Hanson-Roberts Tarot Cards

Staff Review by Brett Almond

Some decks leave you with the idea that some of the paintings have been rushed in order to get the deck finished! Sometimes there is a feeling that the designer skipped a few corners or symbols along the way. But certainly not this deck! The pictures are beautifully drawn and have a lovely character but also manage to maintain a universal appeal. In almost every picture you will recognize the influence of the Rider Waite Tarot but I believe these cards have added to and enriched these original meanings rather than plagiarized them.

These cards are a little smaller than normal sized Tarot cards but are not small enough to be termed pocket sized. If the pictures appeal to you then you can't go wrong with this deck..

Guest Review by Brian Stevenson

The images in this deck are reminiscent of Victorian and Edwardian artists' colourful and romanticised views of Mediaeval Europe. The rich clothing worn by the characters and the detailed backgrounds show the influence of Pre-Raphaelite painters and many of the pictures would not look out of place in an art gallery.

Almost every card in this deck contains at least one beautifully drawn portrait. The faces of all the people are full of expression, meaning and life. More importantly, all their faces radiate a definite feeling of humanity. There is a sense that these are real people in symbolic situations and readers who receive psychic information from Tarot cards will find that the people depicted in the cards may seem to communicate directly with them. The facial expressions are capable of being interpreted in more than one way and this adds to the cards appeal. For example, the face of the Page of Cups can be interpreted in several different ways, including surprise, apprehension and the realisation of hidden potential.

Some of the more traditional tarot images have been softened in this pack. For example, in Judgement the Angel is usually shown blowing a trumpet over people who are rising from their graves or from coffins. In the Hanson-Roberts, the family are shown standing in a shallow pool of water as the Angel reaches out to their outstretched hands.

Mary Hanson-Roberts has obviously taken the Rider-Waite as a starting point, but she has gone on to develop the images from the Rider-Waite into something entirely new and original. The deck will appeal to newcomers to the Tarot as well as to more experienced readers. Finally, I must mention the back of the cards. So often the design on the reverse seems to have been devised almost as an afterthought. This is not the case with this deck, where the reverse depicts an interesting and beautiful Art-Nouveau design.