The Sun and Moon Tarot card deck is created by the artist Vanessa Decort. This deck has images that seem like they are drawn for stories and imaginative journeys, and is really an awesome and beautiful deck. Although I am personally a big fan of Rider-Waite-Smith styled decks, I found myself liking the imagery on this deck because I felt as if these images were pretty familiar to me!

Let’s look at the different elements of the Sun and Moon Tarot deck.

The Cards

The cards are a decent size to hold and shuffle and I found no difficulty even when I shuffled them for the first time around. The backs of the decks are reversible, allowing for easy use for readings. Each of the cards (except for the Aces and the Court cards) have a keyword printed on the top. And the card has a matte effect, which I quite like.

The LWB

The cards have a Little White Book (LWB) that accompanies it, and the details are sufficient and useful. Each of the descriptions cover the symbolic meanings of the different elements in the images. Astrological association with Planets and Signs (for the Majors) and the Astrological Positions of the Planets in Signs (for the Minors) are also included within the descriptions. It is quite obvious that Vanessa Decort has spent a lot of time understanding the Tarot and the different symbols and elements that prevail within the images of the cards.

However, there are no details for Reversed cards – which I found to be something I missed reading about, especially considering the deck (with its reversible back) lends itself beautifully to situations when the cards appear reversed.

But, if one uses a bit of creativity, one can easily come up with Reversed card interpretations – it is just a matter of spending some time getting used to the cards and the images.

The Majors

The Majors are quite beautifully done – and I found myself going back to look at the pictures and smiling at their beauty. One thing in particular that is consistent throughout the deck is that the people in the images don’t have any facial features – which I think is perfect, somehow, and fits in very well with the imagery of this deck. The cards like The Hermit and The Universe appealed to me in particular, because of their very Hindu imagery. 🙂

Other Major cards which I loved a lot were The Moon, The Chariot, The Star (with a mermaid!), Temperance, and Death.

The Minors

Each of the suits of the Minor cards follows a particular theme. The Suit of Cups are located in a very watery surrounding, with starry twilight skies that mostly featured a full or a crescent moon. The Suit of Pentacles were placed in a very earthy surrounding in the light of the Sun and mostly on grassy meadows and deserts. The Suit of Swords found their images with a blue sky and lots of clouds in the background. The Suit of Wands is again located among the starry skies, with no moon, but some fire here and there.

Another recurring theme in this deck is the presence of Butterflies – which the artist describes in the LWB as the representations of Transformation. We see these pretty butterflies either singly or in groups scattered across many of the cards in the Sun and Moon Tarot deck.

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Reading with The Sun and Moon Tarot Deck

The best way to really ‘get’ a deck and mingle with its ‘energy’ is to do a reading or two with it. And boy! was I in for a beautiful surprise!

Considering that I had not spent much time with the cards, I figured I would just let the pictures guide me. And I was so pleasantly surprised! These images were so easy to get into – and before I knew it I was in the zone!

The only thing that bothered me a bit were the keywords on the top – but once I told myself to ignore it, life became much easier. Reading with the Sun and Moon Tarot deck was like finding myself flowing right into these pictures and playing along with the people in the pictures. 🙂 And believe it or not, the cards had some interesting guidance for me.

The Cards I Liked

Now, lets look at the different cards I liked.

The first card I liked was The Moon card.

Normally, The Moon tends to confuse me – I suppose it is only natural as the major energy that I often get from this card is Confusion.

But not the Moon in this deck! As I held this card in my hand, the only energy I got was of Introspection. I felt as if the lady in the picture was looking deep inside of her inner self and trying to come to terms with stuff that had laid deeply buried within her psyche.

The next card I liked is The Chariot. In the Rider-Waite-Smith deck, the Charioteer is usually pictured in the daylight. And with the Charioteer of this deck in the starry night, I encountered a nice change. I felt he was trying to navigate his way through the inner labyrinth of his sub-conscious.

The Chariot is normally a card of Individuation and a card that denotes victory over obstacles, and a unity between the always conflicting mind and heart. And this picture shows us how he got there! Pretty much reminded me of the long drives I often used to take at night when I wanted to figure some complicated things in my life.

The next card I am looking at is the 2 of Swords. Normally, this is a card that talks about taking decisions and choosing from among different options. This card also talks about not wanting to look at stuff that is right in front of you while you make a decision.

And this card gave me the same feeling – just less emotionally trying on me, though! Somehow, I felt as if she was also meditating while she closed herself off from outward influences in order to arrive at a decision.

Another card that caught my attention in this deck is the Queen of Wands. Here we see the Wands Queen jauntily dancing with a leopard, holding a burning wand while surrounded by flames – all under a starry night sky. Wow!

I kinda relate to the Queen of Wands from the RWS a lot – I feel her personality resonates a lot with mine (and it helps that my Moon Sign is Leo, too!) and the Wands Queen in the Sun and Moon Tarot card deck looks more like a wild, party girl who isn’t afraid of taking a couple of adventurous chance or two while she sets off to save a couple of tigers and leopards along the way! Hmmm 🙂

Some Technical Stuff

Many a times, this deck has been referred to as a Thoth type deck. I feel that the reason for this is because of the placement of the Justice card as number 8 and the Strength card as number 11 in the Major Arcana, and of course, the presence of the different Hebrew symbols on the Majors.

However, the imagery on the cards is very similar to the Rider-Waite-Smith decks.

So, I would like to say that the Sun and Moon Tarot card deck is a wonderful amalgam of both these styles of decks.

 

 

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Your Turn

What do you think about this deck? Have you had a chance to play with these cards? What are your experiences or thoughts about these cards? Are you planning on getting these cards? If so, what about these cards attracted you to them?

Please do let me know in the comments below.

Images used with permission of U.S. Games Systems, Inc.