The Enchanted Tarot/Amy Zerner, Monte Farber


Next to the Robin Wood Deck, this is my favorite Tarot Deck. This is the bigger First Edition deck that came out in the early 90's and it's a big deck--large enough I keep it in it's own box instead of a bag, and I don't shuffle it, I make piles, very carefully, and then turn over one or two cards to admire.
This is the size of the deck:

Here it is with the smaller, borderless second edition and a sample regular poker card for size:

The larger deck has a very simple, reversible back of white with a small center design. The smaller cards have linked initials on the back that are reversible unless you squint at the copyright notice on the bottom :D

Supposedly there is a third edition but I haven't seen it yet, so I have no idea about size or borders on that one. No, wait, I just found it at Amazon and it's nice--it has color-coded borders for the suits, a bag and the book for a reasonable price. Lordy, the old editions are expensive now! And OMG it's the 25th Anniversary edition. I feel old :D

 The first edition came with a wonderful book that is worth having even if you don't have the deck; it has little "enchantments" you can do to reinforce the lessons of the cards:

And full color illustrations! The larger format lets you see the detail that gets lost, especially in the smaller edition. The art is just gorgeous, I regret I haven't had a chance to see Zerner's work in person but I have been told it's stunning--photos tend to flatten out the art since it's fabric and a bit dimensional.

As far as using the cards for readings, they are just the usual Waite/Coleman-Smith meanings with some small changes--cups are Hearts, which makes sense since the cups correspond to emotions and the heart, and there are some subtle differences in interpretation, but overall they are easy to use once you get the hang of dealing with the sturdy, oversized cards. The smaller deck is a lot easier to shuffle and deal out, but I just find it less satisfactory as art than the large cards. The small deck does come with it's own Little White Book (lavender in this case), so you can at least get an idea of what the cards mean even if you are just starting out.

You can check out some of Zerner's art here:
https://www.amyzerner.net/artwork

I also have her book, Paradise Found, and you can usually find it for cheap at used book sources online--it's also a treat and well worth the money.

Comments

  1. I was gifted The Enchanted Tarot set 22 years ago.
    Many adventures and moves across the US and back and we are still strong.

    ReplyDelete

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