Herbal Tarot

There is no card for lavender but it is mentioned in the book several times as a "herbal ally" meaning it has similar properties to the herb in the card.
Maybe lavender has so many qualities she did not want to connect it to one single card but mention its diverse values over several cards ?

Citrin said:

Haha no way? I must check this deck out.

Click to expand...

It's the 10 of cups. Shows a rainbow, weed, and some unstable cups. (stacked in such a way as to make them not very stable).

I'm so glad you started this thread. I've had the herbal for a while now but was put off by the idea of having to learn all those herbs and was saving it for when I would have more time to devote to it. But since I do quite well with RWS I'm gonna go pull this one out and get started )

I'm looking forward to the book coming too - seeing how they associate each herb with the attributes of the card. I noticed peony on one of the cards - another of my favourite flowers.

My Herbal Tarot came this morning - it was earlier than I expected and I only came back from holiday last night so I'm glad I was here to take delivery.

Well I've done nothing all day but look throught and use this deck. I did my first reading within 10 minutes of opening it. Its been a while since I've had a deck and been able to read and understand what its trying to say to me straight from the box.

The artwork is very easy on the eye, very recognisable as a RWS clone. The herbs featured fit in, as far as I can tell, very well with the traditional card meanings but it is a very positive deck - it does still have its negative cards though - 10 Swords plus other sword cards, Tower, etc, but thats good - I'm not keen on decks that try to sugar coat cards that are usually regarded as negative. Pan as the Devil just feels so right in this deck.

It seems to have a feminine feel to it - not the artwork but the general theme of the deck and yet its not all flowery most of the herbs are shrubs lol. The colours and the artwork are really nicely done, bright but without being vibrant, figures and expressions are good too. I recognised some of the plants straight off.

The cards themselves seem to be the 2004 version and they have the coating just like the Radiant Rider, very chemical smelling and sticky when first opened. Its a strange lamination but it does seem to be one that US Games is starting to use on its new decks - hopefully I'll break it in and get rid of the smell. The book and deck set come in a cardboard slip box and the deck has its own box that fits in too, so I was pleased about that.

I like the book too - it has made me want to know more about the herbs used in this deck but the book itself goes into great detail of how they can be used - also how to make talismans of the various herbs if you don't want to actually eat or drink them.

I like this deck very much and I already feel very comfortable with it.

This was my first deck and I still like it very much, but I haven't touched it in a while. It's great to use with women and people who are unfamiliar/apprehensive with tarot because the artwork is so gentle. While I agree that the Herbal Tarot does not sugarcoat the "bad" cards, it at least makes them a little easier to swallow. Pan is much more approachable than the Devil!

My main problem with the deck is the facial expressions on the people. The cards are very beautiful, but many of the people (especially the courts) have blank stares that seem to say "I'm just standing here, looking at the camera with no particular thought in my head". I couldn't really learn the courts until I bought a different deck, because there is none of the body/facial language & traditional symbolism that we expect from a RWS. They're literally just people standing in a field.

That said, I still feel that the artwork is beautiful and I've had wonderful readings with this deck. It helped me to learn the majors and minors, since I wasn't really attracted to the traditional RWS drawings when I first started exploring tarot. I was drawn to these cards at once and found them so easy to work with. You definitely don't need any herbal knowledge to start working with this deck.

I hope you enjoy your new deck, Emily!!

~Kaylee Marie

Still playing around with this deck lol - My Morgan Greer will start to get jealous.

Hi Kaylee Marie, I did notice the expressions but with the figures being so small and the cards so busy I haven't really focused on them that much. I have had a good look through them now though and I think they seem quite neutral but others do show feeling.

Strange really because facial features such as eye colour and good expressive faces are what I look for in a deck first but with the Herbal it wasn't my first priority - I like that some of the cards seems to be saying ' Now what might I be thinking!' - I'm having some really good thought provoking readings with it.

Hello!

edited