i'm digging up an old thread here...
i just got this deck, and thought i'd share a few of my impressions with y'all...
first of all, it comes as a kit, with a book. i don't have an extensive tarot collection, so i don't have a ton of experience with how decks are packaged - but this is a large-ish two-piece box, inside is the book, and under it, two plastic nests which each contain half of the deck. this is the first deck i've ever gotten that doesn't have its own little box, and i have to say, personally, i don't like it; i would much rather have an independent box and get rid of the big one.
the cards themselves are nice and thick, with a matte finish. however, you can tell that they've been roughly punched out of a larger sheet: there's a little flange around the edge of the front sides, which is another thing i've never come across. also, there are three cards that are slightly taller and wider than all the others! mmMm....
well, the images themselves are lovely! some are very sparse, as has been said, but i really love the mysterious, esoteric layers and connections. i like that the majors and the different suits all have their own framing, and that there are alchemical correspondences.
that being said, this is a much more difficult deck than i had anticipated...
the system that john matthews and wil kinghan have devised is, in a way, a world of its own, sort of crammed into a tarot setting. i'll be honest and say that i've only flipped through the book as of yet, so perhaps i'm premature; but i feel like in order to effectively use this deck for (tarot) readings, you would have to spend a few months learning the different suits (stars, suns, moons and spheres), as well as nostradamus' writings that are attributed to each card. i'm feeling a little intimidated by this, as i kind of like tarot to fall under a general umbrella - though i know, i
know it doesn't, ha!
anyway, for the price (just $15 US for the set!), i'm happy to have it. it's very unique, and and i think if i spend the time, i could get some really great things out of it.
if anyone else has had experience with it, i'd love to hear it!