Review: DeSavyok Elfhame Tarot (Special Edition)

The Desavyok Elfhame Tarot (Special Edition) is a deck created by Robin Artisson and Larry Phillips (Tharn DeSavyok). It’s available as a stand alone deck, or sold with a 200 page guidebook as a set. The deck is a very large deck coming in at 4″ x 6″. The size allows you to really appreciate the art contained within each oil painting of the card. The deck is printed on very high quality stock and is extremely sturdy. The deck has a wonderful Trad. Craft feel to it, which is to be expected from Robin Artisson and Larry Phillips. The deck has a nice balance of “light” and “dark” imagery and the artwork is absolutely beautiful.

A post shared by Mat Auryn (@matauryn) on Nov 27, 2017 at 9:43am PST

The Special Edition deck itself consists of only the Major Arcana, which means it’s great for meditation purposes including journeying. Major Arcana decks like this are also awesome as complimentary divinatory systems, such as throwing bones or runes or even using the lenormand or another tarot deck, to gain more information about major themes going on. Plans for a “full” tarot deck are in the works, but no release date has been set as of yet. The guidebook written by Robin Artisson is divided four parts: The Narrative of the Mysteries As Revealed in The Major Arcana Sequence, The Suggested Card Meanings For Readings, The Counsel of the Cards, and Methodology: The Oracle and Vision of Cartomancy. Robin includes his version of the Fools Journey, divinatory meanings for upright and reversals, as well as some really great insights on divination and cartomancy. As such, I would highly suggest getting the deck and book combo.

A post shared by Mat Auryn (@matauryn) on Nov 27, 2017 at 9:44am PST

The book contains great perspectives, some that I’ve never come across – which makes sense as Robin’s perspective is from that of his own witchcraft practice and personal wisdom. He writes, “Within the narrative, the story of each human life is told from the perspective of the universal experiences and shaping powers that bring each life into being, condition it to be what it is, and what it will become. But other stories are being told, too: stories about how civilization works and why it seems to suffer so greatly beneath its own weight: stories of how culture and society fundamentally influence people and how spirits in the unseen world react to those influences. The cards tell stories about the love that pulls so many things together and the forces of division that destroy things that have been combined. They tell stories about the debts that form between the visible and the invisible. The cards also tell stories about how extraordinary help comes to us from the world beyond our rational experience.”