Anne Stokes Gothic Tarot Deck (Anne Stokes Collection)

One of my favorite deck of tarot cards

As a Gothic deck the imagery for the Major Arcana and the court cards are wonderful, although the use of "pips" for the Minor Arcana was a bit of a let down, if one is well versed in Tarot that would not be off-putting, however I did have to rely on reading the top of the pip cards to know if it was a 2 or 3 or something but the use of skulls, bats, dragons, feathers makes one look deeper into the spirituality of the dark side of the reading.If one is well versed in Tarot this deck would make for wonderful reading, combining the brief descriptions in the leaflet that comes with it along with the standard Tarot meanings one can devise an expanded interpretation of each card.It came well packaged, no damage, all the cards were there. As art this is a lovely dark deck to get, for those who are fledglings to Tarot this would be a difficult deck to start with but wonderful to add to one's collection, I was very happy to have purchased it.The only draw back is the very fine print of the descriptions in the leaflet, and each description is more of a story as oppose to meanings, that is why I recommend having an understanding of the standard Tarot card meanings to add to this. The leaflet does not give reversals so you'll have to fall back onto the standard reversals...But this deck would challenge you, once you become proficient.

Lovely deck

I ordered this "tarot deck" because I really like Anne Stokes' artwork. The cards themselves are beautifully illustrated and I like that some of the sculptures and figurines from the artist's work are used in some way with the deck. I do like looking at them, however, there are some things potential buyers should know.1. As a few have said before, this deck size is smaller and they do look like more of playing cards. Though I don't think it should discourage you because each tarot card deck is unique. I think the deck can be used with creativity when it comes to doing an actual reading.2. If you are a beginner or a novice tarot reader, I would not recommend starting with this deck, but it is a deck you can come back to after you've gained more experience with your intuition and insight. Allow the pictures to speak for themselves based upon your intuition.3. The cards are in four languages in the corners of each card. Some may find this annoying, or not... For example, I know German. So, I could do a tarot card reading in German with this deck, which is pretty unique.Overall, I believe this deck has potential which is why I'm giving this product three-stars. It depends on how as a tarot reader, you'd use these cards. I definitely think there is room for creativity when coming up with interpretations based on the imagery of the cards. This deck is a good challenge for a tarot reader and as one, I like that because it strengthens the means of breaking down the cards for meaning and interpretation.

I bought this deck about three months ago, and thought I should probably give it a chance before writing a review. The cards are absolutely beautiful. All though they do lack some classic symbolism, the artwork on the card matches the meaning and common interpretations usually associated with it.The minor arcana are very repetitive, my only real complaint. I was a bit disappointed when I saw this. They don't have any obvious symbolism in the card, just a number of a certain symbol for the particular suit (lets say the sword suit; a sword down the center of the card with a number of feathers floating around it).But despite this slight disappointment I have grown very fond of this deck and use it frequently. If they ever get too damaged or lost I would certainly order again.

She has been creating unique and thoughtful provoking art for a long time. Publisher had a great talent in finding her

I have the Gothic Oracle and I like the accompanying tarot deck to do readings.

These are beautiful! They are small, they fit in the hand perfectly, and are very slippery. This may bug some people but it works when you're trying to shuffle them in the palm of your hand. The size is so perfect that there's no conflict. No flying bunches of cards (although as we know, a single card or two can be meaningful) landing all over the place.The designs are just gorgeous, too. So dark, and just awesome for that cold, rainy night when happy-fluffy just doesn't suit the mood. These are one of the top three in my collection and will be used often!