The Dreams Of Gaia Tarot

Thank you, Ravynne, for taking this risk, for putting your heart and soul into this deck. I am new to tarot, and so come freshly to Dreams of Gaia. When my package arrived, as I first laid eyes on the sumptuous box, my hands literally shook in anticipation of opening the deck. I welcome your original vision. Your exquisite images, your structure, and concepts move me in ways that the traditional tarot does not.

After using the deck for a little over a week, these are my first impressions:

-Still not a fan of the structure. It still reads more like an oracle deck to me than a tarot deck. While I don't mind oracle decks, that really wasn't what I was looking for with this deck in particular.
-Severely disappointed in the card stock. Not only has it ripped, but some corners arrived damaged out of the box. Additionally, they were so stuck together when I first received them that separating them was an aggravating chore.
-The book seems well-written to me.
-The deck does not read intuitively at all, imo. I keep having to refer to the book for meanings. I feel like some symbolism was lost and other parts of the symbolism is difficult to interpret.
-The readings have been hit or miss. Some were spot-on, but others seemed to fall flat.
-I'm not happy that there was a typo in the deck. While that's not a deal-breaker, it somewhat sets the tone for the rest of the deck.
-Shuffling with the cards isn't the easiest task. They tend to stick together. I've tried using powders to try to counteract it, but nothing seems to help much.
-While the art is gorgeous, it just doesn't seem to be a reading deck for me.

Ravynne, I just want to thank you for sharing your views and creative thoughts with us online.

I must say that your humble, kind, and informative approach is what made me purchase the Dreams of Gaia! I was feeling a bit too lazy (just being honest lol) to learn a new system, but decided to get my act together and try it out. What shines through is that you so clearly put your heart and soul in this deck, and really put hard work to it, and that deserves praise. I'm yet to read with the Dreams of Gaia (arrived today!), but I am looking forward to it teaching me something new and showing me a new perspective on tarot. I definitely agree that tarot isn't static, it changes with us humans, and I should be glad and not lazy when tarot creators embrace that development.

I have the deck and think it's stunning, no issues with the card stock at all (one card was marked incorrectly but I don't really care). I haven't had the chance to read with it yet but have been reading the guidebook a little and appreciate that this is going to be a great deck for personal development The art is so magical, it makes me want to purchase the Messenger oracle

dreamsofgaia said:

You see, I am bipolar, so structure and order and routine are very important to me. They keep me healthy and grounded. I embrace tradition in a lot of areas in my life because, for me, confidence comes in following rules and knowledge that is founded in tradition. Tradition and structure keep me safe when my head gets screwy.

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I have this deck and just love it, it is awesome, the cards are truly beautiful and you should be very proud of yourself. Having a daughter who suffers from Bipolar, I can only admire you even more because I know the struggles well of just getting on with life, let alone creating something so beautiful and different as this deck. I love learning new systems particularly in Tarot, Lenormand whatever. I feel it keeps one from stagnating and gives you a bigger perspective in your readings. That's why I have so many decks I use them to read particular issues or to answer peoples questions better, some decks are better at answering different types of questions in my opinion anyway. I wish you all the best on your journey and will tell you what I tell my daughter, Bipolar is what makes you unique and essentially you, never try and change yourself to fit in with society. I have the card I think its Faith with the wrong number on it? I don't care I want to keep it as I feel that there is a reason behind this so called mistake! Thank you for creating this wonderful tarot deck while going through your own dark night of the soul, out of darkness comes goodness as you have shown so well

Bipolar is what makes you unique and essentially you, never try and change yourself to fit in with society.

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Tarotlova - thank you. Believe me, at 47 years of age, I am no longer inclined to try and change myself to fit in with society. I know from experience that it does not work, and for someone like me, it can actually be quite detrimental to try to conform. We must be who we are not who we believe others want or expect us to be.

Thankfully, I only have - in the present - a mild form of bipolar which I only became aware of about five years ago when I experienced a stress-induced hypomanic episode that saw me doing several very out of character things before falling into a depressed state. Sitting down with my doctor and going over my history, it became clear that I had been misdiagnosed with depression and that it was more along the lines of a cyclothymic disorder that can be maintained by self-care. I have to make sure I sleep enough. Manage my stress triggers and anxiety. Make sure I have the right diet and take the right supplements, and never allow myself to believe that just because I am feeling better that I am all fixed (which you will more than likely be aware of being one of the biggest traps. We feel better and that can be dangerous because we believe that we no longer need to self-care) My past experiences make it clear that I was lucky to survive my teenage years up to my early twenties as I was rapid-cycling and out of control, but a partner and children brought a level of stability and order to my life. My children saved my life, and for all that my relationship with my partner was not perfect, it provided me with sense of security that reduced the anxiety that triggers me, so the disorder gentled somewhat into long periods of depression broken up with random explosions of chaos.

