A Review of HazelMoon's Hawaiian Tarot…and a Reading!

Artist Katalin Csikos has created a deck called HazelMoon's Hawaiian Tarot, a labor of true love and dedication based on her deep connection to the Hawaiian islands, their culture and legacy. She recently offered the deck to readers on a Facebook site for free, and I signed up - how am I going to say no to a free deck?? It arrived in two days, beautifully packaged, with a well-bound book and a box of 78 cards.

The cards are sturdy, and remind me of the finish of the Mary-El Tarot - a tiny bit sticky in their shiny gloss, but fine to work with, all the same. The backs are not technically reversible as they feature a sepia-ish photo of a palm tree, but it was subtle enough not to be an issue for me (which is important to mention, as I use reversals and tend to prefer reversible backs!). In fact I love the backs - they are a cream-and-brown that reminds me of cocoa butter and is rather soothing!

The artwork is very much what I would consider "naive art," aka folk art, in style. This is not "fine art", it's not a feat of advanced technical skills. It's the product of true love, and the beauty lies in its rough edges and imperfections. It feels like a love-letter to the Hawaiian islands.  The Minors are mostly pips in that the 8 of Cups shows eight cups in a row in font of a lush landscape, but the colors are rich. I thought at first that the relatively small paintings and the pips might make for a challenging intuitive read, but that proved to be an erroneous assumption. I did a reading last night for myself using this deck and fell in love! You really never know how much you like a deck until you read with it, and this was just another example of that…..

I made up a spur-of-the-moment spread: My Strength - My Lesson - My Advice
I decided to do this because I feel like I have a lot of positive things happening in my life right now, but along with it there are always challenges, and I wanted some insights into all this lovely chaos.

I pulled the Boy of Lava Stones, the Moon, and the King of Lava Stones:

HazelMoon's Hawaiian Tarot
Katalin Csikos

I was really stunned by how beautifully the imagery flowed, the symmetry, the symbolism, and it really was a very intuitive read after all. Let me discuss a bit of what struck me:

Boy of Lava Stones (My Strength): This is about opportunity that remains vibrant even in the dark of night when the moon of mystery and uncertainty shines above. It's interesting that my Lesson is also the Moon, and look how the palm branches shield me from it - it's there, it's present, it's an important part of the environment, but it's not overwhelming or overpowering the scene. This card represents opportunity that can be harnessed and developed and nurtured and grown. The bird reminds me of the heron (thought I am pretty sure it's not supposed to be one), bridging water and earth, intuition and practicality, which is interesting because in this reading water (the Moon) bridges two earth cards. The heron automatically connects me to the King of Vessels in the Wildwood Tarot, which simultaneously brings aspects of the Mirror - reflection, self-analysis, sacrifice, and connection to purpose and past lives. I know, it's a lot, but that's what happens… images create layers of meaning that make for a deeply rich reading, and that's what this deck has sparked for me.

Moon (My Lesson): This card is about not letting worry and fear own me; instead using it to fuel my creative energy. It's about mastering my intuition and opening myself up to the depths of my soul and my spirit connection to the universe. I think it's interesting that there are lava stones on the sand by this water, which reminds me that I can "put feet" under my intuition. Fear and illusion are often associated with the Moon, but I also see that fear can stem from misunderstanding our own intuitive power, and that's interesting because I've been in the process lately of learning not to shy away from my inner voice, but to trust in it, and embrace it, and dive deeply into it, to bathe myself in it. The Lava Stones are a way for me to then ground my intuition in the world (and I think a good example of how that is done is through card readings, incidentally!).

King of Lava Stones (My Advice): I appreciate the earthiness of this card, and I myself am an earth sign, so it feels fitting. And yet the image brings so clearly to me the image, once again, of the King of Vessels/Heron (perhaps because both images show a figure poised upright in water). This King stands like the Heron in water, the ocean, and the brightness of the daylight brings the idea that the moon (my Lesson) reflects the light of sun, and that difficulties and challenges are only temporary. This is a King of earth and water-  he can harness the fluid energy and give it shape. This reminds me of the need to acknowledge that power in myself and tap into that ability to manifest what is needed in my life. It's an optimistic card - it's about being ready and prepared to do what needs to be done, that through practicality, steadfastness, patience, and commitment to my Strength, I can be master of my material environment.

Whew! It was a beautiful and really intense reading, and endeared the Hawaiian Tarot to my heart due to how strongly it engaged my intuition and how profoundly it spoke to me. I look forward to using it more!

When Something Doesn't Feel "Right"

I've been thinking more about the ways in which our intuition plays into our reading of cards (and any other divination tool). First of all, I believe that all human beings are intuitive - it's not a skill unique to a select few, though some pay more attention to it, and work to develop it more actively. I use reversals when I read, and I enjoy reading in that manner. I feel reversals provide other ways of adding depth and meaning to a card.  But using reversals is not a substitute for intuition. I've done many readings where the outcome card seems positive. It's a good card, not reversed, but it doesn't feel "right" to me. I'll give an example:

Deviant Moon Tarot/P. Valenza
US Games

One time I'd done a relationship reading and the final card, the upright King of Pentacles, seemed pretty positive - perhaps the culmination of the relationship, or the decision made by the male partner to fully commit to the querent. But it didn't feel right. What I felt was that he would become fully committed, and perhaps work on being a family man… just not with her. So I relayed that message to my client, who was a little confused by my interpretation of the final card. Some time later she let me know that indeed that guy had disappeared and entirely extracted himself from the tenuous relationship. So why didn't the King of Pentacles show up reversed? Well, I actually don't think the guy was a bad guy, and I don't want to explain the background of the client's situation due to privacy issues, but the guy in question had some decisions to make, and the decisions he made might not have been ideal for the client, but they weren't bad choices.

