Deck Review: The Twice Told Tarot

I fell in love with the Twice Told Tarot when I saw it on Kickstarter last year, and immediately backed it. Created by Travis McHenry, alongside artist David Scaglione, its quirky style really appealed to me. Unfortunately the Kickstarter was cancelled – boo. But then the deck was included as a possible add-on to McHenry’s next project, the True Oracle of Nostradamus – hooray! So I bought the TOoN just to get my hands on the Twice Told Tarot (as I thought that would be the only way to get hold of a copy). Turns out you can currently pick up a copy via the Bloodstone Studios online store – but still, it means I got my hands on an early edition of the Twice Told Tarot, so no regrets!

The deck is hand-drawn in ink and pen, which gives it a whimsical, almost childlike air; though the use of symbolism and metaphor is very sophisticated.

The box is a bit crap tbh. I just find the quality of the playing card type boxes for Tarot decks to be really poor – they’re always too stiff in the lid, and so I always end up tearing them a bit trying to get them open. Asides from that though (and the price is pretty reasonable, which is probably partly due to the basic box choice), the quality of everything else is great. The cards are matte, but not at all sticky, and fairly slim, but not flimsy – meaning they’re super shuffler-friendly. The deck comes with a LWB that provides a brief synopsis of the image choice, and then a more general guide to what the card ‘means’ (following the RWS format). The card back design is simple but pleasing.

Here are some of my favourite cards from the deck. I love the moody, slightly sinister Moon, framed by the bare branches of the dark tree. I can just picture the sort of night this is, where the wind makes uncanny sounds in the branches and you feel a bit like you’re being watched by something not entirely human… The Hermit using the illumination of his lantern to ‘scare away’ the monsters of ignorance and closed-mindedness is so clever and beautiful. I also love the depiction of Judgement as the three life stages of caterpillar – chrysalis – butterfly. As the guidebook explains, “traditional Tarot decks have always depicted Judgement in the religious context of the last Judgement, showing the moment when righteous souls will be reborn. However, we are capable of this rebirth every single day through meditation, ritual, and self-care. We do not need any external source to awaken the awesome power within us.”

9 of Cups, the so-called ‘wish fulfilment’ card, as a genie is very drôle. It also, for me, captures some of the darker elements of this card – how often in folklore do genies grant wishes only for the wisher to discover that getting their heart’s desire hasn’t made them happy after all? I love the Ace of Swords as a sword slicing through a brain. The Swords is kind of a painful suit (though my favourite!), that deals with the fact that knowledge often brings painful realisations and wisdom, hard won, comes at a price. It’s why I like 3s of Swords that really engage with the idea that the card isn’t just straight up ‘heartbreak’ (though it can be), but also the battle between head and heart. Sometimes what is right/sensible/honest/for the best isn’t what we want and, in the short term at least, it doesn’t make us happy. So the Ace depicting the pain of knowledge, and also the pain of thinking (considering the latter Swords are all: anxiety will make you lose your mind!) in this very literal way really works for me. When I first saw the 6 of Swords my instinctive response was “I’m not sure I understand this card, but I really like it”. At some level the image conveyed the meaning of the card to me, but I wasn’t sure how. Then I read the LWB and it blew my mind: “A line of swords transforms from wood into hardened steel. The ferryman’s stave has become the soldier’s sword… The key idea of a journey, so beautifully expressed in the Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot, is here illustrated in its true form: the hardening of the soul from soft wood into strong metal. It shows the need for preparation and growth of the inner self“.

I really like the pentacles as literal wealth falling into our hands in the 10 of Pents, and the artist’s hand sketching out the 8 pentacles is very meta for the 8 of Pents. The way the wands align with the lines of the spotlight for the 6 of Wands is immensely visually pleasing!

I adore this 5 of Wands card, as for me it really captures the essence of how I see the card – that competition isn’t always bad, it’s also how we grow and test ourselves, developing our skills. This is just me, btw – the guidebook does NOT agree with me, lol, it stresses how the figures are “hindering each other’s progress” (and I know this is the standard interpretation of the card). But I see those sparks as being ignited only because they are competing. Sometimes being forced to struggle for what we want pushes us out of complacency and unlocks that spark of inspiration and magic once more. The lightly armoured knight defeating the fearsome dragon does a great job of capturing the ideas of resilience and determination inherent to the 9 of Wands. And the depiction of wands as maypoles in the 4 of Wands is just so damn cute!

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This is a really smart, clever little deck, and at a very reasonable price point – so I really recommend getting it if you like the look of it. It’s very intuitive so fine for a beginner, but also very archly knowing, so great fun to use as a more experienced reader. Get it here.

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