About this item
- People are the focus of this earthy but lighthearted tarot deck: people of every shape, age, hue and ethnicity. The
- World Spirit Tarot has recognisable and readable tarot scenes that were created by being carved out of lino, printed,
- then hand coloured. It isn't pretty art, as such, but it is lively, inclusive and joyful.
Specifications
Name
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World Spirit Tarot
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Creators
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Jessica Godino,
Lauren O'Leary
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Publisher
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Llewellyn 2001
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Publisher
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Llewellyn 2006
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Deck Type
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Tarot Deck
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Cards
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78
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Major Arcana
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22
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Minor Arcana
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56
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Deck Tradition
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Rider-Waite-Smith
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Minor Arcana Style
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RWS-Based Scenes
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Suits
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Cups, Swords, Wands, Pentacles
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Court Cards
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Seer, Seeker, Sibyl, Sage
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Major Titles
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Fool, Magician, High Priestess, Empress, Emperor, Hierophant, The Lovers, The Chariot, Strength, The Hermit, The Wheel of Fortune, Justice, The Hanged Man, Death, Temperance, The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, The Sun, Judgement, The Universe
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The Fool
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is 0
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Strength
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is 8
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Justice
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is 11
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Card Size
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3.31 x 4.72 in. = 8.40cm x 12.00cm
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Card Language
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English
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Card Back
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Non-reversible
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Back Design
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Hourglass in centre with a sun and moon in opposite corners.
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Companion Material
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A 162-page small size book comes with the deck.
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Reviews
The World Spirit Tarot is all-inclusive, multicultural and non-gender biased. People are the focus of this light hearted and earthy tarot deck, which shows people of every shape, age, hue and ethnicity.
People appear in Renaissance cities, African savannahs and Germanic villages. There are Romans, rock stars, artists, hippies, Ancient Egyptians, Pacific Islanders. The artists wasn't afraid to show nudity, either, as both people of both sexes appear naked in various positions on different cards.
The suits have been renamed from the usual King, Queen, Knight, and Page to the more ambiguous Sage, Sibyl, Seeker, and Seer. Some cards, like the Hermit, show people of indeterminate gender.
The cards come packaged in a fold out box with a pocket size, 160-page instruction book, very similar to that of the Nigel Jackson Tarot. The glossy, slippery cards are wider than usual, and have a thick black background (of a similar fashion as the Osho-Zen Tarot). A thin coloured border surrounds each picture, the colour of which changes depending on which suit the card is in.
The tarot artwork itself was created with linocut prints, then hand coloured. The style is vaguely reminiscent of woodcuts but with a more modern edge. Due to the method its creation, the overall effect is darkly shadowed and unusual.
It isn't pretty as such, but it is arresting.
The World Spirit Tarot does use a form of reversals, but the book doesn't call them as such. It mentions the ‘gift' and ‘shadow' of each card instead of the more traditional upright and reversed meanings. As the back of the cards show an hourglass, with a sun in the top left corner and a crescent moon in the bottom right, it's easy to tell which cards are upright or not. Using the ‘gift' and ‘shadow' may be only possible if you are drawing cards with your eyes shut…
There is one slight flaw in the World Spirit Tarot - the Sun card, which shows a white baby seated on a lotus flower. The baby's face is oddly mature and doesn't suit the body. The effect is disconcerting. But I like the rest of the deck and the Sun card doesn't come up often enough in readings to be a huge distraction.
The World Spirit Tarot draws on all eras and places, yet somehow manages to be both contemporary and relevant. This is one of my new favourite tarot decks.
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