About this item
- The Watersprite Tarot has 79 entirely hand-painted watercolour cards, based on Marseille symbolism in the major
- arcana but with fully illustrated minors. The deck was an artistic journey created over more than ten years, and its
- images have a focus on symbology, colour, mood, and energy. Self-published and available direct from the artist.
Specifications
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Name
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Watersprite Tarot
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Creators
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Alison Muir McDonald
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Publisher
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A Blessing of Unicorns 2013
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Deck Type
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Tarot Deck
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Cards
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79
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Major Arcana
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23
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Minor Arcana
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56
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Card Language
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English
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Companion Material
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Extra Info
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Reviews
The book, titled Watersprite Tarot: A Guide to Understanding and Reading the Tarot, is fully functional to show the path for the neophyte while also providing a number of “aha” moments for the experienced reader. It is well organized, easy to understand, and filled with full color representations of each card, variously larger than the actual standard cards (as with the major Arcana) and slightly smaller than the cards (for the minor Arcana). I love the book size, which is 7 ½” x 9 ¥” x ¥”. The book includes what are also, for other companion books, sorely lacking; there are pages devoted to summaries of the four suits and court cards, as well as notes on numbering & colors of the cards. In addition, the author provides a handy comparison for major Arcana standard tarot versus Jungian archetypes. And how many little white books offer a full, several page index?!
The artfully designed card box measures approximately 4 ½ x 6 ½ x 1 ½ inches. The very colorful Watersprite cards are sturdy yet flexible, about 2 µ” x 4 µ” for the standard deck, with rounded corners. The standard deck stacks to a height of about 1 ½ inches. Each card back has a symmetrical set of two sea horses. And oh, the incomparable richness of the well-labored art in each card! I cannot stop gazing at the Queen of Pentacles, with her well-appointed rainbow of colors—an arbor of green with red roses above her, sensual earth tones at her feet with a companion dog, her rich indigo robe and an intriguing background of castle turrets and walls showing a solar glow of yellow and orange. Here is a deck which one wants to take to bed, as with a favorite rock crystal, to dream on the images and try to absorb their implicit wisdom, like Edgar Cayce sleeping over his school books.
Alison McDonald is both artist and author. I am intrigued with her placement of background mountains, islands or city structures in the majority of the Watersprite cards. I did several spreads, including the Celtic cross for myself and a three card past/present/future for a family member. With the first spread, I compared one of my tarot interpretive books with the Watersprite book and the meanings pretty well matched. But better yet was my work with the second spread, where I set aside book knowledge to channel from psychic wisdom, and there the Watersprite cards were equally as useful, if not impressive. I do appreciate that reverse meanings for the cards are provided, given their due to that opposite placement. I am very content with my Watersprite deck and book, and look forward to many a session where these lovely cards will be my companion for wisdom, guidance and help for others. |
