Divine Will Tarot

I just received the Divine Will Tarot deck today and I'm actually quite befuddled by it. I really don't know what to think! Stylistically it's a chaotic jumble of red, white and black images which seem to morph into a shadow realm. The cards mostly follow the RWS iconography, yet are definately from another universe. A universe where things have a slightly demonic, surreal flavor.
Almost like a mantra, I'd turn the cards over to look at them and I'd be thinking - "what the hell?". I really don't know what to think! All I know for sure is that if you don't have this deck, and you're a collector, you really need to get a copy.
I'd love to hear what others think. All the images can be found online at the artist's website; however, I couldn't find any descriptions or commentary on the cards. Holding the actual deck and seeing this artwork in person is a completely different experience than viewing the images online. Totally different! I can't stress just how visceral this deck is. Maybe it's because I just got done watching a couple episodes of Grimm, but the cards almost seem to depict an underlying dark nature morphing out of the imagery and into the outer world's veneer of reality. Well, I think you get the idea. Please let me know what you all think!

OK, wow. That is one unique deck of cards. I've never seen anything like it. I can see why you'd describe it as demonic and surreal. But the art also struck me as having a sort of rock'n'roll punk attitude. You said you "received" the deck. You mean, as a gift? Or did you buy it? I've never even heard of it.

Wow...It screams aggressive to me. I even donno how possible to work with it..It's kinda painful to look at for long because of so much red, at least for me.

Wow that is something.
I honestly don't know what to say about it. It's certainly not one for near the bed at nighttime.

oh my goddddd i want it. IMMEDIATE deck lust.

I'm a sucker for a harsh red/black/white palette. I don't much care for the face on the Hermit, but that 6 of swords and that ace of cups...yes yes yes. Demonic isn't my usual flavor of spooky, but this is really very striking. I think I would be able to read with it.

How's the deck feel, texture/side/stock wise? At $50 it isn't a cheap romp to weirdness, but it's tempting, all the same...

eta: DEFINITELY feels kind of punk to me, I agree.

eta 2: found a review on youtube! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAA1W02oy_E

Note the reviewer is some dude with eccentric facial hair and tats up and down his arms, which is basically who I would expect this deck to appeal to...the deck totally has a counterculture aesthetic. I have a third of my head shaved and I wear a ton of eyeliner so that's a bonus, but I can see why it would be hard to read with, too.

The color palette reminds me of the Cruel Thing tarot deck, but this one seems much darker (in theme), plus I like that the minors are more than pips. Will definitely be looking into this one. Thanks for sharing!

Wow! That is gorgeously disturbing.

The thing is, there is quite a lot of recognizable symbolism there to work with. That is Hathor on the High Priestess card, you can tell by her headdress and the shape of her face. There is an "eye in the triangle" which you can google. But that other figure..... Wow. I'm not sure I want to look behind that curtain.

The Lovers has a hexagram on the bottom left, a symbol of merging the divine and the human. There is a rose in the center of the hexagram indicating the new thing that comes from the merger. If you look at the card one side has a red and black background and one a black and white, with the figures in the reversed colors (like a yin/yang). Two sides of a thing, different, that take each other in and are transformed. It indicates all kinds of transformative mixing: male and female, harsh and kind, light and dark, the two sides of a choice. Now that I look the man's face on this card looks familiar.

The Hermit looks like Edgar Allen Poe, who spent much of his life alone and unhappy but true to his individual vision. He found a darker light.

The Six of Swords is about using your noggin to solve problems (six being the highest most harmonious use of the faculty indicated by the suit and Swords having to do with thinking). The guy (or creature) with the amputated limb has figured out a way to get around, perhaps to get to a better place.

The Ace of Cups has many of the same symbols found on the RWS card- the lily pads, the bird, the letter M or W.

You could either decide to compensate in your mind for the dark and twisted visual tone of the deck and only let it color your reading where you intuitively feel it really needs to, or you could give everything a harsher tone in your interpretations.

I am impressed, many of these decks that use a "dark" tone or imagery are very light on symbolism but this one has a lot of tarot symbolism along with all the little symbols and images that could have a more individual meaning.

It's kind of funny, apparently the Church of Satan likes this deck enough to have put up a review. Who said religion doesn't endorse the use of Tarot?!

In response to Metafizzypop, I actually bought this deck after viewing the same youtube video which bonebeach just referenced. In my original post I didn't mention anything about the quality of the cards because I wanted to shuffle them a bit first. The card stock is very different from standard faire. It's either all plastic or plastic coated stock. I'm not sure. I'm leaning to plastic because the top edges initially looked like they were wearing off slightly; but when I went to wipe off the residue, the edges were perfectly fine. I guess the shuffling polished off the fine edge on the cards. The card faces are textured and have a great tactile feel. Not a linen or air-cushion finish, more like a raised ink finish. Definitely high quality. Cards have a larger, boxy shape (approx. 10x12.5 cm) and the deck is 3.5 cm thick. The printing is very crisp and the ink colors, black and red, are saturated. The print job is excellent. The deck came with two extra cards which followed the major arcana, and a title card. It came in a black velvet-like bag, no box. The tissue paper wrapped around the cards was actually "taped" together with black, stick-on beads! First time I've ever seen that with a deck of cards. It seemed appropriate though - unique packaging for a unique deck of cards.

I'm very curious to study all the symbols used throughout the deck. Myrrha, I enjoyed reading your deconstruction of some of them.

Can anybody share how their readings have been using this deck?

Something that hasn't been said so far about this deck is that there is a limited edition first run of 93 copies. So don't dilly dally if you really want a copy of this deck! Just bought by copy. Used PayPal and since I had a balance, it cost me less than $6.

Rodney