Mass Market Decks
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Deck Review: Tarot of Echoes
I’ve felt thoroughly spoilt this year with the release of not one, but two, decks by(/with the involvement of) the incredibly talented Ana Tourian (on top of news of a mass-market Bonestone release :-)) I’ve reviewed Ana’s deck with Claire Duval, Le Tarot Arthurien, here, and in this post I’m going to talk through her recent solo deck, the Tarot of Echoes. I love all of Tourian’s decks. I think her art style is perfectly suited to the Tarot – it just clicks together. Bonestone is my all time ride-or-die deck, and now Tarot of Echoes is right up there. It’s a really beautiful, thoughtful, wonderful deck, and I wholeheartedly…
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Deck Review: Liberation Tarot
“The Tarot cannot show me anything I do not know, but it can help me uncover and dance with my knowing… With a practice like Tarot, we are liberated from isolation into a conversation we can have with ourselves and that which is beyond ourselves, even when we appear to be alone” adrienne maree brown Any deck that features contributions from the amazing adrienne maree brown (I use her writing with my Criminology students *all* the time) instantly gets my attention, so I was very excited to see the Liberation Tarot Deck come up on Kickstarter and backed it straightaway. The deck is now for sale on most online stores, or through the publishers,…
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Deck Review: The Universal Folk Tarot
I’ve been waiting for Anita Iverarity‘s Universal Folk Tarot to come out for aaaaaages, and I’m so happy it’s finally here. I’ve always been a big fan of Inverarity’s art style, as evidenced in their gorgeous Universal Folk Oracle, but Oracle decks aren’t really my thing (with a few notable exceptions), so I was so excited to see this beautiful Tarot deck in the works. The art reminds me, stylistically, of the art in one of my favourite books as a kid, In Search Of Unicorns, illustrated by Wendy Hall (I can find out literally nothing about Hall, btw. It’s like she illustrated this one awesome, quirky, darkly odd little…
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Deck Review: The Lightseer’s Tarot
The romance novel plotline for my relationship with The Light Seer’s Tarot did not start with a classic meet cute and InstaLove, but was much more a case of enemies-to-lovers! Very early on in my Tarot journey (when the ADHD blackhole-pull of deck accumulation was at its most ferocious) I was intrigued enough by the deck to buy a really cheap copy on eBay. I bought it mainly because it’s such a popular deck that I felt it would be worth me exploring a bit (to see what all the fuss was about), not because I felt a particular connection to it per se (unlike my intense, violent, love-at-first sight…
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Deck Review: Ostara Tarot
One of the first decks I bought (after a vintage Morgan Greer deck) was the Ostara Tarot created by the four-illustrator team of Krista Gibbard, Eden Cook, Julia Iredale, and Molly Applejohn. It’s a really gentle deck, and was largely pretty beginner friendly. Also, one of my cats (Cat Stevens) became oddly obsessed with it, which I take as a good sign, given how discerning kits are. The below photo was taken after I extracted it from his thieving paws (those gilt edges are not claw friendly!) I photographed this deck with the beautiful wisteria that I lovingly planted and nurtured in my old garden (I love living by the sea,…
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Deck Review: Le Tarot Arthurien
I’ve been SO excited about the incredibly talented Ana Tourian having not one, but two, stunning looking decks coming out (as well as the touted second edition of the infamous Bonestone Earthflesh Tarot!) I’m happy to say I now have both of them in my collection, and they do not disappoint. Here I’m reviewing the gorgeous Tarot Arthurien* that Tourian illustrated in collaboration with creator Claire Duval – and Tourian’s new solo deck, The Tarot of Echoes, will be coming up for review soon! As you might have guessed, this deck is based on the legend(s) of King Arthur (particularly the works of the French poet Chrétien de Troyes), and…
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Deck Review: The Everyday Enchantment Tarot
The Everyday Enchantment Tarot is a mass market deck that is readily available (either new or secondhand) from a range of online retailers . I’ve linked to W. H. Smith’s here, as they’re slightly less horrifying than Bezos’s Evil Empire, but it’s available from a whole range of sites. It’s really different from the style I usually like, but I was totally in awe of how amazingly the creator has managed to interpret some of the minor arcana cards through her artwork. I looked at some of the images and was like “yes, that’s it! That’s it exactly. That perfectly captures the mood of that card”. It was like I…
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Deck Review: The Curious Travels Tarot Deck
I sadly missed the Kickstarter for the Curious Travels Tarot Deck by Arozear (Amelia ‘Mia’ Rozear) 💔. But then discovered the artist was releasing a mass market version with US Games ♥️. Even better, they then did one last print run of the indie version, which I managed to get hold of. This made me v v v v v happy as I’ve had my heart broken before by missing out on the indie versions of gorgeous decks. My only sorrow is not being able to get one of the beautiful tea towel / tarot cloths that were an add-on for the original Kickstarter deck. I’m not normally one for…
