05 Sept 2020 Edit: Found some errors and added them to the design section below, as well as photos.
__The Basics__
Tarot of the Divine is an RWS (Rider-Waite-Smith) clone, meaning the imagery is based on the system established by Arthur Waite of The Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, illustrated by the legendary Pamela Colman Smith, and published by the Rider Company in 1909.
The suits in both the deck and LWB (“little white book,” lingo for the booklets that come with Tarot decks) are ordered as Swords, Cups, Coins, and Wands instead of the traditional Wands (fire), Cups (water), Swords (air), and Coins (earth).
The deck also features the traditional, gendered Court cards of King, Queen, Knight, and Paige.
I wouldn’t recommend this deck for beginners because of the high amount of initial research necessary to understand the multi-cultural stories depicted in the deck and how they connect with RWS meanings.
Intermediate and advanced readers who’re already familiar with RWS meanings and intuitive reading will have the added challenge and appreciation of reading about the cultures represented in this deck.
__The Cards__
The art of Yoshi Yoshitani is faithfully reproduced on the cards based on my side-by-side comparison of the actual companion book, Beneath the Moon: Fairy Tales, Myths, and Divine Stories from Around the World, which is sold separately.
The biggest problem with this deck, however, is the poor card quality — it’s the same texture, thinness, and glossiness of standard Bicycle playing cards!
THEY. ARE. SO. HARD. TO. SHUFFLE. They keep getting stuck on each other because of the rough plastic texture. I’ve already slightly bent my entire deck of cards from trying to shuffle them!
The other problem with the texture and gloss of these cards is it makes them hard to see in any sort of overhead or direct light, which is such a shame for such a beautiful deck (see my Magician card photo).
I also wish the card borders included the name(s) of the figure(s) on them, which I’ll discuss more in the next section.
__The Design__
The box is stylish and sturdy with gold foil accents and a ribbon to easily pull out the deck, but does not have a magnetic clasp to keep it shut and is too big compared to most other keepsake Tarot boxes.
For some reason, the LWB is nearly twice the size as the cards, so the box was made to accommodate it instead of the deck itself. People looking for a more compact transport will probably want to get a deck bag and leave the large LWB in the original box.
A full-color LWB is rare and a nice touch, but the contents are lacking if the main appeal for you is to learn about all the different cultures represented in this deck. The description of each card will only have the name of the figure(s) represented and where they’re from, while the rest of the description goes into the standard upright and reversed RWS meanings.
Paying extra for Beneath the Moon was worth it, imo, for the full-size, full-color images and to know more about the stories depicted in the deck.
But don’t expect the full story — only one page is dedicated to each folktale or mythology with the intent to introduce and prompt you to look for more info. It is, however, enough to connect the artist’s intent with the imagery and cards they’re on.
I’m not sure that the stories are organized in any particular order, but I wish it was in the order of the cards for quick reference. The stories used in both the Major and Minor Arcana are all mixed up, making the table of contents useless and the index essential.
Since the figure(s) in each card aren’t identified on the border and the book isn’t in the same order as the cards or LWB, you’ll either have to flip through the book and hope you find it quickly, or find the card in the LWB then look up the story in the index. It would’ve been great to be able to just use the deck and book, especially if you already know all the RWS meanings by heart and don’t need the LWB, so I feel like these were design oversights.
EDIT: I’ve added photos of two inconsistencies I found so far.
The first is The Beauty and the Beast, which the LWB says “China, Danish Fairy Tale” but the book says “China, Chinese Fairy Tale.” As far as I can tell, the creator used the Chinese folktale “The Fairy Serpent” in the book, but kept the Western, Disney-inspired Beast imagery rather than a serpent for some reason.
The other strange error is The Nightingale, which the LWB says “Denmark, Danish Folk Tale” but the book says “China, Danish Fairy Tale.” The imagery is Chinese and the story takes place in China, so it appears the book is correct but the LWB is wrong.
__The Vibe__
I’ve been a Tarot reader both personally and professionally for 16 years and am very picky about my decks. The main thing that drew me to this one is the multi-cultural theme because, let’s face it — the vast majority of decks are Euro-centric.
In Beneath the Moon, Yoshi (who does not use pronouns) talks about the influence Yoshi’s mixed heritage had on the stories Yoshi’s parents told growing up, and how Yoshi could find the common threads that wove different societies together. As a fellow mixed person, I connect with those experiences and value the variety of stories in this deck. I think it will appeal to the growing number of mixed readers, as well as people who want more varied representation of cultures and skin-tone. I don’t think there are any LGBTQIA+ representations though except perhaps Mohini (Vishnu’s female form) and Aravan’s marriage on the 4 of Wands.
The deck uses stories as metaphors for behaviors and situations that might be in your life, but I felt like some of the stories didn’t match the cards they were on since it’s meant to be RWS-based. Furthermore, the deck doesn’t read positively (gentle, encouraging guidance) or negatively (getting smacked with the cold, dark truth of the universe) at first glance, but some of the stories could be disturbing for some, such as the 10 of Swords showing Sedna’s father throwing her overboard and cutting off her fingers when she tries to live.
I personally found dark undertones in even celebratory images like the 3 of Coins, which shows a child performing joyfully near Banjhakri and Banjhakrini having successfully completed their shaman training. Further reading revealed that they kidnap children and put them under physical and other rigorous testing, and kill the ones who don’t succeed. I don’t personally believe this matches the cooperation traditionally implied by that card considering the story itself has children under duress.
This deck might be good for ancestral work since chances are your background(s) are represented here.
