I am quite partial to large tarot decks, and the mega-sized cards of this one play right into that weakness of mine. The kit it comes as is also a joy for any tarot enthusiast. You get all the tarot items in the picture above. That is my deck, I added the squishy kitty as I was told today is bring your cat to work day, and that is my mental health support cat.

You do not get the cat with the kit, just the rest.

First impression:

A surprisingly faithful and affectionate fusion of Buffy fandom and tarot. At first glance it looks like a novelty deck, but it is much more functional than many licensed pop-culture tarots.

Who it’s for:

Fans of Buffy the Vampire Slayer who already know the characters and mythology reasonably well.

Strength:

Strong character-card matching and a coherent narrative universe if you are familiar with the series.

Limitation:

Many cards depend on knowledge of the show. Non-fans lose a significant portion of the symbolism. The little booklet it comes with does help though clarify some details.

Creators:

• Author: Casey Gilly

• Artist: Karl James Mountford

Artwork and aesthetic

Style:

Modern illustrated fantasy. Clean digital artwork with rich colors and comic-book influences. The imagery is great and the colors really stand out.

Tone:

Heroic, witty, emotional, and slightly gothic, very much in the spirit of Buffy itself.

You’ll like this deck if:

• You love Buffy lore.

• You enjoy character-driven tarot.

• You prefer colorful modern decks over traditional occult imagery.

You may not like this deck if:

• You dislike fandom decks.

• You rely heavily on traditional esoteric symbolism.

• You have never watched Buffy.

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Readability

Clarity:

8/10

Difficulty:

Medium

Short verdict:

Easy to read for Buffy fans, moderately challenging for everyone else. If you spend some time with the cards, they become easier to read.

System and structure

Rider–Waite-Smith based:

Yes.

Minor Arcana:

Fully illustrated.

Notes:

The deck follows RWS meanings quite closely. Most cards can be interpreted traditionally while adding Buffy-specific layers.

Examples:

• Buffy as Strength works well.

• Giles naturally occupies wisdom-oriented archetypes.

• Villains and allies are generally assigned thoughtfully rather than randomly.

Physical feel

Size:

Mega Size Edition: approximately 12.7 × 17.8 cm.

This is substantially larger than a standard tarot deck and slightly larger than many ‘giant’ editions. Mostly for table readings due to the size, but a pleasure to work with in any environment.

Card stock:

Good quality Llewellyn card stock. Sturdy without being excessively thick.

Finish:

Smooth matte-to-satin finish. A bit sticky at first, but after some use they shuffle very well.

Short verdict:

Excellent for table readings and study. Less practical for shuffling in hand.

Scores

Artwork:

9/10

Readability:

8/10

Usability:

8/10

Depth:

8/10

One-line summary:

One of the better licensed tarot decks, respectful to both tarot and Buffy; great quality of cards, box and accessories it comes with.

My reading experience

Situation:

Career draw.

Cards drawn:

• Present- The 4 of Chalices (Cups)

• Help- The 3 of Pentacles

• What is hidden- The Chariot

Interpretation:

If you feel stuck it is not because of lack of opportunity. It is because your motivation has gone dormant.

The hidden Chariot suggests a strong desire to move forward, while the 3 of Pentacles says the next step comes through developing expertise and working with the right people rather than making a dramatic leap.

So, if you are unsure of your current career/role, the path forward is skill-building, collaboration, and productive work with others not a major change.

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Personality of the deck

If this deck were a person:

A bubbly extrovert with a hidden library of occult books and surprisingly sharp insights.

If this deck had a voice:

Warm, sarcastic, encouraging, positive and driven.

If this deck had a mood:

“Yes, the apocalypse is coming. We’ll deal with it after coffee.”

Longevity

First impression vs later use:

Initially enjoyable because of nostalgia. Later becomes more interesting because character interactions add extra layers. Symbols reveal themselves the more you use it.

Does it become repetitive:

Less than expected. The large cast creates variety and the quality of the imagery draws you in.

Does it deepen over time:

Yes, especially if you’re familiar with the tarot and Buffy together.

Comparison

Similar to:

• The Disney Villains Tarot

Key difference:

Buffy has enough character development and emotional complexity to support genuine tarot symbolism rather than merely decorating existing meanings.

Final personal verdict

Would I keep this deck:

Yes.

Would I recommend it:

Absolutely, to Buffy fans especially, but any tarot enthusiast can find joy in it.

Who should definitely buy it:

• Buffy collectors.

• Tarot readers who enjoy fandom decks.

• Readers who like narrative and character-based symbolism.

Who should avoid it:

• Traditionalists seeking heavy occult symbolism.

• Readers who dislike pop-culture adaptations.

Closing thought:

Many licensed tarot decks feel like merchandise wearing tarot clothes. Buffy feels more like a real tarot deck, although knowledge of the series deepens meaning.

My favorite card:

The 2 of Pentacles - a very successful depiction of this card’s meaning

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The tarot is shrouded in this aura of mystery and mysticism, and I sometimes find certain people like it to seem inaccessible because it gives them a special quality. I do not think that is true though.

I think the tarot is accessible to everybody, and more over I think the tarot likes to be accessible to everybody, because then we all benefit from its support.

The magic of tarot comes from the people using the cards and projecting onto them their worries, their anxieties and their hopes.

The cards will not fix your problems, but they might help you find a path within yourself to deal with them, accept them or just move on.

The tarot does not belong to a select few and it cannot just be understood by the initiates.

It is picture cards that can speak to literally every one.

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Remember when you were little and you read, or somebody read to you, stories about dragons, kings and queens, peasants and landowners, fantastic creatures. Remember how you projected your young, unfiltered mind into these stories? You could actually see them, you were part of them, living with the characters.

The same with the tarot. The images on the cards are able to speak to anyone, and, depending on your state of mind, of what you need at that certain time, one detail or another will speak to you and make you think.

The tarot can help also because it is very intimate, it is between just you and the cards. With the cards you can be completely honest, you don’t need to put on a brave face, you do not need to pretend you are this way or the other, you do not need to have secrets. And from this complete honesty you can emerge and work with the cards to find a path forward or to step to the side and contemplate the situation you are faced with.

Can some picture cards do all of these?

Well, it is you that does it mainly, the tarot just helps you slow down the mind and root around for answers, good or bad.

