FAIRYTALE TAROT KIT Paperback – December 5, 2005

I am totally overjoyed with this deck, I have many but this is one of my top 5 favorites - I draw a card daily to post to a site I belong to and get to learn daily from this deck. I love the stories & find they so relate to the card.... I would recommend this deck to anyone no matter the age - I don't have one regret having bought this set - The book itself is a gem to go with a top notch deck... As you can see I can't say enough about this deck - and there's not one negative I could think of - just my opinion

I think the deck itself is great. In fact, I love it. I just wish I had a complete deck. I wrote Baba Studio twice and Amazon once. All I want is a replacement card for one that is not printed on both sides. I'm sure they're a good company. I have many other decks of Baba's that are fantastic. Anyway, I ordered in November, and no reply from anyone. :(

This deck is truly unique. I really like how the cards look like the pages of a story book. I also like that it is a fairtyale deck, yet also has darker tales (or at least darker aspects of a story) and how this is not just a deck for beauty. This deck is about the teachings of each tale and what they can mean for you.

"Fairy stories open out a parallel and hidden world in our own minds-and therein lies their power and fascination, and their great potential as a partner for tarot. Because after all, isn't tarot at its best, also a form of story?" - From The Fairytale Tarot companion bookLike the tarot, fairy tales weave layers of shadow and light, with interpretation often in the eye of the beholder. Containing brutality and beauty, the obvious and the ambiguous, the complexity of fairy tales seemed a suitable partnership to the tarot in the mind of Karen Mahony. The designer of The Fairytale Tarot, she and Alex Ukolov (illustrator) and Irena Triskova (artist) have created an exquisite set of 78 cards reflecting mostly European tales-in addition to several Asian, Indian, and Middle Eastern stories.Rather than merely grafting fairytales to fit Rider-Waite-Smith iconography, the Magic Realist Press team selected stories and designed images that are congruent with acceptable card meaning, yet expand these correlations into something more: a deck that is fresh, thought provoking, and potentially transformative.Blending the transcendent and the ordinary, fairy tales have captured the imagination of children around the world for centuries. However, The Fairytale Tarot doesn't "Disney-fy" the stories, making this deck decidedly adult. For example, the stepsisters hacking parts off their feet to fit into the glass slipper in Cinderella (The Empress) preserves the vision of the Brothers Grimm. Hans Christian Anderson's tale of The Little Mermaid (Nine of Swords) finds the mermaid permitting the sea witch to take her singing voice by cutting out her tongue in exchange for "legs...that felt like walking on knife blades."Like life itself, both fairy tales and tarot reflect sorrow, sacrifice, betrayal, and loss-as well as the happier themes of marriage, recovery, justice, and fortune. As is often the case, some stories lack satisfactory resolution-and Ms. Mahony is sure to include several of these untidy tales which stir the imagination and beg for a closer look. However, even the well-known stories that are chosen-The Ugly Duckling (Ace of Cups), The Sorcerer's Apprentice (10 of Wands), and Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Judgement) offer new, intriguing insights into the cards. This is in large part to the magnificent prose of Ms. Mahony, whose astute observations make the companion book a treasure in itself. But when these tales-many unfamiliar-are coupled with the exquisite artwork and illustration of Mr. Ukolov and Ms. Triskova, the result is truly magical.The Fairytale Tarot uses the suits of Swords (Air), Cups (Water), Wands (Fire) and Coins (Earth), with the Court cards following the Page, Knight, Queen, and King designation. Cards measure approximately 5 x 3 inches, and although the card stock is flexible, they appear to hold up acceptably. Nevertheless, I've noticed a few of the edges beginning to turn up, so you may want to take extra care with this deck. At first glance, the backs appear fully reversible, but upon closer inspection, they are not. However, since the design is rather intricate and filigreed, you'd only notice the position if you paid particular attention to the four corners.As previously mentioned, the Fairytale Tarot comes with a companion book: 232 glossy pages that feature a smaller version of the card image, corresponding fairy tale, keywords and phrases, Ms. Mahony's adept commentary, and additional artwork. Several spreads, with interpretations, are also included, as is some historical background and a bibliography. A unique addition to the companion book is a tale created for the 10 of Coins by Rachel Pollack. Ms. Pollack did not know the original tale and used the picture to suggest a fresh story culled from her own imagination-The Girl Who Was Too Shy. In the book proper, Ms. Mahony provides the actual tale for the 10 of Coins-The Goose Girl by the Brothers Grimm.As a professional Tarot reader, I've used The Fairytale Tarot the last several weeks with great success-especially with a 3-card Life Purpose spread using a "separated" deck (dividing the deck up in Majors, Courts, and Minors). My clients report amazing accuracy, and reading with this deck has been a joy. The expressiveness of the images lends itself to personal intuitive interpretation, and the tales themselves add depth to readings. There are many symbolic "jump off points" in the Fairytale Tarot!I thoroughly enjoyed reading the companion book, especially discovering new tales and gaining fresh insights into several tarot cards. Some of the tales-such as The Nightingale and the Rose (3 of Swords) and The Constant Tin Solider (10 of Swords) were positively heartbreaking. Other stories-such as The Emperor and the Nightingale (The Emperor) and Water and Salt (Temperance) seem ordinary at first (as far as fairytales go!), but their lessons add depth and breadth to these two Majors. I look forward to re-reading the tales and working further with the Fairytale Tarot. Kudos goes to Ms. Mahony, Mr. Ukolov, and Ms. Triskova for creating a most delightful deck! It may not be a good deck for beginners, but for those who enjoy the complexity of fairytales, it is a very readable, very engaging deck.(To see 10 images from The Fairytale Tarot, visit the Reviews--Decks section at [...])Janet Boyer, author of The Back in Time Tarot Book: Picture the Past, Experience the Cards, Understand the Present (coming Fall 2008 from Hampton Roads Publishing)

