The Joy of Living in an Another World: A Review of Joie de Vivre Tarot

Joie de Vivre Tarot
By Paulina Cassidy
Published by U.S. Games, Inc.
Review by Christiana Gaudet

The term “joie de vivre” is one of the many French expressions that doesn’t have an exact translation in English.  The expression has, if you will, a certain je nais se quoi.  The literal translation is “joy of life,” or “joy of living,” but inherent in the expression is a child-like whimsy and sense of wonder that the English translation just doesn’t capture.  It is a fitting title for Paulina Cassidy’s new tarot deck, Joie de Vivre Tarot.

It is hard to believe that Cassidy has had time to produce a second deck.  It feels like just yesterday I was interviewing her about the (at the time) forthcoming Paulina Tarot.  When I had the pleasure of speaking with Cassidy, it was clear to me the creatures that appear on her canvas do so of their own volition.  The artist is merely making visible the entities that already exist.

In Paulina Tarot, those creatures had walk-on roles in a fairly traditional deck.  In Joie de Vivre Tarot, Cassidy’s unique creatures are the stars of the show.

In the LWB (little white book), written by Cassidy, the creature on each card has a name, and a bit of a backstory.  They have names such as Jaunt, Prezto and Blossom.  I hope she writes some detailed stories about them; they are fascinating.

The images of Joie de Vivre Tarot are unmistakably the work of Paulina Cassidy.  They are fanciful, otherworldly, and, at times, macabre.  It seems to me that in her first deck, Cassidy was trying to hold back just a little, maybe trying to be a wee bit tarot-proper.  In this deck, she has given us a full view of the landscapes inside her head.

In trying to describe these images, I can only say this.  Imagine that the characters of Tim Burton, Lewis Carroll, Edward Gorey and Dr. Seuss all met up at a party and dropped acid together.  No, that’s not quite right.  Acid is too strong, electric and chemical to produce the fine detail, old-fashioned whimsy and muted colors of this deck.  Maybe they ate some mushrooms instead.  On their collective hallucinogenic trip, they decided to create a tarot deck.  The result of such an adventure might look very much like Joie de Vivre Tarot.  Don’t get me wrong, that’s not a bad thing at all.

The cardbacks and card interpretations do honor reversals.  The cards are standard sized, and rendered and packaged in classic U.S. Games style.  The four suits are Swords, Wands, Cups and Coins.  There do not seem to be specific elemental references in the card images.  Strength is card Eight, and Justice is Eleven.

Many of the characters have sweet faces with big eyes and pointed chins.  There is a very Victorian feel to the deck.  There are clever elements to the images, such as the clock in the hair of Lady Temperance.  While the images on the cards are certainly non-traditional, they make sense, and are delightfully imaginative.

I have a theory about this deck.  I think it will be very effect for intuitive/psychic tarot reading.  The reason is this.  Joie de Vivre Tarot is arguably the most imaginative deck ever.  It communicates emotion, and sparks imaginative thought.  Imagination is seated in the third eye, or brow chakra.  This chakra governs the eyesight with which we view the cards, as well as our psychic vision.  By stimulating the imagination and the eyesight, these cards will stimulate our psychic ability as well.

Joie de Vivre Tarot will be a great deck for anyone who finds it appealing, from beginners to professionals.  I probably won’t use it myself – I find the legs of many of the creatures absolutely creepy.  Some legs are spindly and spiderlike.  Some creatures seem human except for the one, tail-like leg emerging from their bulbous bodies.  These details, and some others, make me feel as if I were present at the imaginary party with the Lorax, the Mad Hatter, Sally the Ragdoll and the Doubtful Guest.  I ate the mushrooms, too, but I had a bad trip. 

Now Here I Go Again, I See the Crystal Visions: A Review of Crystal Visions Tarot

Crystal Visions Tarot
By Jennifer Galasso
U.S. Games 978-1-57281-702-9
Review by Christiana Gaudet

Thank goodness for the fantasy artists who have brought so much new life to modern tarot.  I have often wondered what might have happened if an earlier generation of artists like Roger Dean and Alton Kelley had turned their attention to tarot. 

The past few years have brought to tarot talented artists such as Lisa Hunt, Ciro Marchetti and Stephanie Pui-Mun Law.  These fantasy artists and collectable card game (CCG) designers have changed the face of tarot, evolving it into the new century. 

