Card of the Day: Eight of Cups

Today’s card is the Eight of Cups from the Universal Goddess deck.

This card talks about loss and grieving and feeling abandoned.  It’s a sad card to see, it depicts Calypso as her lover Odysseus sails away from her.  In the Aeneid, the Roman re-imagining of this same tale, this would be Dido as Aeneas sails away.  The only difference being that Aeneas wasn’t married to a woman, just married to his job as legendary founder what became the Roman Empire.

In the mythology Odysseus stays with Calypso for a number of years (between one and five depending on the sources) as her lover.  This is all part of the story of Odysseus’s ten year journey home after the Trojan War.

In Western culture, Odysseus is hailed as a pious man, a brave warrior, and a cunning tactician.  But examining him from a different angle, with admittedly a more modern lens, he doesn’t come off so well.  Like so many myths of the time the women are portrayed as wicked temptresses, deadly sirens, and catty bitches.  You’re not meant to feel sympathetic to Calypso because she was ‘imprisoning’ Odysseus and forcing him to stay there.  I argue that this is because these stories were written by men, for men.   Odysseus must be heroic, and therefore must be a vanquisher of all his foes.

I don’t, and neither did the creators of this deck, see her that way.  She is a woman betrayed by a lover whom she trusted.  She grieves for the loss of something that she held dear.  The circumstances of his leaving were outside her control.  Mightier gods than she insisted that Odysseus had to leave, so Calypso had no voice in the matter.  Despite the fact that things were collapsing all around her she still provided Odysseus a raft and provisions for his journey.  She didn’t want to lose him, but at the same time she still loved him and wanted him to be safe and reach his destination, even if that meant she had to let go of her love forever.

The eight of cups talks about grief, about loss, and that feeling that nothing will ever be the same again.  It talks about the ending of one cycle while another cycle begins.  Sometimes the ending of something is a reason for grief and it’s perfectly okay to grieve that ending.  In fact this card is telling you that you should hold space for that grief.

Card of the Day: Ten of Cups

Today’s card is the Ten of Cups from the Universal Goddess deck

This cup shows Hestia the Greek Goddess of the Hearth.  Hestia is a goddess who is very near to my heart.  I love the hearth based deities because I’m very much a home centric person.  The modern day hearth is sort of the whole kitchen these days.  The kitchen is where people gather, food is prepared, and love is given.  We have a lovely home altar above our stove at my house and it’s a very homey place.  Before we bought our house I had a very distinct image in my head of my yellow kitchen.  And when we bought the house, that was the first paint color that I chose.

Getting back to the card itself, I both like the image and I don’t like it.  I’m not crazy about the whole white washed look of the whole thing and I don’t love the man+woman+children = the epitome of family and home.  Families come in all shapes and sizes and colors and configurations and this one just reinforces that white nuclear 1950s family thing.  But I can deal with it, I do like the gathered around the fire image and the image of Hestia’s arms stretched out protectively around the scene.  I also like that Hestia is shown here as a mature woman.  There are lines on her face, her arms are muscular, and she’s dressed comfortably and sensibly.  She was the one who tended the hearth fires of the gods and was the home builder.  She is the goddess of ‘women’s work’.  All those thankless but essential tasks that are needed to keep people safe and warm and fed.  Especially in the past when we cooked over open hearths instead of on tidy gas or electric stoves.  In most cultures women were just expected to do all these kinds of tasks and the amount of work that it took was never acknowledged.  Running a household, keeping it clean, keeping food on the table is no small task.

But I’m getting away from the Ten of Cups here, so I’m going to pull it back in now.  This card is a wonderfully comforting sign.  In Tarot, the Ten cards are symbols of a completed cycle or the end result of the labors of their suits.  This ten represents a safe and happy home.  What that means to you might be completely different than the very limiting depiction on this card.  To me it means my wife and I with our two cats curled up on the couch with lots of blankets, snuggled together drinking tea and watching a documentary about nature or cooking.  To my parents it might mean all of us kids and our spouses at their house, having a barbeque out back in their gorgeous backyard pergola.  To you it might mean quiet space alone in your loft in Boston or a tiny cabin in the woods on a mountain top.

The Ten of Cups means family too, but it means your family of choice.  I’m lucky enough that my blood family is wonderful and supportive and loving, but that’s not the case for everyone.  This Ten of Cups family isn’t a family where people hold anger towards each other in their hearts or say hateful things or try to harm you.  The Ten of Cups family is the people who love you unconditionally and who are always there for you, whether it’s through a Skype call or a text message or a hug and a movie night.

