Title: The Intuitive Night Goddess Tarot
Artist: Linzi Silverman
Price Range: $27.75 / £20. 49
Dimensions: 8.38 x 4.83 x 13.34 cm
Publisher: Ulysses Press
Date: 20 Jan. 2022
Style: Collage/ Decoupage
Don't you just love surprises!
I completely forgot that I pre-ordered this on Amazon, So when it arrived I was very surprised!!!! Literally walked in and saw a parcel for me and thought "What is that?"
You are very lucky, this deck is not in massive circulation yet so you're seeing this hot off the press! Well, almost.
This box is in two parts and it is nice and strong. Very smooth finish and very easy to open because it has these bits for your fingers at the sides! Stress free!
I really like the little details in the artwork, both inside and out.
Guidebook
The book fits nicely in the box and it's really informative, lots of nods to using your intuition and intuitive reading, mantras that are uplifting and explanations of symbolism within the cards.
Linzi has changed some of them to better fit in with the overall meaning of the deck, but I'll move onto it later. Male archetypes have been changed as well, because this is a goddess deck after all.
It has a basic guide how to use the cards, but because of the change in names and some of the imagery not being traditional. I would never advise that a person who's new to Tarot uses these as their first deck, because all subsequent decks will confuse them if they are traditionally along the Smith-Waite lines.
This is a deck for the initiated.
Cards
Card stock is really good, they're quite thick and the finish is exactly the same as the box. So they glide when you shuffle and have just the right amount of bend. So far this review is looking good because I've nothing to complain about.
The artwork is collage, or midnight collage if you will. I really like it, it's a little chaotic but I obviously wanted that kind of deck otherwise I wouldn't have pre-ordered it. If you are not into colourful stuff then this isn't for you, point blank you will not enjoy it.
So let's actually see the imagery.....
This is a Collage/ decoupage style deck, but specifically flora in space. There is no specific type of woman, just women in various older styles. I can spot Victorian styles, Georgian, a lot of South Asian and so on.
In her own words.
So for once i can't be picky about it reflecting modern life, because the fact is that it really doesn't at all.
You can really tell she's had a play with these images, so here are a few that I really like
There are also a few gender-fluid cards.
Changes to the usual tarot.
Earlier i mentioned that there have been some changes, these are in the Major Arcana and the Royal cards.
0 - Potential (The Fool)
1 - The Witch (The Magician)
IV - The Monarch (The Emperor)
V - The Mystic (The Heirophant)
VI - The Wayfarer (The Lovers) This card centers around self love. Its one of my favourites.
VII - Freedom (The Chariot)
IX - Introspection (The Hermit)
X - Chance (The Wheel of Fortune)
XII - Meditation (Hanged Man) This is absolutely one of my favourite cards of the deck.
XV - Reclamation (The Devil)
XV1 - Revolution (The Tower) I love this replacement and also nice nod to the original in the artwork. Fuck the patriarchy!
XX - Awakening (Judgement)
XX1 - The Universe (The World)
With respect to you dear reader, i do not have all day so i am not going to explain them all to you as the individual meanings have also changed with some of them. You pretty much get the gist if you go by the name, and they are to be used with your intuition so you don't need to see the guidebook to know what they mean. It's how you interpret them.
The guidebook explains very well what is meant by the symbolism used, there are no mistakes in what you can see, there is a reason for all of it.
The Royal cards have changed slightly, and i will use the suit of cups as an example.
As you can see they are
Nymph - Page
Warrior - Prince
Queen - Queen
Spirit - King.
I've no issues with these changes and it continues the theme of it being a very femme deck. Also in the book it's all justified.
Cards that are weird.
Nothing in life is perfect folk, and even though i am really enjoying this deck i have a couple of questions regarding the imagery.
What is this exactly? I imagine she wanted to involve some tribal imagery and i get it, but this isn't it.
Immediately no.
I usually love the Moon card but i wasn't expecting a literal moon face, and i'm not sure what to think about it.
I like the involvement of a soviet card but i'm not sure how much it works with the 4 of swords, more so with that it is SO pale that i don't think it is in keeping with the rest of the deck. This is just my opinion of course, and perhaps perpetuating a western stereotype a little, Russia isn't all snow.
Also out of all of the East Asian images she could have used she went for this one, which is a bit subservient looking.
In Conclusion
I like this deck, i really enjoy that the artist has had such a play with the imagery. It is bold both in colour and also in sentiment.
It is a refreshing rethink on the Smith-Waite and i quite enjoy that the imagery is so cosmic and flowery. Some images i recognise and they've been reworked, some have no eyes but a third eye, some are given dark skin and every time i look at these cards i see something different.
My only critiques are that I could have done without the subservient card, the Russian stereotype and the weird tribal card.
Also, I do not believe it's a good deck for beginners at all. Purely because on advantage a reader has from learning on the Smith-Waite deck is the fact that they can more or less pick up any deck and use it. Any changes to a new deck are then easier to learn because there is less to re-learn.
Definate Hype, i'm looking forward to using this with feminist clients in particular to see how they will react.
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