By John Matthews and Charles Newington.
A few months back, I was honoured to be asked to review two upcoming decks. The first arrived the day before I left for Australia, and the second the day after. I went to Australia in March and it is now May. Why did I wait so long? Well, to be honest, I was puzzled by the name of one of the decks. “The Fool’s New Journey Tarot: Sixty Triumphs for a New Dawn.” That stopped me in my tracks; how on earth could 60 cards be a tarot? Everyone knows a tarot has 78 cards, majors, minors, and four suits. What the heck was this 60-card thing??
I took the deck everywhere with me and left it closed; I asked several people what they thought of a 60-card tarot and was told by everyone I asked that it was an oracle, not a tarot. Once again, I put the deck aside to be looked at later.
Then today, the latest edition of ‘The Esotoracle’ arrived. Inside was an interview with John Matthews about this very deck. I settled in with a cup of tea and began to read. All of a sudden, the deck made sense. I realized I was guilty of judging a book by its cover, or in this case, by its title.
I made another cup of tea and started at the back of the book. There were two stories. I encourage you to read these before you read the front section. I read the stories, and it was like a bolt of lightning. I had my “ah-ha” moment. I had come to an understanding of how the deck worked.
So the deck is in a blue box and comes with a book, a very thick book. Normally I say don’t worry about reading the book. This time I say READ the book. John Matthews has done an amazing job on this book. I did not expect anything else. The box is sturdy and has a good design.
For the cards, you will first notice that they are smaller than an average tarot deck. This will be good for all those with small hands. The card stock is very nice and feels good in your hands. The cards shuffle well. The pictures are a bit simplistic, which is intentional, making the cards less busy and easy to read.
I judge a deck by how well my clients react to it. My clients liked the deck’s bluntness and the straight answers that they received.
While some may argue that ‘The Fools New Journey’ is an Oracle Deck, it does have elements that resemble a Tarot Deck. It’s a unique blend that offers a different reading experience.
So yes, I recommend ‘The Fool’s New Journey’; however, READ THE BOOK first.
