Deck Review: The Healing Waves Tarot

The Healing Waves Tarot is currently out of print after a limited run, and I was after it for aaaaaages before I found a secondhand copy that wasn’t gougingly expensive (it was still pretty pricey though!). It’s definitely worth snapping up if you can find a reasonably priced secondhand copy. Otherwise you can join me in hoping that the creator, Nawan Junhasiri, does a second print run and/or works with a mass market publisher to release a prêt-à-tarot version [UPDATE: see postscript at end of post for more info, this sadly seems very unlikely]. Unfortunately the guide book is only available as a passcode locked pdf, and as I bought it secondhand I didn’t have the password until some kind soul on Insta took pity on me. I appreciate the need to protect copyright etc., but I do prefer it when decks with online-only guides make them open access (which many do) for precisely this reason! There’s a fairly robust market in secondhand Tarot decks, particularly those that go OOP.

The Deck: Look, Feel, and Finish

The Healing Waves is a really lovely deck (feel like it’s a bit of a cop out when I say that, as it’s like, “no shit you think it’s nice Lucy, you bought it!”) The card stock is satisfyingly thick. The cards are a teeny bit sticky to shuffle but I waaaaay prefer this to too slippery (the stickiness can get a bit annoying at times though). The card backs and box inside really capture the sense of sunlight through water, giving the whole deck really tranquil vibes.

Greatest Hits: My Favourite Cards from the Healing Waves Tarot

I talked about how much I like this Strength card when I was deep diving on Strength. I find sharks truly terrifying, and to tame a shark is about as close an allegory to conquering your inner demons that I can imagine, haha. Sharks carry with them such potent, violent imagery – they’re apex predators, both ancient and unknowable, and as such are often cast as creatures to be feared and destroyed. They’re the stuff of horror films and sensationalist tabloid headlines, rarely granted nuance or grace. And I get it – as I said, they scare the bejesus out of me!

But the mermaid(en) in Junhasiri’s card knows better. She doesn’t flee or fight. Instead, she swims alongside the shark, touching the very thing others fear. Just like the maiden with her lion in the traditional RWS card, the mermaid(en) of the Healing Waves represents a different kind of power, one rooted in empathy and the radical act of trusting what we’ve been taught to dread.

I LOVE the angler fish as the Devil; so often we are blinded by the bright shiny things (like those poor little clown fish) and realise too late that the pursuit of them has caused harm to ourselves and others. That’s the essence of The Devil: temptation that disguises danger, entrapment dressed up as desire. The angler fish doesn’t hunt with speed or strength, it lets its prey come willingly. And that’s exactly what this card warns us about: the ways we participate in our own entrapment, seduced by habits or patterns that feel good until they don’t. Also? Angler fish are so fantastically creepy. Honestly, maybe even creepier than sharks – at least sharks are upfront about being predators. The Devil hides in plain sight, smiling with lantern-light.

The beautiful Death card really captures the essence of what Death is about in the Tarot: not finality, but transformation. Endings that nourish beginnings. There’s something comforting about the idea that even in decay, something beautiful and alive can take root. It reminds me of that line from The Tempest: “Full fathom five thy father lies; / Of his bones are coral made.” In other words, the body may be gone, but it becomes something else, something strange and lovely and enduring. This isn’t the horror of death; it’s the alchemy of it. A return to the deep, and a quiet rebirth from within it.

Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.

From ‘The Tempest’ by William Shakespeare

The Tower as a falling lighthouse is pretty bleak – not only is your tower falling down, but the beacon you provided for others has gone – but it’s beautiful.

Edit: I’ve thought about this card a bit more since I first wrote this review (whilst deep diving on the Tower), and while the lighthouse is certainly damaged, it’s not actually falling. So I wonder if this deck isn’t also speaking to the slightly more positive aspect of the Tower card – the sudden, revelatory flash of enlightenment that, while troubling, is much needed. Instead of mere destruction, this Tower might be indicating that moments of upheaval and rapid change can also come about due to flashes of insight and therefore act as beacons of knowledge, much like lighthouses. Especially enlightenment of a revelatory kind where one is smacked inside the head with a lightbulb moment!

The Hermit as a hermit crab is 👌🏼. Though it’s important to remember hermit crabs don’t just retreat into their shell for solitude, but for safety. Like them, we often carry our protection with us. We build little shells – emotional, intellectual, spiritual – where we can feel safe from scrutiny, rejection, or failure. And sometimes, that shell is necessary. Caution can be wise. Solitude can be healing. But eventually, that same protective structure can become cramped, restrictive, even harmful. Hermit crabs have to change shells as they grow, or risk getting stuck. Sometimes when the Hermit card shows up we need to ask: Have I outgrown this shell? Is this solitude still serving me, or is it just keeping the world at bay?

