Welcome back to White Rose of Avalon my Darlings. Today’s post is a very special Tarot Tuesday review of my birthday present from my amazing husband Andrew! He gave me my gift a week early (as my Birthday is on September 8) because it arrived earlier in the mail than expected. This year, my present was Le Tarot arthurien by Claire Duval, illustrated by Ana Tourian! I knew since I found out about this deck in May that it was truly my dream birthday gift this year.
While this is the most expensive deck I own (which is why I asked for it as a birthday gift rather than just splurging on it myself), upon opening it, I quickly realized it was well worth the money! The deck is a French Arthurian deck, as the name suggests. Each of the cards is a thick cardstock with golden gilt edges and two Tudor Roses on the back of the card. On a side note, I have no idea why they chose to have Tudor Roses on a French deck, but I love the Tudor era so I have no complaints that they did this. It is just an unexpected choice that I wanted to note. The artwork for each card is absolutely stunning, with colorful paintings of many Arthurian figures and famous tales of the Arthuriad. I adore that the deck does not choose to only have an Arthurian figure once in the deck, with many appearing in several cards, including Morgan le Fay, Guinevere, Lancelot, Arthur, Merlin, Tristan, and Iseult. The deck gets many bonus points from me for including Laudine, Lunette, and Yvain, in reference to Chretien de Troyes’s tale of Yvain the Knight of the Lion!
I was very pleasantly surprised that so many of my favorite Arthurian figures and aspects of the legends were present in this deck. The seven of Cups (or in this deck 7 de Coupes) features Morgan’s Val Sans Retour. The two of Cups card features Tristan and Iseult and the chalice of love potion. Lancelot and Guinevere are featured on the Lovers card. Morgan le Fay is the featured figure on both the Magician and Death cards! Interestingly, this deck takes the Marseilles Tarot and Thoth Tarot numbering of the Major Arcana. This means that the Justice card is numbered 8 and the Strength card numbered 11, instead of the other way around, which is common in Rider-Waite-Smith-styled decks. It is not an issue, but it is an interesting feature that is a little less common in a world full of Rider-Waite-Smith-styled decks!
The energy of this deck is beyond lovely with beautiful illustrations and a full-color guidebook that even gives affirmations and journal prompts for every single card of the deck. As far as I know, this deck is only released in its original French language, so the entire guidebook is also in French. Since I read French fluently, this makes for just a very beautiful and unique deck in my collection. However, I wanted to note this because those not fluent in reading French may not be able to make use of the journal prompts or affirmations the way I will be able to personally. This deck is an incredible deck for personal use, as I will only be using this deck for personal use (and not professionally) for the time being. I like to keep new decks for personal use when they are new to me, with some decks remaining for personal use only! This is a system for making sure that I have properly gotten to know and form a bond with each deck. I would highly recommend this deck for any of the Arthurian lovers out there. It is also a great choice for anyone who loves the French language. My husband joked that it is the most *me* deck ever, as I obviously adore all things Arthurian, love the French language, love the Tudor era, and cannot get enough of beautiful artwork and gilt-edged decks and books. If you share a love of these things, I do not think this deck will disappoint!
I hope you have enjoyed this gushing review of Le Tarot arthurien! Are you interested in purchasing this deck? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Note on Image: The image at the top of the post is a picture of the deck and some of the cards that I took!
LINK TO AVALONIAN ROSE FAERY MYSTERIES PATREON: https://patreon.com/AvalonianRoseFaeryMysteries?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink
Tarot Note: I have a page offering tarot and oracle readings for those interested in these services! I am very happy to be offering these readings to my treasured readers at White Rose of Avalon! Link to page: https://whiteroseofavalon.life/tarot-and-oracle-readings/
Further Reading
- Le Tarot arthurien by Claire Duval, illustrated by Ana Tourian