Now we can add to that list Jennifer Galasso.  In some ways, Galasso’s art is not quite as strikingly detailed as that of those aforementioned tarot artists.  But Galasso has done something that none of those artists have yet done.  She has created a truly traditional deck in fantasy style.

On first glance, U.S. Games’ Crystal Visions Tarot by Jennifer Galasso struck me as just another art deck with fairies, unicorns and skinny young women in sexy medieval clothing.  It seemed cheesy, and a bit flat.  I didn’t like the addition of “The Unknown Card,” and the stark setting of some of the Major Arcana characters.

Somehow, I felt compelled to look through the cards a second time, and a third.  Each time I did, I saw something I hadn’t noticed before.  There are figures of people in the twisted tree branches, and delicate angels in the clouds.  The lush flowers and trees have lovely texture, as do the brilliantly colored dragons.  The skies and landscapes are evocative.

When I looked closely at each card, I realized this isn’t a trite deck.  I felt like an old woman who has mistakenly assumed a young, pretty girl to be shallow and stupid.

Crystal Visions Tarot is true to Rider Waite Smith structure and interpretation.  In many cards, the subtle symbolism honors a wealth of tarot tradition, often in clever ways.

The Major Arcana is no more ornately illustrated than the Minor Arcana.  The suits are easily identifiable by color and style.  The beautiful cardbacks are reversible, and reversed interpretations are given in the Little White Book.  The deck is standard size with white borders, and is packaged in the classic U.S. Games box.

My least favorite cards are the Magician and the High Priestess.  The Magician fails to hold his arms in the traditional “as above, so below” pose.  He does have the Four Tool of Magic, and stands above a crescent moon.  The High Priestess stands directly on that crescent moon.  Butterflies surround her – what’s up with that?  Butterflies, in tarot, are best reserved for air cards.  The High Priestess is a water card.  Humph.  But, honestly, these are small complaints when compared with the overall beauty and readability of this deck.

It would take a long time to describe all the cards I love in this deck.  They include the Fool, who is female.  Butterflies, appropriate for the air correspondence of this card, also surround her. Her dress has red ribbons, one of which has casually wrapped around her leg, giving her the ancient tradition of the Fool’s red-striped legs.

In the World card we see a large lotus flower cradling a globe on which sits a woman in lotus position.  More butterflies here, not elementally appropriate, but acceptable, because they are flying out of her palm chakras.

As I mentioned earlier, I question the addition of a seventy-ninth card, entitled The Unknown Card.  This card says that the answer is, at present, unknowable.  Perhaps we need to look within and find the answer in our own heart.  The card is actually quite lovely.  It shows a modern Goth-looking young Pagan woman holding a crystal ball.  The image is rather different from the rest of the deck.  It stands out as a special card, belonging to none of the suits.

It is a legitimate tradition in random token divination to use a blank token.  Many tarot readers include one of the title cards for this purpose.  Some Rune casters use the Blank Rune.  On one hand, it makes sense for Galasso to offer us this option.

On the other hand, I feel the seventy-eight cards hold every message we could want or need.  The Moon may say, “It’s a mystery,” while the Wheel of Fortune may say, “Anything can happen.”  The High Priestess may say, “Look deeply within for your answers.”  With all that wisdom already available, I have a hard time justifying The Unknown Card.

That I have already started using Crystal Visions Tarot for professional readings is the highest praise I could give any tarot deck.  However, I was initially unsure if I wanted to use the Unknown Card, or use my prerogative to remove it.  So far, I have left it in the deck.  I must admit, it pops up at very appropriate times.

As I explored this deck, its title kept grabbing at me.  Where had I heard those words before, Crystal Visions...?  When I read the very informative Little White Book, I slapped my forehead in a classic Homer Simpson D’oh moment.  The title is a tip of the top hat to the Welsh Witch herself, the legendary Stevie Nicks. What might have seemed cheesy makes perfect sense when inspired by the ethereal Unintentional Godmother of Goth. I am so pleased to use a deck that honors Stevie, whom I have loved for thirty-four (yikes!) years.  That’s just a bit longer, even, than I have loved tarot.