We live in a golden age of tarot, there are out there so many talented creators that have used their skills to create different decks to speak to all types of people. With animals, with cartoons, with stories, with legends, fairytales, different cultures etc. so so many, all you need to do is find the one that most resonates with you and give yourself the space to learn to work with it.

Plus, there are so many amazing writers that write about the tarot and you can find books about intuitive reading, about different decks and their interpretations, so many things to support you, and me, to find a true counsellor in the tarot.

As always though, as it goes with AI, the same with the tarot, you be the human in the loop. If something does not make sense question it, even the tarot can have bad days.

If you would like to share tidbits of your journey with me I would love to find them out.

Till next time, Insightful Readings!

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While rummaging around the internet, I ran into the name of Benebell Wen on quite a few occasions, and I often saw her book, Holistic Tarot (published in 2015), listed among the results. For one reason or another, I never looked into either the author or the book.

Until a few days ago.

And oh my, was my mind blown away.

I saw a book for which Benebell Wen had written the blurb, no idea which one, because I look at so many, but the name stuck in my mind. Then one day, while looking things up online, aka procrastinating, I remembered the name and decided to search for it.

It turns out Benebell Wen is not the author’s real name, but an alias with a special meaning to her. I’ll let you discover that for yourself on her About Me page.

I was deeply impressed -and honestly elated to have found her- by the amazing structure of the study guides and the clear instructions on how a tarot enthusiast (me) can go about learning more and developing their craft.

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The information on her site is so well structured and beautifully laid out that I genuinely feel I should pay for it somehow, just to reward all the work that clearly went into it. I will definitely work on finding the book, if only to repay her in that small way.

I was taken to her website, and in the tarot section I found this abundance of free documentation, study guides, templates, and videos. Mind-boggling that all of that is freely available and anyone can simply learn from it! And these are not random bits thrown together, they are genuinely excellent resources, very well researched and carefully worked on.

Sadly, I do not have the book yet, and it is not easily available in Europe, but I will find it for sure. I always do.

I was also stunned to discover that despite having built this incredible body of work, she still has a day job. So she does all this while also working full-time. That honestly made me feel like maybe I can do more myself and stop whining all day that I have no time, that I work too much, etc. etc. etc.

She even provides templates for what you need to do when starting your practice, how to make yourself known through social media, and so on. I’m telling you, it is a wealth of information, all available for free. I kept thinking there had to be a catch somewhere, but I could not find one. And I still have so much left to discover there!

I also watched some of her videos, very useful and very caringly done.

What can I say? I became an instant fan, and I am incredibly grateful for all this support given to novice tarot enthusiasts. And not only novice ones!

I wholeheartedly recommend her to any tarot enthusiast.

So happy to have found her!

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For the first time ever I am celebrating World Tarot Day! To be fair I had no idea it existed, but it makes total sense. There are days celebrating so many weird, wonderful and not so wonderful things.

Of course, Tarot Day requires a special post, and I was thinking, what should I write about? I did not want to write a vague post that would contribute nothing or that would just be foggy and incense smelling. I decided to write something that celebrates the Tarot by speaking about its complexities.

As today is a day, my mind went to time and I thought, what better topic than Tarot’s links to time and how it expresses time.

All the information I am sharing is available in the thousands of books about the tarot, easily available online, but this brief, easy and digestible pieces of information that I am sharing is just meant to give you an idea of the topic and then, the world is your oyster, if you are interested to learn more about it.

I did mention this before, I am quite fascinated by the technicalities of the Tarot, not just its magic and mysticism, although I have to be honest, I also do strongly believe in them, in the alchemy between the tarot, the human existence and our minds, that leads to magical and unexplainably accurate readings.

So, about Tarot and Time.

One of the things that fascinated me very early about the Tarot was that the cards are not just random symbolic images floating in mystical space. There is an actual structure behind them. Layers over layers of correspondences, systems, patterns and link that connect the cards to astrology, numerology, elements, seasons, planets and, of course, time itself.

The more you study the Tarot, the more you realise that many of these old systems were trying to create a symbolic map of human existence using archetypes and the knowledge we had gathered that far.

One of the simplest examples is the connection between the days of the week and planetary energies.

Monday is traditionally associated with the Moon. Tuesday with Mars. Wednesday with Mercury. Thursday with Jupiter. Friday with Venus. Saturday with Saturn and Sunday with the Sun.

And because the Tarot also has cards associated with planets and zodiac signs, some cards naturally resonate more strongly with certain days.

For example, Monday and The Moon card make perfect sense together. Intuition, emotions, dreams, uncertainty, inner worlds, all those very lunar things. Friday connects beautifully with The Empress because of Venus, beauty, pleasure, creativity, love and abundance. Sunday and The Sun card are probably the most obvious pairing in the deck. Even somebody who never picked up a Tarot deck can almost instinctively understand that one.

Some Tarot readers actually pull cards differently depending on the day, or pay more attention to certain themes during certain planetary days. But that is for the experts, I am not that skilled yet.

And this is where Tarot slowly stops feeling like ‘pick a random card and invent a meaning’ and starts feeling much more like a symbolic language with its own internal logic. Although, intuitive readings are very accurate also, they use our internal symbolism.

Another fascinating layer is astrology.

The Major Arcana cards are also connected to zodiac signs and planets. The Emperor is associated with Aries, Strength with Leo, Death with Scorpio, The Star with Aquarius and so on.

This means that certain cards can feel stronger or more relevant during certain periods of the year.

For example, Scorpio season already carries themes of transformation, endings, emotional intensity and rebirth. So, if the Death card appears during that period, many readers would interpret it diferently than if it appeared at another time of the year. Not necessarily as a literal ending, but more as part of a natural cycle of change already happening around us.

And then we get into the really interesting territory: Tarot and timing.

This is probably one of the most debated subjects in Tarot reading because, unfortunately, the cards do not come with subtitles saying ‘this will happen next Thursday at 4:37 PM.’ Life would certainly be easier if they did.

Still, over time, different systems appeared that tried to estimate timing through the cards.

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One popular method connects the suits to different speeds of manifestation.

Wands are usually associated with days because they are fast, fiery and energetic.

Swords are often connected to weeks.

Cups to months.

Pentacles to years because they are slower, material and grounded.

