Ananda Tarot by Urania

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Submitted By: Nada Mesar on 02/21/2006
Wonderful, non offensive dreamlike pictures on the cards adapted according to the Rider-Waite system.

This deck is one of the nicest in the AGMüller range of tarot decks. A beautiful deck for more advanced readers who want something different from standard Rider-Waite decks.

5 of 5 Stars!

Submitted By: brenmck on 01/11/2006
This deck is quite a different experience for me. The traditional Rider-Waite-Smith system is the template for tarot decks for me, and although the airy, even outer-space feel to this deck was hard for me to wend my way through at first, I soon began to get into the spirit of this deck.

First, let’s get the nit-picking details out of the way. You’ll quickly notice that The Fool card is in its customary place as card number “0” in Ananda’s accompanying book, but it is card XXII in the deck. I would be interested to learn why it bears the number XXII, as in traditional Tarot thought The Fool begins his journey at the beginning of the Major Arcana. The Strength card is entitled “Strenght” in the deck. It’s a minor distraction, but a distraction nevertheless. In the guide book the Emperor has become the “Emporer.” These mistakes certainly did not spoil the deck’s effectiveness for me, but be advised that in this edition they have occurred.

One personal complaint – the Suit of Cups; the Cups are represented as crystal wine glasses, some with small amounts of wine in them. I am allergic to alcohol, so this was a mental by-pass I had to make at first. I got used to it, but it was a distraction when I first began to learn this deck.

The artwork is very striking throughout the deck. Both Majors and Minors have a feel of viewing the Earth from orbit, with the Cups, Flames, Spheres, and Swords in flight or in prominence against sparse, surrealistic backgrounds. There is much use of bluish marine and atmospheric hues, with the exception of a few cards in which nearly startling reds and blacks appear. The overall tones of the cards make for an excellent meditation deck.

Iconic figures appear more in the Court Cards than in the Major Arcana – the unmistakable face of Christ fills the Knight of Cups, Christ crucified the King of Flames (Wands), and a striking likeness of the Buddha in the King of Swords. I didn’t notice any particular influence of any other deck on this one, except the same idea in the Five of Flames (Wands) as in Robert Place’s Alchemical Tarot. The Alchemical Tarot shows flames coming from the five fingers of a human hand; Ananda has beams of light in the same attitude. Beautiful female figures adorn the Empress, High Priestess, and the Star. There is nudity in these and other figures, but they are quite tastefully presented and truly enhance the beauty of this deck.

Ananda’s book is of great help and is really indispensable for someone like me who is so accustomed to people-populated pip cards that tell a story on their own. He does give us traditional meanings along with his intentions of each card. It is truly a different system of interpretation with almost entirely an emphasis on the spiritual dimensions of each card. Very little of the mundane or “real life” implications are discussed. Ananda’s philosophy and point of view is apparently that every question we could ask is ultimately a spiritual question and requires spiritual investigation. I like this approach very much, but some readers may prefer the “earthiness” of Rider-Waite influenced decks.

That being said, the readings that I have done for others with this deck have been very effective, and at times startlingly intuitive. All of my readings have been done over a Tarot forum in which there was no personal, “face-to-face” contact. Yet in a few instances the reading uncovered some very deep and personal elements for the querents and in two cases the querent’s fiancé.

I wouldn’t discourage the beginner from buying and using this deck, but be advised that most of the Tarot literature uses the Rider-Waite-Smith card images for instruction and it would be difficult indeed to make inferences on this deck from those sources. Ananda was wise in providing his interpretations in a very well- organized and well-written book that comes with this deck. It is a deck quite on its own in both conception and interpretation. Studying and practice with it will certainly give a different direction to readings that one may not have experienced before.

4 of 5 Stars!

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