I haven't done a new deck reading in a few years. But something drew me in with The Magical Forest and I thought I would give it a shot. Let's preface the reading by saying that I think this deck is cutesy but creepy at the same time. Right up my alley! I threw three cards. The first card was "What can this deck show me?" The second, "What can I hope to get from this deck?" And the third, "What will I fear about this deck?"

The first card was Two of Swords. While looking through the deck, I noticed that this deck is strongly based on the Rider Waite Smith, more so than other RWS "clones" I have in my collection. I take this card to mean that this deck will enable me to look at the original (lowercase "o") RWS through a new set of eyes. There will be a time when reading with my old trusty (which I normally use when friends come over and want a reading, for comfort-level's sake) that I will say, "Oh, hadn't seen this before!" But only because The Magical Forest will have the effect that will be like lifting a blindfold after a long rest.

The second card, The Empress, is the deck's softer side coming out. My readings, particularly with the RWS, tend to be direct and brash. There isn't a whole lot of room for my intuition and/or numerology to take over because of the cut-and-dried pictures in it. Sometimes this is a distractor and sometimes a galvanizer. Perhaps this deck will show me that I can use both equally (my intuition and my direct-skills approach) when reading with (eventually) the good old trusty RWS when guests come over.

The third card, Judgement, made me immediately think, "Uh-oh, this deck is going to tell it like it is!" There is no wiggle-room here for sugar-coating. It may seem an easy trap to fall into with a deck with furry, magical forest creatures, but I shouldn't delude myself to think that this will not be a forward-speaking deck for me.

Quintessential card (adding the Majors and subtracting 22, ala the Hermetic method) I get The Magician. What an appropriate card to get with The Magical Forest! This suggests that this would be a good party reading deck, whimsical and fun, but with a dark side. Party fun!

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