True Heart Intuitive Tarot - Rachel True

Title: True Heart Intuitive Tarot

Artist: Rachel True

Price Range: $21.69/ £16

Dimensions: 13.97 x 3.45 x 20.32 cm

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt 

Date 1 Nov. 2020

Style: Fantasy / Modern.

Do you remember the review of The Light Seer's Tarot?
Well, after i wrote that article i simply couldn't use that deck ever again, i fell totally out of love with it. This cost me as i used to use it a lot for most clients and it was also on a lot of my social media as a result of that. 

So i sold it and I searched to replace it, i wanted a similar deck thats vibrant and multicultural and would resonate with a wide range of people. So I boiled it down to:

True Heart Intuitive Tarot
Everyday Witch Tarot
The Modern Witch Tarot
The Luna Sol Tarot

After a lot of mulling it over i went with the True Heart Tarot, and unashamedly it was because Rachel True made it, and i am a massive fan of The Craft. Yes I'm fickle sometimes but she was the first biracial witchy woman in film i saw as a teen, and she appealed to me so i was sold!

It's a bad photo I know, but you get the jist. 

Box, cards and guidebook.

The box is way bigger than i expected, and this is mainly to do with the fact that it needs to accomodate such a huge guidebook.
This is good but also a bit annoying when it comes to storing the cards with ease of use. Everytime i went to use the cards i had to get out the huge box, and then scoop all the cards together because of the way it's set out inside of the box.

This quickly got old to be honest, so i ended up buying a tarot bag. Not the end of the world but it doesn't seem as if they've thought about how people will use and store these cards if they have no extra money for tarot wraps etc. 

The Guidebook is really thorough. For a beginner this is a decent step by step guide, from how to use your deck, how to store it and even how to learn it. I really appreciate the direct use of language too, especially the part where Rachel literally berates the reader for disregarding their own readings and pulling out multiple clarifying cards until they get what they want to see, instead of reading what has already been shown.

The Major Arcana also has lots of stories associated with the cards, which is a nice touch and makes up at least 50% of the book. These are stories of Rachel True's hollywood life that help her reiterate the meanings of the cards for the reader.
I guess to have you associate the stories with the meanings, because you'll think back to her story and it'll help you remember. I do the same when I teach people in the non tarot world. (Pesky ordinary jobs) 

It's interesting to read because most people don't have access to that kind of life, and some of the stories are actually quite funny.

I'm not impressed with the card stock at all. It's so so thin and it doesn't feel durable. The only good thing about thin card stock is how usually its easier to shuffle, which is true in this case to a degree. Unfortunately because of the way the cards are printed and cut, sometimes they stick together at the edges... or clump easily. Initially i had to do a lot of work to shuffle these cards enough so that they were not stuck together.

Imagery

The color scheme for the artwork is VERY strong. Nice and colourful but i'm not afraid to say that i believe some of the quality is lost because of the crap quality of the cards. 

This is a gorgeous card but I feel it would look better on different card stock. 

Each suit has it's own colour scheme which helps the reader at a quick glance. All based around their elements, Wands = fire, Cups = Water etc. 

The style reminds me of the late 1970s and early 80s animation era, Dungeons and Dragon, Scooby Doo, He-man era and I can't unsee it. All long limbs and perfect faces. Which unfortunately means that there is no physical diversity, sadly. No lumps and no Bumps, just glossy people. 

Lovely card, everyone is slender though. 

One thing i really noticed is how much symbolism has been drawn into the designs, there are elemental signs everywhere, and small details that help convey meaning. 

A Merkaba in the moon, and a clear nod to the Illuminati. 

A lot of cards in the deck carry the weight of symbolism from the SW deck but updated for the modern mind. 

Quick thinking! 

I really like this depiction of 8 of wands, I usually struggle with the imagery of the card because I often think it doesn't portray its meaning very well. Let's face it, the Smith - Waite version and most that follow its lead, just show a bunch of wands on the page. This one is pretty easy for anyone to remember, or a client to understand. 

Lack mindset

Getting away with it, but slicing up your hands in the process. A good take! 

Lots of nods to Greek Mythology all through the deck, with Icarus making an appearance. I love his story and feel he's well placed. 

And the Gorgon Medusa

Very apt given her story. 

I like this depiction in the 5 of Wands. 

Although these are the only two, and I was surprised that she was used in more than one suite, for me i like a lot more continuity in terms of themes. So it would have been nicer if she was stuck to one suite, but more depictions of her. 

You know me though... So obviously my divergent mind picked up on something.

So you see this card here. 

I felt this was familiar, have I seen this somewhere before? 

Very similar to Tarot Del Fuego 10 of swords. 

So perhaps a little influenced, okay it happens and we are all inspired by other things....

Great 9 of Swords, the meaning is portrayed well. But that brain looked familiar to me. 

Inspired by the Wild Unknown 9 of Swords perhaps. 

Playing it safe? 

I can't help but think that in some respects, Rachel has played this deck safe. 

Yes there are a lot of different skin tones, but everyone is slender and there are no lumps. 

A lot of Archetypes are nothing out of the ordinary though, which is a far cry from some of the clever depictions we've seen in other cards. 

Cards like these are not that much different from the Smith-Waite, I feel just a more modern ish version. 

This one was a bit disappointing because its so similar to the SW, including using the flag of St George. Which continues to play into the premise in this world, that old colonial powers still have the juristiction to judge the masses.

I feel like she just gave up trying to make it clever and that's a shame. Thus card is the most predictable. 

Is this card a nod to Fairuza Balk Who is also an occultist and her fellow Craft witch? 

Given the multicultural look of the deck, I was disappointed that some of the archetypes about purity and power were handed to white characters. 

Don't get me wrong I'm not offended, I'm just used to it and thought I might see something different with this deck, given the creator herself is bi-racial. Alas no. 

3 ladies again, meh.... Nothing new. 

Similarly to the Light Seer I see no gender fluid people, no queer or gay couples. 

Just average cis normality. 

A modern home with a "normal" family, but families like that are ten a penny. We know that the word family can include such more variety than the American dream. 

A little bit mediocre and well, just average. 

I do love this card though, I would have liked to see more Indian inspired archetypes, it would have worked well with the drawing style. 

In Conclusion

At first i felt really deflated when i got this deck and wished i hadn't bought it. The cards really are not well produced and that bothers me, especially since there are more expensive Indie decks that are not mass marketed and they are produced to a better standard. Also i was initially worried about using them in case they became damaged very quickly. It is still a concern to be honest, i'm just careful even though i do like to bend mine quite a bit when i shuffle them.

For people who are new to tarot i think this is a good buy, purely because in my opinion it's simply a modernised version of the Smith Waite, a lot of the cards are the same and easy to read from. Which is something that I look out for when I recommend decks. 

However, I just feel that she could have pushed the boat out a little more. Queer people, people with different abilities physically, more coherence with themes, this deck is a mix of fantasy, modern, mythology, a little higgledy Piggeldy. 

This is a complete contrast to many of the cards in the deck, even its own suite. 

I still like it, I'll still use it and people still respond well to it. It just is what it is really.