Wherever you feel comfortable, safe, secure, and loved, that’s what the Ten of Cups is all about.

Card of the Day: High Priestess

Today’s card is the High Priestess from the Universal Goddess deck.

This card depicts Isis seated on a throne in front of one of the great pyramids.  She wears a beautiful gold headdress and a brilliant star shines above her head.  Wikipedia tells us that “Isis was worshipped as the ideal mother and wife as well as the patroness of nature and magic… Isis is often depicted as the mother of Horus, the falcon-headed deity associated with king and kingship… Isis is also known as protector of the dead and goddess of children.”

I love the way that it almost feels like she is drawing down starlight, you can feel that the cosmos are hers to control and shape as she will.

I always see the High Priestess as a reminder that we possess all the magic and power we need within ourselves.  Sometimes we get a little lost and our confidence takes a tumble, but it’s always there inside us.  Isis seems to be showing us the path.  Look to the natural world around you, feel your connection to the stars.  We are literally comprised of the same materials as the stars themselves.

The High Priestess is a reminder to stop and look within for the answers.  Just as the Magician before her who teaches the Fool to connect with the external world, the High Priestess teaches the Fool to connect with the internal world.  She is a sign to start paying attention to your unconscious mind.  Meditation, dream work, and spirit work are all her magics.

When you see her look for hidden mysteries to start becoming clearer.  Find that place of stillness inside and outside and hold that space for whatever messages are waiting to come through.

Card of the Day: Four of Swords

Today’s card is the Four of Swords from the Universal Goddess Tarot

This is such a sad card.  It depicts Kaguya hime, a celestial being from Japanese folklore.  She is adopted by a human couple after they find her in a field.  She is raised on Earth as their own child but eventually must return to the moon leaving her loved ones behind forever.

The four of swords is normally a card of rest, a well earned one, but this one reads differently.  This card talks about taking some time away from a painful situation, sitting with your thoughts and taking time to reflect.

In some of the old folk tales Kaguya forgets her human family the minute she re-dons her celestial cloak and the only people who remember her on Earth feel that sadness, but I think this figure remembers and misses them.

This four of swords is telling you to take some time with the swords you’re wrestling with, step back so you can gain some new perspective on the situation.

On this card Kaguya is bounded by swords above and below her, if she tries to move forward or backwards she’ll get cut.  She doesn’t have much of a choice but to sit with her thoughts.

The appearance of a rabbit is no coincidence either, there is a lot of mythology about rabbits on the moon.  Including a popular Japanese story about the rabbit pounding mochi on the moon.  Rabbits very often represent fertility as well, so the inclusion of the rabbit signals that this period of rest and introspection will be a fertile one.  Whatever you’re trying to figure out will come to you if you can ‘hermit’ just a little bit.

A little personal advice that didn’t come from the card itself is that if you’re hurting, make sure to take care of yourself.  There’s been a lot of grief and heartbreak in the world lately and if you need help during your four of swords rest, please please do reach out for it.  There are hotlines you can call anytime if you need help.  The Trevor Project is another specifically for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) persons.

It’s perfectly okay to take time to yourself to process things, but don’t feel like you have to shoulder your burden alone.

❤

Card of the Day: Five of Wands

Today’s card is the Five of Wands from the Universal Goddess Tarot.

This is one of my favorite cards in this deck.  It depicts the Polynesian Goddess Pele.  I’ve been fond of Pele ever since I lived in Hawaii when I was in high school (8th through 10th grade).  My class took a trip to the Big Island (the actual island of Hawaii, as opposed to O’ahu which was where I lived) and we visited Volcanoes National Park.  While we were there we heard lots of stories about the goddess and it was kind of hard to not get caught up in the amazing energy of a place where we were able to get within feet of active lava flow.  Close enough to throw loose rocks into the lava to see what happens.  They melt.  In case you were wondering.  They hit the lava and MELT.  It’s pretty crazy amazing.

Crazy amazing is a pretty good descriptor for this five of wands.  We see Pele, dressed in the red and yellow that was reserved only for the Hawaiian royalty, decked with a hakulei around her forehead and more beads and flowers at her wrists.

