A deck and book set review by Jan Class-Gregoire
"Briefly, using STAR+GATE entails thinking of a topic to explore, shuffling and drawing special cards, placing them in positions on a 'spread' layout that shows aspects of a situation, then developing a specific interpretation for the cards through a step-by-step process aimed at achieving clarity about real issues." Sounds like a Tarot deck, but this system is not Tarot.
Forget everything you know about Tarot and put it in the back of your mind. STAR+GATE is unlike any divination set I have encountered as of yet. It consists of 96 cards: A through L, and 1 through 85. The cards are two sided with a picture side and key word side with symbols. The set also comes with a Sky Spread layout and a Circle of Pattern map that adds information to the reading. One more thing; the seeker interprets the reading and not the reader. Confused?
So was I at first. I was not able to pull the cards out of the box and use them immediately. STAR+GATE took much studying. There are star cards, star-crossed cards, state cards, gift cards, key cards, gate cards and sign cards.
Geer wrote a companion book that does explain how to use the Circle Pattern, and the various types of cards. Included in the back of the book is a history of how STAR+GATE came into being. I recommend reading the book before using the cards.
Having an artistic background, Geer was the artist of STAR+GATE. His artwork is straightforward. His most impressive pieces are the star cards with psychedelic images. The cards are small, measuring 2 2/8 by 3 2/8 inches making them very easy to handle for smaller hands.
My first encounter with Star+Gate was through my husband who's friend showed him the set. After that there was a long search for a set of his own. He went to several new age bookstores and none of the managers heard of it or could find it in the catalogs. He finally found it in a used bookstore. So I would say that this deck could be difficult to find.
I recommend STAR+GATE to anyone who collects the unusual decks and who wants to learn a different system for clarification. This set does work. My husband is sold on it. Random House, Inc publishes it. ISBN: 0-394-75721-1. Originally published by STAR+GATE Enterprises.
