The Snowland Deck: Life Themes Edition

On my porch the other day sat an ordinary white shipping box, taped up all neat and tidy. When I brought it inside and opened it, I discovered twinkles and sprinkles and blues and silvers and winter magic in the form of 24 dazzling cards, a pendulum, an inspirational "ice cube," a huge but delicate snowflake, and a gorgeous blue drawstring bag covered with silver snowflakes, with one tiny, glittery snowflake charm stitched at the top.

My Life Themes Edition of The Snowland Deck had arrived.

The best way to get all the details and background information on this deck is to visit the web site at http://www.janetboyer.com/SnowlandDeck.html

When you visit the Snowland Etsy shop, you'll see some pretty darn *cool* bracelets that I happened to design (in collaboration with Janet Boyer) and which I made under my Jewelry by Scotti label. Janet has given each bracelet a clever name, and like snowflakes, no two bracelets are exactly alike.

At the Snowland Zazzle shop, you can purchase a wide variety of items featuring art from the cards (by Ron Boyer). Yes, I bought a mug with The Carousel on it. I love that image! (I'm probably going to buy more mugs to give as Christmas gifts this year.)

But here at Tarot Notes, I really need to focus on the cards themselves. The Life Themes Edition is a Majors-only set. Many of the card titles are non-traditional, but anyone who knows Tarot will recognize some familiar characters: Beginnings (The Fool), Magic (The Magician), Oracle (The High Priestess), Mother Nature (The Empress), Commanding (The Emperor), Teaching (The Hierophant), Commitment (The Lovers), The Train (The Chariot), Strength, The Hermit, The Carousel (The Wheel of Fortune), Justice,  Inversion (The Hanged Man), Impermanence (Death), Temperance, Chains (The Devil), Removal (The Tower), The Stars, The Moon, The Sun, Calling (Judgment), The World.

But wait, there's more! In addition to all of the above and a title card, the set includes a bonus card -- the delightful "Chillaxin" -- designed by the Boyers' son.

The cards measure 3.5 x 5.5 inches -- too large for the poker shuffle (unless you have large hands), but I find them easy to shuffle using the push-pull method. Card stock is sturdy but not "heavy." As promised by the deck creators, the colors really are eye-popping, most of them dominated by bright shades of blue or turquoise. Card backs are reversible -- blue background with a large, centered snowflake in white.

Card faces have an unobtrusive white border. Titles appear at the bottom in black against white. The Majors are not numbered, but I can see from the web site that the pips do have numbers.

The winter theme is consistent yet expressed differently on each card, so that each has its own personality -- from quirky (Removal) to moody (The Moon) to sweet (Calling). Among my favorites are Teaching (which shows a snowy owl standing at a tree trunk podium addressing a gathering of animals), Strength (a woman on ice skates leads a huge polar bear by a slender ribbon), and The Carousel (I want to go for a ride on it right now!)

I'm looking forward to trying a Majors Only reading with this set of cards!



In accordance with the FTC Guidelines for blogging and endorsements, I hereby disclose that this product was provided by the publisher for free. Other than the occasional review copy, I receive no monetary or in-kind compensation for my reviews.  The substance of my reviews is not influenced by whether I do or do not receive a review copy.