Review: Jaśniak Tarot

I like reading deck reviews, they are very helpful when I'm thinking of buying new cards, so I decided to make reviews of the decks I own. Maybe someone will find them useful.

First allow me to introduce my very first tarot deck, the one I'm most sentimental of. It's the Jaśniak Tarot, titled after creator's name, Aleksandra Jaśniak. It is known also as "Tarot Polski" ("Polish Tarot"), colour version. Aleksandra Jaśniak made also a completely different deck known under the same name, but black and white version.

I bought this deck in the middle of nineties, being a teenager back then. I remember the excitement and the seriousness I treated my deck with. I bought it together with a companion book, but it was not enough for me to be able to read fluently. Also because of the Catholic Church's contempt for tarot I gave up on cards for many years (yes, believe me, the priests hate tarot). Only last year I came back to tarot and pulled the deck with equal excitement.

The cards have gold borders and titles in English and Polish. Strength is VIII and Justice XI (or in my deck was, until I "corrected" it with a marker... xD) and suits are: Wands, Cups, Swords and courts: Pentacles, with King, Queen, Knight and Page as ranks. Pips are non-scenic type. The backs are black, with author's initials AJ, fully reversible. It also has two blank cards.

The artwork by Anna Gałuszka is simply amazing for me. The colours are brilliant and the style daring. I just adore the court cards, their faces, clothing and hairstyles! I have so many favourite cards in this deck that it was difficult to choose for this review. The Devil with his tail in his hand, holding it like a microphone, his tongue stuck out, is just perfect! :D As the author writes, "he is to warn us about mischief we may encounter". You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

The ones I have were printed in the nineties, but some two years ago there was a reprint, so maybe the new ones have a better card stock  Mine are matte in feel and the borders are getting a bit worn out. Also they smell strongly of printing paint, but for me it's just "a smell of tarot" I remember from my teen times :D Anyway, hopefully the new print doesn't smell, since it's not nineties in Poland anymore ;) I've seen that in America they cost 25$. You can buy them on Amazon or directly from the author herself (she lives in USA).

I like reading with these cards, although for example characters of the court cards seem to differ from classical ones. But that just adds some different angle to the reading. I recommend this deck to anyone who can read non-scenic pips.