So, for example, if somebody pulls the Three of Wands regarding an upcoming event, some readers may interpret that as roughly three days. The Three of Cups may suggest three months and the Three of Pentacles could point toward something developing over a much longer period.

Of course, Tarot is never mathematics. It is symbolic language. Sometimes frighteningly accurate symbolic language, but still symbolic.

Another beautiful structure hidden inside the Tarot is the connection between the suits and the seasons.

Wands are connected to Spring.

Cups to Summer.

Swords to Autumn.

Pentacles to Winter.

And once you notice this, the emotional atmosphere of the suits suddenly makes so much sense.

Wands feel energetic and full of movement, just like Spring.

Cups feel emotional, fertile and overflowing like Summer.

Swords often carry tension, reflection and difficult truths, very similar to Autumn, when things begin to die away and the world becomes sharper and colder.

Pentacles feel stable, practical and slow, like Winter itself.

Even numerology plays a role in how Tarot expresses cycles and time.

All Aces carry the energy of beginnings.

Threes usually represent growth and expansion.

Fives bring instability, conflict or disruption.

Nines often feel like the final stretch before completion.

Tens represent the end of a cycle and the transition toward another one.

This repeating structure is one of the reasons Tarot starts feeling strangely coherent once you study it long enough. The cards may look mystical and chaotic at first, but underneath them there is an almost architectural framework holding everything together.

And honestly, this is one of the things I love the most about the Tarot.

Not just the mystery.

Not just the magic.

But the strange feeling that behind all these images of towers, moons, skeletons, lovers, suns and wandering fools, there is an attempt to understand time, human nature and existence itself through symbols.

And whether one believes the Tarot is mystical, psychological, spiritual or simply a fascinating symbolic system, I think there is something undeniably beautiful about that.

Happy World Tarot Day All!

Fruitful Readings!

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Mystical Medleys

A Vintage Cartoon Tarot

First impressions:

Who it’s for: Vintage cartoon and tarot lovers, lovely pairing!

Strength: Huge feel good factor! Beautiful cartoons with imaginative interpretations of the RWS tarot.

Limitation: Too cute for more serious meditation or spiritual alignment, but still accurate in readings.

Creator: Gary Hall, an animator passionate about the tarot and the rubber hose cartoons of the 1920s and 1930s.

Quirk: Two bonus cards that add another dimension to the cards.

Artwork and aesthetic

Style: Vintage cartoon characters beautifully drawn and adapted to the tarot symbols.
Tone: Cute and playful, nostalgic.

You’ll like this deck if: You love vintage animation, cartoons and you are a tarot enthusiast.
You may not like this deck if: You are looking for a more serious, somber deck with traditional imagery.

Readability

Clarity: Mostly clear, easy to relate to the images and symbols.
Difficulty: medium as sometimes the meaning can be obscured by the cartoons

Short verdict: Lovely to read and they always bring a smile to my face when I use them. Great to use when you need something to cheer you up and soothe the child within.

Very usable booklet accompanying the deck, good quality and well written, with color imagery and original interpretations.

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System and structure

Rider–Waite-Smith based: Yes
Minor Arcana: Illustrated

Notes: Lovely, good natured imagery inspired in its rendering of the RWS imagery and symbols.

Physical feel

Size: Fairly standard 12 cm x 7 cm (≈ 4.7 × 2.75 inches)- Slightly taller than a standard tarot deck, but still comfortable to shuffle unless your hands are very small.
Card stock: Good, feels a bit rigid which I like.
Finish: Not shiny, but not fully matte either, a good middle option.

Short verdict: Good shuffle, stick slightly but not so much as to be bothersome. Fit nicely in the hand.

Come in a great, sturdy box to store them safely and a pleasure to see in your collection as it is beautifully decorated.

Scores

Artwork: 10/10
Readability: 8/10
Usability: 8/10
Depth: 8/10

One-line summary: Superb deck, to use on rainy days and when the sun needs a bit of help to shine!

My reading experience

Situation: What should I know about next month regarding career, love and money.
Cards drawn:

Interpretation:

Career: Five of Cups

Something at work may disappoint you next month, but the card warns against becoming emotionally trapped in what went wrong. Not all doors are closed, the important opportunities are the ones you still haven’t fully noticed yet.

Love: Three of Pentacles

Love next month grows through cooperation, communication, and mutual effort rather than dramatic passion. Someone may show affection not through grand words, but through consistency, presence, and practical support.

Money: Nine of Pentacles

Financially, this is a strong and reassuring card: it speaks about stability, self-reliance, and quietly enjoying what you’ve built. Next month may remind you that real abundance is not only having money, but also having peace around it.

Personality of the deck

If this deck were a person: Playful, supportive person, always looking on the bright side.

If this deck had a voice: It would be gently nudging you towards joy and advising to try a new perspective when things seem

If this deck had a mood: Nostalgic, positive, fun.

Longevity

First impression vs later use: I have been using them for a few good months now and every time I use them they give me joy.
Does it become repetitive: No
Does it deepen over time: No, not really, but the images are complex and often you find a new details.

Comparison

Similar to: RWS
Key difference: vintage cartoon imagery

Final personal verdict

Would I keep this deck: Yes for sure.
Would I recommend it: Yes, outstanding quality and great imagery.

Who should definitely buy it: If you love vintage cartoons and the tarot, this is for you.
Who should avoid it: If you cannot connect with the cards due to their playfulness, this deck might not be the one for you.

Closing thought: I enjoy the creativity and beautiful execution of the cards. The quality of the cards themselves, the imagery, the booklet and the box, all outstanding, so for sure a great addition to any tarot collection. And they will always bring a smile to your face, guaranteed.

My favorite card:

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As a tarot enthusiast I often find that the daily draw makes me think more about the implications of my actions, reactions and inactions. I am being cute with my language, once a writer always a writer, but the essence of it is true, despite my cuteness.

For a good while now I draw cards daily without a specific questions, just wanting to know what they cards think I should know about the day, and I have to say they are really helpful to manage my anxieties and focus my mind.

I find it quite fascinating that no matter what cards I draw I find something to learn from them. I assume this is the magic of the tarot, the power of projection through which the mind will always find something to work with in the archetypes of the cards.

Since the world was young humans have loved, have had to work, needed to do all the things that makes us human, so we are all different, yet so much alike. This means that we are all able to relate to the symbols of the cards, and they will always speak to us even if sometimes at an unconscious level.

