Tarot of the Secret Forest - CARDS

By Cate Gardner View Profile
At first glance the Tarot of the Secret Forest reminded me of the Arthur Rackham illustrations for Alice in Wonderland, wonderfully hazy images of entwined brambles and ivy makes use of the forest greens and browns to create a truly original deck.

Anyone who loves the 'Fairy Oracle' and the 'Fairy Ring Oracle' will love these cards, but they do have a darker side which may well appeal to the more Gothic among us too. The Chariot is pulled by two winged beetles and Strength is depicted as a fairy holding the horns of a stag beetle; whilst death is a death's head moth and the Devil looks to be based on a praying mantis.

Perhaps the most outstanding difference between this and other decks is the inclusion on the reverse of each card of the same illustration, but in black and white and the reader is urged to harmonise with both sides of the deck, rather than try to learn meanings.

Whilst this deck can be used in the traditional way, you are urged to try shuffling the cards in a large enough bag so that both the coloured and the black and white sides of the cards will emerge for your reading. This method gives different importance to which side of the card is showing and for example the coloured sides can represent energies or situations concerned with the emotions; the black and white sides are connected with situations or energies connected to the intellect or rationality. Although the small booklets enclosed with such decks are often less than useful, this one contains only 14 pages in English and is well worth reading.