View Full Version : The Spiral Tarot
My primary deck is the Spiral tarot by Kay Steventon. I've only been using this deck for a couple of weeks, I learn with the Rider Waite, and I'd like to know if any others use the Spiral, what are your opinions on it.
I like the art work on both the Majors and the Minors but am feeling the need to learn more about the cards.
The LWB only gives very basic views of each card so does anyone use the book that goes with the deck? Does it go into detail, is it any good? If I can get a few opinions I will decide whether or not to hunt this book down. But regardless of that I do love this deck :)
Scorpion
23-02-2002, 07:46
Hi, Emily!
I've got the Spiral and it's becoming the deck I use most when reading for others - I let the querent choose their deck. I love the artwork on the Majors, but am not so keen on the Minors although I seem to work well enough with them.
I've got the book - I was originally told there wasn't one but after hunting around I located it. It's published by US Games Systems Inc. If you need the full details, let me know. It is very good for the Majors - it has a longer section on divinatory meaning than the LWB and goes into great detail on the mythology - which I really like. However, it's very sketchy on the Minors - eg, for the Princess of Wands (random choice) it's only got about 5 more words than the LWB - and that's only to complete sentences (ie [This Princess promises the] new [seed for] projects and ventures).
Hope you enjoy using this deck!
Wow - After seeing the very accurate reading Major Tom did for me using this deck I was just about to start a thread asking about it! Thanks Emily!
I looked at many images of the cards on the net and I wondered if they look a little too... 'air brushed' for my liking... There also seem to be a lot of extra symbles which I don't know if I could relate to... but I guess too much information is never a bad thing. I look forward to reading what everyone else thinks of this deck...
Should I add it to my wish list?
Its avery nice deck, it was the first deck i bought to learn witrh, im moving away from itonly because im moving away from my interest in the Celtic myths which are a strong part of the majors. The minors are very different, but I do actually like them. The Princesses in the deck tho are my favorites, i absolutely adore them. If youd like to see the entire deck online go here
www.tarot.com/store/browse_deck.php?newdeck=29
Hi LouiQ, I found the ISBN for the book, I just have to hope now that Amazon.UK have it back in, if not I might try some of the other online bookshops.
Hi Liliana and Kayne,
www.tarot.com was where I first saw this deck, it was a Sunday night- I ordered it from Amazon.uk and had the deck in my hands on Tuesday morning - I liked the online scans but the deck is so much better - usually I research my decks before I buy them but this one I bought on impulse and I wasn't disappointed :)
Major Tom
25-02-2002, 09:18
Kayne - You're making me blush.
Emily
I bought this deck at the same time I bought the Sacred Circle - I traded the Sacred Circle away but I've still got my Spiral. It took me a while to get used to it because the majors and minors seem to be of a different style but the more I work with it the more they seem to go together. This is the deck I use for reading. I'm finding that it's influencing me in subtle and not so subtle ways: I chose to use Princess rather than Page in my own deck (although Thoth probably had a hand too) and if you look at my 10 of Wands I'm positive it was influenced by the Spiral. Enjoy. ;D
Kaleidoscope Eyes
27-02-2002, 19:26
The Spiral has of late become my workhorse deck, especially when pulling my daily cards. I love the majors: they resonate with me, well, *majorly* ;-)
Much has been said elsewhere about the, uh, "dissonance" betwee the majors and the minors. It rather bugs me; I have difficulty relating to the Victorian era feel of the numbered cards. A couple I do like quite a bit (The two of swords, for example, or the six of swords. The Aces work pretty well, too.)
I do appreciate the court cards quite a lot, however.
One thing I really like about the Spiral is the size and feel of the cards. They shuffle easily, and I just really enjoy picking them up and working with them. I also generally get excellent readings with this deck.
kayne (24 Feb, 2002 03:03):
I looked at many images of the cards on the net and I wondered if they look a little too... 'air brushed' for my liking... There also seem to be a lot of extra symbles which I don't know if I could relate to... but I guess too much information is never a bad thing. I look forward to reading what everyone else thinks of this deck...
Should I add it to my wish list?
Wish list? no way ... put the deck in your shopping cart ;)
As for the extra symbols those are related to Qabalah and Astrology. Basically you do not need to know these things to work with the deck, but if you are into them or grow into them you do not have to switch decks ... I actually find this a major plus in this deck. I would recommend it with no qualms.
Love & Light,
I've just had to bump this up.
