Psst! Hey! Hey you! Yes you! I have something for you! A quirky little Majors only tarot deck all the way from Russia straight into our goodie bags at TABI’s conference! Interested? I knew you would be!

Natalia Plakhina and Vladimir Sitnikov of Silhouette Publishers have gifted us with this fantastically cheeky deck. The Grand Bazaar Tarot is a limited edition, collectible deck that has a shiny silver border and insets on the cards. It is based on traditional Marseille type tarots, but each card has a – financial – twist on the original characters. The Magician plays Monopoly (or is it the soviet version I used to play when I was little, Capitaly?); the High Priestess makes business plans; Strength feeds her lion burgers and the Devil sends people into a shopping frenzy, aiding consumerism. Every card is clearly recognisable and need no explanation of its meaning.

My two absolute favourite cards are the most satirical ones: the Hierophant and the Moon. The Hierophant makes clones of himself who in turn make more clones of themselves; uniformity explained in a simple yet punchy way. And the Moon… you can thank him for my opening paragraph, the sneaky fellow.

The cards grab the essence of their respective Arcana in the world of money really well. But even more importantly, they show a mirror to us all regarding our relationship to money and today’s consumeristic society. I will definitely use them in financial readings, and I expect some very punchy answers indeed!

Natalia and Vladimir, eternal thank you for your generosity!

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You can find more from Katalin Patnaik at her WordPress blog.