Of The Year Tarot Review The Wheel Of The Year Has Been Created By Maria Caratti

The Wheel of the Year Tarot has been created by Maria Caratti and Antonella Platano and published by Lo Scarabeo. It is a Rider-Waite based Tarot deck.

This deck is all about nature and the turning of the Wheel, the leaves, trees, stars, Mother Nature and the Goddess and The God.

There are 78 cards in the deck.

The suits are divided into the seasons.

Swords are Winter and associated with the element of AirCups are Spring and associated with the element of WaterPentacles are Autumn and associated with the element of EarthWands are Summer and associated with the element of Fire.

I really like the Aces of this deck (pictured below) they are like the elementals for each but more in sprite form. Sometimes the Aces can be difficult for people to get a lot out of but when you ad a face to them, a spirit it can be much easier to find attributes and meaning.

In the book there is a fantastic Wheel of the Year Tarot Spread which works with the Pagan/Wiccan Sabbats (Celebrations and Holidays) of the Year and captures the essence of each Sabbat. There is not a lot of information given in the little white book but it is still enough to start your journey with the cards.

Each card has it's own title that the artist has given it, for example The Sun (Pictures below) is also called The Lord of the Day and then there are some key words given about the card.

The card on the Right is the illustration on the back of the cards.

There is a bit of nudity in this deck, it is rather cartoon like but it is still there, so if you are uncomfortable with nudity then this deck may not be for you.

This is also a VERY Pagan deck, it is all about the Wheel of the Year so that is to be expected but I thought it was worth mentioning. Those who follow a Pagan path or live closely with the cycles of nature will really enjoy this deck.

I added these images as they really caught my eye. The first the Queen of Swords looks like Malicifent from Disney's Sleeping Beauty if you ask me. The Three of Swords usually depicts a heart which is being pierced by three swords, it is interesting that there is no heart, one of the only Rider-Waite based decks I have seen that does not have a hear in the Three of Swords card. The Devil, which is about living and usually addiction and temptation in this card is all abut Lust, which is the name of this Major Arcana card in the Thoth deck. Just an interesting choice, no chains, no treasure but all about passion and the thorns we create for ourselves.

I really like this deck, it is bright and many of the cards are easy to interoperate. They make great Altar Images for ritual and spells, especially at Sabbats and I have used then for this already. This deck can also be used for seasonal meditation and to assist the seeker learn the lessons that come with the seasons, working through the story of the corresponding Minor Arcana or the Major Arcana.

The last card on the right is also the cover of the box, for those who are going to go hunting for this deck.

There are so many uses for this deck it is really multidimensional. Yes the artwork is cartoonish but I think it ads to the charm of this deck. I think it is a worthy addition to my collection.

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