Haindl

The record

This enigmatic, profound and strangely beautiful deck is truly in a class by itself. The allure of the Haindl deck does not lie in a cute gimmick or theme, impressive computer graphics or pretty colors...It isn't a Rider-Waite knock-off and it isn't a Thoth knock-off (although Thoth influences are evident). The Haindl tarot is a serious, and at times even mournful deck, which has really stepped outside the bounds of convention. But even in its sometimes startling uniqueness, the deck never deviates from being a true tarot. The art of this deck is certainly among the best I've seen. Done in predominantly earth tones, the cards possess a dreamy and surreal quality. There are few hard lines. The depictions in the cards seem to almost melt into one another with a seamless grace. For all its somber colors, the element of light seems to radiate all the more seductively off of the bubbles, rocks and clouds that Haindl so elegantly portrays. And symbolism? This deck is just dripping with symbols! I've owned this deck for over a year, and I'm still finding new symbols. The art is incredibly intricate and very fresh. Not to say that the traditional symbols of the tarot are void in this deck.

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