The idea of writing this post formed in my mind when, through repeated use of the daily draw, I saw that it helped me become more grounded, more mindful about my interactions and honestly, more in tune with myself, with the good and the more challenging areas.

For example, I tend to be quite impulsive and sometimes react disproportionately to certain events in my day to day. But with the warning of the tarot I became a lot better at managing my emotions.

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Several tarot cards can carry this meaning, but the strongest and most direct are:

• Strength: not ‘suppress emotions’ but mastering them. Calm control over impulses, anger, fear, pride, ego. The classic image is someone gently taming a lion, not beating it into submission. Very ‘respond, don’t react’.

• King of Swords: think clearly before acting. Logic over emotional turbulence. Detached judgment, strategy, measured words. The ‘sleep on it before sending that message’ card.

• Justice: emotional balance plus consequences. Step back, evaluate fairly, avoid impulsive reactions. Often appears when emotions are distorting perspective.

• Temperance: moderation, emotional regulation, patience, integration. Probably the most psychologically mature answer. It says: don’t swing from one extreme to another just because feelings are loud today.

• The Hanged Man: pause. Don’t react yet. Reconsider from another angle. Sometimes the wisest move is temporary non-action.

And so on.

Sometimes, often really, I feel and think that the tarot is that truly intimate friend and supporter we all need, that gently nudges us without judgement or ulterior motives. The friend that will always keep your secret and will be there for you no matter what.

Or like a therapist but cheaper!

What cards did I draw today?

These ones:

I know! My cuteness knows no bounds!

These cards are part of a learner tarot deck by Wyspell which I love. I have three decks with cards that have the meaning on them, two RWS and one Marseille, and I recommend them as I find them really useful to learn meanings easily.

So yeah, if you ever thought about using the tarot but was overwhelmed by its complexity, get a learner tarot deck and start small, one card per day and you will be surprised of the effects!

Side note: The Hulk card! So great! AI outdid itself there! I love it and it represents my idea so well! I gave it the prompt but the execution is so great! After I created it I checked online if there is a tarot deck for the Avengers but there isn’t. There is a book weirdly called Tarot, but it seems it is not an actual deck.

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An Australian clairvoyant, palmist, writer and tarot reader Paul Fenton-Smith has quite a few very good books on the tarot.

I like his works a lot because he accompanies his card descriptions with actual examples of readings he has done for clients, and that is so useful, when as a beginner you are confused about how to make sense of the cards in front of you and actually read them.

What is interesting about Paul Fenton-Smith is that he is a tarot reader like those that you see in the movies. He seems capable to tell you your life story and where it might be going from just a few cards. I find that level of detail fascinating.

My favorite of his books on the tarot is Advanced Tarot - An in-Depth Guide to Practical & Intuitive Tarot Reading. Published in 2021 is a biggish book of 556 pages. The quality of the paper is exquisite, it is a bit more like thin cardboard than paper, so the book itself is a bit impressive in size, but a pleasure to handle.

I have to say that having gone through his other books, happily I was able to find all of the ones he wrote on the tarot, (even the very first one, which is now very difficult to find titled Mastering the Tarot: A Guide to Advanced Tarot Reading and Practice), sometimes the stories of the querents are the same.

Sometimes, not always, and I assume that has all the sense in the world, as it is difficult to find new instances to make a point all the time. Maybe that in itself is proof of his authenticity.

I mention this because, you might not need to buy all his books, but just one that really speaks to you. All of them are good and all of them a pleasure to read and learn from.

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The Advanced Tarot one is a chunky book and very pleasant to learn from. Although the images in the book itself are not color, at the beginning of the book there are a few shiny plates with the tarot cards in color, and the book cover doubles back on itself and displays some of the cards.

You will find in the book information on the cards, on spreads, a very good section on asking questions which I loved, cause sometimes it is difficult to know how to ask the tarot something that would lead to a meaningful answer.

And of course the sections with examples from real life readings, I think this is where the strength of the book lies. Working with real life examples of questions, readings and outcomes helps deepen understanding and learning, supporting us, the tarot enthusiasts, to broaden our knowledge.

Also, the book, through these examples, is full of other people’s lives and their stories, so it is a wonderful blending of the tarot with the human existence.

I found fascinating the fact that Paul Fenton-Smith is actually a very exact tarot reader. He tells you about people in your life, events, if you are sleeping well, what will happen with that job or the other, will your love show up or not, and so on.

It is very entertaining and educational at the same time, because I think, Paul Fenton-Smith delivers in his readings exactly what people usually expect when they go for a reading, some exact details and a bit of direction, of which most often it is they themselves that make sense of.

Free will is present and that is great to see, the tarot shows the possible path if nothing changes from the moment of the reading on. If you make changes to your circumstances, if you make changes to yourself, the path also changes. And that is not a realization that many people have and they just feel condemned to a life of dreary repetition or self-fulfilling prophecies.

At any time, at any age, any of us can change their path, making it this way or the other. If you do not know what to ask the tarot, as Paul Fenton-Smith says, ask it:

And the tarot will give you an idea, and by thinking about it, ruminating, digging deep into yourself you will find the answer to carry you over.

If you know Paul Fenton-Smith’s work, I would love to hear your opinions and if he was a good resource for you.

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Intro to the Tarotery Tarot Deck Reviews section:

I have quite a few tarot decks, and some of them I adore, some I am in awe of, some are meh!, some are a waste of money, so, because I have them and I also have quite strong opinions about them, I decided to share the information with the tarot enthusiasts interested to read about decks.

AstroMatrix

—Tarot Deck Review—

First impression: Good quality and fun!

Who it’s for: Suitable for beginners and advanced users alike

Strength: Beautiful colors and great feel when shuffling

Limitation: Confusing mix of imagery between RWS and symbols from various cultures

Creators: The deck is produced under the AstroMatrix brand, not credited to a specific artist or occult author. It appears to have been released around 2021–2022 and it is a team-designed product.

Artwork and aesthetic

Style: sharp images, beautiful colors
Tone: passionate, energetic

You’ll like this deck if: You like bright colors and have an interest in astrology
You may not like this deck if: You like continuity of theme

Readability

Clarity: mixed - The imagery on some cards might be confusing or lacking context
Difficulty: medium

Short verdict: Good to read especially if you have a bit of background knowledge about the cards. The QR code on the back of the cards makes it very easy to access meanings quickly.