After months of looking for the Spiral book to accompany my deck, I've just had a stroke of good luck. I was looking into buying the Sacred Circle tarot, as mentioned in the forums earlier, and after finding that its on order at Amazon and very expensive at W H Smiths online, I decided to try a web search at google, somehow or other I found myself on the R Somerville site on a book page, I didn't even know they sell books, no Sacred Circle tarot but there was the elusive Spiral tarot book.
I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, I've searched so long for this book. My order is being faxed off later on tonight and hopefully they'll still be able to supply this book lol :)
Originally posted by Emily
I've just had to bump this up.
After months of looking for the Spiral book to accompany my deck, I've just had a stroke of good luck. I was looking into buying the Sacred Circle tarot, as mentioned in the forums earlier, and after finding that its on order at Amazon and very expensive at W H Smiths online, I decided to try a web search at google, somehow or other I found myself on the R Somerville site on a book page, I didn't even know they sell books, no Sacred Circle tarot but there was the elusive Spiral tarot book.
I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me, I've searched so long for this book. My order is being faxed off later on tonight and hopefully they'll still be able to supply this book lol :)
Congratulations!!
Enjoy the book !
Hi Maan, thanks
I'm still on a high, can't believe what a coincidence it was, if it wasn't for the Sacred Circle tarot, I knew that deck spoke to me lol, I wouldn't have put the search in - I have no idea how I ended up on the books page of Somerville's though, the Sacred Circle wasn't even there.
The Sacred Circle did still pull me in though so I'm still going to buy it, and it comes with its own book lol
But nothing will change my mind on the Spiral, its always going to be my favourite lol :)
RoseJalapeno
24-06-2002, 23:27
Hello everyone. :)
Well I just purchased the Spiral Deck, and must say, I really do like them , i think they're very much on the feminine side, so i guess you could say I was drawn to them. LIke others I'm quite new at trying to interpret them, andI get alot of cards reversed which bothers me because I don't REALLY know how to interpret them.
BY the way, it's nice to be here.
My Spiral tarot book came today :)
I'm very impressed with it - the stories of the Majors are a joy to read, even the shorter interpretations for the Minors are very detailed. If you like the cards, you really need this book to bring them to life ( only my opinion though lol) - I'm very pleased :)
midnightmerry
22-07-2002, 23:35
I just got the Spiral last night and I love this deck already. I've two readings with it & they were very accurate. I like the alchemical and astrological symbols on it too! Yippee!
I've really been adding to my collection lately (World Spirit, Caselli, Sacred Rose, Tarot of the Trance, and waiting on the Gill & Diamond), but I know this deck is going to be one that I use a lot for myself.
Hi midnightmerry,
The Spiral gets even better as it gets to know you :)
For other lovers of the Spiral I thought I'd add this from the book - Kay Steventon based the Majors on mythology, various cultures, but the Minors were based on the late 18 Century to honour her Grandmother who first got her interested in reading playing cards then the tarot. :)
NO Emily! Don't tell me how good and useful the book is because I'll have to buy it! *valiantly resists tarotholic force*
As for the Spiral, I got it on a whim because the images impressed me quite a bit. As I've worked with this deck, it's revealed more and more to me. It's absolutely wonderful. I find that it reads very intuitively for me, especially the courts, which I usually have trouble with. The Spiral courts are vibrant dynamic people and I get an immediate sense of what they're about.
I did not have any troubles with differences between time periods in majors and minors. For me, this is probably due to the similar color palate, and the very intense nature of the artwork remains consistent throughout the whole deck and binds it together. Oh, look at me! I'm waxing poetic about a deck. *giggle, blush*
Basically, I love my Spiral.
:) Kes
DarkElectric
26-07-2002, 22:41
I got my spiral deck a few years ago, and it has remained my primary, and most beloved deck! I was attracted to the image on the box. The deck had been unwrapped from the plastic by someone else who browsed it in the shop, so I got to see all of it. I made an instant connexion with it, and have used it ever since. I find it to be remarkably accurate, even when I venture to read for myself! (Voyager is like that too for me, and Rohrig.) But I love this deck dearly. The major arcanna blows me away, and I find the minors very clear to read, and quite endearing. (The 5 of pents actually made me cry when I pulled it in a reading for myself and it described EXACTLY my situation and how I was feeling about it.) And I love the court cards, which I too had a bit of trouble reading in other decks. I think it's the expressions on the faces... there is so much depth in them, that to me, it's like an insight into their personalities. This makes it a lot easier to translate the information I am receiving from the cards. I treasure this deck, and use it to read for friends as well. My best friend loved mine so much that she went out and bought one, and never uses any other!
