The Fairy Tale Tarot

The Fairy Tale Tarot by Lisa Hunt is a gorgeous deck! It will captivate tarot readers and their clients for its enchanting artwork and familiar, lovable characters.

The deck comes packaged in a box with a book and an organdy bag. I’ve only glanced through pieces of the book so far, but what I can tell you is that it’s written in fairy tale style too. Each card has the story that’s depicted in it told as well as a symbols and meanings section. Spreads are also provided at the end of the book. The organdy bag is the typical style that comes inside these sets. It’s flimsy and I can’t see it lasting long as a home for your cards. But they are nice and come in handy for storing lighter things…a few herbs or a couple tumbled stones for instance.

The cards themselves are filled with detailed images done in soft tones that lend well to the story time feel of the deck. The artwork expands fully to the edge, which means no border! I love that! I get so tired of feeling restricted by bordered images. The curved edges of the cards frame the scenes nicely. And the card backs are adorned with a reversible image of a beautiful key wrapped in vinery.

Here are a few cards that caught my eye (Yes, I know these images don’t show the curved edges. You can see that here.):

Aren’t they pretty? You can see all the cards on Lisa’s website.

The images don’t follow the traditional Rider Waite in terms of symbolism, but are set up in the similar Majors, Minors (wands, cups, pentacles, and swords) style. A few of the cards are named a little differently than the traditional names too. This review on aeclectic tarot lists the details so check that out if you are interested. I mention all this especially for beginner readers who are still becoming familiar with the classic symbolism. This deck won’t help you with that, but it can be used for working on your intuition.

My one caveat is that these cards aren’t laminated. What that means is that the deck feels flimsier without it. The cards won’t last long if you aren’t careful with shuffling and traveling with them (not to mention how your clients handle them!). That simple fact alone means I won’t be able to read regularly with these cards. And that’s just a shame. Llewellyn would have done better with less expense on the packaging (since I toss the box anyway—little room for storage) and more invested in making these cards more durable. If you do fall in love with the artwork enough though, you’ll have to do what I do with the The Halloween Tarot—own extra copies of the deck! Hopefully for those of you that applies to, they’ll eventually sell the deck without the book….

All in all, the images look like this will be an inspiring deck to work with. I also foresee some fun tarot writing prompts in my future.

Oh, and a fan has a blog up that’s dedicated to her exploration of the deck. Go check it out.

Lastly, here are Lisa’s other gorgeous decks: Animals Divine Tarot, Celtic Dragon Tarot, Fantastical Creatures Tarot, and Shapeshifter Tarot.