She is a goddess of furious creation and destruction, just like the volcano that she is said to live in.  When a volcano erupts it is a powerful destructive force, raining down fire and brimstone and rushing waves of lava that destroy everything they touch.  But at the same time, volcanoes can be powerful creative forces as well.  Volcanic eruptions created the Hawaiian islands.

This balance of creation and destruction is what the Five of Wands represents.  Perhaps now is the time to let the fiery energy of the Wands suit burn away the things that no longer serve you.  The five burning wands here can represent ideas or projects you’re got in the works; the volcano behind them is throwing up lava which could rush down and devour those wands.  Maybe it’s time for that.

But a volcano is unpredictable, so it could be that the active flow misses them entirely, instead offering more fuel to help them keep burning.  The way I’d interpret this card in a spread would vary depending on where it showed up.  Whether you try to avoid the explosion or seize hold of a passing boulder and ride it out, cheering at the top of your lungs the entire way, is up to you.

One thing is for sure, when this card shows up, things are about to get explosive.  My advice: don’t argue with a volcano goddess.  Just go with the flow.

Card of the Day: Queen of Cups

Today’s card of the day is the Queen of Cups from the Universal Goddess Tarot

In the Universal Goddess Tarot the Queen of Cups depicts Yemaya, Yoruban ruler of the sea. She is the goddess of generosity, good feelings, love, tolerance, and fidelity.  A very appropriate goddess for the Queen of Cups.  There’s a very maternal energy in this card.

Yemaya sits on a throne constructed of seashells and what looks like octopus arms.  Her hair also sort of echoes those octopus arms as well with her dreadlocked hair.  Strands of pearls adorn her multi layered dress and her jewelry is made of more pearls and seashells.  She is serene and in control of her surroundings.  Even though the ocean is clearly moving around her, shown by the movement of her hair and the bubbles around her, She sits serene and untroubled.

When the Queen of cups appears in a spread she’s a calming and comforting influence.  She has a very nurturing energy, someone easy to talk to who actively listens.  She offers gentle but firm advice.  She will comfort you when someone breaks your heart but she won’t enable you to go back to the jerk to let them do it again.  She has mastered her emotions, but that phrase doesn’t quite fit.  In our culture when we speak of mastering emotions the phrase tends to connote a stoic man who is unaffected while anger and grief rage around him, and that’s not this queen at all.  She feels deeply and maturely, but she does not let her emotions destroy her.  Instead she holds space to honor all the feelings of the Cups suit and helps others to learn to honor their own.

She may appear in a spread when you’re feeling overwhelmed.  She can help you understand that it’s okay to cry when you need to and to help you ensure other people don’t treat your poorly because you feel.  Trust her advice and honor your feelings, it’s much more healthy to give them the space they need than to just try to force them down.  Let the water of her oceans wash and soothe you.

How to Choose a Tarot Deck

Before I launch into a post about choosing a tarot deck I have to make a small confession. I’m not super choosy about buying tarot decks.  I have a small collection of them and I love to get new ones if one catches my eye.   That said, despite owning a bundle of them, I always circle back to a small handful that I love working with.

But that’s absolutely okay.  I don’t see anything wrong with collecting tarot decks; they’re beautiful art pieces, powerful tools, and great meditation aids.  Like any kind of collection, as long as your bills are paid and it’s not causing you harm, you should feel free to indulge yourself.  I used to feel guilty when I bought a deck that I didn’t use, but I realized that was a waste of energy.  Your favorite deck may change over time and one that you used to use all the time might take a backseat as your life changes, your reading style changes, or your reading audience changes.  I used to rely heavily on a Robin Wood Tarot deck, but as I’ve grown and changed I find that it’s too white and heteronormative to resonate with me anymore.  I’m not saying it’s not a good deck, just that my needs in a tarot deck are different now.

Some of my collection, sadly unorganized at the moment because my studio is a mess.

So, how do you choose the tarot deck that’s right for you?  In my experience it’s a bit of a trial and error process until you find a deck that really resonates with you.  I want to tackle one stubbornly popular myth first.

Myth: You have to be given your first tarot deck.

