“For centuries, Tarot cards have offered insights into universal human experiences, and guidance for personal spiritual journeys. Fenestra Tarot, named after the Latin word for ‘window’, was created to provide new perspectives, or windows, for Tarot interpretation.” – From the LWB
When I first saw a few images from the Fenestra Tarot deck online, I found the soft images arresting and attractive. I was looking forward to buying this deck, and finally got it a few weeks ago.
Well, I’m loathe to say that I’m quite disappointed with this deck. The displayed images from the Fenestra Tarot deck that I viewed online were NOT representative of the whole, in my opinion. Instead, I feel the deck is much heavier on the yellow and rust colorings—with the richer blue and green hues gracing only a few of the cards.
The Majors are framed by not only a filigreed pattern, but also a stylized infinity symbol with roses placed at the bottom. This means that the image itself measures only about 3 ¼ x 2 ¼ inches! The Minors are a bit more expansive because of a simpler frame, with the actual image measuring about 3 ¾ x 2 ¼ -- but the frame still takes up a good portion of the card.
The muted tones in the Fenestra Tarot are lovely—acrylic on paper with soothing watercolor tones—so if you enjoy decks that hearken back to simpler days, you may find the deck perfect for your needs.
It’s disappointing that U.S. Games has imprinted their copyright on the card backings, rendering the pretty reversible spiraled rose motif virtually useless.
The LWB (Little White Book) provides admirable upright and reversed card meanings, but that’s about *all* it provides. Although the Fenestra Tarot comes in a larger box, it’s wasted packaging: there’s *another* smaller box encasing the actual deck, the LWB, and large illustrated pull-out on Reading Tarot Cards with the 10-card Celtic Cross spread that U.S. Games includes in its box sets.
Thai artist Chatriya Hemharnivibul has done an admirable job of melding Japanese influence (such as Manga) with Art-Decoesque arches and classical lines. It’s just a little too bland for my tastes—and I would have liked to be able to see more of the actual images rather than the decorative borders hogging the spotlight.
Because the Fenestra Tarot is patterned after the Rider-Waite-Smith (including the Page, Knight, Queen, and King rendering), it’s a very readable deck. I just wasn’t able to get much from it beyond the card associations in my head, as opposed to being able to cull intuitive insights and inventive stories derived from rich symbolism or animated portrayals as can be done with some decks.
Below are 10 images from this deck:
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