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 book and disappeared, alas). It stirs in me the same feeling of weirdness and whimsy.

The deck makes reference to various folk stories and mythologies from around the world (hence its universal folkiness!), from the Hawaiian goddess Pele as Judgement, to Sedna from Inuit mythology as the Five of Pentacles. Now, obvs I am not the arbiter of cultural integrity, and disclaimer: I am whiter than milk and have all the associated privileges, but IMO this is all done with a good degree of sensitivity and nuanced appreciation. It dosen’t feel icky or appropriative to me, rather it encourages a holistic view of the parallels and similarities in the stories we humans have told ourselves throughout our collective history.

This is a mass market deck (with US Games) and you can get it from all the usual big online retailers, but I ordered mine from the creator’s website, and got a cute little package with a signed guidebook, postcard print, and a crystal :-).

The deck comes in a big-ish display box, with a comprehensive and in-depth colour guidebook. The cards are pretty slim, but are on decent quality linen cardstock and are easy to shuffle and stack. I’m kind of meh about the back design, but I like the mat black edging on the cards.

One of my favourite things about this deck is the richness and complexity of the artwork. The images are drenched in symbolism, and there’s so much depth and nuance on each card. The drawback to this is at first glance the cards can sometimes look a bit ‘samey’ – they’re nearly all a three quarter portrait, cut quite close in to the central figure, and so you have to really study each card, both to differentiate it from several of the others and to divine its message. This is not a problem at all for self-reflection readings, but I prob wouldn’t use it to read for others, as I like to be able to quickly and readily discern the message of the overall pull before I start walking the querent through it card by card.

Now some of my favourite cards. I love the vibrancy and brightness of this Sun card, where the customary child is with a dragon instead of a horse. The Hierophant depicts a Fin Wife, pictured here with her shapeshifting fish cat, who is the real hero of the card, IMO! He lives with the Fin Wife on the land, but can deliver messages to her kin in the sea (Finfolkaheem). In this sense, the seal-cat, like the Hierophant, is a conduit between two realms (heaven/earth, land/sea). As well as the customary keys and crossed sceptre, the card shows a lighthouse where the Fin Wife lives, which “serves as a beacon to the wider community, who seek her out for counsel and guidance“.

Really beautiful colours in the Four of Swords, which includes a repeating motif of moths, representing “the darker aspects of [your]self that need to be healed in the shadows or subconscious dream states“.

A gorgeous trickster Seven of Swords, showing a veiled “opportunist” slipping away with a cloakful of swords. In her arms nestles a monkey, representing “quick-wittedness, strategy, and survival“. Look at this handsome, gentle, long-faced horse in the Knight of Pents. I love that the Knight is holding the Pentacle as if it’s an apple she’s about to give him as a treat. The whole card is very steady and slow; as Inverarity points out, “a windmill gently turns with a steady clack, marking the passing of time in an unhurried way“.

The Six of Pents takes its folklore roots from one of my favourite nursery rhymes, the Magpie song. In my head I can just hear the fantastically spooky, atmospheric version by The Unthanks (below). The artist and creator points out that each bird receives one coin, illustrating the card’s message of fairness/to each their due.

Oh, the magpie brings us tidings
Of news both fair and foul
She’s more cunning than the raven
More wise than any owl
For she brings us news of the harvest
Of the barley, wheat, and corn
And she knows when we’ll go to our graves
And how we shall be born

Davey Dodds

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I love the sense of forward motion conveyed so artfully through a still image in the Eight of Wands. Here we see Ariel, riding the Wands as if they were brooms, with an Infinity sign on the hand pointing to the future. Inverarity explains that this is to show us we “will experience infinite success on the road [we] are on“. The Queen of Wands benefits a lot from having bees thronging around her traditional sunflowers – more cards should do this! #BeesForTheWin. Inverarity describes her Queen as both “sociable and curious, she balances her inner and outer worlds well“. Her companion, the King of Wands, is depicted with two lions showing his “integrity and loyalty to his subjects“, and a lizard, demonstrating his “curiosity, agility, and intellectual dexterity“.

This is really lovely, whimsical deck, which I’ll be using for reflection and practice as opposed to reading for others – but am sure I will very much enjoy working with. You can get it from most mainstream seller websites, but I’d obvs recommend ordering it directly from the artist here.

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