What Did Santa Bring?

Did you get any new decks for Christmas?

Tarot and the festive period don't seem to mix well in my mind but it was a good opportunity for me to pick up few new decks. I thought things would be a bit quieter and I'd take the time to enjoy flipping through and getting to know them. Then I decided to volunteer my time for a free tarot reading on Saturday, thinking I wouldn't hear a thing but within minutes a request had come through. So I guess life's worries don't disappear over the holiday period. 
​It was a good opportunity for me to put one of my new decks into practice and it served me well. Here's what I got from Santa: 

The Light Seer's Tarot 

The Light Seer's Tarot by Chris-Anne

I totally missed this one on Kickstarter and somewhat regretted my lack of vigilance! After viewing all of the walk-throughs on Youtube, I was so glad when it was announced that Hay House would be releasing the deck mass-market. Then I heard a few negative comments about the quality of the product and my stomach sank. By then, this deck was already on its way and so I opened the box on Christmas morning worried that the cards would be in a terrible condition, bent, creased and uneven. I guess the Christmas Elves had been busy making sure that all was well as my deck arrived in pristine condition. The images are beautiful and I was able to connect with the deck right away. 

The card quality isn't the best but it's not the worst either and there's no colourful edging as there was on the independent version, but then my deck cost significantly less and there was no shipping fees or customs to pay. I'm really looking forward to working with this deck more and will be doing a full review soon!

The This Might Hurt Tarot

This is another deck I didn't back on Kickstarter. I did see this one when it was funding and dithered about whether I wanted it or not. Did I need an RWS deck with modernised cartoon-style images? At the time I decided against it but after hearing lots of glowing reviews, I was relieved that the independent version went on sale with Little Red Tarot. So when Santa delivered this top quality deck down the chimney and there was no delay to shipping or customs to pay I was delighted. I admit I haven't used this much since unwrapping it but I am looking forward to seeing if the style of the images will have any effect on my ability to read with this deck. 

The This Might Hurt Tarot Deck by Isabella Rotman

 The interesting thing, and this is only my first impressions, is the comparison with the quality of the Light Seer's Tarot mass-market and this independently produced deck is minimal but in terms of card stock, significant. I'll review this deck fully once I've had a bit more time working with it, but the importance I attach to the quality of card stock and the feel of the cards has surprised me. ​

Lili White Tarot

The Lili White Tarot by Celia Melesville

Now this wasn't strictly a Santa gift. It arrived on the Saturday after Christmas as I'd only ordered it the previous weekend. This has been on my wish list for the longest time and I'd just never gone for it. It is a little more expensive than other decks and did have shipping costs but fortunately as we're still a part of the EU, I wasn't stung by customs. And as is often the way, the deck that you least expect to be excited with and have most reservations about, it has turned out to be the deck I love most. The images are beautiful. Some of the people  remind me of the type of illustrations that I would see in magazines from the 1970's and 80's when I was growing up. 

This deck is part of a pair, Lili White and Lili Black. I decided to go for the white version as my eyesight isn't as good as it could be and I find lighter colours easier to see. But on receiving this beautiful deck, I did wonder if perhaps I should have bought the Lili Black and the guidebook too (so it's in French, that's what Google Translate is for). I'll be making my decision on that before we Brexit on the 31 January 2020! 

Did you get any new decks for Christmas? What are you looking forward to using in 2020? Look out for some deck reviews coming soon.