System and structure

Rider–Waite-Smith based: yes
Minor Arcana: illustrated

Notes:

Amazing colors and imagery

Inspiration from various cultures and spiritual beliefs

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Physical feel

Size: Standard 12.1 × 7 cm (≈ 4.76 × 2.75 inches)
Card stock: Regular good card stock, not too floppy, not too stiff
Finish: Matte

Short verdict: Very good to shuffle and a pleasure to work with. Nice feel in your hands when you work with them.

Scores

Artwork: 8/10
Readability: 8/10
Usability: 8/10
Depth: 8/10

One-line summary: Good deck, with beautiful imagery, strong colors and great to shuffle.

My reading experience

Situation: Career draw
Cards drawn:

What is hidden now and I need to know: Hanged one

What will be waiting in the future: Three of Swords

and as clarifier for the Three of Swords: High Priestess

Interpretation:

You are in a phase where pushing forward will not help. Step back and reassess monitoring the situation. (Hanged One)

If you act too quickly or based on incomplete info, you are likely to face disappointment or a setback. (3 of Swords)

There is something hidden: office dynamics, unspoken rules, or a gut feeling you are ignoring. (High Priestess)

Personality of the deck

If this deck were a person: I see it like a very flamboyant person, casually distracted but very knowledgeable. They would have that studied bohemian look, but actually they have a system.

If this deck had a voice: It would be a calm, encouraging voice.

If this deck had a mood: This is a difficult one because it mixes several systems I tend to see it as a bit of erratic, but it is positive, it does work to point you in a productive direction.

Longevity

First impression vs later use: At first you are wowed by the beautiful colors, but then the imagery starts to show the strange mix of cultures and maybe the characters seem too curated.
Does it become repetitive: I don’t think so, but I do find myself thinking about the RWS cards sometimes when drawing one so I can call to memory other symbols.
Does it deepen over time: Not really, no.

Comparison

Similar to: Rider Waite Smith in that it mostly follows the RWS symbolism and structure
Key difference: Elements from various religions, quite focused on astrology.

Final personal verdict

Would I keep this deck: Yes for sure. Good size, nice shuffling feel, great colors, positive vibe.
Would I recommend it: Yeah

Who should definitely buy it: People that want to break away from RWS but not fully.
Who should avoid it: People that do not like unusual cultural overlaps.

Closing thought: I like it a lot and I use it often.

My favorite card:

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When I was writing about the tarot on my writing Substack I felt free, I rejoiced in the enthusiasm of the amateur, the freedom of the random discovery.

Ever since I created a separate Substack, just because they were getting muddled, I started to feel a bit pressured to be more serious, more professional, which my brain dislikes deeply and rejects automatically. So, in a way, the perceived responsibility pushed me away from writing whatever crosses my mind about the tarot …

But then, I realized this is a fake sense of pressure, it is something I create by myself for my own misery. I do love a bit of misery me!

Nobody has any expectations from me, and I don’t need to become yet another didactic person talking about the tarot.

My strength is in my passion and in my own personal view and experience.

I have my own voice, my own view, my own world, so, my Tarotery will be just that, my unique way of dealing with the cards, reading them, seeing them, writing about them.

I love the Tarot, I don’t know why, I just have a passion for it, and despite being a person that becomes really obsessive about something, but then suddenly loses interest, I did not lose interest in the tarot. On the contrary, my passion grew and now I have I don’t know how many tarot decks and books about the tarot.

On every trip we take, I drag my very patient better half to books shops or esoteric shops to check out what I can find.

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I want to share with you all of these wonderful things that I have found and I am lucky to have in my life.

I want to tell you about the strange and wonderful tarot decks I have, about the books I read (in full or partial), I want to share with you my own experience with the tarot.

The internet is full of resources and of guides, you can buy whatever deck you want now online, it is a great time to be a tarot enthusiast, and this is what my Tarotery is about, the enthusiasm and the passion for the Tarot.

The Tarot will not tell you the future, but it will center you, it will support you on your journey and it will keep you company.

It will give your mind space to be creative and it will give you strength by clarifying to yourself the path you want to be on.

The Tarot is not about witches and dark forces, it is about the being projected onto the cards, thus becoming infused with your own personal magic.

I hope you will join me on my travels in the world of the Tarot and that the Tarotery will be a comfortable oasis of quiet and joy.

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My Tarot book collection is a nice size. Not too big, not too little, just the right amount of books for me to feel like a real tarot enthusiast, but not so big that I am mistaken for an expert.

I have some really good ones, and although out there, there are many more exceptional books I am happy with what I have and work from them without longing for other.

Recently though, I stumbled upon a book I did not know existed and I just had to have.

On a beautiful day in Kilkenny, while out enjoying the amazing weather, we went into a small book shop we always visit when in town. Their site seems to be under construction as it is missing some info, but I am linking it here nevertheless, in gratitude for having some really amazing books.

While looking through the book section on spirituality, my heart skipped a beat when I saw a large, blue book with the word Tarot beautifully written in gold lettering on its cover.

Intrigued, I moved books about and got to it.

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The complete title of the book was: The Tarot: A Collection of Secret Wisdom from Tarot’s Mystical Origins.

The book was nicely wrapped in a tight plastic film, so I could not browse through it, but when I saw I just had to have it.

The book is published in 2021, but strangely enough I did not stumble upon it in all my internet discovery expeditions. I assume things happen, when they need to happen, and not before.

The amazing thing about this book is that it is a collection of old texts about the tarot, and for a person interested in everything about the tarot, it is an outstanding resource. Below, in the image showing its back, you can see info about the texts in it.

This is not a book to read just so, this is a book to consult, to study and understand. Some of the old texts are strange to the contemporary reader and I think that is part of what makes them fascinating.

At a weighty 956 pages and a pretty large format, this is a home study tool, as carrying it around is not very practical. But what an amazing resource to have!

The quality of the book is outstanding with sturdy hardcover, good printing and nice feeling paper.

I am so happy I stumbled upon it and, although I do not understand all of the information in it yet, I love trying to understand and reading it.

I am pleased it has in it some texts that I read about in other books, giving me the chance to consult them myself.

This is a great resource and, if, as it happened to me, it crosses your path, give it a browse, see if you want to give it some space in your library. It has pride of place in mine.