This little story really annoys me.  Firstly, it takes your agency away from you.  You’re just

Universal Fantasy Tarot

supposed to wait patiently for someone to magically guess that you need a tarot deck and then give it to you?  So many people would never get a deck!  This isn’t even considering people who might be living in situations where tarot is misunderstood and feared.  Also, I think that choosing and buying your very own tarot deck gives you a leg up in working with your chosen deck.  For me, tarot is about empowerment, and what could be more empowering than taking your own initiative and choosing your spiritual tools yourself?  Of course, this isn’t a slight against people who did have someone else give them a deck.  If someone gave you your first deck and you loved it and it’s perfect, that’s fantastic.  I guess what I’m saying here is that there is no wrong way to get a deck.  Except maybe stealing one.  The energy of theft is probably not the best energy you want to introduce into your tarot.

Okay, so you’ve decided that you want to get a deck, awesome!  But where do you even start?  There are hundreds and hundreds of possibilities out there.  You can find themed tarot decks on almost any subject you can imagine: Cats, Dragons, Aliens, or even Baseball.  That almost makes it harder because there are so many options!

Universal Goddess Tarot

So here’s my advice: you need to find a deck that you’re charmed by.  If you can, start by looking into Rider Waite Smith styled decks.  A lot of the intro to tarot websites and books are focused around that style of tarot.  That makes it easier to learn the meanings of the cards and you’ll have plenty of bloggers who use a deck similar to yours and lots of decks to learn from.  I also echo the suggestion of lots of others who suggested that you get a deck of “dudes doing shit”.  To be clear here, I don’t mean that you need a deck of men, but a deck with humanoid figures interacting with each other and the environment often makes it easier if you’re just getting started.

For me it’s really important that the deck be in an art style that I can connect with.  The more you look at decks, the more you’ll get to realize things you like and things you don’t like.  Personally, I’ve found that I don’t care for photo manipulated decks; I like drawings better on my cards.  I also like decks that have some traditional RWS symbolism but aren’t re-drawings of the exact same images.

You should also consider what you’re going to be using your deck for.  Do you want something to read spreads?  Then you might want something that is clear and easy to

Witchlings Oracle Deck

understand, something like the Happy Tarot, the Robin Wood, or something like it.  Do you want something to help you connect with spirit?  Something like the Universal Goddess Tarot might be perfect.  I use my Universal Goddess deck both in divination and in goddess meditations.

Another thought I wanted to mention was that you can also consider oracle decks if they suit your wants.  I know this post is about how to choose a tarot deck, but most of it can also apply to oracle decks.  Obviously, with an oracle deck, the RWS advice about finding one with people doesn’t apply, but aside from that, look for something that you feel a pull towards and that you really like.  Oracle decks are not the same as Tarot decks, but don’t let anyone tell you that they’re inferior.  They’re just a different way of card reading.  In case you’re not familiar with the difference between oracle and tarot decks, it’s that tarot decks contain 22 cards in the Major Arcana and 14 Minor Arcana (also known as pip cards) in four suits that make up the 78 cards in a deck.  Oracle cards come in every flavor of the rainbow, and come in any number of cards, sometimes with a booklet for reading them and sometimes without so that you must rely on your intuition to decipher a spread of them.  I enjoy both types of decks and I own an assortment of both.  I do a lot more work with my tarot cards, but sometimes the simplicity of an oracle deck is too appealing to pass up.

Happy Tarot

I also want to point out that sometimes the really great decks will surprise you.  I bought the Happy Tarot (see the Hermit card there?) because if was adorably sugar sweet and filled with cupcakes.  I didn’t really expect it to be a deck I did serious work with, but I’ve been so wrong about that.  The deck is great and I have found it to be wonderful to work with.  Don’t discount a ‘cute’ or themed deck as a novelty item right away.  Some of them are, but some will work just as well as a super traditional Rider Waite Smith.

The last piece of advice I have is that it’s okay to buy a deck and realize that it’s not the right deck for you.  If you hold out for The One True Deck you could get paralyzed and end up never trying any at all.  And here’s my second confession: part of the reason that I have so many decks is that it took me a long time to understand that I didn’t have to find the Perfect Deck.  You might use one deck for a while and then ‘outgrow’ it and start working with another.  And that’s okay.

So there you go?  Shop around, find something you love, and know that it’s okay to change

Wild Unknown Tarot

your mind or pick more than one.  I’ve found that Aeclectic Tarot is a great place to find information about different decks.  They have reviews and purchase links for most decks.  Also check out the Tarot blogs, I post reviews here on The Wooly Witch from time to time and so do lots of other Tarot bloggers.

It’s also totally fine to throw all my suggestions out the window and do things your own different way.  That’s a big theme for me as I walk my spiritual path.  Learn all you can, take what makes sense, discard what doesn’t resonate with you.

