Review of the "Sacred Circle" Tarot

Review of the "Sacred Circle" Tarot

The Sacred Circle Tarot, produced in 1998 by Anna Franklin and Paul Mason, has great appeal as a general theme. Pagans should find the earthy images welcoming and familiar. The cards are physically large in size, but the imagery is small due to large distracting borders on each card. There's also a smaller black border encircling the edge of each card, further reducing the all-important central image down to about 2-1/2 X 3-1/2. Any detail is difficult to note and, particularly in the wands suit with lapping yellow flames, the bright borders detract from the overall card appeal.

There are keywords listed on each card by way of interpretation. Some of these do not ring true for me, such as interpreting 10 of wands as "Force" rather than burden or oppression, 9 of wands as "recovery" rather than resolve or persistence, and five of wands as "grounding" rather than conflict. The five of discs is tagged as "restriction" rather than material hardship and isolation from institutions. The ten of discs is tagged as "tradition" rather than the usual interpretation of wealth and abundance. I guess they are loosely related although as others have noted, these interpretations are not easy for beginners to work with.

Some of the court cards are also tagged with odd labels. All Kings are tagged with the element of their suit. This does not address the fact that they are the "fire" of their particular element. Aces would better be tagged with the elements. 

The page of discs which should be 'earth of earth' is tagged as “health'. Again, while it could be accurate, this is a restrictive interpretation. Instead we find the King of Discs tagged as 'earth' when he is actually 'fire of earth'.

Knight of discs is 'husbandry', a concept few can visualize as it is vague and can refer to the cultivation of family life or crops and livestock. In any case, we see no other people or animals on this card, leading us to a restrictive interpretation of crop husbandry. His sword pointed toward the earth reinforces this. Yet as a knight, he should be the 'air' of his element. It's difficult to visualize air of earth as husbandry. This would have been better suited for the King of Discs as he is the fire of earth.

I didn't care for The Green Man as the fool, as the fool is usually the seeker on life's path, not the representation of the life force. A youth heading down the forest path would have been more appropriate. The High Priest is assigned Trump 1, which is traditionally reserved for 'The Magician'.  The actual druid magician with the elemental symbols in front of him is tagged as 'The Druid' and assigned trump 5, which is traditionally the Hierophant. No big deal as these two cards can be switched, just cross out and change the numbers but it is annoying to have a big change like that in your deck. Some sort of inclusion of the Green Man symbology on the Emperor card (which in this deck is called 'The Lord') would have been great. 'Justice' becomes 'The Web' and we see a woman with a dog and a knife in front of a spiderweb.

 'Temperance' become 'The Underworld'. 'Initiation' pictures a celtic maze symbol with a pot of incense burning in the middle. 'Judgement' becomes 'rebirth', somewhat easier for me to relate to than some of the other majors in this deck.

Overall a great idea but an updated revision may be in order...please?