As readers, we constantly have people come up to us at public venues and ask us all sorts of questions. "How do you do this?" or "What does this card mean?". These are  are all great questions and I am happy to do my part to educate the public about tarot. Having been only reading for at fairs and festivals for the past few months, I realized I never go one whole fair day without hearing the one particular pharse, "I'm scared". Scared? I understand, I used to be scared too. But when you really get down to it, all these reasons for fear are quite unfounded. When I ask them back, "What are you scared of?", these are the most popular replies:


"What if you tell me something bad?"
I think this goes with the whole "fortune-teller" thing (a subject that will come write about on a later blog post). First of all, when I'm reading tarot, it's usually so you can learn more about about yourself or a certain situation. But if we are reading for purely divination purposes.... so what if it's bad? Wouldn't you want to know something unfortunate might happen so then you would have the power to change it? Free will is here and it is here to stay. We always have the power to shift our realities and it's important that we remember that.


"What if what you say is true?"
Doesn't that just mean I'm good at my craft? Doesn't it mean it was worth the few dollars you just spent? Why would you want to spend your money on a reader who doesn't connect?


"I'm scared of witchcraft/black magic/some other assumptions made because of Hollywood's portrayal of Tarot card reader."
Ok I'm going to tell you a secret: None of that has to do with Tarot. At all. Weird right?! Tarot has no religion or doctrine. It can be part of someone's spiritual practice and for many it is, but it doesn't have to be. Also, everything is about intention. I explain it this way to my clients. Tarot is simply a tool, a deck of cards meant to help to. Just as rosaries are used during prayer, malas during meditation, cups during rituals, etc., these things are meant to help and aid in whatever the person is trying to do with them. While they are sacred tools, they do not have the real power. The power come from those who ask the question and those who interperate.


"What if I get the Death Card?"
Goodness. The Death card question. Will we ever get past it? I don't think so. I know this is something many readers get really sick of talking about, but it is definiately our duty (in my opinion) to keep educating the public about Tarot. So when I get asked this question I start my little lecture, "The Death card rarely has to do with physical death, it usually talks about major changes in someone's life blah blah blah...". I usually end it by telling people that the Death Card is actually one of my favorite cards in the whole deck. I find when I'm doing readings for people and they are going through difficult times, the Death card is what you actually want.

What other questions do you get asked as readers? What else are you scared of as a client? Let me know in the comments below!

(The Fool, The Tower, The Page of Wands, Death, and the Hierophant)

Divination Potential (5 stars):
Some decks are very spiritual and are meant to connect you with your higher self and all that good stuff. Which is great, but sometimes we need advice for the here and now. This deck is very real and down to earth. I like how practical and gritty it feels. You can tell these cards were made by real artists who are masters of their craft. I have used it several time and the readings I'm getting are very accurate and informative. This is the kind of deck you would use if you read at parties, festivals or while giving a reading to friends. I think everyone will love the different images and really get engrossed in each one. If you just love decks for the art, BUY THIS DECK! You will love it.

Final Score (4.75 stars):
The 78 Tarot is an awesome and extremely unique deck. I highly recommend it for anyone who can appreciate art, tarot or both!

If you want to find out more about the 78 Tarot, click here. 

(Photo from the 78 Tarot Kickstarter campaign page)

So as always, one day I was online looking through Kickstarter and seeing if their were any new tarot decks on there. Then I saw a campaign for this something called the "78 Tarot". The concept was that each card was designed by a different artist, using different types of media while all following the same format as a standard Tarot deck. My first thought really was that this must be a huge undertaking for the organizer! How much work it must have been to find all these artists and get them to agree to do this. Also, would it work? Would it be a functional deck? Who knows, but I took a chance! At the least, I thought it was a very unique idea! I just received it in the mail and I thought I would share my thoughts on it.

Deck Summary:
From the pamphlet inside the box: "78 Tarot is a collaborative art project that brings together a group of 78 artists from around the world every year to produce an original tarot deck. Our goal is to merge the creative energy of each group to produce a tarot deck that is functional and diversity aesthetic, valued equally by the art community and the tarot community."

The packaging (4.5 stars):
The box that the deck came in a fully illustrated tuck box with elastic around it with a gold tag with the 78 Tarot logo. It is really beautiful. Make sure you don't accidentally throw this box away (like I have done with other decks in the past, yikes!) because this deck will be limited edition as they are only producing 1000 first editions. I got the "Hierophant Edition" so I get to see the lovely woman of the Hierophant card on the front of my box. A lovely black velvet bag with the logo also came with deck, but it is a little too small cards. The only thing about this packaging I would have liked was to see the bag be slightly bigger so the cards would not fall out during transporting it. 

The Booklet and Deck (4.5 stars):
The booklet that comes with the deck is a small book that is inside the box. The tarot meaning in the book are very simple and to the point, which is fine because because this isn't a beginner's deck which is meant to be used for learning Tarot for the first time.  Every page also has a statement from the artist. I found it very interesting to read the statements from each artists because it gives you some insight into their artwork, creative process and why the created the card the way they did. 

The Deck and Card stock (5 stars):
The card stock is very good, and after shuffling many times I see no signs of bending or ripping (Note to anyone making a deck: having a crappy cardstock can ruin the whole experience for the reader. Remember we have to shuffle these cards thousands of times so please, even if it's a bit more money, make sure your deck doesn't wear and tear easily). There are the traditional 78 cards with 2 cards which are called "Chosen Fate". The deck is absolutely beautiful. Going through every card card for the first time is like opening 80 gifts, each card completely different than the other. You can be looking at a card that is only sketched black and white, and next looking a watercolor painting and next looking at a card made out of cut pieces of paper. Some cards I liked much more than others, but they all stayed true to the RWS tradition and with 78 different pieces of art, of course I would favor some more than others. I had to chose 5 of my favorite cards and let me tell you, that was tough. There are so many beautiful cards but I have to say these are my favorites: