“There is no better way to establish a relationship with the tarot cards than to create your own deck! Take each of these ‘outline’ cards, let your imagination influence your feelings, and colour in the image. Record your impressions in the booklet and you will soon have a deck in which each card feels like a personal friend.”— From the publisher
The classic Sharman-Caselli Tarot deck features animated scenes in the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition, with beautiful coloration and accessible imagery. With the My Tarot: Colour Your Own Deck, you get to try your hand at personalizing this beloved deck!
My Tarot consists of 78 white cards with black outlines drawn by Giovanni Caselli, as well as eight color pencils and a 95-page companion booklet. A brief introduction to Tarot and color theory is provided in the booklet, and there are coloring exercises and an explanation of imagery for each card. There are also several lines for recording your impressions and keywords for each image.
I was intrigued with the idea of coloring a deck, but I admit to being disappointed with My Tarot. For one thing, the Tarot Workbook by Juliet Sharman-Burke accomplishes what this deck attempts to, and that is connecting with the cards on a personal level, including the use of color and self-created meanings and keywords. The information in the My Tarot companion book is distilled tidbits that are directly from the Tarot Workbook.
In addition, the images in the Tarot Workbook are larger and easier to color because the bordering and card title has been removed. There is also more room for journaling in the Tarot Workbook. The pencils that come with My Tarot are less than 3 ½ inches long, making it quite difficult to color the intricate outlines.
If you love the Sharman-Caselli deck and want to color your own version, then you’ll likely enjoy My Tarot. However, if you want to familiarize yourself with Tarot imagery and create your own meanings—as well as journal about symbols and color— then you’d likely prefer the Tarot Workbook by the same author instead.
Below are 9 images from the My Tarot deck:
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