Shaman Tarot Deck Review | Tarot Deck Review

Hey, what is up? It's ross, and I wanted to start doing a monthly tarot deck review. I'm going to start with one of my favorite decks; we will use a four-point system and then look at my top five cards.

The first deck we're going to use is the first tarot deck that I ever got. It is not the exact copy of the deck. I've had to re-buy it a couple of times.

Is this deck easy to use?

No, the Shaman tarot is not suitable for beginners in my experience, even though they come with a little book that explains all of the cards.

Now that I've learned the Rider Smith Waite system and I am more familiar with tarot, this is a unique system in many ways. 

It takes a lot of liberties with the cards, so it's challenging for beginning readers if you're trying to learn tarot as a whole.

Suppose you're going to get one deck in one deck only, ever. In that case, it's probably a good deck.

If you're willing to learn how to read some of the cards more traditionally and then want to build upon that knowledge, this is like an excellent intermediate deck.

Quality of the cards

I would say the quality of the cards is good. I've had this copy of this deck in particular now for five-plus years; the cards are holding up well. 

The cards are quality card stock. Some companies use flimsy and cheap materials. All my serious readers know what I'm saying.

These are by Lo Scarabeo; from what I've seen, that company produces high-quality cards.  

Artwork and Coloring

The artwork is stunning. It blends many aspects of the spiritual journey with society, and it combines a lot of tribal concepts with modern living. 

It's a fantastic way to think about these concepts and bring them into your life. So the artwork is stunning, very, very colorful, high detail.

It's kind of like having a spiritual experience in modern society. It reminds me of my spiritual awakenings and emergencies.

So the top five cards were tough to pick for this deck because like less than a quarter of the way through it, I already had five cards; I changed a couple of them out because I have O.C. D. I could spend hours and hours trying to pick my top favorite cards.

I went with the ones that caught my eye the most this time because I love the whole deck, so you can deal with it, and we'll look at the cards now. 

Top 5 in no particular order

The Lovers Card

So the lover's card in this deck is well done. The reason is it has the man and the woman there, and then there's like the wedding knot represented by a serpent. That's a nod to a kundalini awakening. That could be a call to some of the ayahuasca visions.  

There's also this sense of the alchemical wedding, unifying the masculine and feminine principles within ourselves, which then causes the kundalini awakening. And then here you have what would be the angel in Rider Smith Waite presented as the shaman and here like activates this higher sense of being because of the alchemical wedding. I think that's a really potent example of symbolism alone.  

The World Card

Well, look at the next card, the world card. I love the world card. I think having the ouroboros there is incredibly important. The feminine goddess energy overlooks the world because we generally associate mother earth. 

I believe that the feminine or generative principle is essential.

Healing

The artist takes liberties with the Temperance card by calling it Healing and vastly changing its meaning. But I love this card because it shows balance in a really interesting way.

There's passive energy and active energy; feminine energy is typically associated with passive energy. So here, the feminine energy is being active, and it's causing the man to be passive and stop and take a look. It's stopping the guy in his tracks. 

Additionally, it shows how actively stopping and centering yourself creates change or transformation represented by the butterflies.

There is another fun twist to this symbolism, but it's easier expressed in the video above.

The Hunter of Demons

The general meaning of this card has a stink of Spiritual manipulation. If you had told me I would include the hierophant in my top cards, I'd have thought you're full of shit. But this is one of the areas where they make a cool play on the meaning.

The hunter of demons here goes into these old beliefs and traditions and exercises them of all of their bullshit. The hunter of demons is ensuring that things have agency and meaning in modern society and our current with what we need; it's not holding onto useless boondoggles of a dead culture.

I think that that's at least how I interpret it, which is super heavy. That's why I like this meaning of it because it also incorporates the reverse, which I view as following a path with heart. A way with heart is baked into the hunter of demons, and that's why I like it.

Seven of Wands

This card is not a traditional representation of, by any stretch, seven of wands is about victory and accomplishment. This deck shows the battle, not the accomplishment.. 

I chose this because it's actually what victory and accomplishment feel like at times, at least for me. At times, I feel like this tiny thing is taking on this massive behemoth, and that's why I chose it because symbolically, it's dope as funk is the easiest way that I can put it.

I highly highly recommend this deck. If you're new to reading, I suggest waiting till you have learned the basics from a more standard deck

I'm not an authority; I'm not gatekeeping. Please take my advice on anything with a grain of salt. I hope this was helpful. If it was, leave a comment, tell me what you liked about it, tell me what you didn't like, and subscribe if you have not already. Peace.