Tarot of Dreams (mass market edition)

Cartomancy Reviews.

February 10, 2016

Tarot of Dreams invites us all to explore the web
of visual and emotional associations
that occur at the intersection of dreams and tarot.

~ Quote from the back of the box

TarotofDreams

Title: Tarot of Dreams

Author: Lee Bursten

Illustrator: Ciro Marchetti

Publisher: US Games Systems

The Tarot of Dreams tarot deck features 83 sublime illustrated tarot cards, 5 being bonus cards. In these cards, the illustrations are messages from our dreams.

Going through this deck there is a card that stood out and that I like. This card is called The Chariot. I must say that it is remarkably beautiful. In the traditional Rider Waite we see the horseman and his horses coming at us. Well, in this card you won’t see the horseman and his horses facing you, instead they are facing another direction. The horseman is shirtless and has a muscular body. He is also pale. He rides in a silver chariot that looks very futuristic. His horses are not black and white, instead they are between a white and silver color. In the traditional RW, the horseman rides on land, in this image he is riding through water. There is also a futuristic tower/building in the background. When this card is drawn, it advises to take things forward and to another direction.

The next card that I found very interesting is the 8 of Cups. In the original RW, there is a man who is walking away with his back turned from eight cups. As he is walking, he appears to walk into a river. In this card, the image takes a different approach. Here you see a man who, like the man in the RW version, is walking away from eight cups. But here, he is walking up some stairs that lead him to walk into the moon. How about that? When this card appears in a reading is signifies that you must leave something behind that makes you feel incomplete so you can find whatever it is that you are missing.

The last card that I liked was the Knight of Wands. In the original RW, you see a young knight dressed in yellow and red clothing and is riding a brown horse. In this card you will see a knight dressed in silver body armor. Instead of riding a brown horse, he is riding a dragon that spits fire out of his mouth. When the Knight of Wands appears in a reading, it is telling you to take a stance and follow what you are after.

The back of the cards are reversible. The design for the cards appears to be the pattern/shape of the sun. There is brown pattern that has the rays of the sun, below it, it has a yellow ring and below that, it has a blue circle that is adorned with pretty patterns. If you own the self-published edition, you will know what I’m talking about. The only difference between the self-published edition and the mass-marker edition is that the back design has been zoomed in.

The texture of the cards are very sturdy. They are not ridged nor flimsy. They have a matted feel. The shuffling holds up very well. Of course, what can you expect from US Games, high quality card stock. The size of the cards are approximately 3” x 5”.

The storage box for these cards is sturdy! The box has a lid that you have to pull with your fingers in order to access the cards. The stack of cards are divided into two, one pile lays on the right hand side and the other on the left hand side. The book rests on top of the cards.

The text book is written by Lee Bursten and it contains 112 pages. The book contains an introduction. A section called “Esoteric Symbols Systems in the Tarot of Dreams” will help you identify Hebrew letter and Astrological symbols and will also help you understand why they are incorporated in the cards. Then the next section called “Introducing the Major Arcana” will provide you with a little bit of in-depth information of the Major Arcana. After that section you will start to read the meanings and interpretations of the Major Arcana. After you are done reading the Major Arcana, you will come across a section called “Introducing the Minor Arcana”, much like the Introduction to the Major Arcana, you will be provided with a bit of in-depth about the Minor Arcana. This section will help you understand the why the cards (1-10) are numbered, how the Palace cards (which are bonus cards) are included and more about the court cards. Then you will jump into reading about the Minor Arcana. The Major and Minor arcana’s are laid out in a well-organized structure. For each card you will have the title of the card, keywords, a description and interpretation of the cards and the interpretation of the Hebrew letters and Astrological signs.

Over all, I’m happy that this beautiful tarot deck has gotten a mass-market release. For some time this deck was self-published and it was difficult for some people to get a hold of a copy, but thanks to US Games, the whole world can get a copy. US Games did a fanatic job with the production and quality of the cards, as well as the designed. In the self-published edition there was a thick illustrated bored that would take up most of the space. It was beautiful, but a little bit to “busy” and was a tad distracting. But in this mass-market edition, is has a thin black border that does not disturb the images and helps you to stay focused on the illustrations. The books is well written and organized and it does include enough information to learn the cards. If memory serves me right, this is the first tarot deck that US Games has produced with a companion booklet. They are known to produce little white books in their tarot decks. In this tarot deck there are five bonus cards, four are called “Palace” and one is called “The Tree of Life” which is the Kabala pattern. So I must say that pleased and I do hope that many of their upcoming tarot decks have a companion book. Also, I want to point out that these cards do not contain gilded edges, only the self-published edition. But nonetheless, US Games did a fantastic job with keeping this deck as original as possible without altering the images. To buy yourself a copy of this tarot deck, click here!

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Tarot of Dreams