Review of the New Modern Tarot Deck Individuum

This deck is a new and innovative interpretation of the basic Rider Waite Smith deck, developed in Spain but with an international feel to it. It's focus is on the human condition with the suits being allocated new names from parts of the body. Wands become teeth, cups become noses, swords become brains, and disks become hands. I can see these associations clearly enough, however on first handling of the deck I found the images of all but the hands somewhat off putting. I felt a kind of squeamish reaction to the separated body parts. However with use this personal issue disappeared very quickly and I found these cards to produce really to the point readings on various situations and issues.

Sticking with initial impressions, the cards themselves are small and easy to handle, the box they are presented in is rather nice with a clear strong transparent cover with the fingerprint from the first card of the majors printed on it in silver. You can slide this cover on or off the open, dark navy box, a plain navy card is included to allow the box to look uniform in colour - though you could also allow the top card to be seen through the cover if you wished. The cards themselves seem a little flimsy to me and I am not sure how they would stand up to a large amount of use.

The imagery on the cards is very simple, and also in many cases quite different to what you expect from a deck that is based on RWS. However this is part of the beauty of the deck I feel. Each image, even with its simplicity, contains a lot of emotional information. On the minor arcana cards, a person or two are depicted - their exaggerated facial expressions and body positions clearly portray the energy of the card. The Aces are considered the 'time of...' And this does give the feeling of that energy permeating all actions and events, the potential for all of the suits energy to be available as it is that suit's 'time'.

The courts have been changed quite dramatically with there being a Man (king) woman(queen) and then a crisis of the suit (knight) and finally a path of the suit (page). I particularly like this imagery as often pages (or princesses in the Thoth) are associated with new beginnings and the start of a pathway. Here it is the key image. The Knights also have much to learn and we learn through struggle and crisis - both the opportunity and the danger, again I like the reference to this association being presented so directly here.

Then the majors, these are call the 'perceptions' in this deck and are mapped onto qualities of human experience rather than the traditional titles. The Fool is called the Individual, The High Priestess, The Subconscious. The Tower is The Mistake.

The full list is below:-

0 The Fool - The Individual

I The Magus/Magician - The Consciousness

II The High Priestess - The Subconscious

III The Empress - The Intellect

IV The Emperor - The Authority

V The Hierophant - The Idea

VI The Lovers - The Love

VII The Chariot - The Will

VIII Strength/Lust - The Durability

IX The Hermit - The Search

X Fortune - The Time

XI Justice - The Responsibility

XII The Hanged Man - The Swap

XIII Death - The End

XIV Temperance/Art - The Health

XV The Devil - The Ignorance

XVI The Tower - The Mistake

XVII The Star - The Sexuality

XVIII The Moon - The Imagination

XIX The Sun - The Instinct

XX Judgment/Aeon - The Decision

XXI World/Universe - The Wish

I particularly like the Tower becoming 'the mistake' and having an image of a flat world with water falling off of it - I get a feeling of the waters of the world cleansing our mistakes. There seems throughout the deck references to the planets need for healing, and the ideas of nurturing our connection to nature. I also love the image on 'the end' card. Completely black with a perfect circle of white light with a bead of light on this circle. So simple, yet powerful in its connection with cycles the end being also the beginning and the every flowing energy of life out of the darkness of the womb. Durability is also a card I am drawn to, with the simple image of a swimmer embarking on a long distance sea swim, swimming the channel perhaps. The strength in the swimmer's stroke and muscles comes across clearly, along side the image of calm and peaceful waters. A great symbol for how something can take effort and yet also be a peaceful experience if you have the strength for the task at hand. Images are here http://www.individuum.es

Each of the images on the major cards are clear and simple, but in the same way as Durability, they have a depth of meaning contained within the simplicity. When I first looked at the cards I felt they possibly would not give the same richness of understanding as other decks I am familiar with - yet I feel the reverse, as I have come to use them, their images are very carefully chosen and have implicit depth which becomes more apparent the more you study them.

This deck also have two extra cards, the secrecy cards. One is secrecy male and the other secrecy female. On them is depicted all the suits and also a set of chromosomes - two x's for the secrecy female and xy for the secrecy male. There is nothing more than this mentioned in the little white book (lwb) about how to interpret these - however, in using the deck, I have found them fascinating. They have come up on several readings and seem to have indicated simply someone withholding information. Though also I can see they could represent that information is not yet available through the reading on a subject, rather than a person is holding the information back. I would like to have seen just a little more about these cards in the lwb as they are totally new, however in some ways, the lack of information on them is in keeping with their very nature. I like the sense of having unknowns coming through into a reading in this clear way, particularly when the majors are all very personal experience orientated. These seem to add the dimension of 'outside the self, or querant', and external influence that can not be known yet.

This brings me to the Little White Book, as would be expected just a few key words for each card, it is useful to look through to see the emphasis many of the cards have. This deck does have a very different approach to it, though you can see the connections to the traditional. There is a strong emphasis on the psychological throughout - yet also, when I have read with it, the meanings seem very down to earth and often very practical answers to questions can be gained intuitively. I have found this a very refreshing deck to work with. At the back of the lwb there is a recommended 16 card spread, which looks at general past, present, future, approaching influences, receding influences and karma through 4 cards for each including the diagonals. This spread does seem to work well with this deck. An overview of a situation can be seen easily as well as depth to it. The little white book is currently not in English but a downloadable one is available on the website. There are places to buy this deck though it hasn't been released over here officially as yet, I would expect that the lwb would be in English for this release.

So in summary, I have found this deck to be an interesting, modern deck to use, with surprisingly down to earth readings resulting from it. The changes that have been made feel solid and appropriate, the extra cards intriguing. Once I had overcome the feeling associated with body parts on all the cards, I found working intuitively with it was powerful, as well as using more intended meanings, though possibly it is not a deck for complete beginners.

I have been reading the tarot for 20 years focusing mainly on the Thoth deck and its wonderous images. My background as a counsellor and counselling trainer has informed my use of this deck and I find it very powerful to work with. I offer online training now with the Thoth tarot deck exploring its use from psychological and intuitive perspectives. I also work with people helping them develop their intuition. I offer MP3 visualisations, tarot readings, telephone and face to face. I live in North Wales with my husband and son. http://www.tarot-guidance.co.uk - http://www.tarot-training.co.uk

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