Pentacles & My New Favorite Deck, Tarot de St. Croix

Well, Tarot de St Croix is my latest favorite working deck! I can't stay away from its warm, bright coloring, evocative art and deck creator Lisa St. Croix's succinct takes on the cards in the LWB. There are few "bad" cards in her interpretations; all are seen from a humanistic and healing point of view, with more personal applications. Take the King of Pentacles, for example, which I drew today as the Card of the Day. Normally, I view the Kings and Queens and sometimes the Pages, as actual people in a querent's sphere. In Lisa's tarot, she models this King after the historical King Solomon, "known for his wisdom as well as his riches." Her meaning here is "Know what you want and how to get it and enjoy the fruits of your labor." King Solomon, it seems, certainly knew how to enjoy his, so I really like her interpretation. It's not just about hard work and planning and perseverance, but also about being embodied, in physical form and enjoying life. This is an essential part of the Pentacles suit that is sometimes overlooked.
A few days ago, I pulled the 3 of Pentacles from this deck and here she adds "spiritual" to the interpretation: "Skill, knowledge, and awareness will manifest abundance." Here she has an artist painting a picture of the goddess of magic Isis, under a full moon. So, unlike the RWS interpretation, which focuses mainly on worldly achievement and power in the Pentacles suit, here magic and spirit are as important as work and planning and no success is a full success without those dimensions. I just love this!
Nearly all Lisa's interpretations bring the cards' meaning home to use on a personal, meaningful level and she often adds her own unique life experiences as explanations and demonstrations of her inspirations for the paintings of each card. Though the explanations for the Minor Arcana are brief (The Majors are a lot longer), they are, nonetheless, to the point and I find them enlightening, sometimes getting me look at other perceptions of meanings.
Ok, enough of a plug. If  you're on the fence about this deck, or are thinking about getting a new deck but not sure which one, I say - choose Tarot de St. Croix if you want a unique, healing, beautiful, and powerful new addition to your toolbox and deck collection!