The Letter is a special card for the Healing Waves deck, meaning a surprise / unexpected good news or guidance etc. I’ve always adored the romanticism of finding a message in a bottle, so this image really appeals to me. I like to think The Letter arrives when you least expect it, but maybe most need it. A sign. A truth. A reminder that even when you feel isolated, the universe hasn’t forgotten you entirely

And finally the Emperor as a kindly old whale makes me warm to a card I’m not naturally a fan of.

Pretty standard representation of the Three of Fire (Wands) here, but the colours of the sea and the sunset are what really elevates it for me.

I love the clever use of jellyfish to represent Cups (Water) throughout the deck. Their soft, cup-like bodies, their constant drifting through water, their vulnerability but also their savagery. For me it connects really well with the emotional depths of the Cups. And this Queen is especially beautiful. There’s something about her transparency that feels so right: like the suit itself, she’s not about hiding, but about feeling.

The oyster offering up her pearl is a great way to show the meaning behind the Ace of Pents (Earth). It captures the essence of the Earth suit – potential, value, and the slow magic of hard work that can lead to riches.

And a very striking Eight of Cups (again, great use of the cup-like shapes of the jellyfish) and Two of Wands. The Two of Wands as a card is all about that inbetween moment: the planning, the lust for adventure. The readiness to leap into something new, even if the outcome isn’t certain. There’s excitement, but also tension. You’ve done the prep. You’re suited up. But none of that compares to the moment your body actually breaks the surface. The dive into the unknown is the leap the Two of Wands asks of us. It reminds us that vision alone isn’t enough. Sooner or later, you have to leave the safety of the shore and discover what’s waiting beneath the waves.

Then I love how the Five of Pents (Earth) in the Healing Waves Tarot calls back to the Hermit. This little hermit crab isn’t in a protective seashell where he can retreat for blissful solitude on his own terms. No, he’s been ousted – exposed, scrabbling for cover inside a broken glass bottle. That’s not retreat, it’s survival. The glass might offer some protection, but it’s jagged, see-through, and clearly not made for him. There’s a discomfort here, a makeshift resilience.

It reminds us that sometimes the places we hide in aren’t healing, they’re just the best we could find when the world turned cold. And yet… he keeps going. Even in broken shelter, even without warmth or welcome, he keeps moving, keeps searching. This Five of Pents is less about lack and more about endurance. Less “woe is me” and more “I’m still here, bitch.” It’s that same lantern-light from the Hermit, flickering from within, even in the worst of times. There’s hope, but it’s fragile, just like the glass bottle. Survival, but not yet safety.

Deck Interview with the Healing Waves Tarot

1. Tell me about yourself? What is your most important characteristic as a deck?

Five of Cups: Ha, I guess the clue was in the name. This deck is ready for when healing from old pain and loss is needed. You can’t unspill the milk but you can savour what is left.

2. What are your strengths as a deck?

Two of Cups: Moving on from old heartbreak and preparing for new opportunities. This deck advised on how to open your heart and get ready!

3. What are your limits as a deck?

The Hermit: This deck is less good for when solitude and isolated reflection is needed. Instead it’s a deck about moving on and making new connections.

4. What do you require from me in return? How can I best collaborate with you?

Four of Pents: I have to be ready to give again, not jealously guard what I have and be too scared to risk it for new love/connection.

5. What is the potential quality of our relationship?

Page of Cups: This deck will help me with emotional exploration and romantic/platonic growth. It will teach me how to be tender with my imagination and open to emotional connection.

6. In what space / with what type of query will you best communicate?

Four of Cups: When I’m jaded and not recognising the opportunities right in front of me, this deck will help me reconnect

POSTSCRIPT 03/08/25: This remains a popular review of mine (unsurprisingly, as it’s such a lush deck!), and I quite regularly get requests for the PDF guidebook/password (which I’m happy to share privately via email). Just this week, one of blog’s readers let me know that a second run / mass market version of the deck is extremely unlikely to happen 😢.

Unfortunately it seems like the original artwork files for the Healing Waves Tarot have been lost / damaged, and so it is deeply unlikely it will be re-printed, unless they manage to do it from scans. On the Dreaming Waves Oracle Kickstarter campaign comments, Scribalist confirms that “after a few relocations, the file was lost and most of [Junhasiri‘s] original artworks as well.” A poster then asked if they might be able to re-print from the French edition, but the publisher replied that the French files had “some parts cropped” and so weren’t useable.

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