Tarot of the Hidden Realm

[Glass Owl]

It's a gorgeous deck,and it *talks*! I am sure you shall all get on with it - it speaks the language of the soul, you see...

I just received this deck in the mail and my first impression of it was surprise. I totally agree, it does speak another language. It is feels like it perhaps touches upon something that I understood or pondered as a child but have forgotten.

It's definitely a deck that I want to just enjoy and savor, and spend lots of time studying and playing with.

I finally got this deck, and I absolutely love it! The description for the deck is correct in saying that it doesn't rely on esoteric symbols, rather, it reads more from the standpoint of the elements, the expressions of the fey, the background, the colors... the overall mood and energy. I find that to be very refreshing.

I have been browsing a bit through the book and I really am enjoying how Barbara Moore is explaining those things. To be honest, I would be totally lost without the book, which is a gem.

Some of the images may appear simple, but I find them to be very expressive in conveying strong feelings, making for deck that I personally find to be very intuitive. It feels very free to me as well... For example, one thing I like in the book is how Barbara Moore describes how the whole concept of elemental dignities doesn't always need to be so rigid.

The artwork is gorgeous. It's very earthy.

Oh, yes, I totally agree, it has an "earthy" quality, it makes you feel as though you are stepping right into their world.

I think that this is definitely a "park" or "outside" deck. (Provided that there is no rain, of course!)

 

[lalalibra]

I just received this deck in the mail and my first impression of it was surprise. I totally agree, it does speak another language. It is feels like it perhaps touches upon something that I understood or pondered as a child but have forgotten.

It's definitely a deck that I want to just enjoy and savor, and spend lots of time studying and playing with.

Beautifully said! I find that too.

I have been browsing a bit through the book and I really am enjoying how Barbara Moore is explaining those things. To be honest, I would be totally lost without the book, which is a gem.

Yes, the book is really lovely! I've been thinking about this a lot recently - about the book that comes with this deck and how helpful it is for understanding it. But I've also found this deck to read somewhat similarly to the way I've read with Brian Froud's Faeries' Oracle. Like that deck, I definitely got a lot out of studying the book, but the deck also works surprisingly well with that more spontaneous, interactive approach that the authors encourage as well.

 

[lalalibra]

Oh, yes, I totally agree, it has an "earthy" quality, it makes you feel as though you are stepping right into their world.

I think that this is definitely a "park" or "outside" deck. (Provided that there is no rain, of course!)

Oh and definitely!! With all the cold weather, I have yet to take this deck outside, but I imagine that reading with it out in nature should be lovely!

 

[Serenia]

I'm so happy that I gave in and ordered this deck! Somehow I missed it last year when it came out and only came across it this month. I looked at the card images... and dismissed it. Looked at it again some days later... and dismissed it again. I didn't like the fool, I didn't want another large Llewellyn box in my room, I found that there were too many people in it... (decks where there's a person in every card often feel "crowded" to me, compared to my animal decks). But for some reason I still kept returning to it.

Last weekend I finally fell in love with it and placed my order! And now I'm so excited, waiting for it to arrive!

 

[La Force]

I'm so happy that I gave in and ordered this deck! Somehow I missed it last year when it came out and only came across it this month. I looked at the card images... and dismissed it. Looked at it again some days later... and dismissed it again. I didn't like the fool, I didn't want another large Llewellyn box in my room, I found that there were too many people in it... (decks where there's a person in every card often feel "crowded" to me, compared to my animal decks). But for some reason I still kept returning to it.

Last weekend I finally fell in love with it and placed my order! And now I'm so excited, waiting for it to arrive!

You hopefully will love it when it arrives, I did, I really like this deck, but the deck told me it not the right time for us, when I did a converstation spread with it. So I have placed it aside for now. I will give time then go back to. Which makes me feel sad cause I really like the deck.

 

[ravynangel]

deleted

 

[lalalibra]

This is the perfect explanation of how I feel about Tarot of the Hidden Realm and Froud's. I had sold my old Froud's and after working with the Hidden Realm for a while, I just had to repurchase, as it is it's own language and a special extra in the day.

That just delights me to hear because I think the Froud's Faeries' Oracle is seriously one of the best decks ever, and it's really a special part of my day (life) too! And it's cool to hear that others think the two can be read in a similar fashion. Like I had said before, the book for the Tarot of the Hidden Realm really is an excellent starting point for the deck, and I've read it and I've internalized what resonates from it, but now having done so, I've put the book down and reading with it has felt very fun and free! I mean, of course, any deck can be read like that, but then again... there's just something about these particular decks that feels different to me...

 

[Le Fanu]

I'd sort of ignored/dismissed this deck when it came out. I was a bit wary of "personality-led" decks (having had no luck with the Touchstone which everyone said was "just people" and "so talkative") and the up-close, people-only images. Plus the pointy ears and general fairiness but after finishing a book, I needed something to browse on the subway going to work and so I bought the Fool's Dog app for iPad - something different, a style I wouldn't normally go for - and all for the price of a magazine. Just to browse and see.

Going through the images this morning, I found it really quite enchanting. I have been thinking about it all day, how unusual it is, how expressive, how full of atmosphere. I love the Aces. A few twee images here & there - I don't really like the images with baby fairies but there are some incredibly powerful representations in this deck and meaning is really conveyed very well.

I'm now tempted to get the cards - and yet also tempted just to have this deck on iPad only and not in real life, just to see how my relationship with an "app only" deck progresses. I'm curious. Plus the images in real life won't be as big and powerful as they are on screen. I assume that they are the same size as standard Llewellyn decks like the equally borderless Victorian Faery.

 

[daphne]

I'd sort of ignored/dismissed this deck when it came out. I was a bit wary of "personality-led" decks (having had no luck with the Touchstone which everyone said was "just people" and "so talkative") and the up-close, people-only images. Plus the pointy ears and general fairiness but after finishing a book, I needed something to browse on the subway going to work and so I bought the Fool's Dog app for iPad -

Finally! You got this one!

It became one of my favorite since I got it, at the very beginning it appeared. Extremely, beautifully, haunting expressive. Excellent artwork. Images and sensations after a reading linger in my mind longer.

I also don`t like elfs and fairies and sugary images, but this is just a different flavor of fairy. For instance, I never read with Crystal Visions, it bores me, or Victorian Faery, which I find to be too cutesy, too predictable and somehow empty.

I would even not include this one in a traditional fairy deck. It has no sugar coat, just strong, direct, admirable power. It is more a character study then a fairy study. Characters convey meaning at sudden, like mini-revelation and they are so emotion driven that you will have a reaction to them.

Real cards are exactly as the Victorian Faery in terms of cardstock and dimensions. Colors rather pastel then vivid, but this suits best the underground evocative melody. Nice atmospheric blending in a spread. I like them in small layouts, 3-6.

 

[rachelcat]

This really is a special deck. I'm another one who ignored it when it came out--I'm just not a fairy deck person. Or really a person deck person. (I couldn't get much of anything from the Touchstone either . . .)

But this is so beautiful, and evocative of another way of life. The people don't seem like magical beings, but more like primitive people (primitive Europeans?), or maybe future primitive people, like in Cloud Atlas . . . Usually, I just think of them as "people who live in the woods." (If you look closely, the children's wings are sewn onto their clothes. And the pointed ears could be a future mutation that is beneficial for living in a forested environment . . .!)

The book is very good. I'm one of those people who need symbols and nuances spelled out for me. One good read-through of the book makes this a very readable deck, as well as a beautiful and creative one.