Sasuraibito Review

Hello all you beautiful Tarotists and enthusiasts out there!!!

I would like to use this space to talk about my current favourite tarot deck: The Sasuraibito Tarot by Stasia Burrington.

Sasuraibito is an old Japanese word for Wanderer. So if you are on a quest to find some truth in your life, this deck is the perfect travelling companion! Firstly, the packaging of the deck and the quality of the cards themselves are superb. The beautiful box is very sturdy – so much so that it was a little difficult to get the close-fitting lid off at first.

The box has the same moth-motive you find on the back of the (reversible) cards. The lower half of the box has the words “Love”, “Lust”, “Lost” and “Lore” printed on the 4 sides in gold lettering – the cards, made from thick cardstock, also have gilded edges.

There is an accompanying booklet (this comes separate and does not fit in the box) with a short explanation by the artist about the deck and suggestions on how to work with it. The booklet also contains the upright and reversed meaning for each card. A useful tool to use with the cards but leaving plenty of room to add your own interpretations.

Now for the cards themselves and the beautiful artwork contained in them.

The deck is a Rider-Waite style deck but with a difference – there are some quirky and “out-of-the-box” interpretations that only add to the traditional meanings of a classic RW deck.

Some of my favourites are: Judgement, where a woman emerges from a warm cocoon of blankets, ready for her own transformation.

The Devil, a darkly handsome face looking to seduce you – and the card I can’t help but pair it up with:

The Emperor – a close up of a suavely dressed faceless man. I instinctively put the Devil’s head on the Emperor’s body, so this will colour my perception of both these cards…

5 of Swords, where you have to think about how much damage you could do if you were to lash out at someone.

6 of Swords, a woman coming up for air out of murky waters filled with treacherous spikes.

8 of Cups, which shows exactly what you do when you are preparing for a fresh start: you get a hair-cut!

There are many more beautiful and interesting cards in this deck but I won’t describe them all here. I will just say that when I went through the deck the first time to try and pick my favourite card, I picked 25 cards and could not choose between them. Interestingly enough, where normally most of my favourites are amongst the Major Arcana, here I found most of my gems in the Minors. Here are some more examples:Now, as with any deck, there are also a few cards that did not blow me away.

The main examples of these are: The Hanged Man – this is a card I am usually attracted to but here I just feel like the card is not drawn to the same standards as the others, the lines of the suspended figure are not clear and crisp and I just get a feeling it was a bit rushed.

The Lovers – where I do get the artist’s meaning behind this card, that love defines you so these two figures so entwined in eachother are still looking for their definition, how they look in the other person’s eyes, and love or beauty is subjective so we will each be attracted to different traits, I still feel a little disappointed looking at this card and am left wanting a bit more…

There are a few Minor cards that don’t tell me much at first glance as well, such as the 3 of pentacles but maybe these will be immediately clear to other people so I shall blame myself for the lack of understanding.

In conclusion: this is a gorgeous tarot deck that resonated with me straight away – I find it clear and easy to read with and would recommend it to enthousiasts with or without experience – this beautiful deck will not let you down!

In my deck-interview, when asked about what our working relationship would be like, I was shown the 2 of Cups – and that is exactly what working with this deck has been like so far: warm, supportive, respectful and loving. Just like I was pinkie-promised!!!

Xxx

Tarotmum13

PS: this is the 2nd edition – not that there is much difference with the 1st, the colours are a little deeper and the 1st box does not have the gold foil!