Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

If a mass market tarot deck is purchased it Is usually assumed that deck will follow one of the established tarot systems: the ubiquitous Raider Waite Smith (RWS), Thoth, Golden Dawn or Tarot de Marseilles. No these are not the only tarot systems but they are the most used and well known and one can purchase multiple versions of any of these systems on Amazon or most other tarot retail outlets Occasionally, someone devises a new tarot system with their own arcana and own interpretations. Though these are more prevalent in niche outlets (to my memory the beautiful Tarot of Devotion, crafted by French artist/cartomancer Novembre was the most recent new system to make any sort of a splash) and in Mass Market world Dreams of Gaia made a few waves a couple years ago.) If one looks at either of these decks it Is quickly apparent these are their own animals. Devotion is modeled after cathedral stained glass windows and contains 3 tiers of arcana and though Gaia uses the four elements for its minors they have mostly new interpretations and its major arcana is entirely fresh and original. Oh, and both decks make it absolutely crystal clear they are new systems in their product advertising. The Tarot of Mystical Dreams is not modeled after one of the major systems but are new interpretations to the existing order and structure of the RWS tarot (Strength is at 8). The advertising on the Amazon product page does not clearly mention this and it looks to be your standard RWS inspired deck. There are 21 major arcana. The names of some have been altered enough to make them technically different but the same energy exists. The aforementioned Strength is now called Regina but it is ordered at Key 8 and the card features a woman and a lion. Hmmm I do not think this will be confused as The Devil. It is Strength with a pretentious new name. Ms. Piedlato's description for her card is uncannily similar to classic Strength (even though these are allegedly new arcana that came to her in a dream.) They have some new "clever" names, and in some cases a few drastic departures that would only be apparent once having read in the guidebook, but it's basically the same old 22 usual suspects. Yes Death is now a dancing fox and probably the most most drastic change --- er new and fresh dream manifestation but the meaning is hardly as wild a departure. It's fun that the again mentioned Strength is now Sophia but it feels like a makeover not a fresh new archetype. And I am sorry but calling The High Priestess the The Dream Priestess doesn't really count. With the exception of Mr. Fox nothing about the Majors is going to result you to do a double take in the actual cards. The guidebook on the other hand... In a couple of the majors, there are some sudden sharp lefts to the traditional "newly imagined" arcana but they are incredibly jarring going wildly off in the opposite direction. For example, The "Mystical Fool" (that won't count as original either even if he is a snake) is someone who also represents the start of a new journey. But this fool will only begin a journey it it is rooted In the practical and plausible. Why even call this character The Fool. Forget not jiving with the RWS, that doesn't even align with the common near universal definition of the term "fool." Despite some odd choices the major arcana are "New Coke" they look and taste different enough you could technically call them new but retain enough qualities of the original that you are still aware its cola and can't help to comparem to the far superior original. The Minors are Wands, Cups, Swords and Pentacles (I guess original suit names weren't included in the prophetic series of dreams) and go Ace through Ten. The court alters the names of the Knight and Page and retains the King and Queens. The hierarchy and basic correspondents are the same. Now the minors are where the dreams decided to be clever little tricksters as the RWS interpretations from some cards has been shifted to another. The Ace of Cups now holds an interpretation eerily similar to the RWS 2 of cups (and similar artwork) and the 2 of Cups is now the RWS 7 of Cups and is abut having unrealistic expectations. The numerological correspondences have been lopped right off. Despite that why change something from one card that works only to put it on another card that also worked originally. Oh yes the dreams told her so. The Court is a game of musical chairs. The Queen of Cups is now more on par with Classic RWS Queen of Wands. Queen of Wands is now classic RWS Queen of Pentacles. The suit of Swords remains both oddly and largely similar to the RWS Swords. This does not feel like an inspired and creative, carefully developed system like Dreams of Gaia nor does it have the fervent passion and clever structure of Tarot of Devotion. It feels like the Tarot equivalent of Fan Fiction. I have no idea if fan fiction even exists in today's internet but it Is where someone would take the characters, premise and setting of a preexisting franchise (we will use Buffy the Vampire Slayer for the example) and the characters are basically the same but may have "improvements" and be romantically involved with characters they are not so in the official franchise (i.e. Buffy and Xander would have a thing going on and Xander may have super strength.) Because you know, the fans actually "get it." In Mystical Dreams tarot Queen of Pentacles so has it for King of Wands but 9 of Swords, in a rare departure from the RWS for that suit, is abut, I swear to god, the importance of dormancy and doing nothing. Which truly is a situation far more common than being overly worried or stressed out to the point of losing sleep. Stupid Arthur Waite! And perhaps in an RWS similarity entirely unintended. the artwork on the cards is the real star here. Tom Doxbury's