U.S. Games

Art of Life Tarot
Charlene Livingstone
Published by US Games
Review by Christiana Gaudet

With her new Art of Life tarot deck, Charlene Livingstone is not the first to use existing works of art to illustrate a tarot deck. Kat Black’s Golden Tarot used digital collage of medieval art to create a tarot deck very true to the Rider Waite Smith images.

Neither is Charlene Livingstone the first deck creator to ascribe famous quotations to each card of divination; Ciro Marchetti’s Oracle of Visions companion book includes a quotation for each card.

Nevertheless, Art of Life Tarot from U.S. Games is a truly unique and valuable deck. It easily teaches two important concepts with which tarot students often struggle. First is the concept of archetypes. That the deck creator illustrates each card with a famous work of art and famous quotation drives home the concept of archetypes; the idea that each tarot card portrays a universal theme that is repeated many times over in art, music and literature.

Cat’s Eye Tarot
By Debra M. Givin, DVM
US Games 978-1-57281-685-6
Review by Christiana Gaudet

So many tarot lovers are also cat lovers.  I must admit I am the exception.  Yes, I have loved a few kitties over the years, but I am not what you would call a “cat person.”  Therefore, I would likely never meet the artist of the new Cat’s Eye Tarot in her day job as a veterinarian.