The Sirian Starseed Tarot Review

Patricia Cori and Alysa Bartha
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
Review by: Misha

     For the first time I am at a lose as to where to begin in my review of this magnificent deck. The quality of the cards and the heavy and sturdy box they are packaged in outdoes any other deck I have ever gotten. North Atlantic Books spared no expense when they published this deck; the box certainly will not get damaged and the cards will last. That was my first reaction when I received this deck and I could not wait to have a look at each individual card.

      My second reaction was how large the cards are and wondering if I will be able to shuffle them. I also realized how much space will be needed if doing anything more then a three card reading; one will need plenty of space when using this deck. The cards measure the size of an average photograph (4X6), which is a lot larger then the average tarot deck. Possibly this was done on purpose since The Sirian Starseed Tarot is in fact a photographic collage deck. As I go through each card one by one I realize that space is not going to deter me at all from using this very powerful deck.
     Tarot is more then just memorizing card meanings, it is also about tuning into our higher self and using our intuition. If you are wanting to learn intuitive reading or already do intuitive readings you can’t go wrong with The Sirian Starseed Tarot. Once you have this deck in your hands it will not take long to understand why I am describing this as powerful. I am an intuitive reader and this deck opened that part of me up so quickly that I did experience a bit of a “head rush” for lack of a better description. One needs to be prepared to turn their “psychic switch” on even when only going through the cards individually as I was. I was not at all expecting my psychic switch to turn on, let alone full force since I was not using them for a reading at the time.

     When you put Patricia Cori, a new age author who channels interdimensional beings from the Sirius Star System together with metaphysical and intuitive artist Alysa Bartha you get an amazing and powerful tarot deck. The Sirian Starseed Tarot is a 78 card deck and comes with an 87 page book that explains what a starseed is and how to interpret these exquisite and unusual cards. The cards are referred to as keys rather then just simply cards, which fits with everything else regarding The Sirian Starseed Tarot.

 
     From the moment you open the box and see the first key (card) titled Starseed you know this is not going to follow the traditional images at all. A meteor falling out of the sky to Earth is a far cry from a Fool and his dog at the edge of a cliff. This by the way is the image that appears on the lid of the box as well as the cover of the book. The other name changes made to the Major Arcana are as follows: Indigo (Magician), Higher Self (High Priestess), Abundance (Empress), Reason (Emperor), Guidance (Hierophant), Reflection (The Hermit), Transition (Death), Alchemy (Temperance), The Shadow (The Devil), Luna (The Moon), Solar Deity (The Sun), Karma (Judgement), Ascension (The World) There are other majors that have had small changes made to their names and those are: The Great Wheel (Wheel of Fortune), Divine Justice (Justice), and Hanging Man instead of The Hanged Man.

     The Majors are not the only differences; the suits have been renamed Crystals instead of Pentacles, Chalices are Cups, Orbs instead of Swords and Flames instead of Wands. One may get Crystals and Orbs confused at first until realizing since crystals are found in the Earth they represent pentacles. The book explains that the purpose of the suit of Crystals is to go beyond the traditional materialistic thinking and raise the bar to a higher perspective of “manifesting spirit into form”. The suit of orbs represents the air element and with Sirian Starseed, Patricia explains that Orbs represent our thought process and how we relate it to others. Our mind can create it’s own challenges with what we think, and “each orb holds an aspect or perception that is the product of one’s own thought process (page 57).”
     The traditional names of the court cards are Page, Knight, Queen and King; in the Sirian Starseed Tarot they are Seeker, Adept, Sage and Master. They are called The People Keys and as the book explains “the People cards depict levels of spiritual maturity”(page 75). Master of Flames is the last key and the one that stood out of all the 16 people keys. It is a Native American leaning against a stone wall with the rising sun behind him with his many years of wisdom depicted on his face. The face of a very wise, old soul looks out at you.

 The people keys have no individual meaning given in the book; you are take the brief description of each Spiritual level and combine it with each suit’s meaning and apply them both when doing a reading.

     There is one page devoted to reversals and how they are to be used with this deck; no reverse meanings are supplied with each card description. Following that, Patricia Cori includes The Sirian Starseed Spread along with a diagram for the layout of the cards. The spread is followed by “About the Creators Of The Deck” where you can read a brief profile on both Patricia Cori and Alysa Bartha.
     The fact that these cards have two boarders may not be immediately noticed since for most of the cards it blends in with the image. Yes that’s right I said two boarders. The prominent one is the white outer boarder; however there is another one between that and the image. This boarder is of stars in the evening sky and for most of the cards blends well. It becomes noticeable the most in lots of minors where the images are on Earth rather then in space. I believe it was done to emphasis the connection we have to Universe and our own Higher Power as well as to help develop intuitive reading. The name of the card is also written across the bottom of the inner boarder. Is it a distraction having the boarders; or does it add to the magic of this deck? Only you can be the judge of that as it is an individual preference.