This was the first deck I bought on a whim, and I've never regretted it - this deck does get better with use, I haven't studied properly with the R/W since I got it, infact I would say that this is now my main reading and study deck. Its very easy to apply R/W interpretations to it and also the cards themselves are very informative, I'm having to rely less and less on the books to use them (even though I'm having a whale of a time with the official Spiral book lol).
Its also a perfect size to take out being one of the smaller decks and there is nothing offensive so its suitable to be used for any readings :)
Tarot Sparrow
17-10-2004, 20:41
Bump! I take it this is quite an old thread, but I only found 3 and this one had the most posts! Surprising, because I thought this was a very popular deck, but maybe it's just the way I searched. Anyway, I've stopped buying decks for awhile because I don't want my collection to get too big, but I bought the Spiral last night on a whim (I used to think I didn't even like it). Hastings was having a 30% off sale on all tarot decks, which is like a once-in-a-lifetime thing I'm sure (for those of you who don't know, Hastings is a books/movies/music/video rental, etc. store. This deck had not even been on my wishlist while others they had were, but it seemed the most interesting. I just couldn't pass up the sale :D So I got the set for $20, not bad. I actually quite like it! It's almost romantic, and I love the purple tones. The card backs seem out of place to me but I'm getting used to them. I think I'll be hanging onto this one!
I bought this one a few days ago. The High Priestess card has a printer's error on the back making it obvious which card it is so I'll have to take it back to the store :(
I love that so many of the cards are night scenes or have dark backgrounds. Some of the minors seem to illustrate the RWS concept in a more immediate and emotional way than RWS clones. The courts look like they'll be easy to read and have a lot to say, especially the princesses.
The bright red inner borders do not work well with the purple outer borders and the purple outer borders are awful with the turquoise backs. Don't they have an art director at US Games?
I might have to cut the borders off when I replace the deck.
--Myrrha
Cerulean
17-10-2004, 22:43
I didn't replace this great set because I decided to wait for the new one by her and an astrologer called the Celestial.
If that one doesn't work, I'll go back to the old set...it's a beautiful deck and book...her paintings are very evocative of darker, yet dreamy images.
Regards,
Cerulean
littlehermit
18-10-2004, 07:11
I love my Spiral - it was my first deck and still my most reliable and accurate deck. My Goddess deck can be a little too gentle at times (and some of the choices for the Majors really throw me), and I'm still getting to know my Hadar.
Oh, let me just state here in defense of the much-maligned Five of Cups, who has been accused in other threads of having facial hair - she does NOT have a mustache!
Looking from the nose down:
Top dark line = upper lip
Slightly lighter line below it = lower lip
Thin white line between = teeth
Curve below that = chin
NO MUSTACHE.
So please do not go around painting out the poor woman's upper lip. She has enough problems. ;)
I don't actually mind at all the difference between the majors and the minors. It just drives home the point that minors are everyday and majors aren't... and when majors come up in a reading they get noticed and listened to.
What a difference two years makes :) - I'd forgotten just how I loved this deck but I did move on from it, not through choice but because my readings started to get unclear until I found I couldn't use this deck like I wanted to.
It did start me off on a love of myth and legends though, the book to this deck is really worth having. :)
Kay Steventon
19-10-2004, 23:13
Dear Readers of the Spiral Tarot, I feel I need to explain the visual differences between the Majors and the Minors in the Spiral.
I see the Majors as beyond the every-day experience of us as mere humans, they are the archetypes who belong to the collective unconscious, therefore, the cards are more detailed and complicated. Whereas, the Minors, do speak of every-day experience, they describe events and things we do from day-to-day. The Spiral Minors depict late 1800's appearence in honour of my grandmother's birthday, she,amongest other things, taught me the mysteries of the Tarot .
Kay Steventon, creator of the Spiral Tarot
BlueLotus
19-10-2004, 23:18
Originally posted by Kay Steventon
Dear Readers of the Spiral Tarot, I feel I need to explain the visual differences between the Majors and the Minors in the Spiral.
I see the Majors as beyond the every-day experience of us as mere humans, they are the archetypes who belong to the collective unconscious, therefore, the cards are more detailed and complicated. Whereas, the Minors, do speak of every-day experience, they describe events and things we do from day-to-day. The Spiral Minors depict late 1800's appearence in honour of my grandmother's birthday, she,amongest other things, taught me the mysteries of the Tarot .