So I have lived with it for longer than I have been aware of it. It's made sense of some very confusing times and situations for me. I now also understand that while my Bipolar is under control now, without care, it can become extreme again.

It's something that's made me very mindful. Working on the tarot taught me a lot about myself which I now use to navigate my way forward with a little more ease. It is no longer something I see as a cause of suffering though. I have a disordered brain, not an illness. It has the potential to make me ill if I don't look after myself, but when the disorder is being managed, it just becomes something that is a part of you. I have a brain that works in an atypical manner instead of a typical one, and a lot of my recent past involved learning how to use it to my advantage. If I could change something about myself, I'd probably change something else, like not having to struggle with my weight, as opposed to no longer being Bipolar.

It's played a key role in my becoming and being an artist. It's played a key role in my choosing to write. It's played a key role in my choice to create tools for others. Without it, I would not be me ... I'd be someone very different, and I like who I am now. I see my being Bipolar as a key and necessary ingredient to the mix, and one that gives to me far more than it takes from me.

After using the deck for a little over a week, these are my first impressions:

-Still not a fan of the structure. It still reads more like an oracle deck to me than a tarot deck. While I don't mind oracle decks, that really wasn't what I was looking for with this deck in particular.
-Severely disappointed in the card stock. Not only has it ripped, but some corners arrived damaged out of the box. Additionally, they were so stuck together when I first received them that separating them was an aggravating chore.
-The book seems well-written to me.
-The deck does not read intuitively at all, imo. I keep having to refer to the book for meanings. I feel like some symbolism was lost and other parts of the symbolism is difficult to interpret.
-The readings have been hit or miss. Some were spot-on, but others seemed to fall flat.
-I'm not happy that there was a typo in the deck. While that's not a deal-breaker, it somewhat sets the tone for the rest of the deck.
-Shuffling with the cards isn't the easiest task. They tend to stick together. I've tried using powders to try to counteract it, but nothing seems to help much.
-While the art is gorgeous, it just doesn't seem to be a reading deck for me.

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Achlys - I want to respond to your comment, and I do hope my words do not give offence. Believe me, there is none intended.

That being said, I get the sense that to some degree you are blaming the tool because you do not understand how the tool works or cannot make the tool work how you want it to. What exactly were you looking for in this deck? Beyond the quality issues, which I have no control over, I sense that you have purchased this deck with some level of expectation that it be like other tarots, and are attempting to use it the same way. Which may explain why it's not working for you.

It's not going to be an intuitive deck if you are looking for the familiar symbols and archetypes used in the RWS. Of course you are going to have to refer to the guidebook in order to understand the cards. It's a new system, and one that is very different to what you are familiar with, so it has to be learned. Which also means that to best understand it you have to stop comparing it.

Again, I hope my words do not offend, but one of the biggest obstacles I have seen with regards to connecting with the deck have been experienced by those who attempt to use it as they would a RWS deck. That won't work, because that's not what this deck is, and if you cannot move beyond that, then obviously this deck is not meant for you at this particular stage of your journey. No blame, just an imperfect fit. This tool is not the right tool for your purposes.

Love this Deck!

I have this deck and it reads really well for me. I am going through some heavy personal things and have been using tarot almost daily as a guide. It is working wonderfully.
I wrote the publisher and received a correctly numbered Faith card in the mail today!
The artwork is beautiful and I have no problems with the card-stock or stickiness. After
using the deck for several days the stickiness was not a problem.

dreamsofgaia said:

I just wanted to flit in and say thank you to everyone who's purchased the deck, whether you love it or hate it or sit somewhere in between. I knew when I decided to deviate and create a new system that I would challenge some with my choice to call it a tarot, but it's been rather interesting to watch the discussions on this particular aspect.

So, I wanted to share my thoughts ...

For me, all decks are oracular in nature. They are all oracles. Even the tarot. We come before them with questions in both heart and mind and seek their insight and a way forward. So understand, for me, at the end of the day, there is no real difference except that an oracle is often theme specific and freeform in nature. Except for one or two decks I am aware of, there are few that have any structure or order to them. The Dreams of Gaia Tarot has both. Oracles are not possessing of a major and minor arcana. Oracles do not have suits and court cards.

