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 was standing in the image, feeling the emotions depicted by the figures. Normally only poetry hits me this way (when you read a piece and feel totally seen, like the poet has riffled through your soul for inspiration, and then somehow managed to capture something you thought was ineffable in words).

The deck perfectly captures the little mundance moments of magic we encounter in our everyday lives, if we only pause to look for them. It’s also the most ‘English’ deck I’ve ever worked with (way more than all those twee little dormice-in-the-hedgerows type decks), and every card hums with love for our imperfectly wonderful multicultural little island. Palin doesn’t shy away from quite brutal social commentary about how broken and fucked-up modern UK life is, but she also unabashedly celebrates a lot of things that do make Britain ‘great’. When the deck was on my rotation to do a deep dive into, I started reading a bit about the artist and creator, Poppy Palin, and was so very, very sad to hear that she’d recently died. And in circumstances that made me feel very emotional. So I spent a lot of time with this deck while I was writing this review, partly as a tribute to the amazing vision and talent of Poppy Palin. Her work lives on.

The Everyday Enchantment Tarot comes with a truly excellent LWB/guidebook. We get a description of each image, a first person narrative from the POV of the main figure depicted in the card, and then Palin’s reflection on the meaning. These cards are *busy* – they’ve all got a lot going on, and each card is pretty crowded to the point of being cluttered. For those of you who like plain, simple art this might be off putting – the first time I looked at them I also had an overwhelming sense of TOO MUCH ARGHHH! But there isn’t a single piece of redundant imagery anywhere, and the guidebook really deep dives into what’s going on. So it’s a great deck for the storytellers and deep readers!

I wanted trimmed cards as the original ones are really big (too big in my opinion, and with unnecessary borders that just add to the slightly overwhelming nature of the cards), and I don’t fancy my skills with a guillotine 😂. So when a secondhand trimmed copy came up on eBay, I jumped on it.

My absolute favourite thing about the guidebook is the themed key phrase Poppy has picked for each card. So, eg, for Wands each phrase is fire-themed and then matched to the card meaning: Ace (bright spark), 2 (trailblazer), 3 (forging ahead), 4 (warm embrace), 5 (hot and bothered) etc. I’m obsessed! This is a great pneumonic for newbies but also so much fun for more experienced readers!

The card backs for the Everyday Enchantment Tarot are also pretty busy! Beautiful though. N.B. My pack is not symmetrical as it’s been trimmed.

And now on to some of my favourite cards from the deck.

Omg, this 8 of Blades (Swords), I can’t even. I am there. You haven’t slept properly in months, you don’t remember life outside of your dressing gown, the baby is crying even though there’s nothing wrong with it, the pet is kicking off – you just want to open the door and walk. Don’t care where. It feels so hopeless because you don’t have the capacity to rationally think about the situation anymore because you’re so. bloody. tired. And worst of all it’s a prison of your own making! This is the life you thought you wanted! And it’s shit! This has given me such fresh personal insight into this card.

Love this beautiful, hopeful Star, and the sense of adventure coupled with hard work in the 3 of Wands. Amazing multicultural intergenerational feminist World card for the win! More domestic drama perfection in 8 of Cups. This for me is the walking away from a relationship/set up that used to make you happy but now makes you feel trapped/has run its course, and this card is perfect. The 7 of Coins (Pents) shows a market seller so distracted by how her stall looks that she hasn’t even noticed a customer offering her a handful of money for her wares – sometimes we get so preoccupied with whether our work is good enough/worth it, we neglect its actual practical value.

I like an Ace of Wands bursting with potential, so I love the giant paintbrush wand waiting for you to paint your own adventure here. 4 of Cups has big jaded student-essay-crisis vibes. I like to think I’m the figure on the left here, saying to my students: drink some water, not coffee(!), and try and look at your life with fresh eyes. And the 2 of Swords perfectly captures that wilful stagnation when you’ve got so much pushing and pulling on you you’re like “WILL EVERYONE JUST PISS OFF I’M NOT DEALING WITH ANY OF THIS RIGHT NOW!” And then waste time procrastinating when you could be trying to fix the problems.

Here’s a special mention for my three favourite Court cards from the deck. Anyone who reads this blog will know I struggle a bit with Court cards, but these three depictions really help the personality of the cards come alive for me. I love the King of Pents as a successful gentleman farmer. With his wealth so closely tied to the land, not afraid to get his own hands dirty working alongside his farmhands, mindful of the legacy he’ll leave his daughter. Kindly, steady, steadfast – a sturdy oak. The Queen of Cups stopping to chat and give a hot coffee to a homeless person, where 99% of people just cut their eyes and walk past. The ruthlessly competent Queen of Swords using her sharp mind to heal others.

Deck Interview with the Everyday Enchantment Tarot

This was a puzzling interview, because the message is so consistent all apart from one card, which really threw me off. Thoughts welcome!

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

Temperance: The overall vibe of this spread (and Palin’s interpretation of the cards) speaks strongly to shadow work and wholeness to me. So I see this as the deck’s strength being it will help me to acknowledge and accept my hidden desires and secret fears with the same compassion I would apply to the weaknesses of others. This will help me achieve balance.

2. What are your strengths as a deck?

4 of Coins: The deck is helpful for letting go of long held but unhelpful beliefs, or clinging onto past achievements at the cost of productive change. Change will come, even if it’s inch by inch like the encroaching tide, and the best thing to do is to accept it fluidly instead of rigidly holding out.

3. What are your limits as a deck?

4 of Blades: I puzzled with this as these 4s are so similar to each other. For me the 4 of Blades is about respite and time out, a rebalancing of doing – including persistent thinking – with simply being. This chimes with all the stuff the deck is telling me it is good at! Maybe because it urges more proactive action, not just sitting with things for a while?

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

The Devil: I have to be willing to lean in to shadow work.

5. What is the potential quality of our relationship?

9 of Coins: Rewarding! This shadow work will enable me to enjoy my achievements without clutching them too tight; luxuriate in good things while still remaining responsible and in control.

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

9 of Blades: When I’ve got myself in a tizz with catastrophising and stressing out, this deck will help me rebalance and find empathy for myself.

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