Kay Steventon, creator of the Spiral Tarot
Thank you for your comments. I had always thought of the Spiral Tarot as a unique deck.
It had remained my most ever favorite deck, since I bought it a year ago. It is good to see you posting here, and I am yet to aquire your other deck , hopefully, soon.
Major Tom
20-10-2004, 03:35
Kay Steventon - I want to echo the thanks. Thanks for taking the time and effort required to register and respond. :)
I'd always suspected that was the reason for the differences between the majors and minors in the Spiral, but it is very nice to have my suspicision confirmed by the creator. The differences always seemed very natural to me and my battered Spiral is my main reading deck.
I do hope we can convince you to stick around and join in with our various discussions. Folks on the Tarot Deck Creation board could in particular, but not exclusively, benefit from your experience. There is a wide variety of discussions going on here and something is bound to interest you as well.
Thanks again.
Imagemaker
20-10-2004, 09:57
The Spiral is one of my favorite decks, partly because the majors and minors have a different feel, mostly because of the strong colors. I always get clear readings from the deck.
What a delight to have the artist join AT. Welcome, Kay!
I just got this deck and am very happy with it. So many times I am disappointed in a deck and definitely not this time. It has been on my wish list for a while and i was always put off by reviews mentioning the difference between the majors and minors. Having been disappointed with other decks where the artist does not seem to have put the same effort into the minors as they did for the major cards I held back on getting this deck.
I like the difference between the majors and minors. The artwork in the minors has just as much thought and effort put into it but is a different style emphasizing every day events.
I am getting some great readings with this deck and am just so thrilled with it.
Ruby7
edited to add: I got the deck and book set and am liking the book also.
Chronata
25-10-2004, 15:04
I am new to the Spiral.
It was a wonderful gift from the very generous Contrascarpe, and other than using it once to assure myself that I would get a seat on a standby flight, it has been sitting in my bookcase...
waiting...
That is...until yesterday, which is the first time I took it out, and used it for a reading for a friend.
What an extraordinary little deck this is! Just enough Rider-Waiteish symbolism to make me happy...but just different enough for really great intuitive readings.
And the artwork is really really lovely. Something I can very easily relate to.
So, put me there in that club of Spiral Lovers!
I'm sold!
Originally posted by Chronata
What an extraordinary little deck this is! Just enough Rider-Waiteish symbolism to make me happy...but just different enough for really great intuitive readings.
And the artwork is really really lovely. Something I can very easily relate to.
Yes, exactly! I couldn't agree more :)
Ruby7
Kay Steventon
27-10-2004, 03:08
Thanks, Ruby7 for your complimentary remarks re: the Spiral Tarot.
Kay
I have been using the Spiral spread from the book and having some very good readings. I started making a bag for the deck last night with a multicoloured embroidered spiral. The spiral has always been a special symbol to me, I've used it in my jewellery work a lot, sometimes even had trouble designing pieces that didn't have a spiral somewhere :). Only regret is I didn't discover this lovely deck sooner.
All the best
Ruby7
I read through this thread because I was curious about the book. I echo everyone else in admiring the lovely artwork. Now I just need to get the book to go with it! :D
I have the lovely Spiral Tarot. I bought the deck and book set. I'm glad I did. When I first saw the images, I knew I had to have it. It called to me and beckoned me to buy it immediately. The images really resonate with me. They would linger with me throughout the day. Now that's a powerful deck. It really is a reliable, trusty, workhorse.
This is the deck I voted for in the Top Ten Deck for 2004.
tatsi
WebWeaver
07-12-2004, 14:51
Is this deck part of any study group? I've done a search but there are tons and tons of posts that mention the deck... so if there is could ya point me in the correct direction?
::: muddling around:::
WebWeaver
No, I don't think there has ever been a Spiral tarot study group - I've looked and can't find one anyway.
You could always start one :)
Love
Sulis xx
That is a great idea! I don't have time now, but would consider joining a Spiral Study Group after Christmas. :)
I've bumped this up instead of starting a new thread.
I wondered who still uses the Spiral? I loved this deck but lost the special connection I had formed with it, a couple of years ago now, and thought I had moved on but a couple of nights ago I had a real pull towards getting it out of the tarot bookshelf and to look through it again.
It was like looking at a new deck - there was so much on the cards that I hadn't seen even though for around a year this was my primary deck - I must have had my eyes closed, no wonder it stopped speaking to me.
