Deck Review: Zoomies Tarot

I got really excited when I saw Zeppelinmoon (AKA Amanda Fossey) had made a Tarot deck (The Zoomies Tarot), as I really love her artwork. Fossey is a former NHS-doctor-turned-artist, and her (lovely, whimsical) art is very popular on Etsy. With a background in psychiatry and over a decade spent working with patients in hospitals, prisons, and the community, she’s no stranger to the messy in-between spaces – “the grey areas of sanity,” as she puts it. That raw, compassionate insight runs all through her deck. The creatures she draws here are often wonky, weird, or on the brink of falling apart, but always worthy of love. In Fossey’s world, and in her Tarot, it’s the overlooked, the oddballs, and the outcasts who get to speak. “All souls, human and animal, deserve to be loved and treated as equals,” she writes, and her cards echo that over and over again. As such, despite being a ostensibly bright and happy set of cards (and me tagging it as a deck for light work), I think the deck also works well for shadow work. After all, Fossey’s artwork insists that even our strangest parts are worth handling (and holding) with care.

“As far as divination goes, I do not give any time to upside-downisms, negative vibes, or fearmongering. While light cannot exist without darkness, life is not a dichotomy of black & white but an infinite rainbow. Hope exists in every corner and magic is in the everyday… I believe all souls are capable of creating incredible universes, and as such, destiny is in our hands. And yet, we all need comfort from the gentle caress of the sun. Trusting the signs of the universe gives my anxious mind great solace.”

Amber Fossey

The deck also feels a bit sentimental to me as I originally got into Fossey’s art via my big sister who is, well, a big fan! She often gives us Zeppelinmoon birthday cards, and they’re a huge hit with all my family. Here’s two super cute ones my little sister has framed in her house, that Big Sis sent with reference to the birth of my nibling:

BUT… the deck… I don’t love it.

It’s irreverent. It’s cute. It’s smart. And I do capital-L-LOVE Fossey’s art, and her whimsy, and some of her pieces (including those featured in the Zoomies Tarot) make me feel a bit tearful. She’s the master of packing a cutsie drawing with a weighty emotional punch. I’m also a big fan of sentence fragments on Tarot cards rather than single-word signifiers – it really speaks to the poet in me (see my reviews of the Wyrd of Sarah Howard and Divine Channels).

However. While some of the cards feel like they were designed *as* Tarot, some feel like they were pre-existing pieces of art that have been gently shoehorned in to the deck coz they kinda fit. The result is a Tarot deck that reads more like an oracle deck, tbh. And a really lovely oracle deck! But that’s not quite the same thing as a Tarot deck – and for me, it matters.

It also makes it a bit jarring to work with, especially when paired with some of the design choices. For example, the suits have been re-named in a way that doesn’t entirely track. Surely Fossey’s Wings suit should = air, which is Swords. But no, it’s earth: Pents.

What?!

I just can’t get my head round that, and it means I get tripped up every time I initially glance at a spread. I just cannot see the word “wings” and associate it with Pentacles! I do like some of the other changes she’s made, e.g. re-naming the Courts as Scholar (Page), Warrior (Knight), Oracle (Queen), and Sage (King). Non-hierarchical non-gendered courts for the win! But I find that changing too many things at once in a Tarot deck starts to get… bewildering.

This could def just be me being a Miserable Old Bog Witch™, but I firmly believe that archetypes have stood the test of time for a reason, and that we shouldn’t fuck with them too much.

I do really love the title she’s chosen for the deck though. According to Wikipedia zoomies – also known as Frenetic Random Activity Periods (FRAPs) – “refer to sudden, intense bursts of energy in animals, most commonly dogs and cats, where they run around erratically, often in circles. This behaviour is usually a sign of excitement, happiness, or pent-up energy release. While it might look chaotic, it’s generally a normal and healthy behaviour.” My kits (e.g. Oedipussy, below 💚) have them most evenings, and they’re a joy to watch!

So, while my recommendation comes with a few caveats, I do think if you’re a Zeppelinmoon fan, an oracle reader, or someone who reads best with whimsy and weirdness, the Zoomies Tarot might just be your new favourite!

The Deck: Look, Feel, and Finish

The Zoomies Tarot comes as a full 78 card deck, with each card beautifully hand-drawn in pencil and then painted with watercolours, oils, and pen. There’s no human figures as far I can see (I thought maybe the Five of Waves/Cups, but it turns out it’s a hippo!), only animals, so it’s great for people who prefer animal-themed decks.