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Reading and discovering about the Tarot is a very enjoyable pass time for me. It is like when you have to do some work around the house, but you like doing it so much that it is not really a chore, but something that relaxes you and energizes you.

The same with my reading about Tarot, with the difference that I read other people’s work and some books are easier to follow, some are more difficult, some make it more interesting, some are just stating facts and make the process a bit dry.

During this process of learning about the tarot I have started to have favorites among the writers I read from. This post is about them.

I have no interest to write about the books that make it hard to understand, mainly because I did not spend that much time on them. I usually pick my resources after a bit of research, and I have been lucky enough so far to find some really good authors.

I am 100% sure that there are many more out there and I look forward to discovering them, for now I can just speak of some of the ones that I discovered so far.

My top three favorites would be Liz Dean, Barbara Moore and Anthony Louis. Although recently I discovered a French author and deck creator that I quite like, Emanuelle Iger.

But of course I am also looking into the greats Rachel Pollack, Mary K. Greer, Paul Fenton-Smith, Liz Greene. I have browsed Eden Gray and Arthur Edward Waite, looked through Aleister Crowley, and I think I have many more years ahead of enjoying my learning process. A thing wonderful to know.

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The amount of materials and the number of tarot decks out there is absolutely mind boggling. It is a great time to be a wanna-be tarot expert, or how you prefer to title yourself. I have chosen for myself the title of tarot enthusiast.

I am not a reader as I do not do readings, I am not an expert as I have loads more to learn, but for sure I am an enthusiast as I am fascinated by the symbolism, the overlapping of archetypes and the evolution of tarot through the ages.

With a new passion comes a new collection, what else! And this is a tarot decks collection. I have read that there are people that have thousands of decks, I can totally believe that. When visiting Amsterdam I had the chance to visit an esoteric shop that, amongst other things, had an impressive collection of tarot and oracle decks.

While I am not that much into oracle decks, I am fascinated by the tarot ones, and I was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of decks there. They also have some old decks, but sadly I did not have time to make an appointment to see them. On another occasion maybe.

I have started a little collection of my own with decks that caught my eye. As I am fascinated with things being differently than one expects, I fell in love with a Giant Rider-Waite-Smith Deck I had to wait one month for to come from the States. They did not disappoint. They are indeed giant, the quality is very good and they are great for learning as you can see all the details on them.

I like the Rider-Waite-Smith ones the best and most that I have are variations on it, but I also have Liz Greene’s Mythic Tarot, which is a great match for me as I have a keen interest in mythology. I also have the Wonderland Tarot and the Classic Tarot created by Barbara Moore with art by Eugene Smith, which has the most amazing images.

I have some fancy ones, Dali’s and Sola Busca, but just for fun, as I do not see myself ever using them in a reading. It is nice to have them though, they are very special.

I have an idea of doing a ‘deck reviews’ section with the decks that I like. Just a thought.

It is a huge world of tarot out there and it is so wonderful to be part of it, to study it and to learn from it.

It is a great moment in time to be a tarot enthusiast. Yey!

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The One-Card Reading and The Daily Draw are an easy, accessible way of starting to read the tarot and to get used to the cards. They are two different things though.

The One-Card Reading is a one card draw that you can use to clarify a situation or an idea.

The Daily Draw is, usually, a one card draw that enthusiasts and practitioners use as focus for contemplation. The Daily Draw is also recommended when learning the tarot, as it allows students to get familiar with the cards pressure free, to study them for a longer period of time so as to discover their meanings.

Although, both techniques seem simple as they are based on one card, don’t be fooled by their simplicity because they are powerful tools that can support you in your development.

For this post I wanted to pull a card just as an example of Daily Draw, but when I was shuffling the cards my mind wandered to an actual concern in my life and without intending it the Daily Draw became a One-Card Reading, as my mind formulated a question for the cards.

The card that I drew is the Ten of Pentacles.

The Ten of Pentacles is a YES card and in the upright position it is a positive card.

When you are starting out and it is difficult to get to grips with the meaning and symbols of a card it can be useful to have a good meanings book to guide you.

I have The Big Book of Tarot Meanings by Sam Magdaleno. While it does not give you the precise answer it does point you in the right direction. It is nice that in the book meanings are split into categories so it is easy to identify your response area. You have for example: family, love, career, money etc.

If you pulled the Ten of Pentacles and your question was regarding Health, yours or somebody in your circle, then the Ten of Pentacles would show that you are interested in long term health, and as it is a positive card it shows that there is nothing to worry in the long run. Important to mention though that the cards look at the situation right now.

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If tomorrow you started eating a ton of cake each day then the situation would change. So your free will is your free will. You control your path through the macro and micro decisions you take each day. We do not control everything, but many things we do, and those that we can control can make a difference to the big picture.

Some symbols from the Ten of Pentacles:

In the Rider-Waite-Smith cards that I use the pentacles are spread out in the shape of the tree of life. This points to maturity and completeness.

The number 10 again points to completeness, so the Ten of Pentacles shows happy stability, inside and out.

The card shows three generations and pets, so this stability extends beyond the day to day and it becomes trans-generational.

If your use reversed cards and read reversed meanings then the card points to unexpected changes in circumstances.

If you decide to give The One-Card Reading and The Daily Draw a go all the books that I have read recommend you track the cards you draw in your tarot journal and record there your impressions and how it made you feel or think.

I must confess I recently started a tarot journal myself and I track there the cards I draw and what I learn. It has a few other benefits plus it helps the information better stick in my mind.

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I love my tarot, and a side of it which I find extremely fascinating is how it can be whatever you need it to be. It can be a divination tool, it can support self-development, or it can help you navigate the intricacies of day to day life.

And I think we really need that. There are moments when you are all alone with your head buzzing with good or bad things, in urgent need of a way to quiet the mind and restore some order.

Also, sometimes we cannot express what is inside, not even to ourselves, and having a tool that easily connects to our psyche and can give use something to go on, is priceless.

If you have learnt about the tarot is great but if you haven’t it is great also, because the archetypal nature of the tarot makes is open to absolutely everybody interested in using it.

Plus, if you are passionate about something, have a search, there is a chance there might be a deck created around that. There are so many gorgeous decks out there starting from the Rider-Waite-Smith, which makes them easy to recognize and work with.

