Review: The Charles Dickens Tarot by Chris Leech

The Charles Dickens Tarot

Chris Leech

Using art and symbolism from the Dickensian Victorian era, this rich and inspiring 78-card deck and guidebook draws on literary themes but remains rooted in traditional Tarot. The Major Arcana focuses on Dickens’s own life and history, including real-life people who were worked into his fiction. These include his father, John, as Wilkins Micawber in the Emperor card and his mother, Elizabeth, as Mrs. Nicklesby in the Empress card. The four suits—Fire, Water, Air, and Earth—are populated by a plethora of his best-loved characters and novels. The horizontal orientation of the cards invokes an open book, a vista, or even a panorama of Dickens’s scenes. The guidebook, written in Dickensian “shorthand,” provides keyword analysis of each card, making the meaning clear in both your own life and in relationship with Dickens’s characters.

Size: 9″ x 6″ x 1 1/2″ | 78 art cards | 160 pp
ISBN13: 9780764357756 | Binding: box set

$34.99

***

I love the concept of this deck. The images on the cards are indeed amazing and if you are knowledgable in the Dickens world of books, this deck will blow you away. 

However, all the cards are read sideways which is kind of awkward and makes the reversals hard to figure out for me. I guess it will just depend on you and what you sense as a reversal. I usually shuffle with the cards in the upright position so the smaller width is in my grasp. I may just read these without reversals to save me the mental strain.

The main issue I had personally was that the minor arcana is difficult to figure out. All I can decide is that the borders of each suit are different and that is all I can see on the surface. I would prefer that they put the names of the cards actually on the cards. Some do have them. I understand this deck is insanely busy with all its images and character names but still. This is supposed to be a divination tool. It's hard to use this tool if you can't figure out what card is what. 

I am sure once you figure this deck out, you will be off to the races. You will love it. However for me, it just wasn't my jam.  I couldn't wrap my mind around the concept since I am not a big Dickens fan and I have not read or am familiar with most of the characters. I would love to be able to go into all the symbols like the meaning of the carpet on the back of each card and why one character versus another is used for a particular number. But that is just not me. I don't read like that. This deck feels like you need to get a doctorate in Dickens before actually using it.

I love the images. They are so rich and vibrant. But for me the borders are way to thick and distract from the card images. The trend is to bleed the image off the side and I think that would look amazing if you did that with the character photos only. Maybe add a little title of the card and name of character somewhere together to appease the dolts like me who are not scholarly enough to read with them like they are meant to be read with.

A card from each of the different suits.

There is a great website as a reference as well as a huge book that comes with each deck. The cards are a bit too big for my grasp and marry with that the difficulty figuring out what cards are what, I have a hard time using this deck to its fullest potential. Just because this deck is not my cup of tea doesn't mean it won't be yours. Try it out for yourself. Give it a go. Show me up. I dare you! It won't be hard, really.

I can definitely use this as an intuitive deck and just go off the images without knowing what the name of the cards are. And I think in retrospect that is how I will definitely use this deck. No cards get thrown out in my collection and I will definitely use them to the fullest I can. But if you are into Dickens, get this deck. It is an amazing piece of artistry. I applaud whomever created it. I can't image how long it took to make this deck and come up with all the particular symbolism that pertain to a specific character. Talk about an effort of love.

If you have friends who love tarot and love Dickens, this would be a great gift idea.

Not my most favorite deck but I do love how the deck looks and the process of its creation. I can appreciate the marrying of books and tarot. Such a cool concept.