinjata with a hornet’s nest. For me, this is especially funny because I know that the Five of Air is one of the Aquarius cards, which are ruled by Uranus and that the Five, specifically refers to the first decanate of Aquarius, which is ruled by Venus.But overall, in spite of its’ faults, I recommend the Modern SPellCaSteR’s Tarot.

The book provided with this deck is a nice sized informative book which not only covers card translations (upright/reversed), but also magical uses and general deck uses & care (cleansing, storing, & recharging), readings for self/others, tarot basics (elements, numerology), and skill development. The deck is borderless which I like. The card stock is thin but decent. The images are painted in vivid colors, very realistic! I love the fact that this deck displays diversity. My only gripe is with some of the images pictured following the first image attached to this review (no gripe with the first images). In my personal opinion, the image on the six of wands seems to fit the seven of wands better. The death card shows no sunlight in the background to reflect a rebirth after one ending or after transformation. The nine of cups looks confused, not contented nor gratified. What’s with the black stone of the high priestess & the green empress, not really digging it. The hierophant with a whip before witch-like & devil-like bodies? The hanged man suspended in a tomb like belted coffin right side up? The chains are tight as opposed to loose around the peoples neck... personally not feeling the bat winged devil either. I’d prefer no harness on the squirrel in Knight of pentacles. The Egyptian-like goddess In the star looks miserable. The world card feels a bit out of place. I don’t know if it the empty blue background:/ I still give it a 5 stars because my gripe with the images are more personal. Plus to be fair, I still have yet to finish reading the parts of the guide book where the artist or author describes and or translate each of the images.