The Art of Tarot
© 2001 Deck by Liz Dean & Emma Garner
Published by Metro Books

The Art of Tarot book and deck set includes a 78-card deck and a full-color illustrated hardback book of 64 pages, entitle "The Art of Tarot:  A Complete Guide To Using Tarot Cards And Their Meanings."  It is packaged in a box with a lift-off lid with the cards set in a plastic tray held with a ribbon around them.  You also get a blue and gold colored scarf which you can use to wrap the cards or use it as a lay cloth when reading the cards.  I am not crazy about this kind of packaging, and thus, since you don't get a small box to hold the cards, I disposed of the box and put my cards in a Tarot bag long ago when I first purchased this set.  However, the pricing of this kind of deck is usually minimal, and it can work well as a gift deck.  With that said, however, it's important to note that the pip cards are not illustrated, but instead, they feature the number of that particular suit's emblem.  For example, the Five of Wands features 5 wands and the Three of Swords features 3 swords on the card (shown above).  This is the style of Marseille Tarot decks, which I actually don't recommend to beginners.  Beginners usually fare better in the process of learning the Tarot if they use a fully illustrated deck, preferably a Rider-Waite style or other similar deck that holds to Tarot tradition.

While you don't get much excitement from the pip cards of this deck, the Major Arcana and court cards are pleasing in their simple illustrations.  The suit cards all have a predominant coloring for their background -- Cups are rose colored, Swords are pink, the Wands background is a cream color, and the Pentacles have a yellow background.  The Major Arcana do not follow any particular color coding, but are colored in various shades.

The back design of the cards is not a reversible design -- although that does not mean that you cannot incorporate reversals into your readings.  The back features an icon from each of the four suits -- a cup, a wand, a sword, and a pentacle.  In the center of these icons is a ball that might be a globe.  Bordering the ball/globe and the suit element icons are colored squares that appear to have words of print on some of them.  A blue border surrounds the squares.

I believe this deck was originally created exclusively for Barnes and Noble, but it's been available at Amazon.com as well, among other shopping venues.  If you can't find it at Amazon, definitely give Barnes and Noble a try, because at the time of this writing in November 2009, I did see it available for under $10 on the Barnes and Noble website.  The low price is what makes this deck a bargain.

This deck has never been among my favorites, but nevertheless, it is a usable deck which can serve efficiently for readings.  I would recommend the Art of Tarot to those who prefer simplicity in the cards, those who like a Marseille-styled deck, and to those who don't want to spend much money on a deck of Tarot cards.

Velvet Angel

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Number of Cards in Deck: 78

Size of Cards:  Approximately 4-3/4" x 3-1/8"

Included with deck: A hardbound book of 64 pages and scarf of blue and gold

Major Arcana:
Fool, Magician, High Priestess, Empress, Emperor, Hierophant, Lovers,
Chariot, Justice (#8), Hermit, Wheel of Fortune, Strength (#11), Hanged Man,
Death, Temperance, Devil, Tower, Star, Moon, Sun, Judgement, World

Suit Names:  Wands, Cups, Swords, Pentacles

Court Cards:  Cups, Wands, Swords, Pentacles

Back Design of Cards: 

ART OF TAROT