A friend gave me this deck as a birthday present. I was had high hopes for this deck but have to admit that I'm dissappointed. The art is okay and I know the vintage illustration look the artist was going for, but for me it just seems a bit too stilted and forced. There are some nice cards, but one the whole I found the illustrations dissappointing. I could probably still read with it, but it does not draw me in.Another big issue is that while I was flipping through it, I noticed that I had 2 of one of the cards. After checking through it carefully I realized that one was missing. I asked around and found that this has been a problem with the initial printing of the deck. Lucky me! :( I don't want to hurt my friend's feeling so will probably just hang on to the deck, but any thoughts of reading with it are now gone.It's not a bad tarot deck, but I think it could have been done better. The companion book has some interesting backstories for the cards, but seems like it was rushed to print. I can't recommend it though because there is no telling if you will get the complete package or not.

Magic Realist press have a unique and wonderful way of making pictures that fascinate, intrigue and which give a good feeling inside."With art that is precise as it is ornate, Magic Realist press have united some of the world most fascinating fairy tales with the symbolic, yet story-like images of the tarot. There is a real marriage here and not simply a cobbling together of different traditions. The pictures illuminate both the tales and the cards, but they do something more. They allow us to create new stories, new meanings and that is certainly special." ~Racheal PollockFairy tales portray wisdom through stories of sadness, happiness, the overcoming of obstacles, courage, danger, good and evil, the list is endless. It goes without saying that the meaning of fairy tales goes hand in hand with the meaning of Tarot. Magic Realist Press have integrated them perfectly in an easy to understand and very enjoyable way. The images are bright and beautiful and make the both the fairy tale and Tarot meaning easy to understand.As usual, the cards are accompanied by a beautifully bound, in-depth book which explains the picture and meaning of each card in detail. The cards are a good size with a matt finish, although not very robust. The book and deck come in an easily accessible box. Oh, and it comes with one extra, special card.This deck is for both beginners and experienced readers alike. I highly recommend it.

Each card in this pack is illustrated a fairy story appropriate to its meaning. Unfortunately, if you don't know the story, you may not get the point. A girl dancing in the street, watched by a cynical-looking man, will not suggest the Devil unless you know "The Red Shoes". Luckily you get a book with all the stories. As well as well-known tales from Grimm and Anderson, it has folktales from all over the world, and is a good read in its own right. The meanings of the minors are generally in line with those of the Waite-Smith pack. Not, perhaps, for beginners, but it should appeal to experienced readers and to collectors.