My Review of The Book of Shadows As Above

Okay. So I have no idea how to start this review. But, in the words of Elizabeth Gilbert, I am going to "show up"... So if this sucks, blame my muse.

Some time ago I always thought to myself that if I could have a career where I get to play with free decks all day... I would be a happy camper. This deck I won from Barbara Moore's contest on her blog:

Practical Tarot Reading

So here it is. My once dream is now a reality. Here in my hands is a free deck to play with. Lately I have felt the squeeze of pressure around me of people urging and encouraging me to do more... take a chance. Have confidence. Luckily, I have always had guts... either real tough... or real dumb, either way I'm doing it.

I had seen a couple of images online regarding this deck before this contest started. I believe it was the Ten of Swords.

Ten of Air

I am drawn to any card that has Tarot "IN" the card. Such as the Fool from the Ancestral Path Tarot.



I was intrigued right away. When I found out I had actually won the deck I was so excited to get it. Upon opening it... I asked the cards what I would learn from this deck. I received "Bridget- Healing: Emotional, Physical, or Interpersonal Healing".

I have always prided myself as one who vigorously improves myself... exercise for the Soul if you will. I like to challenge myself. You can see why a reponse like this from a deck would turn me on. This card in this deck happens to be the 4 of Water. Barbara had mentioned in her blog that this was not your standard deck and oh she wasn't kidding... where the Rider portrays the Four of Cups as boredom, pausing, analyzing, or even stale and flat this deck gives you a chance to work with that energy. To change.

This deck, being a Pagan/Wicca, whatever you call it deck shows you the way of the enlightened Witch. How to feel and use energy to make things happen. A Witch could be considered a female version of the Magician. The Magician is very aware of the multitude of energies available to him... and knows how to arrange the notes to make beautiful music.

If you so happen to be feeling dull, dusty, unmotivated, or just stopping to address how you feel in a situation, this deck says to me that I can use that energy to explore what it is I need to heal in myself to create the change I am desiring in my world.

I think this card does say a lot about this deck.

Now that I have introduced myself to the deck and know the way to approach it is when I riffle through the deck. Card after card moved me. I have often bought decks because of one card I like in the deck. Or when I see a few sample cards that look great and come to find they were the only good cards in the deck. Not this deck... over and over I became more and more impressed.

Here are some of the cards that really jumped out to me.

The first card at the bottom is the Magician Card called "The Elements". This deck is the As Above first installment to a duo pack that includes As Below. What I like the most about this card as it takes YOU out of the picture. Often Magicians show a Man using the elements at a table as he paints the landscape on the canvas of his life. But this card takes it up a notch. Literally... UP. This is above your humanity to the actual forces of energy in the universe available to the Magician. It excites to think about what the As Below deck has for this card!

I have always explained Tarot as a Tool. One of many many tools available handed down generation after generation evolving over time. In this deck they address those Tools: Tarot, Runes, Pendulums, Palmisrty and many others. The card for Tarot, Ten of Air. Which just happens to be the first card I was drawn to in this deck says, "Having much control over a situation, the potential to easily achieve goals or desires."

Beautiful. I mean that is what we do as readers do we not? Remind people of their own creative authority? (Wink to Nancy Antenucci)

If you think about it... the Ten of Swords is about annihilation. Finality. As Dan Pelletier once said,

“The most exquisite paradox… as soon as you give it all up, you can have it all. As long as you want power, you can't have it. The minute you don't want power, you'll have more than you ever dreamed possible.”
Ram Dass

This to me is what this card in this deck is saying. That once you give it all up... you have the power. You have all the control in the situation that is your life. Life then becomes easy when you truly no longer give a shit.

Then it was time to go through the booklet. I have often bought a deck of cards that took my breathe away... but the booklet sucked. Sometimes I feel the artist and the author spoke to the deck quite differently as the descriptions seemed to not match the artists' visions.

First off, the court cards are Elemental, Maiden, Mother, and Crone. Elementals signifying beginnings then maturation into disintegration.  The cycle of change... life and death. BRILLIANT!!! If I do say so myself. Waxing and Waning.   

Pagan tradition weaves itself through the Major Arcana. The Fire suit addresses the energy of the Planets. The Fire Court cards starts with the Salamander esoteric symbol for Fire. Then it sparks with the Maiden, burns brightly with the Mother then is blown out with the Crone. Genius right?

The Air suit involves those Tools I had mentioned before. Those mental constructs that people have developed as a way if interpreting their reality. Their map. Meditation, I Ching and Animal Guides. These are tools we use our logical and intuitive sides of our brains. They are tools to use the conscious with the subconscious.

I had brought the deck into work with me to gaze into it some more. I sad at the counter and shuffled away when my boss asked me a question for the cards. She had pulled the Elemental of Water.

"The Nixie: Water brings an abundance of positive emotions, ready to help nurture anything in its path. Use positive energy to create great things."

It was an amazing reading for me. Not only was I able to explain to her the Page of Cups which so happened to be a beginning of a new relationship. A stage where your imagination helps create the foundation to which the relationship will lay. But this card also encourages you to be excited about it. It urges you to feed those dreams with positive energy.  To expect the best outcome.  

It is an excellent use of resources. A great tool to use in this watery realm.  It is a place where you feel your dreams. You imagine it. I had told my boss to have fun and be playful and be positive. Later that day, more information kept coming to me. It literally blossomed within my perception. It was a blessing in a sense.

The Earth suit involves our human body, the planet, and its inhabitants. Crystals, Trees, Mountains... Waterfalls. The Court Cards lead you through the growth patterns. Insemination, First Bloom, Harvest, and Dormancy.

As you can see, it is a deck of its own. Now, a question I ask myself a lot with decks such as this.... is... but can you read it like Tarot? For instance, Mary-El Tarot happens to be one of my favorite decks, but I cannot read Tarot with it for the life of me. For me, it is a self-reflection deck and I use it best for meditative purposes or for card of the days.  Tarot of the Sidhe, I read better with 3 Card Spreads. That is the way I use them.

The Book of Shadows is a deck that wants to be read. In the worst way. I had it in my purse at a friend's house on the ground. When I returned from the other room, a friend had it out and was pulling cards. Trust me... I always have cards in my bag. They never make it out of there by any other hands than my own. So I sat near her and walked her through a spread. They spoke loudly... and clearly. It read like a really good Tarot deck for me.

I have looked through a lot of decks. This one is definately one of a kind. I can't even imagine what it will bring to people with the second installment So Below. It is a must have for every Pagan, Witch, Eccletic, Tarot Collector, everyone.

If you are still with me by now, thank you for your time and interest. Please feel free to talk to me about Tarot. I hate feeling like I am talking to myself. To all the wonderful people who came together to make this deck a reality... Blessed Be.