Unboxing and First Impressions - The Raven's Prophecy Tarot

The Raven's Prophecy Tarot

by

Maggie Stiefvater (Copyright)

Published by Llewellyn Books

2015

My relationship with the Raven's Prophecy tarot began rather tentatively.  I had began seeing images popping up in various places online, including an actual box in my local Waterstones, which was surprising in itself, and couldn't make up my mind about how I felt about the deck.  Some of the images really spoke to me while others repelled, the colours captivated me as did the technique and medium of the art.  What decided me finally was the image of the Ace of Cups pictured in the last image of this post.  Who can resist that delightful image and those colours.  

The deck has been sitting in repose, being lovingly welcomed and waiting for the perfect moment for me to sit and enjoy the unboxing.  So here we are at last, on Halloween, and it has been worth the wait.  The deck is gorgeous, the book informative and i'm looking forward to reading it in more detail tonight.  

The box is the usual Llewellyn's style box with white card insert which includes a box to store cards in.  I always fold this insert flat and keep it in the box but transfer the deck to a pouch which is kept in the box along with the book.  The book is A5 in size with a glossy cover and contains 184 pages.  The cards are the usual Llewellyn cardstock which I don't find problematic though on this occasion for some reason i'd have prefered this deck to be on something more substantial, probably to echo the earthy feel of the imagery and the mood of the deck.  

Looking through the images they grow on me more and more and i'm still undecided on whether the orange border bothers me or not.  I'm not fond of borders for the most part but this time i'll have to weigh up the pro's and con's of trimming this deck because of the irregularity/loss of symmetry that trimming causes with the imagery on the back of the cards and see how I feel.  

I am looking forward to working with this deck for November and to see the relationship or uncertainty with some of the images developing.  At the moment i'm finding that while I can relate to the Suit of Swords and the reasons for the imagery, i'm struggling with the appearance of the hand, it feels a little bit creepy to me, a bit waxy and scarred.

I am so glad to have given this deck a chance because truly there are so many images that are beautiful and powerful in their simplicity.