Decks, Glorious Decks!
Deck Review: Wild Earth Tarot
Mass market Tarot decks have been on fire recently, and here’s another fab one, the Wild Earth Tarot, from the very pleasingly named Coni Curi, an illustrator, graphic artist, and influencer from Argentina currently living in Valencia. Curi writes that the deck “seemed to draw itself while I simply watched”, and there’s certainly something wonderfully natural about the artwork. With its rich, earthy colour palette, bold shapes, and clean compositions, you can almost imagine the images growing organically out of the tubs of paint themselves, lol. Flowers, birds, fruits, insects and the changing seasons abound, and the whole deck feels warm, throbbing, alive. Glowing, even. It’s like standing in a…
Deck Review: The Winding
The Winding is a nature-themed deck created by Stephanie Burrows and illustrated by Adam Oehlers, the duo behind a whole host of decks for their publishing house Three Trees Tarot, including Oak, Ash & Thorn and Heartwood. Their previous collaborations are on my radar as they’re v. popular decks, and I absolutely get why: they’re undeniably beautiful. BUT they’ve generally been a little too whimsical-animals-skipping-through-Farthing-Woods*-y for my personal tastes. Apparently I have no soul, lol. In reality, I’m just not much of a cute-animal-deck person, and both Oak, Ash & Thorn and Heartwood sit slightly too far towards the twee end of the spectrum for me. The Winding, though, absolutely…
Deck Review: Jessup’s Magical Tarot Deck
In time for Halloween, I want to spend some time with the fabulously witchy & kitschy Jessup’s Magical Tarot Deck, which is equal parts spooky and fun, and thus pretty much the perfect Halloween deck. Plus, with its gorgeous oranges, yellows, faded greens and inky blacks, it has a wonderfully October-y seasonal palette. The deck is the creation of Karli Jessup, an artist and witch based in Saskatchewan, Canada. Formally trained in printmaking, Jessup’s work plays around with the boundary between commercial and fine-art printing – something that very much comes through in the deck’s distinctive retro aesthetic. She also owns and operates Jessup’s General Store, a shop selling clothing,…
Currently On Kickstarter: Le Tarot de la Grande Ourse
You know when you see a card from a Tarot deck, and you think, “Wow! That’s smart. And I don’t really think I’ve seen it done like that before. That’s so cool. Something to think about. Huh. Huh.” And then you find your mind keeps coming back to it, turning it over and over and inspecting it, and every time it gives you a little jolt of pleasure and interest, and you know it’s just a really special card. If I feel that way about a card, that’s enough to make me buy the whole deck, even if I’m kinda ambivalent about the others. In a good deck, there’ll be…
Deck Review: The Hayworth Tarot
It’s time for another throwback review, with one of my all-time, old-time favourites: Jessica Hayworth's Hayworth Tarot. I’ve had this deck for years and years, and it shows up in my deep dives a LOT. Because I LOVE it. It is dark and creepy and fabulously unsettling. There’s a lot of inky black blood, a lot of viscera, and a general sense that something has gone terribly, terribly wrong... But in a good way, you know.
Deck Review: Pixie’s Marseille Tarot
Pixie’s Marseille Tarot brings two of Tarot’s most influential traditions together, weaving Pamela Colman Smith’s familiar RWS figures into the pips, structures, and symbolism of the Tarot de Marseille. The result is clever, quirky, occasionally weird, and clearly made with enormous affection for both.
Deck Review: Wild Eden Tarot
The Wild Eden Tarot is a strange, sensual, and gloriously visceral deck from Lo Scarabeo, illustrated by Gloria Pizzilli and created with Tarot educator Alice Mastroleo. I take a deep dive into its distinctive artwork, symbolism, and very VERY naked bodies 😂
Deck Review: The Hierophanies Tarot
The Hierophanies Tarot is a clever, strange, and tender queer reimagining of the RWS, weaving recurring natural forms through human bodies, technology, and the cosmos. Its richly symbolic cards explore identity, transformation, connection, and the exhilarating possibilities of becoming.
Deck Review: The Slow Tarot
The Slow Tarot by Lacey Bryant was one of the very first indie Tarot decks I ever bought, and years later it remains one of my favourites. Created over six years as a true labour of love, every card began life as an original oil painting, resulting in a deck rich with atmosphere, symbolism, nostalgia, and dreamlike surrealism. If you enjoy Tarot decks that reward lingering, noticing details, and falling down symbolic rabbit holes, the Slow Tarot might be exactly your (vintage, chintzy) cup of tea.
Deck Review: Earthbound Tarot
Created using hand-foraged earth pigments gathered from the New Mexico landscape itself, Celine Gordon’s Earthbound Tarot feels less like a deck merely inspired by nature and more like something physically weathered out of the desert. Full of burning skies, strange celestial signs, fissures opening in the earth, and moments of profound human tenderness, it’s one of the most numinous-yet-materially-grounded Tarot decks I’ve ever encountered.