An amazing book I wholeheartedly recommend is Mary K. Greer’s Tarot for your self, it is an oldie but goodie, an important work that contributed greatly to the way the tarot is perceived and used.

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It is one of the books I study from, as it is that kind of workbook that needs to be taken slowly and understood, it has exercises and prescriptions.

For example, (I opened the book at random, as I wanted to give you a bit of information on the spot about the book.) it has a chapter dedicated to Dealing with Moods, Emotions and Relationships. In this chapter the author provides actual exercises that you can do with pen and paper to support you when facing difficult times.

It opens with an exercise that you can use when your mood is a bit low.

At the end of each chapter there are items suggested for further reading, if you are interested to grow your knowledge about certain techniques or pieces of information.

I think on a certain level I always had a soft spot for the tarot.

I remember when I was a teenager Cosmopolitan put out an edition that had a Major Arcana Cosmopolitan deck. The cards had a lovely matte finish and they depicted Cosmo women for all the cards. The drawings had vibrant colors and amusing images. I loved those cards so much, sadly I do not know what happened to them over the years.

Happily, now, I have other cards I love and enjoy, it is a really good time to have an interest in the tarot as the resources out there abound. Of course this means that there is a lot of noise out there also, but with patience you can sift through it to find the really good resources.

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I find Tarot deeply fascinating and I enjoy greatly reading about its history, development, symbolism and current views on it. While studying Tarot I came to the conclusion that, in an unexpected way, I think it can help people that want to write be better writers. A few things drove me to this conclusion.

One of them is the details of the Tarot cards and the symbolism of those details. In Tarot cards everything means something.

The color of the clothes, the clouds on the sky, the position of the feet on the ground, in water, are they static or moving, every little thing tells you something and on top of all these we have the big, world defining archetypes.

The tarot teaches us about us as humans and about our evolution in the world.

I find it fascinating that you can find in the cards references to our myths, to our stories and to historic events, plus all those arcane (I had to!) little symbols that you can discover only when you look at a card in depth.

I was thinking this helps us become better writers not only because we learn about our mythology and symbolism, but because it teaches us the power of the detail.

I think that details matter and they can make a piece of writing outstanding, putting a bit more meat on the bones of the story, while also adding depth and dimension.

Yeah, for sure, sometimes symbols can be unnoticed and lost, but when they are noticed they can bring so much joy and additional meaning.

I was also contemplating the idea that the Tarot can be used for a creative writing exercise Draw a card from the deck and create a story for it, or another option is to choose a card that you are attracted to and do that.

I think this is great because it can engage your intuition and I think people would be surprised how much they can pick up from a card that initially seemed just a little piece of drawn carboard. It could jump start things if ever one is stuck.

If the Tarot itself is a bit overwhelming there are countless beautifully designed Oracle cards that can be used in a similar manner.

The cards give us the chance to slow down and connect to a deeper, sometimes buried, by day to day, part of ourselves, and they can bring joy just by their beauty and their stories, much like writing, no?

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In the first books I read about tarot I found instructions about how to befriend my cards, how to cleanse them, how and where to keep them. The practices reminded me of old traditions in which you had to put something under your pillow to dream about your betrothed, or to go on a bridge over a flowing water, under a full moon and throw a token in the water while saying certain words.

The creative in me loves the fantasy of it, but the rational person struggles to fit it into reality. So, although I was pleased to read about these magic prescriptions, at the same time I found it difficult to integrate them fully in my practice.

I read that if you have more than one deck they are jealous of each other, or that you need to sleep with them under your pillow when you first get them. I have never slept with my cards under my pillow and I have more than one deck, so if they are jealous of each other, there is plenty to be jealous about.

This got me thinking, that, I would like to write a post about some beliefs I read about that do not seem grounded in the reality of the tarot as a practice, but more in our need of the ritualistic and to give a mystical dimension to the practice.

Of course, this does not mean that tarot practitioners should not do what they feel is right for them and their cards.

This here is just my opinion and how I approach my tarot cards and learning. The beauty of it is that there is no prescription, no right or wrong, do what makes sense for you and your cards, and that is when true magic happens, when there is an honest connection between you and your cards.

Some people believe that the tarot is evil. Again, everybody is free to believe what makes sense to them. I do not think the tarot is evil. I think, and feel, the tarot is a collection of archetypes from our human development, which resonates with our subconscious, even when we are not aware of all its symbols.

The Tarot does not do evil things, it is a tool that can be used for personal growth and to clarify decisions when they are difficult to make.

A simple example that could explain this, it is like when you need to choose between two things, and you just cannot make up your mind. They both have advantages and disadvantages.

You ask somebody to hide them behind their back, shuffle them and then you choose. If you listen to yourself when the item you chose is revealed, then you know exactly what you want. If you are happy, then that is the right choice, if you are slightly disappointed, then you know for sure you need to go with the other one.

The same with the Tarot. It helps you clarify within yourself ideas, emotions, paths and so much more. So the tarot is not evil. Sometimes the people that use it are, but that is not a reflection on the cards.

If somebody gives exact prescriptions of what a querent should do, or if they say the cards show problems that only that reader can solve in exchange for money or favors or etc. then the querent should leave and never look back.

If anything the tarot is good, because it can provide support and guidance when the path is not clear and the world can feel lonely.

There are so many other legends attached to the tarot, they might require future posts as I do not want to make this one too heavy and difficult to read.

I do want to end on a lighthearted note though.

Some of the funnier prescriptions I found are that, you should never buy your own tarot cards or that you should keep the cards away from cats as they drain the cards’ energy.

I do not think any of them is true. Choosing a tarot deck is such a personal thing that, I think, it needs to be done by yourself, to make sure it is a deck that you resonate with and whose imagery appeals to you.

As for the cats, I know they bring great energy to people and cat owners seem quite relaxed and happy in their presence, so I would not go so far as to reject cats.

The tarot fascinates and terrifies, and I think that is where some of these legends originate. I find it quite interesting to study them and understand how this mindset was formed in the course of Tarot’s history.

As I discover more I will share it with you.

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I don’t use the tarot to predict the future, to divine the unknown, to have an advantage over those that do not read the tarot. I use the tarot to calm an overactive mind, my mind.

Humans are often consumed by different fears, ideas, compulsions, and to be able to cope and lead a relatively balanced life we develop coping mechanisms.