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Tarot Foundations: 31 Days to Read Tarot With Confidence

By: Brigit Esselmont

Review by: Misha

     I love Biddy Tarot, it was the main site that I always referred to when I was starting out. Brigit Esselmont is direct and to the point with all of her tarot knowledge. I was honored to have received an email from her asking me to consider reviewing her latest ebook Tarot Foundations: 31 Days to Read Tarot With Confidence. I am even more excited to be arranging her to appear as a guest on my internet tv show Universal Sight. Not being too tech savy however I was not sure I would be able to do a review for her as I am an old fashion gal that enjoys having book in hand. I have never had an interest in owning a kindle or any other computerized way of owning and reading a book. For those like me you will be happy to know that the expense of a new gadget is not needed. All you have to have on your computer is the free adobe program and this wonderful ebook for learning tarot can be enjoyed by you as well.

      This is really done in 31 days and you do not even start working with a deck at all until the 3^rd day. Brigit writes this in a way that allows one to decide what way works for them. Tarot is a diverse tool, there is no “one way” to do anything and Brigit shows that repeatedly through her book. She even gives different ways of how cleansing your deck can be done, so that one knows there isn’t a “right” way of doing anything when it comes to tarot. Every aspect of tarot is about what works for you, from which deck to use, meanings, spreads and doing readings.

      Tarot is not about memorizing some card meanings or keywords; there is an intuitive way of reading as well as the rational way. You get to try it both ways so that you are able to see firsthand what works for you.. The importance of keeping a tarot journal is explained and is one of the activities you will be doing. You will learn how to do a tarot journal, and for beginners this is a very important and helpful thing to do.

     There are lots of other things that a reader can learn that they can use when doing a reading; numerology is the one that is discussed in this book. Specific meanings are not given, the general meaning of each suit is given and a numerological meaning is given. You will do an activity in which you will use both of these principals to be able to create your own keywords. In tarot symbols are very important and this is also discussed as well.

      Besides learning all about the importance of a journal, you also are taught how to make your own keyword charts. You are also encouraged to use other outside resources, and not only Tarot Foundations and your deck.

      Tarot is something that you never stop learning about, there is always something new to learn. One can continue learning new things their entire life or stop with the basics, the choice is yours. Tarot Foundations can be done in 31 days, like it’s title, or you may take less or more days then that. This is done so that each exercise is done in a day, you may take longer or less then a day working at your own pace. I would never suggest that anyone rush through it though especially just for the sake of hurrying up in order to start charging.

        This is a wonderful book and I wish it was out years ago for myself to use. There are things in it that I personally do not agree with such as suggested decks to use and timing. I feel that some of the deck suggestions given are not appropriate for a beginner to use. Some of them do not follow the traditional Rider Waite at all and would be very confusing for someone just starting out and are using Brigit’s Tarot Foundation as their learning book. As far as timing goes that is something that is not structured and also has more then one way it can be done. For some reason Brigit deviates from her way of teaching when it comes to timing. Throughout the entire learning process you are taught so that you develop what works for you, except for timing. Brigit explains timing in one structured way, which actually does differ from my own. Timing can be done a multitude of ways and is another aspect of tarot in which each reader finds what works for them and for some reason this was not done and actually is what surprised me the most.

        This is a wonderful 5 chapter book for someone just starting to learn tarot and I highly recommend it. I also want to add that you should not rush out and buy your first tarot deck until you have purchased Tarot Foundations: 31 Days to Read Tarot With Confidence. Remember, I stated that you do not start to work with a deck until day 3 and the reason is because picking the right deck for you is discussed. This book will answer all those questions one always has about choosing their deck and if it’s ok to purchase it themselves. I found this self published work to be as professional as any that are done by a publishing company. The added plus is that it is in color and uses Rider Waite images. If you are like me and cringe at the thought of making charts Brigit explains it and how to do it so that it is easy to follow and do yourself. All the activities discussed and explained are very helpful when learning how to read tarot. I can’t recommend Tarot Foundations enough.

Click here to visit Biddy Tarot and purchase your copy of Tarot Foundations: 31 Days to Read Tarot With Confidence.

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