Review of "Tarot Nova"

"Tarot Nova", produced in 1996,  is marketed as a gift-shop or common amusement-type item. 

The deck comes nestled in a set with a pocket-sized palmistry book. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the folksy artistry of this deck. The cards are small in size, about 3-1/2" or so.

Tarot Nova's Empress, the earth mother. Passion, creativity, nurturing a new project, perhaps some risk-taking implied, and of course this could indicate a wedding or new addition to the family.

The butterfly symbolizes rebirth and the key symbolizes knowledge. New perceptions, renewed purpose, making amends, "seeing the light", clear thinking at last!

The gift set included a paper LWB and a little book on palmistry. Searching online, I found a small book by Dennis Fairchild sold separately from the deck, that explains the Tarot Nova with deck basics. The best thing about this book is that it is so small that you can easily carry it in your purse, and it's hard-covered so even with heavy use it won't soon be in tatters. Each card is also pictured in the book next to the card description, so you don't need to have the deck with you to study the meanings of the individual cards.

The book includes a few sample layouts and contains interpretations for cards in both the upright and reversed positions. The book is about 3" square, and it comes with a teeny tiny deck of cards about 1" in size, not very practical cards as you can't shuffle them or handle them at all, but it's worth buying this set in order to get the nice hardcover book.



Tarot Nova book with teeny tiny deck.

 
So once you have found the regular-sized deck and then the book which is sold separately (whew!), you can begin to work with the cards and enjoy them. These are simple images that are nonetheless suffused with symbolism, including astrological symbols on the majors.

Without a lot of distracting frills and busy borders, the cards are perfect for meditation work. This deck is sometimes described as a child's deck, but I find child-like wistful simplicity delightful to work with no matter how old I get!



The world - completion. 6 of Cups - Nostalgia, conviviality. Knight of Cups - a gift or a vacation. A charming man.

 Thankfully, the cards don't have distracting borders, but the corners are color-coded by suit. Purple for major arcana, blue for cups/water, yellow for swords/air, red for wands/fire and green for pentacles/earth. This perfectly satisfies my requirement for color correspondences that make logical sense. The simple yet elegant images rest on a black background.

Sorrow, separation

Too much emphasis on work, overburden, time to try something new. You may be in for a career change.

Knight of Pentacles - determined action toward your goals. Six of Pentacles - plenty, generosity

You'll get very clear messages with this deck!! I absolutely love it. It's definitely worth including in your collection.

If you would like to purchase this deck, click here.Tarot Nova
Illustrations: Julie Paschkis
"Designed by" Paul Kepple
Publisher:  Running Press, 1996
Mini edition: ISBN: 0-7624-0418-3
Fortune Telling Set: ISBN: 1-56138-756-8

Dreams, emotions rule, illusion, deception