Shapeshifter Tarot Deck and Book by D.J. Conway and Sirona Knight ISBN: 1-56718-384-0

Reviewed By Martha McCulloch

There are three main themes in this visually lovely deck.

The public theme is that of the shamanic practice of shapeshifting.

The authors present this in a way that gradually draws you into their world view and seduces your imagination.

They start with the thought that shapeshifting is a holistic view of the earth and its inhabitants. They draw the users into animals, birds, sea creatures and even vegetation and the stones themselves. After presenting examples of how you could experience what it means to be an otter, an owl, a whale, and to feelings of oneness with water and the earth itself, they then gently introduce of the idea of shapeshifting as a form of reality.

The cards do not represent a mere clever artistic device. They are founded on the second theme, the pantheon of Irish/Celtic Gods, Goddesses and that way of reading life on many levels. This background holds the deck’s images together and gives it a real strength and coherence. I found myself being drawn more and more into the stories in words and images. The power of the ideas belies the watercolor loveliness of the images on the cards.

The third main theme is the cycle of life and death, of past life and future life, of rebirth and past and future knowing. The flowing of the forms is a mirror of the flowing of time and the changes. This third theme strongly underlies the new layouts that were designed for this pack. The layouts do not need to be read in this way, and I found them striking and very revealing. The Standing Stones layout most clearly draws on this world view, and the others also act to draw you forward and back to see where your present is flowing from and towards.

From a practical point of view, the cards are easy to shuffle, not always true of Tarot decks, and they were the right size for my hands. I tend to prefer Swords to be associated with Air, but having read the book and used the deck, this does not give any difficulties. The explanation of the Sword/Fire union works well, and the suit carries the theme without any awkwardness.

I found the court cards easier to use than usual. Not what you would expect from a user with no knowledge of the Celtic pantheon. The authors gave enough of their stories to fill out the ideas they represented without going overboard with details. In the court cards the ideas came together well.

Adding cards without traditional tarot equivalents will generally cause some dis-ease among users. The Double, The Journey and the Dreamer didn’t resonate with me but they may with more work.

13, Rebirth, is a stunning re-interpretation of the Death card. I re-read the accompanying passages several times, and was dazzled by their vision of it.

The artwork is of uniform quality, and the images are very able to draw in the eye and mind for mediation or intuition. I like the deck more and more as I use it. The book, it seems to me, is essential and I find it hard to imagine effectively using the deck without it. Overall, it is an excellent deck and book and forms a pathway to study and understanding.