So here I am, the deck creator, faced with a choice between calling it an oracle, and calling it a tarot. It's very structured nature makes it so much more than an oracle, but I agree, it's not a tarot in the traditional sense either because I have *gasps with horror* replaced all the traditional archetypes. However, it was never meant to be a traditional deck. It was, from the very beginning, meant to be a new independent system, and that was something that challenged me to terrifying degree. You see, I am bipolar, so structure and order and routine are very important to me. They keep me healthy and grounded. I embrace tradition in a lot of areas in my life because, for me, confidence comes in following rules and knowledge that is founded in tradition. Tradition and structure keep me safe when my head gets screwy.

But life is a journey forward. It's an evolving story. Nothing stays the same, and sometimes new systems emerge.

This deck is an evolution. I don't want people for one minute to believe that I believe it is a better system, but it is, if you are willing to give it the time, a potentially powerful alternative system. (Yes, one that requires a willingness to learn). There is still so much of the tarot there - the major arcana is still a journey through life. The cards look at the big picture, while the minors are still about our everyday stories. This deck is a mirror of our lives.

It is a system that is more tarot than it is not, and at the end of the day, I couldn't very well call it a taroracle now, could I? It's got the bones of the tarot at its foundation. It's got the energy and intention of the tarot at its heart. It's voice, if you are willing to hear it, is still very tarot. To me, the choice was quite simple. I went with tarot. It's one of those times in my life that my choice was so simple it was an easy one to make. And even though my choice has generated a wee bit of debate, I would not go with oracle, because it's not an oracle. I will stand both defiant and unapologetic and call it a tarot because that's what it is.

But the beautiful truth is that it CAN be read and used like an oracle too. Some see this as a negative, but again, I do not. I think it says a lot for a tool that can be used in multiple ways.

Again, this deck is not going to be for everyone. There are some who just won't be able to see beyond the changes made and embrace them because they fly in the face of traditions and learning that they honour above all else. Being somebody who understands the reasons for embracing traditions, I can accept their point of view. I don't necessarily agree with it, but I understand it and respect it. I think the only time I get a little reactive is when somebody criticises the deck without having any real knowledge of it because they have based their opinions what the deck is not, instead of what it is, or they have dismissed it, and criticised it, because it comes with some assembly, i.e. learning, required.

I will not apologise for not creating another clone deck. I have always said, right from the very beginning, that this deck was not going to be a traditional tarot and every time I deviated, I ran into endless obstacles. The moment I just allowed it to be what it was meant to be, everything flowed.

I also find myself looking at the criticisms offered with the awareness that the same arguments were probably made when the RWS and Thoth tarot were published. They were met with the same criticism. How do you think traditionalists would have perceived and reacted to them? There would have been many who loved them, and just as many who hated them. The tarot, when you look at the history of the tarot from beginning to present, shows that it has evolved in some really fundamental ways over time. It reveals that there is room for growth and change.

I'm not afraid of criticism, because I have seen this deck in action. I have seen it do the very thing I created it for - healing work and self-empowerment. It works. People connect with it. It's an alternative system that is meant for those who want something different or cannot connect with the older tarot options. If you are happy with traditional decks, then I am happy for you. I truly am. But the Dreams of Gaia Tarot has both place and purpose. It challenges people to own their choices completely, and that's something we need in the present.

Now, I just also want to add on the quality/production side of things that there have been a few issues. Blue Angel prides themselves on creating a quality product and stand by it, so if anyone has any issues with their deck, whether it be damaged cards or that pesky misprint, please, take a photo and send an email to BA and they will address the issue. Everything about this deck has been a learning experience for both myself and BA. It's a first tarot for both of us, so getting the balance right has been challenging, but these are all 'first edition' issues that will be resolved in the second.

I hope my words have not offended anyone. I am not questioning or challenging anyone's point of view, but simply offering a little insight and my own perspective

And thank you again to everyone who has purchased the deck. I am both appreciative and grateful.

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Thank you for creating this beautiful tarot deck and coming to post. I love my deck.

Ravynne,

I have so much to say as I read your recent response to mine and others' comments about the Dreams of Gaia Tarot! Reading your words...you are obviously so intelligent, eloquent, self-reflective/honest, open and thoughtful (both as an artist/writer and as a forum poster!). All of these qualities are surprisingly comforting and inspiring and fill me with gratitude. Your words in this thread (or last few pages anyway are all that I've read) have taken that initial slightly daunted feeling I had about trying something new and have actually made me really excited to get into the book and learn all about it! I very much appreciate the time you've taken to share your motives and perspectives - and I particularly appreciate your sharing your personal history. Knowing the cards are so personal for you allows us to connect to them better, I think (so far no issues there for me beforehand though!), sort of giving us permission to make them personal for us as well just because we've been let into your world more.

