The Raven's Prophecy Tarot

[deb13b]

OK I caved. I saw it in waterstones this morning and couldn't get to the till quick enough lol. Bit daunted by some of the cards, it's not exactly rider waite. So I'm ploughing through the book. Wish me luck!

 

[rachelcat]

Ok, almost completely off topic, but . . .

I just finished reading Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, and I keep seeing this now as the Raven King's Prophecy. But the deck that book is a hand-copied Marseilles, and it's never called tarot, only "Marseilles cards."

This deck is lovely, but not for me. I have a bit of a bird phobia . . .

Sorry for the interruption. Back to your regularly scheduled deck chat!

 

[Winterchild]

Birdphobia...

Funny you should say that rachelcat... I have a phobia but it's not so much the birds as the things they are clad in, which I call The 'F' word... shudder!

But I am also really attracted to corvids... crazy past life stuff, doubt. Anyway some bird images I can handle and some I can't, this looks ok as the 'F' words are not too detailed... I have the Dream Raven deck by Beth Seilonen and thats fine...

 

[Winterchild]

So I have had this deck a few days now and it is really impressing me... at first I was meh.... orange borders, meh...non reversible backs. But I gotta say, I have really fallen for the backs after looking at them for a few days, I like the naivety and the cards feel nice, little thin for my taste but very soft and not glossy. I am not much of an LWB reader usually, but the book is excellent, I take my hat off to Maggie Stiefvater for her succinct but insightful interpretations of the cards. I think her definition of the Eight of Swords is one of the clearest and best I have come across.

I was afraid the deck would make no sense if you had not read her works of fiction, but not true at all.

I even knitted it a wee bag as it comes in one of the useless big boxes!

Oh and regarding The Lovers card LeFanu... it is two same sex animals because according to MS they represent the two sides of the self, inner and outer... very clever. Not that I believe lovers or love should be defined by gender

 

[sweetcherise13]

Thank you to everyone for sharing your personal experiences with this deck! I've been looking at it since it came out and been really drawn to it but I really like to hear others take on a deck too. I'm drawn to anything ravens and the cards appear very captivating and unusual.
I can't seem to choose between this deck and The Green Witch and wish I could get both. Such a tough decision...

 

[Nica]

Now that you've all had some time to spend with it and read with it... How do you like it?

Are the courts easy for you to read? Does it make sense when you lay out a spread?

 

[RavenLuna]

I bought this deck a few weeks ago, but was going to keep it back for the Solstice. Then I found I was missing a card in another deck, so I opened the Raven's Prophecy anyway. I was pleasantly surprised!

I thought it would be difficult to read with, especially since I have not read the novels, but the new deck interview went really well. Lots of Cups and the High Priestess. Then another reading was also a dream to read. The book seems good. I read something I'd never heard before about the Empress, and it was so specific to my question, I couldn't believe my eyes.

The only card I didn't like much was the World. Never a favourite of mine anyway, the long, unattractive road is a turn-off. Still, the World hardly ever shows up in my readings. I even like the borders and I thought they'd be trimmed straight away.

 

[Citrin]

Now that you've all had some time to spend with it and read with it... How do you like it?

Are the courts easy for you to read? Does it make sense when you lay out a spread?

I haven't had time to work with it yet, but you can watch a clip by "Cuilfaen" on YouTube, it's a quite recent video called something like "My updated deck collection". She talks about the Raven's Prophecy and how she sees the courts in the sword suit I think it was. Very clear interpretation. I've also been "scared" about the courts being so sparse, but after seeing how Cuilfaen reads them it seems much easier.

 

[hopena]

Mine arrived yesterday. It's ok. But ok just isn't enough to excite me any more.

Frankly, I think this is an attempt to cash in on the success of the Wild Unknown. It isn't an exact copy - that would be too complicated in terms of intellectual property - but it is so obviously a copy of the style / concept / atmosphere, the type of symbolism. The lone feathers, bird profiles etc.

I'm sure they'd say it's a coincidence but anybody who looks really hard just knows. That nature-based minimalism and pared down energy. I honestly don't think this type of symbolism has much depth. It always looks like it should - everything very singular, dark and moody - but it's actually very one-dimensional when laid out. Plus I do think of Llewellyn as the most consistently unoriginal of all the major tarot publishers. I don't think they've ever released anything groundbreaking, have they? There's always a feeling of easy sales, easy symbolism, common denominators.

There is so much that is good and original right now and this feels sort of fake.

I thought it was similar to the Wild Unknown, as soon as I looked at the images on the box. I've avoided it until tonight (because I was thinking about asking for the Wild Unknown for christmas), but I bought it on an impulse, because I was upset.
I have yet to look through the cards, and I'll see if I can find the books through my library, so that I can really use them... I'm not sure if the bookstore will take them back in the cards have been opened.

 

[ArwenNightstar]

Thank you to everyone for sharing your personal experiences with this deck! I've been looking at it since it came out and been really drawn to it but I really like to hear others take on a deck too. I'm drawn to anything ravens and the cards appear very captivating and unusual.
I can't seem to choose between this deck and The Green Witch and wish I could get both. Such a tough decision...

I've reviewed both. For me, the Green Witch is the winner but the two are vastly different.