The Psychic Tarot Oracle Deck: A 65-Card Deck and Guidebook Cards – January 1, 2009

I have several different Tarot decks I've acquired over the years. Some are just for fun (The Housewives' Tarot, Silicon Valley Tarot) and others I've used (Gilded Tarot and others).THIS IS THE ONE I'M NEVER WITHOUT - I keep it in my purse and also have a "backup" deck of it. It's hard to say what I like better about this deck - its beauty or its clarity. Both are phenomenal.The vibrant colors are the rich tones I prefer over the washed-out pastels of so many other decks. The images themselves are almost uniformly wonderful. As with any good Tarot deck, I keep seeing symbols or different interpretations as I use these cards. Also, the gold paint on the cards' edges gives the deck a lovely look and, despite the number of readings I've given with it (therefore, all that shuffling and handling) over the past few months, the paint is only now beginning to fade just a bit.The cards are noticeably bigger than a deck of standard playing cards and the card stock itself is solid; I recommend anyone with a new deck spend some time shuffling it and getting to know its feel, in addition to just "getting to know" any new deck. I've found that I can shuffle them poker-style but I ask my querents not to, because it would be so easy bend one by accident that way; instead, I ask them to use the palm-based interleaving style or the "moosh them all around in front of you" style. :)If I have to say, I'd say the clarity beats out the beauty in terms of why this is my favorite "working" deck. Each card has a word or phrase on it that makes its meaning clear -- for example, what would normally be The Fool is captioned instead "New Beginnings", which makes it so much easier for a querent to relate to and recall later. Naturally, there are innumerable interpretations to be made depending on any given card's position in a reading, the querent, the nature of the issue, etc. But I've found that it's much easier for querents to understand the readings AND remember them later, with the "plain English" descriptions, as opposed to the mystical nature of most Tarot decks, which require an amount of education and experience to understand.If I have a complaint, it's that the booklet that comes with it is disappointing. I do understand it would cost a lot to print in color or in a larger format, but the booklet is difficult to use. Fortunately, for me anyway, I've found that I really don't need to refer to it for meanings. The cards tell me right up front - literally!A few "heads-up" notes for those shopping for a deck:.....(1) This is not technically a "true" Tarot deck, in that it does not have any Court cards or any 10s -- from a purist's point of view, it's more of an oracle deck and the title does call it both a Tarot and an oracle deck, so take your choice of what kind of deck you consider it to be. I've found that it works wonderfully with any Tarot spread I've tried it on, and my querents love it, even the ones who are already proficient with Tarot......(2) Instead of the traditional suits of Wands, Cups, Pentacles, and Swords, it uses Spiritual, Emotional, Physical, and Mental, with identifying colors that correspond with chakras (red for Physical, etc.). The suits correspond just fine with traditional Tarot and the meaning of each card within each suit is essentially unchanged from a standard deck......(3) It also comes a card for each of the seven major chakras, which are the same size with the same back design and same gold edges as the other cards. It's a nice touch but I've found that I tend not to include them unless I know the querent is already familiar with what chakras are and how they work. For someone who isn't, it kind makes the reading stagger if you have to stop and explain with a chakra is and I even had a couple of people who seemed intimidated by the idea of "another whole layer" of things to understand so, since I like the clarity of this deck so much, I tend to err on the side of caution and usually don't include them when I'm reading for people I don't know, although you may of course feel differently.In my opinion, this deck offers the best of two worlds: With its evocative and expressive imagery and its easy-to-understand relevant captions, it's at once enthralling and easy to use. Also, this deck is available as an iPhone/iPod app; I've heard rumors of an Android based version but haven't seen that confirmed (not much about one coming for WM, Blackberry, Symbian, or other mobile OSs).BOTTOM LINE: Beautiful deck, easily understood by reader and querent, well made. It might become one of your favorites too!

I’ve been wanting this deck for a while and when I saw that it was 50% off, I jumped at the chance to get it. I was a bit worried because some reviewers complained that the cards were no longer gilded. I decided that I could live with it for something I paid less than $13 for. But to my pleasant surprise, my cards were gilded! Then I worried that I might have another problem some reviewers were complaining about: stuck and damaged cards because of the gilding. Thankfully, I didn’t have that problem either. While some cards were stuck together, they were fine after I carefully separated them (something I can’t say about my Tarot Illuminati deck!). The only real defect on my deck were slightly bent corners, usually on the top left. But that was a minor problem. I just bent them back the right way. The deck comes in a nice sturdy box with a nice guidebook.Now to the actual cards themselves. I like tarot and I’m not a huge fan of oracles, but this deck kind of gives you the best of both. Court cards are the bane of my existence in tarot and this deck gets rid of them! It also gets rid of the tenth card in each minor suit. There are seven chakra cards added that I’m not including in my readings as of yet. All the cards now have keywords instead of titles. I quite like that, and I did like some of the descriptions of the card meanings in the guidebook. The meanings are pretty close to traditional tarot meanings. It’s like having a tarot deck without those pesky court cards! I like the art on pretty much every card as well. It’s nicely done.Overall, I can’t complain. For the price, I’m definitely impressed with the quality. I’m looking forward to working with this deck. If there was one thing I could nitpick it would be that I wish the artist got more credit for his work.

The cards are the perfect size for my personal preference. They're pretty sturdy as well, and the high gloss finish makes them really pleasant to the touch. The artwork is gorgeous, and I felt a wave of positive energy upon opening the box! There was no good/foil edges though but honestly that makes absolutely no difference to me, but I figure I should point it out. It did take me a while to really "connect" with the cards, but I think that may have been my own skepticism at play, or perhaps the stress of the situation I was in when I decided to buy them. I do believe this is an excellent purchase for someone who's just learning how to use cards, as well as those with experience. You don't really need to have super in-depth knowledge of tarot, but it definitely wouldn't hurt! I don't usually like to use the deck for other people simply because they're a little too vague (in my opinion) and they are relatively superficial. This deck serves as positive affirmations for me, which is AWESOME because sometimes I lose sight of what's most important in my own life, and they remind me to practice patience and gratitude. These are helpful in decision making, but I've come to not expect too in-depth of a conversation from them. They're like a super optimistic friend who always has your back no matter what, even if you're in the wrong, so that can be potentially problematic, depending on the circumstances. So if what you're looking for are positive affirmations, this deck will be perfect for you! The booklet is easy to follow, and also extremely positive. There are no reverse card descriptions, but using your own imagination and intuition it shouldn't be too hard to figure out how it applies. These cards will definitely jump start your third eye! As far as the chakra cards included, I keep those as a separate deck and I draw one chakra card per reading and that tends to help clarify things as well. I say over all its well worth the money and you can have a lot of fun with these! They're beautiful, practical, and very positive!