House of Tarot - Vampire Tarot Deck by US Games

Product not found!

Reviews ...

Submitted By: Stephanie Arwen - President, American Tarot Associaton on 04/20/2008
This striking visual deck will appeal to the daywalkers and nightwalkers both. With stunning art based on the Rider-Waite-Smith system, even a beginner Tarot reader would be able read this deck. The artist and author, Nathalie Hertz, obviously knows the Tarot well. Her artistic license is used but not so much that it overwhelms the underlying traditional symbolism of the Tarot.

While this deck does not appeal to me because of the necessary bloodletting which is inherent to vampirism, I think many will love it. The Major Arcana offers enough twists to satisfy those who don\'t want yet another RWS clone. Strength is one of my favorite cards. Here we see a woman snarling over a calm black jaguar with the message of taming the inner beast is not always the same as controlling it.

The mid-sized cards are black bordered with a red line setting off the images. The King of Swords gives off a feeling of Hamlet meets Tim Burton with curled black artistic devices rising over his regal head. He wears a crown but his demeanor is severe reminding us that \"heavy hangs the head that wears the crown.\" He clutches a sword by the hilt and by the blade.

Each card represents the traditional meaning well. Even though it is only a Little White Book, this deck\'s LWB offers more than the over-used ten word meanings so often given. One minor quibble is the use of \"bat people\" instead of vampire but this may be an in-house preference. The Minor Arcana, while having the traditional Swords/Cups/Wands/Pentacles, also features one repetitive item for each suit. For instance, in every numeric Swords, there is a statue of some type. While I did not find the pip cards to be as easily intuitive as the Major or the Courts, there is enough in each pip to read with.

Over all, this deck is not one I would read with for the bloody reasons I mentioned above. I do see this as a deck that would offer a certain flair for public readings. A more flamboyant reader than I might get a lot of mileage out of the images of vampires glaring out of the cards.

4 of 5 Stars!

Average Customer Rating:

Displaying 1 of 1 product reviews