The deck comes in a relatively sturdy tuck box, but it is, nevertheless, a tuck box, so it bashes, frays, and starts to unfold pretty easily. I’ll let Fossey off though, as it also comes with a rich red velvet pouch, embroidered with an adorbs golden manatee.

The cards are printed on 350gsm stock with rounded corners and a soft-touch finish. However, mine are already warping a bit – with that weird floor rug style curling-up-at-the-corners-and-sagging-in-the-middle thing (tho this could well just be my set).

The card backs are gorgeous! The special 2025 Gold Edition that I got adds some extra shimmer: they’re now finished in metallic gold, and are super eye-catching. Also in the box is a full-colour fold-out guide, which isn’t that user friendly, but is very pretty! It gives a little intro to the deck, and then a brief (one or two sentence) description of what each card depicts.

Greatest Hits: My Favourite Cards from the Zoomies Tarot

I love this Fool, which looks cute, but… really isn’t! The guidebook reads: “Cuckoo calls the hour upon which the foolish will outwit them all“, which gave me food for thought about this card and what it means. At first glance, this Fool feels soft and silly – a wide-eyed innocent, all fluff and no cunning. But look again: this is a cuckoo chick, curled up snug while some poor other bird runs itself ragged feeding it. This version of The Fool reminds us that appearing harmless doesn’t mean being harmless, and that naivety (whether feigned or sincere), can be a kind of survival strategy.

I love that this Fool doesn’t just romanticise the leap into the unknown, it reminds us that, sometimes, the Fool isn’t the fool at all. Sometimes, they’re playing the long game. First they call you crazy… indeed!

The caption on the High Priestess card reads: “She who they run to.” And oh, it’s perfect. I love that this reframes the High Priestess not just as the guardian of hidden knowledge, but as the one we turn to when everything else has failed. She is comfort, but never easy comfort. Like the witch on the edge of the forest who the villagers scorn and avoid, until the day something terrible happens and they suddenly need her wise words and quiet prophecies. She’s the unflinching truth, spoken softly. The still place in a world that spins too fast.

The pomegranates on the Empress card instantly called Persephone to mind. As I write on my Empress deep dive, it’s a beautiful echo of the Demeter myth, where a mother’s love quite literally reshapes the world. In the months when Persephone is in the underwold, parted from Demeter, we have Winter. When Persephone returns home to her mother in Spring, the world blooms back into life. That resonance deepens the Empress here: not just fertile and nurturing in the abstract, but fiercely anchored to the idea of home. She’s not just the earth, she’s the hearth.

Obvs I had to pick the ‘interstellar zoomies’ (AKA The Chariot) card from which the deck took its name! The guidebook asks us: “What is your mission now you are a free beast? As you will it, so it shall be.” Based on this I assume Fossey’s zooming greyhound is not mid-race, but post-racing – as it were. Retired. Freed from the mechanical track and the never-ending, futile chase of the rabbit. And now? Now she runs for herself.

It’s a lovely twist on the usual Chariot imagery. This isn’t about willpower for its own sake, or driving forward just because you’re supposed to. It’s about what happens when you finally get to choose your own direction. When the reins are in your own hands (or paws 😉). The card asks not just where you’re going, but why – and who set that path in motion to begin with.

The greyhound doesn’t run in circles anymore. She runs straight. She runs free. And she runs with joy, like all animals do when they’ve got the zoomies!

The guidebook informs us that “hermit crab climbs inside in order to know the darkness, and bring forth incandescent light“. I love this, and I love the idea that the Hermit‘s the one who’s always in the kitchen at parties, lol. Not centre stage, not the loudest voice – but the one people naturally gravitate to when they’re ready to have a proper conversation. His wisdom is quiet, but magnetic. He doesn’t chase attention; he waits until you’re ready to listen.

There’s something deeply comforting about this version of the Moon. It doesn’t shy away from the usual themes: uncertainty, shadows, things half-seen or confusingly unfamiliar. But it also offers a gentle invitation: greet the darkness, shake his hand. Don’t run from it. Don’t fear it. Because, as Fossey writes, “you carry the light where you go, my love.”

And I love the simple joy of the Sun card – a “round of applause for the sun” – indeed!

I like how surprised (and slightly unimpressed) the little floofball looks at being called to his destiny on the Zoomies Tarot’s Judgement card. After all, Judgement isn’t always a trumpet-blaring, lightning-striking moment of revelation, sometimes it can be a gentle (if slightly inconvenient) summons. It’s time. Whether you’re ready or not.

And then the World card – the card that sold me the deck! So cute and funny, and, pun aside, what is the World card but everything everywhere all at once?

