Dreaming Way Tarot by Rome Choi and Kwon Shina

Status: Currently reading with it

Best for: This deck loves to lay down some truth and to give you a boot when you need to get moving. We get along beautifully so I find the deck to be rather literal.

Favorite cards: Hermit, Queen of Swords, Page of Swords (with a bonus of the Tower!)

Acquired from: A beautiful surprise birthday gift from hellboundwitch

Probably my current favorite deck, I use the Dreaming Way all the time as my clients can attest. This deck is so soft and gorgeous. With a Korean manwha art style, it combines strong lines and simplified art style with incredible details and patterns in small form.

Published by US Games, the deck’s standard tarot card size with a fairly standard size LWB. The card stock is pretty much spot on in terms of perfect in my book. The deck shuffles easily and smoothly.The back of the deck is a vibrant patterned green which I love. It reminds me of eyes and gives the cards some flash when shuffling. I ended up crocheting a bag to match the card backs rather than the general theme of the deck because I loved the colors so much.

As far as the little white book goes, the Dreaming Way tarot is standard. A little blurb on the card itself plus it’s upright and reverse meaning, if you choose to read that way. I don’t tend to refer to this LWB at all unless I want to understand what a minute detail in the card might be when studying the deck.

One thing that’s worth taking a second to glance through is the introduction to the Minor Arcana. It’s about two pages in that tiny book but I liked the way the ideas there were expressed with the characteristics of the suits as mind, body, and soul.

The deck reads as a RWS deck but it’s not entirely a carbon copy. There’s some original and smart thinking that went into this deck if you look at the details. Take a look at the King of Wands in the above (kind of blurry) photo. There’s a lizard on his clothing. Wands are generally associated with fire so the link to salamanders is there, ready to be made. The King of Cups (above photo) is also smartly done. A king standing alone awash a sea eyes closed from the dangers around him? Speaks of a man who feels and trusts his feelings despite any mocking or danger that might comes his way from such trust. Even the poses of the characters have meaning. This is mostly true of all decks but it’s showcased in a subtle (and not so subtle in some cases) way here. Of course, that’s just my interpretation but I really like how each card has just a slight difference that makes this deck special.

This deck reads extremely well. I find it a very intuitive deck that has a lot of offer. Incredibly intimate and emotional (look at all the water references) it has a punch of creativity, movement, and quiet energy in most of the cards. Wands are everywhere in this deck and the intricate backgrounds combined with little details such as the Torah the High Priestess is holding makes the deck worth a second look.

The deck’s great for honest, gentle truths (but it can still throw a mean punch when needed) and is great for introspection and exploring the details of a situation without being smacked over the head with over the top symbolism.

One thing to notice is that there’s some interesting interpretations of the cards here. I love the Devil here. Instead of a gruesome visage it’s a winged and horned woman wearing a her straight jacket like a cloak holding chained lovers. It speaks more of the chains we create for ourselves rather than a connection to sins which I wholly enjoy in this deck.

The Lovers here is another interested card. Winged beings are shown in the deck, such as the Devil, Temperance, and Judgment card but in those cases the Devil has bat-like wings and Temperance and Judgment have more of the feathery angel wings. But the Lovers is different. Here we have butterfly fae like wings. The birth and change of something that was brewing into something beautiful. There’s a bit of a leap of faith reference in there too with the fae’s closed eyes. It’s very much on purpose and a warm, lovely Lovers’ card. The hard choices that the Lovers’ card is there too though. Notice only sky background. What would happen if one of the potential lovers let go? Would they fall in love or fall out of it? What would that choice do?

The Hanged Man and Moon (above) are other great examples of the slightly different interpretation. The Moon has no direct association to water here in the card and instead the spectacles-wearing figure is playing with the Moon’s common card companion, the crustacean. Here, the crab is traded for a lobster. This, to me, plays with the less emotional impact of the Moon cards and more of the confusion and mystery of the card. Looking past the confusion, illusion, and unnecessary fear and seeing the clarity and truth behind it.

The Hanged Man has clothing hangers on the branches. Do you see them? Not only that but notice the figure’s tie is perfectly upright despite the bonds that hold them still be affected by gravity. Here the halting a take a moment of contemplation while at a standstill is clear. Donning off the nonsense and looking at the truth is implied. Beyond this, growth is possible once you work to free yourself and get moving again.

Issues with this deck include a lack of noticeable POC and the fact that the colors don’t show up well in photography. At all. The text on the cards pairs well with the deck but the combination of text and soft color palette seems to mess with camera focus. This is especially true is you have more than one card in the photo.

Overall, I highly recommend the Dreaming Way Tarot if you like introspective decks and the art is pleasing to you. It’s one of my favorites and every time I use it we build a much better rapport. While you can easily jump in and read the deck, it’s definitely worthwhile to spend some time and pick out the differences in the cards and what’s similar to other decks to see how this one reads. It’s a great all purpose deck, especially if you do a lot of soul searching or introspection.

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Dreaming Way Tarot by Rome Choi and Kwon Shina © US Games Systems