I was disappointed in this deck. The art is lovely (I am a fan of Stoke's art) but the designers who put together the deck were not either aware of tarot iconography or they were more interested in showcasing the art than in the card meanings--but if that was the intent, I wish they had put more art on the minor cards. This is not a deck that is useful for doing readings, IMO. The suits are color coded, the cards are a good size and are reasonable to shuffle and deal out. But..here are some of the cards:
The Ace of Pentacles is fine.. no wait that is the 3 of pentacles...all the pip cards have the same motif art in the center and then spots for the numbers. Next, going left to right, is the King of Swords..really? Swords is air, not fire. Then the Queen of Swords, without swords or butterfly, and then the Knight of Cups, with neither a cup or water, but a pretty handsome wolf. So right there you can figure the images are assigned at random. Even the colors are not intuitive.. purple for pentacles?? OK then. How about more photos:
So when you are dealing with the pip cards, you can squint at the curly fantasy font, or you can count the spots and then guess at the suit :D
The graphic design IS as pretty as the art, though.
That is..the knight of Swords.
The Empress IS seated on a throne.
The Emperor is at least a guy.
There is a Little White Book in several languages to help you puzzle out the cards. I have not read it.
Aaaand a cardinal sin--a back design that is a tell of which cards are reversed. Pretty, though.
Unless you are a hardcore completist, I would skip this deck entirely and
buy a book of Anne Stokes art instead. They are about the same price, and the pictures are bigger and better in the books.
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