The Prisma Visions Tarot 6th Indie edition, acquired 2021. No fake phone-rainbows here, the sun came out the only day this month to bless my photo of the deck and then effed right on off again.

Overall: 9/10  I won’t lie, I had to grow into this deck to come to love it as much as I do now. When I first bought it, it was very much a mystery to me, so if you’re not interested in learning a deck, this one might best be skipped. I perhaps did myself a favor and waited until I had several other decks comfortably under my belt and a tentative understanding of the RWS before I acquired the Prisma Visions, but even then it took some serious study to get a handle on this Tarot.

This is the deck that exemplifies the guy in any anime high school drama everyone secretly wants to date even though he’s super popular and very smart and yet somehow also the “quiet” introspective one. We all know that it’s impossible for all these things to be true at the same time, and yet here we all are with this deck. Because I only live under a rock half of the time, I know that this deck is quite divisive and it often falls into the “love it or hate it” category, but even those who dislike this deck have taken the time to watch a flip through just to make sure it wasn’t for them. You cannot help but be intrigued by this deck, it’s just so candid and charming while still being dark and mysterious. This deck exudes sensuality without being lewd, or even sexual for that matter. Is it the art style that somehow leaps off the cards? Is it the strange imagery chosen for the cards? It’s playful, it’s serious, it’s fun and quirky, it is not at all afraid to call you on your shit. It’s romantic. It will wink at you. I think of it as the masculine counter to my Shadowscapes deck.

Some of my favorite takes on the cards.

I WILL say, that even though it isn’t apparent by looking at the cards in a flip through (or at least wasn’t to me), there is a quiet, unsettling darkness to this deck (hello magician manipulating a little person in his hands!), so be prepared for that if you’re only looking for a fluffy, pretty surrealist/impressionist deck.

The pipish wands

This isn’t a deck I reach for often, but it is a great reader for complex and serious subjects. At first, I had to work through the pipish quality of some of the minors (the wands were particularly a struggle for me). It also has some pretty grand deviations from the comfort of the RWS system (the Fool is a pelican, and one that isn’t being particularly foolish), but I enjoy immensely the big book that was offered with the 6^th edition printing. It is a dual book for the Prisma Visions and it’s younger brother the Cosma Visions. It’s arguably one of my best books about Tarot I own in general. However, unless you’re familiar with the cards, it can feel like such a slog to do a reading given this deck wanders from traditional structure and imagery. And then at some, undefined point it all clicked into place for me. This deck reads unlike any other I have in my collection.    

Card Quality: 4/5 So. There isn’t anything to complain about at all. Top notch quality, fine matte finish, flexible but still thick enough to be sturdy, and the silver edging has held up to years of use. There is slight, intentional deviation with the printing color on the backs to make the deck look a bit more unique and eye catching, not that the gazing eye on the backs needed anything additional. BUT! I do have a gripe; as part of my pre-order, I purchased a set of the 79th extra cards that had come before in past printings so they’d match this printing cardstock, and, well, they’re slightly longer and wider than the deck! It drives me bonkers. They are technically not “part” of the deck, but I still use them, and I feel them and see them and…urgh.

Whyyyyyyyy???

While the deck does come with the LLW, the big book is where its at!

Readability: 3/5 This is solidly an intermediate readers’ deck. The images and symbols are not always congruous with the RWS system, and I honestly would still be on the struggle bus if I did not have The Book of Prisma Visions. The Big Black Book that you must buy separately is a wonderful treat in and of itself with excellent in-depth meanings and musings. It’s also written really well and presented with perfection, so there’s that. But don’t expect to be able to use this deck and whisk through a spread. It will take time and a rather steep learning curve for sure. It has an internal system with delightful nuances, but they can be subtle and appear rather unexpectedly. For that reason, I personally would not feel safe using this deck to read for others. I will say, I tend to get pretty strong emotional ideas from most of the art found in this deck, so if you’re really good at rolling with vibes only, perhaps you can pick up this deck and run with it.

One of my struggles with this deck and reading it was getting used to the idea of the court cards being much more “elemental” aspects of people or myself. Now that I spent a month doing daily study of the Marseille structure, this makes much more sense to me, but at the time I picked this deck up, I had trouble with the courts, especially the Cups and Wands as they are portrayed as very ethereal characters that seem almost out of control.

The paneled story of the Pentacles suit. Typically the Pentacles are the least interesting suit to me personally, except I LOVE the Pentacles in this deck! I love the seasonality of them but also they really do feel grounded in comparison to the other suits.

Art: 10/5 I mean, it’s absolutely stellar and unique. Even if you don’t like it, I think a person would be hard pressed to say this is somehow “bad” art. I feel in the past few years there have been a few decks that try to do something similar in flavor, but none have come close to this masterpiece. The minors tell a paneled story from card to card when lined up. It’s brilliant. This deck definitely has a really strong masculine presence, much like The True Black Tarot, but it is way more open and friendly.

Favorite Card: The Knight of Pentacles. There is something that really strikes a chord with me with this idea of riding the “unicorn,” bareback and unbridled, slow and steady. You cannot rush nor control the direction of your dreams. I also like that the knight is riding fully armored without shoes! Also, pumpkin sized strawberries for the win.

Least Favorite Card: I The Magician, but not because I think that it’s inherently a poorly executed image! I’ll admit, it took me nearly a year of owning this deck before I noticed the little person in the palm of the Magician’s hand. I understand this is supposed to represent ones ability to master their own subconscious (and for some of us, they could stand to master their consciousness as well), but as a person who has experienced manipulative abuse…I really don’t like this Magician. It certainly makes me think of the Magician’s dark side.

Card I Identify As: I don’t particularly identify strongly with a particular card.

The deck Identifies me as: III The Empress

Boxes it Checks: Nontraditional, Beautiful, Story Telling, Masculine, Romantic, Cohesive, Surreal, Impressionist

Similar Decks: The Light Visions Tarot, The Cosma Visions Oracle, The True Black Tarot, The Lost Forest Tarot (by Chelsea Santamaria), The Literary Tarot (got a similar color theme), assortment of AI created decks

Season: Beltane/Mid-Spring, but I can see this being a bitter winter’s deck too with the dark themes and the stunning snowy sword suit.