People are complicated. Just think of yourself - the diversity of thoughts, feelings, intentions, actions, desires, and motivations that you have. Divination picks up on all of that - not just the client's, but important people in the client's life and concerns as well - (and in very complex situations can take some time to disentangle for the reader) so intuition will always be a critical asset to reading for others, even providing some surprising twists that appear to go against intellectual judgment.

Use the Deck

I’ve been thinking lately about how it’s impossible to really know how much you will like (or not like) a deck until you hold it in your hands and start reading with it.

In the Tarot course I’m taking (mentioned originally in this post) we’re focusing on “going into” the cards (i.e. letting our intuitions loose, and trusting what we feel regardless of what the card is "supposed" to mean). Last week the instructor didn’t want us using decks we were comfortable with so she brought some decks with her and had us read with them.  I used her Gilded Tarot by Ciro Marchetti, which is a deck I’d been pondering, and has been on my wish list for a while.  I was teetering toward not purchasing it because the artwork really isn’t my style, and doesn’t vibe with me.  But there I was using it to read for a partner, and I have to say, it was a great experience.  No, I don’t love the machine on the Moon card, and all those little “jewels” on the edges seem silly.  But you know what?  The reading flowed, the colors came alive, there was a lot of forward movement, and it was a very easy, intuitive read.  So despite not adoring the art, I felt it read well for me.

Now the Wildwood is “my” deck – the one that resonates with me most deeply on a fundamental level.  But I was hesitant to buy it for quite a while.  I’d heard about how challenging the animal Court Cards were, and how different many of the cards were from traditional meanings.  The artwork I saw on the internet intrigued me, but it took me a while to jump in.  And then, when it arrived at my doorstep, I wondered what had taken me so long.  The accompanying book just made sense to me, and I felt an immediate connection to the cards.  Why did I ever worry about the Court Cards?  The first deck I ever worked with was the Medicine Card oracle, which is all animals.  I have always felt an innate connection to wild creatures.  So the animal Court Cards in the Wildwood deck were not a struggle for me.  In fact I feel it’s sometimes easier to understand them than the typical human Courts.  And in readings I feel so tuned in, the imagery speaks to me very deeply, and it works well for me intuitively.

Wildwood Tarot
Mark Ryan, John Matthews, Will Worthington
Sterling Ethos, 2011

I recently acquired the Llewellyn Tarot because decks centered on the early Earth-based spiritual systems of the world (and of Europe) resonate with me.  I also loved the incorporation of so many women in the deck.  The artwork is very pretty.  But the cardstock is so thin that I have to be very delicate with using the deck for readings because one false move and I’ll have a pile of bent cards.  It’s really sad and unfortunate!  In addition, while I love how the Major Arcana explore Welsh myths, the Minors are almost identical to the Rider Waite, which makes me ask: why?  Couldn’t there have been some more creativity put forth for the cards that compose the majority of the deck?  While I do like the Rider-Waite, I found this slightly disappointing - I expected the mythology to be wound through the deck, not only the Majors.  Now it does read well for me, and in fact the first reading I did with it flowed really beautifully and was very clear, but despite that, I probably won’t read with it as much as I might have liked.

Yesterday the Halloween Tarot arrived at my door, and I won’t lie, I was both intrigued and slightly wary about it.  I love Halloween, both the fun and scary side as well as the deep and mystical side, so I liked the idea of having a deck with this theme.  But it’s slightly cartoony and doesn’t feel as “serious” and contemplative as I like my decks to be.  But I gave it a go, and I’m so glad I did.  I’m honestly kind of surprised at how much I love it!  I cleansed and charged it and did an initial reading to “break it in.”  And it was great!  The illustrations have a lot going on, so my intuition naturally picked through the cards, zoning in on various elements that felt important.  It was a serious reading, and the process felt profound and sincere, which I was not at all expecting.  To top it all off, because of its theme and the loads of symbolism in each card, I thought it would be fun to use with my kids.  My 6 year old wanted me to show her the cards, and we did a little mini-reading about her experience at school so far this year.  I let her tell me what the cards meant, and she did a fantastic job.  She saw the 9 of Ghosts (Cups) and told me:  “Those ghosts are all my classmates, and the person in front is me.  I’m sitting on a chest full of crafts that I made to share with them, and they’re waiting for me to pass them out.  That one there with the hand out is my friend. I’m deciding whether I want to pass them out now or wait until later.”  So it will be a great deck to use with the kids because it’s fun, Halloweeny but not scary, and there is a ton of material in each card to help them tell the story.

Halloween Tarot
Karin Lee, Kipling West
U.S. Games, 2003

So what’s my point.

My point is that decks can be surprising.  The ones you might think will be amazing may not turn out to be quite as amazing as you’d thought, and the decks you’re suspicious of may just surprise you with how much they pull you in and engage your intuition.

So now I’m in the danger zone – no holds barred!  My wish list is about to get a lot longer!