The Barbara Walker Tarot

Thread originally posted on the Aeclectic Tarot Forum on 15 Jun 2005, and now archived in the Forum Library.

new2angels	15 Jun 2005
Does anyone have this?What do you think of it?

Gerbear	15 Jun 2005
I have this deck and used it for many years, during the seventies. It's a female based deck, but, as a male, I never had any problems with it. Most of the comment I've heard about this deck, has been slightly on the negative side, but again, that was not my experience. The companion book is very good, offering a wealth of information. Hope this helps.

Nydia	15 Jun 2005
I have this and it is my favorite deck for reading because I feel like it tells me the truth. For me, the Barbara Walker Tarot tells it like it is. I rarely read, though, and I don't read for others. I do look in the LWB and in the Secrets of the Tarot book that goes with it. There are alot of cards that are different from RWS and it helps me to look up what the pictures are. I believe the deck is useful for intuition, too, because sometimes I'll get something out of the card that may have a certain meaning for me personally. I also like the small size of the cards. They are comfortable in my hands. The cards have key words and I know that's a turn-off for some people. The last reading I did I am remembering by the three key words I got! I don't think I do that all the time. Do you have this deck or are you thinking about getting it?

Shade	16 Jun 2005
Understanding the Barbara Walker deck is a bit easier when you have read a few of her books. Her books on symbolism have quite a lot of information in them but they are always slanted towards womens mysteries. In this deck there is a lot of imagery of women being abused by men... a lot. Women hug trees as men come to cut them down, women are chained, thrown into pits, you name it. I do feel that the prevalence of this imagery makes it a particularly "dark" deck. Surprisingly her I Ching of the Goddess cards have more of this imagery than the tarot deck. Some cards on the other hand show women triumphing over men and destrying them (Kali as the Queen of Swords devours a man's (shiva?) entrails). Some cards have surprising images, the two of wands shows a man looking into a well, and his reflection is a woman. The majors are pretty heavily influenced by the Tarot de Marseilles. They are fairly basic. The deck would have been better without the keywords, they make the deck even dark than it is to begin with. The ace of swords is "doom", why? It took me a while to like the deck, I do now. I use it once or twice a year, usually only on Samhain as a way to get information from the Dark Goddess. My spirituality leans toward the divine feminine so the preponderance of women's mysteries wasn't an issue, but I think some men might get prickly at some of the images. Men who think of Starhawk as a "femi-nazi" will definatley do well with this.

The The Barbara Walker Tarot thread was originally posted on 15 Jun 2005 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.