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Tarot Original 1909 - Circular Edition
by Arthur E. Waite, Pamela C. Smith and Sasha Graham
Llewellyn Publications
ISBN 978-07-38772141
Published July 2021 - Circular Tarot Cards - 78 cards and booklet - $29.95

Beautifully packaged and presented, these fabulous original Rider-waite Tarot cards beg to be held.  I'm working my way through getting to know the standard rectangular cards and these were quite a surprise when I first held them in my hands.  They are going to take a bit of getting used to holding without dropping them all over the place.  And shuffling them?  A whole new experience but thankfully there is an instruction booklet by Sasha Graham that accompanies these circular cards.  The booklet is very informative and easy to understand.  She says this circular "deck reveals the holistic nature of Tarot", and that they are feminine.  The pictures are the original Pamela Colman Smith illustrations but the circular shape "conversion" was done by Pietro Alligo and Chiara Demagistris.  There aren't any names on the Major Arcana cards, just their Roman numerals. so there's that learning curve to overcome for beginners.  Naturally it's rather obvious that there is little chance the cards are going to appear upright, so reading them could be a challenge.  Fortunately, you can turn them upright to do a reading but you should also take into consideration the different directions of the cards when they fall (if you want to), or are laid out.  For example, use a clock face: 9-3 is upright and below 3 and 9 is reversed, and you can go deeper if you read the different direcitons the cards are pointing.  The booklet is very easy to follow and has great diagrams and explanations of the cards, and is in English, Italian and Portuguese.
The colors of the cards are slightly different too, with the blue sky a distinct green.  The printing of these cards isn't that great as some cards appear out of focus or blurry.