I want to clarify that my particular comment earlier showing hesitation was really about the fact that it's taken me YEARS to memorize (haha) the meanings of each of the traditional RWS tarot cards (I still have many of the court cards left to memorize in fact!) and I was whining a bit because of all that! Not because your system isn't worth the time to study and learn from it or isn't an improvement. At the risk of being criticized here - in the land of all things tarot - I'll be honest and say that IMO the traditional version of tarot could indeed use improvement! To begin with, it's outdated! There are a lot of "flaws" that I see (from original vagueness to redundancy to contradictory definitions to unrealistic generalizations to almost lazy, seemingly convenient descriptions that just don't hit home or seem very relevant...and the list could probably go on if I were to think about it some more)! But there are obviously conflicting feelings for me cos other times it all seems to work out quite magically!

On a self-indulgent side note: I've temporarily quit several times throughout the last 10 years or so but then always come back to it. Even when I feel myself not taking it as seriously as I perhaps should, the "witchy" part of me and intuitive part of me absolutely looooves tarot and how FUN it can be. I get such a kick out of giving bizarrely accurate and insightful readings to friends who scoff up until that point and then walk away wondering how I knew so much at that level and could help so much. And I have no idea how I do it when I have that sort of success so...obviously something about using the cards and/or systems in such a way really does work or allow us to tap into our higher selves/higher intelligences. Continuing further down this side note... I also love playing with tarot cards because generally I'm a very tactile, aural and overall sensory person who enjoys simply playing, holding, shuffling, flipping down one by one and looking at, beautiful cards. I get so much out of that part of it - it's kinda nuts! ASMR anyone? I remember being about 3 or 4 and sitting on the rug of my mom's home study, looking closely at each and every playing card she had in a shoe box filled with a variety of mixed up scattered decks that she had from childhood and into college. Nothing made me happier than sitting there with that box! They're gone now but what I wouldn't give to play with that box of cards again! So point being, I was attracted to tarot for these kinds of reasons as much as the desire to go deeper. For me - for all those reasons combined - your deck is THE BOMB, hahaha. Serious, serious eye candy, omg.

I don't for one minute think it's a negative that your deck can be seen as either tarot or an oracle. That's just a big time bonus and in fact one can use it as an oracle until one's made the time to either look up individual cards' meanings in your book or better, thoroughly reads the book! I love that about it. I so agree that we all know darned well that SOMEone came up with the tarot - at some point long ago - and that was just a creative person with interesting ideas and the ability to analyze people and their common strengths, weaknesses and predicaments! After so many years of your studying the tarot and being able to look objectively at the history with its many decks out there, there's no reason to believe your deck/system ISN'T a FABULOUS improvement for any of us willing to try it out!! Tradition is good - it's as you said comforting, familiar, and grounding...and I'll add that it gives us a sense of predictability as well as mastery that we can feel proud of and show off and from which we can connect to others of similar backgrounds. But it seems you've been able to recognize the confusing or contradictory or IMO quite limited aspects of tarot (at least I think some of us feel that way) so have given us a new way - or alternative way, as you said - that might be less confusing, more interesting/engaging/dynamic and more relatable to people in the year 2016. On top of that I can tell by the way you write that you have the even less-common talent of being able to organize thoughts and concepts in your brain and on paper (unlike me haha - I'm all over the place!!!) so that alone is bound to make an impressive, higher quality deck/book/system!

I'd like to add that I really appreciate your emphasis on healing. My guess is that a lot of us interested in tarot and the more esoteric in general are attracted to it because we have healing to do. Lord knows I do...

The amount of time and thought (and courage) that you've put into this just gives me more confidence in this deck...I'm really looking forward to getting to know it! This is where I'd have a bouncy smiling emoticon, if that were an option here.

Thank you for your hard work, caring, willingness to get vulnerable and real with us strangers, and your gahhh beautiful deck!
Ayram

p.s. the publishing co. is sending me a new deck for the issues with the decks' corners. They were so great about it. I know mine is one of the first decks out as it has that XIV typo but...why do I find that kinda cool, to have the typo card?!! I don't want to give it up, should they ask for the deck back! I feel like it's symbolic of this deck "straying" from the norm hahaha (danger! Rogue deck!!) - and the resistance you've been met with. It's kinda perfect! This deck is clearly on its way to being a great success (already is) and I think it will be special to have the "flaw" that most people won't get in the newer decks - the collector's card!
Thanks for reading all this...

I have had my deck for less than a week, but am enjoying it very much! After several days of reading the guidebook, I did my first draw, which was spot-on.

I think that while the cards are lovely, the real gift is the guidebook. There is so much true advice about the way we see our lives and what we can do to have a better experience every day. Those who purchase the cards and avoid the book are missing what makes this deck such a healer. If the cards didn't exist, I would have bought your book all alone for its wisdom. Thank you for sharing it with us!