I love the idea of the Six of Wands as celebrating yourself, and recognising that just your everyday achievements can be enough to constitute a ‘special occasion’. Traditionally, the card is about public recognition and success. But here, it reads more intimately – an invitation to recognise yourself. To throw a little confetti for your own persistence. To treat this Tuesday afternoon, or this small win, as a special occasion. Because it is.

This card reminds me that we don’t have to wait for external validation to honour how far we’ve come. Sometimes the parade can just be you, clapping for yourself, and that’s more than enough.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE ‘perhaps he could rescue himself’ as a phrase for the Seven of Wands. It’s such a perfect encapsulation of the card of holding your ground, even when no one else is in your corner. Especially then. There’s something powerful about the idea that you don’t need to be rescued. That maybe, just maybe, you’ve already got what it takes to save yourself.

The caption for the Eight of Wands reads: “Your friends in high places have weighted the aces.” And I love how hopeful that is. There’s a real sense here that the universe is backing you – that things are moving fast, wheels are turning – but with the odds ever so slightly stacked in your favour. Not in a smug, “chosen one” way, but in a “you’ve worked for this and now it’s catching fire” kind of way.

According to the guidebook (well, guide leaflet!), the Two of Cups shows mudskippers, the fish that learned to walk on land – a lovely, unexpected metaphor for what happens when we find a meaningful connection. It’s not just about romance or warm fuzzy feelings (though those are here too), it’s about transformation through relationship. About what becomes possible when we say ‘yes’ to sharing the cup. Sometimes evolution begins with intimacy, and the right connection can carry you into a whole new world.

What a gorgeous, clever piece of art the Five of Cups is. That is the eye of someone (some hippo) looking back into the past, or imagining a future that will now never come. “Another lifetime away“, the caption reads, and I love that. How you manage to draw a ‘nostalgic eye’ I don’t know, but Fossey has managed it! This card captures the very specific ache of loss that’s wrapped in memory. Not just grief for what’s gone, but for what might have been.

And of course, it’s a hippo. Which I didn’t clock at first, but now I’m obsessed! The creature famous for wallowing. Which makes this card all the more clever – because here, wallowing isn’t framed as weakness. It’s natural. Necessary. An emotional ecosystem in its own right. This card says: sometimes you need to sink into the feelings of loss, of grief. Let yourself float in them. Just don’t forget to come up for air.

Lol, ‘buckle up bitchlings‘ is such perfect Swords energy. Some readers shy away from the Swords – too sharp, too harsh, too painful. But for me, they’re the heart of the Tarot. The truth-tellers. The mess-clearers. The ones who say, “Okay, this is uncomfortable, but now what are you going to do about it?” The guidebook also points out that cats were revered for their ability to see into other dimensions and predict the future, which is a great metaphor for that Ace of Swords insight.

I love weeds for the Seven of Swords. I always say to querents, how you feel about this card depends about whether you see yourself as the RWS swords-thief-in-the-night or the camping army having their swords nicked. And so it is here. Gardeners (myself included) HATE weeds, but there’s no denying their tenacity. Their resilience and ability to grow (and bloom) in any miserable scrap of dust or dirt – to push up through concrete even! – is truly remarkable. That’s Seven of Swords energy if ever I saw it. Sometimes, when the soil’s poor and the sun won’t shine, growing anyway is the most radical act of all.

The Ace of Pents riffs on the RWS idea of the universe offering you resources, something beautiful and unexpected: a gift, a glimmer, a beginning. But here’s the catch: you have to take it. You have to act. As the guidebook reminds us, “an adult mayfly lives for just one day.”

That’s the magic – and the challenge – of the Ace of Pents in this deck. It’s not just about potential; it’s about timing. The seed is here, but you have to plant it now, while the weather is right and the soil is fertile. The mayfly doesn’t get a second chance, and, sometimes, neither do we.

A wryly amusing little Seven of Pents as “tit is what tit is“. Once we’ve put the hard work in we just have to wait and see if it will pay off. And if it doesn’t? If the rainclouds come? Well, you win some, you lose some. It is what it is.

There’s something a little bit final – even mortal – about this card, but in a good way. Not a tragic death, but the end of a life well lived. I’d honestly quite like this phrase – i guess in your heart there’s a bird now – as my epitaph!

Overall, I’m happy I bought this deck because it’s great to own 78 pieces of Fossey’s wonderful, whimsical, healing art, but I doubt I’ll ever use it as a Tarot deck. It’s just too abstruse in places. BUT I definitely would recommend it if it vibes with you, and particularly to those who like to work with Oracle decks. I think taken as a kind of Oracle/Tarot hybrid it would work really well. You can buy it from the Zeppelinmoon Etsy page for £33.

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