It has been a while since I’ve discovered a new deck to add to my short list of professional reading decks.  Crystal Visions Tarot is attractive, evocative and easy to understand. Unlike many fantasy art tarot decks, its images are uncomplicated and traditional.  Do not be fooled by its youthful energy, Crystal Visions Tarot will give great wisdom and depth.  It will be a solid learning and reading deck for anyone from beginners to seasoned professionals.

Tarot from a Cat’s Perspective: A Review of Cat’s Eye Tarot

Cat’s Eye Tarot
By Debra M. Givin, DVM
US Games 978-1-57281-685-6
Review by Christiana Gaudet

So many tarot lovers are also cat lovers.  I must admit I am the exception.  Yes, I have loved a few kitties over the years, but I am not what you would call a “cat person.”  Therefore, I would likely never meet the artist of the new Cat’s Eye Tarot in her day job as a veterinarian.

I love it when smart people go public as tarotists.  I admire someone who is multi-talented enough to make it through veterinary school, keep a medical practice, read tarot, be an artist and create a tarot deck.

The marriage of cats and tarot has created some interesting offspring.  We have Tarot of the Cat People, Medieval Cat Tarot, Tarot of the Pagan Cats, and Baroque Bohemian Cats’ Tarot, to name only a few.

One might ask if the world needed yet another cat tarot.  Given the number of tarot-reading cat-lovers, there can probably never be enough, and Cat’s Eye Tarot differentiates itself from the rest of the litter quite nicely.

The cats drawn by Debra M. Givin are extremely realistic housecats.  Any of them could be a patient at her felines-only veterinary hospital in Portland, Maine.

One of my favorite aspects of Cat’s Eye Tarot is that these cats, unlike most tarot cats, don’t wear clothes, ride horses, mix potions or brandish swords.  They do cat things.

The cat things they do are enough akin to Rider Waite Smith symbolism that many of the images are immediately understandable.

Dr. Givin has taken care, in many cases, to identify the type of cat in each card within the Little White Book.  Happily, the multi-talented Debra M. Givin is a decent writer, and the LWB is detailed and informative.

The deck follows RWS symbolism, structure and interpretation, so it will be easy for RWS-schooled readers to make the transition to this deck.  New readers, especially if they are cat-lovers, will find the interpretations logical and appropriate for the images.

The cards are standard size, glossy with white borders, and of the quality we expect from US Games.  Packaged in the classic simple box, the deck is affordable and ecologically sensitive.

The card back features a close-up of a cat’s face with green eyes.  The back is not reversible, and the LWB gives no reversed meanings.

One of the two title cards features a “Nine Lives Spread,” designed specifically for the deck.

The art is colorful watercolor, and very reminiscent of Maine. 

Non-feline creatures in this deck include prey (mice, lizards, snakes), companions (humans, dogs), enemies (also dogs), and temptations (birds, fish). 

In the LWB, and the deck’s website, we are encouraged to use Cat’s Eye Tarot to read for our cats.  That’s not as crazy as it might sound.  I spend a great deal of my professional life reading for clients’ pets, both living and deceased.  Tarot is an effective tool for animal communication, and spirit communication.  I would imagine such a realistic cat tarot would be even more effective for communicating with, and about, cats.

Cats themselves have an affinity for tarot.  When I give tarot readings at a party, every feline in the house will spend the entire evening at my feet, under my tarot table.  Some of the less well-behaved cats will choose to be on top of the tarot table as well.

The thing I love most about Cat’s Eye Tarot is also the thing I like least.  That is its realism.  I love the Empress kitty, sitting on the staircase with her kittens.  I love the Hierophant kitty, prowling the desktop amongst the keys and books.  The Ten of Wands kitty carrying the huge snake up the stairs – yuk!  It must be good art, because it produces in me a visceral response.

The final straw for me is the excrement in the Suit of Swords.  A cat spraying the wall illustrates the Seven of Swords.  It’s clever, but gross.  The Ten of Swords shows a messy kitchen filled with uncared-for cats.  The litter box is overflowing.  It’s a smart interpretation of the Ten of Swords from a cat’s eye view.

The reason I don’t keep cats in my house is the same reason I won’t use Cat’s Eye Tarot – I don’t want to deal with cat urine and feces.

But for the many, many people who love their cats unconditionally, Cat’s Eye Tarot is the best cat tarot ever.  Cat’s Eye Tarot is clever, pretty, playful, intuitive, and cute– just like a kitty!