Happy reading!  If you’re new I’d love to hear what your first deck was/is/will be.  If you’ve been reading for a while, I’d love to hear how you picked your first deck.  As you can tell, I love decks!

Card of the Day: The Hermit

Today’s card is The Hermit from the Universal Goddess Tarot.

The Hermit is a favorite card of mine.  I’m an introvert and I very deeply identify with the idea of retreating from life every now and then to have some personal quiet time.  I also consider myself a seeker: I’ve never truly settled into a specific spiritual path, instead learning about many different ones and taking pieces of truth when something resonates with me.  That’s what the Hermit encourages.

Here the Hermit is represented as Hecate, a goddess who is associated with crossroads, entrance-ways, dogs, light, the moon, magic, and witchcraft.  The Hermit is traditionally shown carrying some kind of light, very often a lantern, so her burning torch is very appropriate.

When my grandmother was in the process of passing away earlier this year, I prayed to Hecate to help ease her passage and help her to not feel fear.  I’m certainly not claiming that it was my prayer that did it, but my grandmother passed gently, in her sleep with my mother sitting right next to her.  I find comfort in the idea that there was something or someone to help her make that transition.

When the Hermit appears, it’s a sign that you need to take some time away from the rush of your life.  Take some time to ponder the mysteries of life, maybe do some self reflection and soul searching.  Is there something you’ve been avoiding dealing with?

This card can sometimes just represent a simple need to step back from demands and responsibilities, but this depiction especially brings to mind dealing with a big change or a difficult transition.  Hecate stands at the cross roads in your life and gently reminds you to take time to really think things through and make the right choice for you.  This is more than two paths diverging in a narrow wood.  This is a big important choice that will have ripple effects later on in life.  Hold space for that choice and make it wisely.

Card of the Day: Two of Wands

Two of Wands

Today’s card comes from the Universal Goddess Tarot deck.  It’s the Two of Wands and it depicts Ataentsic, an Iroquoian goddess.

Two little boys are engaged in a fight with each other with their wands.  At first glance it looks really dangerous: those wands are on fire, after all.  But a maternal figure is watching over the scene with her arms outstretched–she almost looks like she’s about to embrace them.  The expression on the boys’ faces are sort of mixed, as though they’re not sure what they’re doing, or that they’re reluctant to fight but determined to win.  But if you only look at their feet, this isn’t a fight at all any more.  It’s a dance.

The Two of Wands speaks to a relationship between two things.  It could be two people, two ideas, two places, any kind of duality.  A casual observer sees a conflict, two situations fighting against each other to beat out the other.  Depending on where you look in this card you’ll see a lot of different ways to interpret the action.  Imagine that you’re standing directly behind one of the boys.  It might look like he’s trying to defend himself.  Stand behind the woman and you’re watching her teach them intricate steps of a dance.

The boys are dressed in dark and light costumes, and you could view them as two sides of a coin: one side must come out on top.  Or you could take a more Taoist view and see them as the yin and yang, each must balance out the other.  You may notice that I’m deliberately not talking about them as good vs. evil.  The concept of whiteness being good/pure and blackness being bad/dirty is a hurtful concept that devalues people of color by declaring whiteness to be superior.  It’s more productive to talk about the balance of energies.  Neither is inherently superior and that’s what this card is telling us.

This card reminds us to carefully consider options when we’re faced with a challenge.  You might first think you have to make a choice, one or the other, when really you could have both.  It’s a delicate balance: if one of the boys misses a step, he risks hitting his friend, or even setting him on fire.  The suit of wands is the suit of fire and it can be interpreted a few ways.  It might be that spark of inspiration that lights the way to a new way of life, or it could be that faithful night light, guiding you through the darkness.

There are two players in this dance or there are two opponents in this fight.  Can you resolve the conflict without a fight or do you have to take your place in the dance?  It might be frightening to be caught in the middle of all of this action, but this card also offers comfort.  The whole mess is being watched over by a kind maternal goddess.  The card doesn’t specify, but in some Iroquoian legends she’s the mother of twin warriors, and this card feels that way to me.

Consider all your options and double check what assumptions you might be making, did you bring a knife to a dance fight?  But don’t worry too much, you’ve got someone looking out for you.

