Forest of Enchantment Tarot

I don't even use tarot, I'm an oracle card person, but in all honestly who could resist these amazingly delightful cards, full of magical enchantment and excitement. They're everything they promise to be and more. The images speak to me on a deeper level, the guide book in full colour is wonderfully informative. The images call me in deeper. They focus on folklore and myth from British culture, I am a big follower of welsh folklore and old Briton so these cards and their images are familiar to me. I feel like I know them. The way the cards are depicted feels like home. I love how the people look and how they're dressed, I love the landscape, the trees, the colours, the energy, the stories, the fantasy of it all is just like slipping back in time to a world I remember. The box is beautiful and looks stunning on a desk or would even look lush out in a room. The box is rather large so I was surprised about that, but it allows for the guide book to be a decent size. My only gripe would be the card stock isn't great. They're a bit flimsy and bendy. I prefer thicker card stock, but that's not enough to take a star off the review. The cards themselves are full of mystery,magic and portals to otherworlds. Delve into the wonderful, magical world of the forest and see where the path takes you.

I bought this tarot at the same time as the famous 'Wildwood' deck, and of the two I much prefer this one. Whereas the Wildwood tarot is trying a bit too hard to be authentically ancient and Celtic/Viking, using somewhat obscure pictures which make it harder to interpret, the Forest of Enchantment tarot has imagery based on traditional northern European 'fairy tales' or folk tales. As these tales and images are the basis for a Jungian view of the subconscious of Northern/Western European cultures (including the worldwide diasporas and derivative nations), these cards speak straight to your subconscious - you just know what they mean. We all know about trolls under bridges, magic mirrors, children abandoned in the forest, wizards and witches of all varieties, black-armoured knights, unicorns, dancing princesses and dancing fairies, spinning straw into gold, dwarves, giants, dragons, foxes, toads, swans, (and many other animals), magic thorn bushes, goblins, wolves, wishing wells, and on and on. The pictures are beautiful, with the characters' faces being realistic enough, not too cartoony or too vague, with a 'story picture book' vibe that is entirely detailed and deep enough to for adults. Many of the pictures include botanically recognisable flowers, trees and birds, such is the attention to detail. The deck is also suitable for children - the devil becomes 'the liar' - a fully clothed man beckoning you off the path with a bony finger, and the tower becomes 'the folly' - a carved tree trunk blasted by lightening but with no falling people. The scariest card is 'Black Shuck' for death, picturing a black wolf with red eyes coming out of the mist (based on an East-Anglian tale). The 3 of challenges (i.e. 3 of swords) shows a man in tears with his back to his small boy and girl abandoning them in the forest (like Hansel and Gretel). The deck does not shy away from difficult issues and situations, but presents them without over-the-top gory or shocking images. The accompanying book has a full page glossy picture of each card, so you can really study the details. The text has just enough interpretation given to spark your own imagination and intuition. The meanings are related to the classic Waite-smith, but with whole new imagery. For example, the Waite-Smith 5 of cups (with the black robed figure and some cups knocked over, some standing) in this deck becomes a princess at the moment her golden ball falls into the pond in front of the frog - much has been lost, but carry on and things will turn out well. Similarly, the six of wands, now the six of spells, changes from a triumphal horseback procession into a group of wizards celebrating the successful hatching of a magical wyvern (type of dragon) from its egg - meaning success and applause. The box has a ribbon for easy removal of book and cards, and a magnetic closure. Small details like this are representative of the care and quality of this deck

Having waited such a long time for this deck, I am disappointed, sad and torn in writing this review. I would give the artwork, book and box 5 stars, but as for the main event - the cards - just 3 stars. Too thin, too dark and too small. I feel for the authors. I have written to Llewellyn as I would love them to produce a better quality deck to do justice to the stunning artwork. This is what I said. "Dear Llewellyn, I have just received this tarot deck via Amazon.co.uk after a very long wait. As a long standing tarot student and reader who collects cards, I am compelled to write to you as I am so disappointed by your publishing quality. Several reviewers have already noted the same. The artwork is stunning, but has been let down terribly. a) The small card size makes it difficult to see the image b) The image itself is dark and grainy c) The quality of the card is far too thin for shuffling safely. The cards will get damaged too easily. The book and box are superb, but the main content i.e. the deck, is of such a poor standard. I would love, and pay for, a decent version of this deck, so please consider reprinting to a usable standard that tarot readers expect from established publishers such as yourselves. It would be such a shame to waste the beautiful artwork and the fresh take on the tarot suits. I would not bother writing to you if I did not value this deck." If anyone else feels as strongly as I do, please let the publishers know, maybe they will listen and give us a deck worthy of the lovely artwork. UPDATE: I have decided to give 5 stars as I do love the artwork and feel it is unfair on the authors to downgrade because the printing does not suit.

Absolutely gorgeous deck! The cards can create such beautiful, inspiring narratives. The images are complex and the attention to detail exquisite! It comes in quite a big box, these are slightly bigger than usual cards. Beautiful, one of my favourite decks, with such rich meaning from European folk fairytales and forest folklore and each card explanations is like a mini story. LOVE IT!

From the moment I laid eyes on this deck online I knew I had to have it. After waiting a while for it to be released in the UK, I was not disappointed when I got my hands on it. The level of thought and work that has gone in to it is absolutely outstanding. From the book to the artwork and the beautiful words to accompany each card. Meraylahs artwork is completely breathtaking and transports me to another realm. It encompasses what I perceive to be the magical realm, full of mystery and magic. I love the many references to european folklore and fairytales. The finer details make this deck so special and a true joy to own (for example, ratty and mole from the wind in the willows in the six of visions card makes me smile every time). I can get lost in the artwork alone and I have had some fantastic pathworking sessions with the deck. Lunaea Weatherstones writing is just as enchanting and leaves room for your own intuition whilst weaving beautiful stories to go with each image. The guide is fun to read and gives a close-up view of each card. The deck itself brings me a lot of joy and comfort to look at and I have had some extremely helpful readings during some difficult times. I am fairly new to tarot but I have no desire to try another deck as this is my go-to and I see myself enjoying and treasuring it for life. Using it is like sitting down with an old friend, I only wish I could truly step inside the deck! (Meditation with this particular deck is excellent and as close as I can get, however...). The renaming of some of the cards is very fitting and makes perfect sense. The card stock is very thin and whilst this does not bother me in terms of how the deck shuffles, I am scared that damage will start to appear on the cards. I try to be careful with them but I wish they were a tad thicker to really do the artwork justice. The artwork and writing is not super fluffy like some decks either, they did a great job of capturing both light and dark. A true pleasure to own and valuable tool to use. I highly recommend to those who love fairytales, forests, folklore and magic.

Really like the aesthetics of them. The cards are sturdy and good for shuffling. Unfortunately the book binding damaged really quickly and it unglued. After such a short time this is disappointing.

Amazing deck. Love it !!

These truly are magical. The box has a side magnetic closure, upon opening there is the book. Underneath the book are the cards and there is a ribbon to help you extract the deck carefully. The artwork is beautiful and the themes are gentle and nature based. The book is colourful and printed on quality paper and the cards are of good quality and print too. Each number has a general meaning too which I found very helpful. Let them take you on a magical journey into your future…….