qrt is really good. It is as clever and appealing with its minimal color pallette as Piedleto's book is clunky and dense 0with overly flourished prose. That lame 9 of Swords card visually Is actually one of the most striking in the minors. The artist deserves another deck from a better creator that will actually endure time as these will probably be forgotten in the time most people forget what they dreamed about a few days ago. The odd and maddening interpretations are one reason but the other is that Piedleto Is not a very good writer. She is overly verbose to the point that her point is buried in the thicket of pseudo prose she wraps around it. (Hmmm yet another similarity to the original RWS). The book should very well be called The Pictorial Keys to Dreams. Her opening paragraph to her introduction was the most ham fisted, uncomfortable, cringe inducing efforts I have read in recent memory if not ever. She employs a sing songy cadence akin to a child's nursery rhyme about "magical, phantasmagorical dreams" that was either intended to be "cute" "charming"or "magical" but comes off as incredibly awkward and false. I honestly wanted to stop after reading just that it Is that bad. Oh and she repeats it at the end of the chapter. Does Ms. Piedlato not have an editor? Well at least the worst was out of the way. Actually it wasn't. A few pages later the author shares an opinion as fact. Not only does she use incorrect information for this fact she states it again. (She may state it more than twice but I stopped reading after the second instance.) She let's the reader know that her tarot cards (that she didn't draw) are superior and can convey more than regular tarot cards because regular tarot cards only have one meaning and hers have multiple meanings because you use your intuition. Yes the deck that she basically copied in order and structure, the deck that has endured decades and the deck that the largest percentage of Western tarot readers use is inferior. She obviously is somewhat familiar with this inferior tarot. She pretty much kept its suit of swords. One does not study that tarot for very long at all before learning cards can have different meanings based on position, subject matter, context and surrounding cards. Yes an LWB in a deck may only give one meaning but that's for the sake of brevity. And readers are encouraged and do act on their intuition. What this deck actually Is, is an RWS Deck as imagined by an intuitive reader. Intuitive Reading can be controversial. Some view it as the purest form of reading. Others view it as being lazy and not wanting to put in the time and effort to learn a system. It may very well be a mixture of both. Regardless I don't feel intuitive interpretations work for anyone but that who interpreted them. But Ms. Piedlato has devised an "original" system so perhaps they may. xThere may very well be a market for people looking to relearn the interpretations for a deck that looks and is structured just like an established system. However it should have been clear this is an entirely new system created by the author. The product description states nothing as such and that is a problem. This deck can call itself a tarot as it has a major and minor arcana but in reality this is an Oracle that would appear to be an RWS Deck with no real clues whatsoever that it's not. Again, it's technically a tarot but by keeping its true nature a mystery until one opens the box, feels dishonest. Had this been stated clearly and prominently would it have scared off buyers? It certainly would have me. I have no problem with a new flavor now and then (I bought both Gaia and Devotion) but I need to know that's what I am getting. This is like craving pizza and having the delivery guy bring you something that tastes like Ethiopian food. Ms. Piedlato's interpretations work for her and that's fantastic. But why the need to not only bash traditional tarot systems but incorrectly describe them? On at least two occasions in a slim book. I almost suspect Ms. Piedlato tried her hand at traditional tarot, learned the majors and the suit of sword, either became frustrated with or was too lazy to learn the rest of the deck and then decided to just make the rest up and this deck is her vengeance. She sure showed them! If you are newer to tarot and have desire to learn any of the established systems do not buy this deck. You will only be confused and learn card interpretations that will be absolutely wrong and/or worthless except when using this deck. By being so clandestine as to what their "superior deck both Ms. Piedlato and her publishers have done a real disservice to new tarot readers. If you are struggling with traditional tarot do not buy this deck. You'll be even more confused. If you're bored of RWS but don't want to learn the other three yet want something new, don't buy this deck. Buy the aforementioned Dreams of Gaia which is so original and useful. The book alone is far more in depth and better written than this deck here. The cards are also gorgeous. If you like traditional tarot and just want a new deck don't buy this deck. There's literally nothing you could use it for and 6 months from now it will be covered in dust from lack of use. I am extremely thankful I chose to purchase this on Amazon as at least I can return it and state inaccurate website description for a full refund. Should you buy this tarot and be just as disappointed I suggest you do the same as Ms. Piedlato and her publisher need to be completely transparent and forthcoming that they're dsck is not what it seems at first glance. I purchase 2 to 5 decks a month and have been doing so for 3 years and can easily state this deck is among the 5 worst decks I have yet to purchase. The cards are indeed very lovely but that guidebook is dreadful and it's quixotic vendetta against RWS killed it for me.