First Edition 1995 Sealed 3rd print
The Ancestral Path Tarot combines traditional Native American, feudal Japanese, Arthurian English and Egyptian symbols and images into a beautiful set of 78 tarot cards. Each suit of the minor arcana is matched with a particular culture or tradition.
This is a very lovely deck and has great depth. The pictures elicit an emotional response as well as a more intellectual one, making it easy to read with intuitively. This is helped by the amount of detail in the images.
The cardstock is of good quality and is easy to shuffle. The cards are small enough to be easy to handle yet of sufficient size to show the beautiful art work.
The Ancestral Path's use of Arthurian England for the suite of Cups has brought a deeper understanding to me of the varied types of relationships that Cups can include. So often, Cups seem to represent a fanciful or shallow representation of this part of Life. The card that made the greatest impression on me in the Cups was the 8 of Cups: the portrayal of the Seeker leaving all that seems important to those living in the Mundane World, a person walking away from all that was there right at hand for him often made me interpret the card as a search for something that others might not understand. This painting showing Stonehenge as the Seeker's goal is so spot on! It delighted me so much that it was one of the major reasons I originally purchased the deck.
Using Native American symbolism for the suit of Sacred Circles [Pentacles] is such a great decision from my perspective, especially since all of my spiritual/metaphysical understanding of Pentacles includes a strong spiritual and/or emotional component to it. Native American beliefs and their portrayal in this deck takes you beyond money for money's sake by encouraging the understanding that money is the seed of all that wealth represents (our self value, our ability to connect with the Cycles of Life, that what we give out we get back, and so much more). This suit's symbolism requires our nurturance, our tender care in order to flourish and grow in our lives. The Native American tradition of realizing and working with the Unity of life fits very well with taking the potential interpretation to a greatly expanded way of looking at the suit of Resources and Prosperity.
The Staves are developed using an Egyptian/Ethiopian concept. This suit represents not only career but in my experience, lifestyle as well. Knowing the success, the mastery over trials, and the concept that out of the desert of Life's experiences we can rise to the greatness and majesty represented by Egyptian success, the suit of Staves truly is inspirational as its fire nature requires.
Creators: Julie Cuccia-Watts
Publisher: US Games 1996
Deck Type: Tarot Deck
Cards: 78
Major Arcana: 22
Minor Arcana: 56
Deck Tradition: Mixed
Minor Arcana Style: Unique Scenes With Suit Symbols
Suits: Cups, Swords, Sacred Circles, Staves
Court Cards: Prince, Princess, Queen, King
The Fool is 0
Strength is 11
Justice is 8
Card Size: 3.15 x 4.13 in. = 8.00cm x 10.50cm
Card Language: English
Card Back: Non-reversible
Back Design: Aqua coloured with a white border, in the centre a globe with a scene on it.
Companion Material: A little white booklet comes with the deck. A companion book has also been available as a set, or separately. The deck is also available in editions with languages other than English.