Yet another new deck... (Light & Shadow)

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 04 Sep 2003, and now archived in the Forum Library.

Trogon	04 Sep 2003
Well... I finally did it... I'd been waffling back and forth about getting the Light and Shadow Tarot for a few weeks. But last week found my wife and I down in Sedona after a late morning bird watching trip. So, I said to myself "okay... that little shop down that road has the Light & Shadow Tarot... I guess I'd better go get it." ;) So I stopped in there and, lucky me, they had one copy left! Yaaay! I've had a couple of people ask me what it is that drew me to this deck, what it is I really like about it. This is a difficult question to answer. For one thing, the starkness of the images (lack of color) is so different from almost all other Tarot decks that it just caught my eye. The boldness of the art work (wood block prints) is also very different. And, I do like "different", so it really reached out and grabbed me. But there was more to it than this... I think that Brian Williams puts it very well in the Introduction to the book which comes with the deck; Quote: It embodies the contrast between light and dark, heavy and light, feminine and masculine, expressed in a lively, linear idiom of black-and-white graphics. This contrast, though, does not mean a Manichean duality of good battling evil, order against chaos, darkness striving to drive out the light. Instead, Light and Shadow celebrates the balance and synthesis of contrasting forces. It honors the significance and interplay of both extremes. The cards are pretty large, 5 1/2 inches x 4 1/4 inches (140 mm x 108 mm), so may be somewhat difficult for some people to handle. Also, they seem to be on somewhat thinner stock and, perhaps, not coated quite as heavily (if at all) as some other decks - for example, the Haindl Tarot deck is 4 mm thicker than the Light and Shadow Tarot. Does this make a difference? To me, it only means that I'll have to handle them a little more carefully, making sure to not crease or split a card. Back to how it "feels" to me... When I first looked through this deck I thought it would really "speak" to me on a very intuitive level. So far, this appears to be very true. I've done a "new deck" reading with this and it was very positive and it seems as though reading with this deck will be very easy for me. I'll post the new deck reading shortly... [edited to add;] Posted my new deck reading at - http://www.tarotforum.net/showthread.php?s=&threadid=17245

Astraea	04 Sep 2003
This is one of my favorite decks, too, Trogon. It feels real and warm to me, and the color scheme (none!) and rich symbolism invite the kinds of projection and exploration that make for multileveled readings.

Marie	04 Sep 2003
I love this deck!

Melvis	04 Sep 2003
Ahhh...another reason to gush about one of my favorite decks! One thing I like about this deck is that the stark color scheme allows the designs to be more detailed without getting too cluttered or muddy-looking. Glad you like it, Trogon! It's always nice to find another L & S convert! :D Peace, Melvis :TSTRE

The Yet another new deck... (Light & Shadow) thread was originally posted on 04 Sep 2003 in the Tarot Decks board, and is now archived in the Forum Library. Read the active threads in Tarot Decks, or read more archived threads.