Tarot D: The Didactic Tarot

It transforms into a fully illustrated epic
poem or story as you experience
“Being. Doing. Thinking. Feel. Pause, and Changing.
Within iconic imagery.

~Quote from the back of the box

 

Title: Tarot D: The Didactic Tarot

Author: Jeffrey M. Donato

Illustrator: Jeffrey M. Donato

Publisher: Schiffer Publishing

• Experience life changing transformations…

• Tarot D: The Didactic Tarot features 102 brilliantly illustrated cards. In these cards, you will transcend into a world unlike anything you’ve seen before. This tarot deck is not your ordinary and traditional tarot deck.

• The card I saw and liked (and I know everybody will like), was the High Priestess. In this image she’s in her birth suit. She has wings on back that three colors, red, blue and yellow. She has white hair representing her wisdom. There is a green cobra watching out for her. In this tarot she is called “Vision of the Whispering Dreams” She basically represents the interpretation in the RW.

• The next card that I liked is take from the one of the bonus cards. These card is called “Erosion” and it has green sea turtle, a white tiger with what appears to be a make Viking riding on top of it. The turtle and the tiger are racing, the meaning for this cards should be one that should be taken into consideration. This card tells that you are ending up in a losing everything. In situations, you have no foundation to stand on and everything you’ve worked for is slowly being taken away.

• The last card is one of my favorite for obvious reasons. This card is from the suit of pentacles and it is the King of Pentacles that is called “The Master of Earth”. Why do I like this card? Because the zodiac Capricorn is incorporated in this card! Why else! (Lol). The Capricorn looks gorgeous! He has a look on his face like, “don’t mess with me!” He has his mermaid tailed attached to him and has a fox on top of him and a bouquet of roses below him. The interpretation for this card is the same as the traditional King of Cups.

• The back of the cards are reversible. The design is beautiful and very colorful. In the center of the image there is a blue circle and at the top, left, right and bottom of the circle there is what I call and elementary symbol (fire, water, earth and air). By far, the illustration for the back of the cards is very appealing.

• The texture of the cards are semi sturdy. They are not flimsy, but to allow easy flexibility to shuffle the cards. They have a nice coating that almost feels like leather with velvet. The shuffling holds up very well. The size of the cards are approximately 4” x 6”.

• The storage box for this cards is very nice and sturdy! The box holds itself with ribbons and the lid is magnetic. Half of the cards rest inside the box on the left and right sections. The companion booklet rests on top the cards.

• The companion book for this tarot deck is written by Jeffrey M. Donato and it has a total of 160 pages. The book is printed in full color, making it very appealing to read. The companion book is well organized. In the book there is “Acknowledgment” page and the “Contents”, then a “Foreword” written by the lovely and creator of the Pearls of Wisdom tarot deck, Roxi Sim. Then we see a “Preface” and an “Introduction”. We then come across Chapter 1 called, “Convitalis: the Great Book of Life.” (Keep in mind that in chapter one you will see four illustrations, but they are not included as card in the tarot deck.) Chapter 2 introduces you “The Fable of Fires: Be”. Chapter 3 introduces you to “The Epic of Earth: Do”. Chapter 4 introduces you to “The Anecdote of Air: Think”. Chapter 5 introduces you to “The Words of Water: Feel”. Chapter 6 introduces you to the NEW suit called “The Diffusion: Pause”. (This new suit only features 12 cards.) The last chapter, Chapter 7, introduces you to “The Tale of Time: Change.” Then there is a section called “Usage” and it gives you tips and pointers on how to use these cards and it includes four cards which are, a four card spread, the question spread, and the Celtic cross.

• The illustrations are done by Jeffrey M. Donato. All the illustrations on done by his hands and use a mix of art styles like ink, chalk, and pastels.

• I’m very pleased with this tarot deck. When I found out that is contains 102 (24 extra cards) I could not believe it! It has been a while that I’ve used or seen a tarot deck with so many cards! What caught my attention was the companion. It is easy to read and follow, but for being 160 pages, there is so much information for each card. I’m going to list some of the things that makes this tarot deck different from the rest. There are a total of 24 extra cards that makes this deck. Keep in mind that the pipes (1-10, knights-kings) are introduced first, then the majors are introduced last. There is also an extra suit that contains 12 cards. This suit falls in between the pipes and majors. Each pipe (wands, swords, cups and pentacles has two extra cards, one appears before the “Ace” card and the other one appears before the “Knight” card. As I mentioned before, there is an additional suit card and it is called “Diffusion” and contains 12 cards. There is an extra card in the majors, at the beginning of the “Fool” Card. The Magician has four alternative cards. The two of each court cards has an astrological character associated with it. If you are looking for a tarot deck that stirs away from, but remains close to tradition, I highly recommend this tarot deck. It is worth it. To buy click here!

 

© 2010 – 2016 J. R. Rivera
Reproduction prohibited without written permission from the author.