Deck Review: Universal Goddess

I’m excited to be talking about one of my favorite decks in this post.  The Universal Goddess Tarot is one of my oldest decks; I think I’ve used it more than any other deck I own.  It’s not my oldest deck, because I have a Robin Wood deck that I owned before the Universal Goddess deck found its way into my life, but this beautiful deck of Goddesses is what really kept me moving forward in tarot.

Obviously, this is a goddess based deck.  There are a few nods to some of the classic Rider-Waite-Smith card designs: the Strength card still features a woman with a lion, the Chariot still has a chariot on it, but other than a few recognizable features the deck strikes out on its own, using goddesses from many different cultures as the central figures on the cards.

Their choice to feature Athena on the Emperor card really won me over right away.  I love any deck that can take traditionally male designated cards and spin that on its head.  Athena is my matron goddess, I’ve felt an affinity with her since I first read about her in my Edith Hamilton’s mythology book in middle school.  And what a perfect figure for the Emperor.  A warrior goddess who sprung fully formed from her father’s head, already clad in armor.  She is depicted here as a powerful commander of men.  It’s a nice reminder that women posses all the power and wisdom of men and are just as capable of leading.  This theme runs through the entire deck and is one of the things that I love the most about these tarot cards.

As a queer woman, one factor that influences my ability to connect with a tarot deck is how it handles male and female archetypes.  I look through the deck to find the Lovers card and
see what is depicted on it.  I don’t necessarily need all my decks to feature queer couples, but I find it easier to connect when they have more inclusive representation.  This deck comes through for me in that regard.  The Lovers card features Aphrodite, dancing in the ocean.  She isn’t shown with a partner, which I like here because it gives the card a reading that reminds us that it’s so important to love ourselves.  To quote RuPaul, “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell are you gonna love somebody else.”

Another rave that I have for this deck is how many goddesses of color are represented.  At least 30 of the goddesses on the cards are women of color.  I chose Pele to show here, since she’s another goddess that I am very drawn to.  Her depiction here on the Five of Wands is great.  As a Hawaiian volcano goddess, she is a powerful creative and destructive force, which is a great representation of the energy of the wands suit and the energy of fire.  The volcano can destroy everything around it, but volcanic ash is rich in minerals and can be an excellent fertilizer.  It’s a lovely symbol of the cyclical nature of life.

I also appreciate that the artists took time and care to create realistic women of color in these cards.  Pele’s face isn’t just a carbon copy of Athena with her skin tone changed.  They are real nuanced depictions of goddesses.  They also include a range of age in the goddesses depicted.  Hestia and Hecate have a more mature look, lines on their faces and wisdom about them, younger goddesses like Aurora fit the maiden archetype better and are shown as such.

Every reader can have a different experience working with a deck, for me this deck is very closely linked with my own spirituality work.  I use it mainly to read for myself and I’ve used it extensively in tarot self-development.  It has a very magical and spiritual energy when I work with it.    When I was just beginning to learn to use my intuition as a reader, I had some trouble reading with these cards and I found myself having to rely very heavily on my notes and the LWB that came with the deck.  There are some cards that don’t seem to fit with what I’d been taught that the cards ‘Had to Mean’.  I found myself stumbling over meanings and only getting half the meanings of cards.  This deck was trying to slowly and painstaking pull me forward into trusting in my own abilities and intuitions.  I owe a lot of thanks to the goddess work, and to the goddesses who guided me to where I am now.  I don’t know that I would have been able to hear their messages if not for these cards.

I love this deck so much.  It wasn’t until I’d been working with this deck for quite some time that I discovered a Tarot Deck Interview Spread on LittleRedTarot that has become my go-to spread any time I get a new deck.  I can’t recommend that spread enough to
anyone starting out as a reader or for a new deck.  Interviewing the Universal Goddess deck revealed to me what I already knew about it.  In this case, the interview just helped reaffirm that I could trust my intuitions around the deck and how we could work together.

It told me that it was a deeply personal deck for me, that it would help me connect with my higher self and to work with goddess energies.  It’s a fantastic deck to use as a meditation tool.  I use a Tarot meditation where you journey into the card and can interact with the figures in the card, and my handful of meditations have been affirming and humbling.

On a purely more physical note, I can recommend this deck as well. I’ve worked a lot with these cards and they’re still in great shape;  the cardboard flap top box shows some reasonable wear around its edges and corners, but the cards aren’t torn and they’ve help up well to lots of shuffling and handling.  I own a not inconsiderable number of tarot decks and this is still one that I come back to again and again.