There are round jewels on each card, they are not mentioned in the book - but they are on every card - I found some in the hilts of some of the Swords too - I wondered what these little jewels could mean.
The Spiral is still one of my favourite decks :)
I never noticed the jewels before, will have to have a look.
Ruby7
Hi Ruby7,
I'd never noticed them before either lol - they are small round and come in either gold, silver, jewel colours or black. On the Sword cards you can see them in the hilts of the Swords - there are alot more on the Majors but you have to search them out on the Minor cards.
I was sat up in bed this morning with the Spiral spread out over the bed seeing if I had missed any. I also did a quick spread for the day and its been amazingly insightful. I never thought I would use this deck again but I still love the artwork and it does seem easier to read - I must have connected with it again.
I still use this deck but mostly for clients. They seem to love it, and it's just below the Morgan-Greer in number of people who want a reading with it. I still get a lot of insight from the images, and the court cards still wow me because they convey their meaning more clearly than most other decks. I will have to look for those jewels!
Glad you rediscovered this one, Emily!
:) Kes
Another thing about this deck - this is a favourite thing to find in decks for me - some of the cards have eye colour :D - I love to see well drawn faces and eye colour is a bonus. :)
BlueLotus
04-04-2005, 11:05
The Spiral Tarot is one of my favorite regular reading decks. I noticed the pearls and believe they are there to project prosperity,affluence and the riches. They are quite unique to this deck, as I haven't seen anything similar on other decks.
I just wonder if anyone solved the riddle of the mustache, or what looks like one on the 5 of cups woman's on top of her upper lip.
Requiella
04-04-2005, 20:52
I absolutely adore the Spiral--it's hands down my favorite deck, and I say this even after finally opening my Druidcraft deck. I could go on and on about what I love about the Spiral deck. The highlights for me are:
-- The overall tone of the deck. I would characterize it as definitely feminine, but it has masculine characters, which is important.
-- On a related note, I like the fact that the deck doesn't try too hard to be sexy--sexy in the sense of in-your-face hot bods. The characters are more real. Although I like the Gilded deck in many respects, it bothers me this way.
-- The Maiden, Mother, and Crone imagery (Wheel) is very cool!
-- Many people are bothered by what they see as too great a discrepancy between the majors and the minors. First off, although they're a little different, the artwork is definitely similar enough between the two to unify the deck. The difference, which I see as a small one, really serves to underscore the difference between the majors (archetypes) and minors (everyday characters/issues/situations).
-- The cards are the perfect shuffling size.
-- Good card stock. Although they're a little stiff, they shuffle pretty well once they're broken in.
Overall, this deck gets an A+ in my book!
Requiella
04-04-2005, 20:55
I just wonder if anyone solved the riddle of the mustache, or what looks like one on the 5 of cups woman's on top of her upper lip.
Interesting. I've never seen a mustache. To me, it looks as though she simply has her mouth open and is gritting her teeth and little and grimacing.
BlueLotus
04-04-2005, 23:42
Interesting. I've never seen a mustache. To me, it looks as though she simply has her mouth open and is gritting her teeth and little and grimacing.
Unfortunately, this is not the case (IMHO). I recommend you take a hard look at the woman's face, assuming you have the deck, and decide for yourself. I just wish it wasn't there; not that it bothers me that much, I am just being curious.
I hadn't thought of it as a moustache either, until your post :P, but now I can see what you mean. Its like one of those pictures that if you look at it one way you see one thing but look at it another way and you see another.
OK it bugged me so I've just darkened her bottom lip too with a brown pencil - now she is grimacing. :D
Requiella
05-04-2005, 23:11
Unfortunately, this is not the case (IMHO). I recommend you take a hard look at the woman's face, assuming you have the deck, and decide for yourself. I just wish it wasn't there; not that it bothers me that much, I am just being curious.
Yes, I do have the deck, I have taken a hard look, and I have decided for myself. Are you saying that different people cannot see things differently? You seem awfully sure of yourself. I see no mustache.
BlueLotus
05-04-2005, 23:37
Yes, I do have the deck, I have taken a hard look, and I have decided for myself. Are you saying that different people cannot see things differently? You seem awfully sure of yourself. I see no mustache.
Well, in this case, it must be the image/mustache on my particular card. Unlucky me
tarobones
08-10-2005, 09:19
Just wanted to invite everybody to our fledgling study group for the Spiral Tarot. BB, Michael