Wow, this is so neat. There is a new Transparent Tarot that is (as the name implies) on transparent cards. As a result, you can overlap cards either fully or partially to alter the meanings.

Here’s a three-position spread, with 3 cards overlapped in each position:

(thats Q Cups + 2 Cups + Lovers, and Hierophant + 3 Swords + 5 Swords, and Emperor + 3 Cups + Tower)

Isn’t that neat? Even without stacking cards, I love that in a traditional celtic cross, the first two card images meld together. Also, you can do partial overlaps, so that if you are doing (for instance) a 6-month spread, each month can blend into the next.

Anyway, when I heard about this deck, I wondered how well the overlapping images would work. Now that I have it in my hands, I’m extremely pleased with the execution. As you can see in the above example, the images generally overlap cleanly (the lightning bolt disrupts the third position, but it’s the freaking Tower card, after all). And, building up unique compositions of imagery really opens up the creative side of my mind. You can’t give some pat textbook reading for a card you’ve never seen before! That’s my favorite thing about this deck so far.

It comes with a white cloth to do readings on, which was a nice touch. I haven’t spent any time with the book yet, but it’s thick and has examples of interpreting card combinations, and example spreads that only this deck can do!

So, I’m reading The Law is for All, and I thought this paragraph was very interesting:

“Each individual must be left free to follow his own path! America is peculiarly insane on these points; her people are desperately anxious to make the Sinhalese wear furs, and the Tibetans vote, and the whole world chew gum, utterly dense to the fact that most other nations, especially the French and British, regard “American institutions” as the lowest savagery, and forgetful or ignorant of the circumstances that the original brand of American freedom—which really was Freedom—contained the precept to leave other people severely alone, and thus assured the possibility of expansion on his own lines to every man.”

Doesn’t look to me like we’ve come very far in the 60+ years since that was written.

(although everyone really should chew gum)