Some people exercise, others shop, others collect things and so on, you know what I mean, I will not state the obvious.

As far as I am concerned, I have found that, using the tarot for self reflection is a great way to quiet my mind when it goes all erratic and stops making sense.

And I think this is a great way to use the tarot, to cope with the stresses of human life.

It is a pleasant way of shifting focus by stopping and processing the emotions and the ideas that have hold of us, tarot functions like a mirror not as a crystal ball.

Tarot is not a substitute for therapy, medication, or professional support. But used with intention, it can become part of a mental health toolkit, especially for those moments when you feel trapped in your own head.

I found tarot helps with anxiety because in a way it externalizes inner chaos. By looking at the cards I stop circling the same thought and instead I explore it through archetypes and imagery.

It gives my mind some structure to hang on to and it forces me to examine what I am feeling and thinking without making me feel judged.

I usually use a three card spread when I need to ground myself quickly.

Some intellectual questions or ideas that can be attached to the three cards are:

What emotion did I not fully acknowledge?

What story am I telling myself about this?

What truth do I need to remember?

But most often I find that I don’t even ask the questions, I just draw the cards and the mind works with them.

Maybe because I have been doing this for some time my mind is very quick to draw meaning and find information in the cards. As they say, practice …

I do want to mention, it is important to use the tarot mindfully, as if it becomes a compulsion and you just draw cards on and on and on, until one that you like comes, it loses meaning.

The aim is to slow down, think, maybe be take a few deep breaths, or write a few lines in a journal about the cards you drew and what they mean for you.

Also, choose a tarot deck that you like, or oracle cards, there are so many out there, and they are so beautiful, a joy to use them and to look at them. If you would like a recommendation write to me below some of the things you like and I can see if I know of any that would match.

Even if I do not know there are so many out there, the only thing is some are better quality than others, I am happy to share whatever knowledge I have.

I truly find a lot of comfort in using the tarot for self-reflection and self-regulation, and I hope you will too.

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In the work Complete Book of Tarot, Anthony Louis has a, beautifully explained and written, section on how Hippocrates’ oath, that doctors abide by, also applies to Tarot readers. It is the first book where I find this analogy and it makes so much sense.

To be clear, I am not equating doctors and tarot readers, they are very different professions, but the impact they can have on patients, respectively querents, is very powerful.

As sometimes the universe wants you to dig deeper into something, after I read that section in the book, I saw in the Irish Independent, in the QA section, a question from somebody who had had their future foretold as a young person. The reader, was in jest, the father of one of her friends and he foretold just bad things for her future.

The impact was so great, that the poor woman had been haunted all her life by those predictions and now, all grown up, with a beautiful family, she was seized by panic attacks worrying something might happen to them and she was unable to rejoice in the life she had built.

See what I mean? How it can affect your querent and they will carry that information with them when they leave the reading table.

Readings should empower the querent to choose their path in life, they should not condemn them to years of rumination and anxiety.

This is a danger often with readers just starting out and unsure of how to interpret the cards. It happened to me too and I think it was one of the reasons I walked away from tarot for such a long time.

Tarot is not easy to learn if you want to do it properly, or at least it is not for me. Around 20 years ago, when I was 20 years younger than now, I had some cards and I had 1 book I had read from. I was fascinated by the tarot, but I did not know too much about it, just that it was something I enjoyed doing.

During that time I was living in student accommodation, something like a super packed hive of young people, and I would play around with the cards doing readings for those around me. Nothing fancy. Just a bit of fun…

At some point, some of us went to a medieval festival, where people dressed up in costumes, the food was olde worlde, the activities, a lot of fun! Of course, I took my cards with me. If not there, where?

I had my long black nails, the works. I did readings to a bunch of people and most of them were good, nothing extraordinary. I was using the Marseille Major Arcana. Then, one of the girls I was with was next.

As it happened, all the ‘dark’ cards appeared for her, and no matter how much I tried I could not make a good reading. She saw the cards, she saw The Tower, Death, The Hangman. I saw how it affected her and I felt so bad that I did not know enough to guide her through the cards. I felt like a sham.

I have kept tabs on her and I am happy to report she is doing great.

Other ethical considerations when reading are related to reading for children. A reading should only be done if needed and in the presence of a significant adult, also using cards appropriate for children. Or when we read about a person that is not present, we should not disclose something that can harm that person that is not present. Also, we should not use the tarot to control or frighten somebody, or impose our own view of the world on them.

The power the cards hold is given by those that believe in them, and used wisely they can be an enriching tool that supports life and living it beautifully.

I think not just Tarot readers should follow the First, do no harm principle, but all of us as humans should internalize it and apply it in our day to day.

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‘Qué será, será’

Recently I picked up again a passion I had as a young girl. Tarot.

When I came to Ireland I packed one big bag and in it I put my small tarot decks and a tarot book. I had not touched them for years, but somehow I felt they should make the journey too.

Now, ten years later, years in which I did not touch my cards, all of a sudden, the passion came back.

We were visiting Kilkenny, my better half and me, and in a book shop I was fascinated to see they had a full section dedicated to esoteric books. I was used to see this in Spain, not Ireland.

They had quite a few books on magic, spells and potions, tarot, wicca etc. all sorts. What surprised me even more was that they had a good price, I mean within range. I looked at them, sniffed around and then picked up a book on tarot that called to me.

It made me so happy.

I started reading it and something in me sparked, and the interest was back with a vengeance. Ever since, I started reading quite a bit on the topic and a new bright and colorful world opened up to me.

The information I have access to right now is worlds apart from what I had access to more than 20 years ago when I first started reading about the tarot.

Now you can find tarot decks easily, different shapes and sizes, with different characters and nuances. The books that help you study are so varied and amazing, it is a totally different experience than the one I had as a teenager way back when in Romania.

I am still in the discovery phase, reading and learning and getting accustomed to the cards. It truly is like learning a new language or the rules of a new world.

I do not know if the cards are meant for divination, but I know that in a way they can be valuable projective tools to uncover your inner resources or blockers, and to aid in creating a better path forward.

I am still learning, and will still be learning for a long time to come and I find that comforting, as I love learning and discovering.

As tarot is one of my passions I decided to dedicate it its own section, and from time to time, to add here updates about how my journey into the world of tarot is going.

I hope you will find it interesting and any questions you have let me know.

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