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Deck Review: Divine Channels
The Divine Channels deck launched on Kickstarter when I was deep in the vortex of term time (those months when this blog lies fallow, like pretty much all of my hobbies!), so I would have totally missed it if I hadn’t spotted it on Bel Jones’ Insta page – and thank Bowie I did! I reached out to the artist and creator, Harley Hefford, and he had *one deck left* – so it seems like fate. I’m really hoping there’s a second print run at some point, so more of you can get your hands on this little beauty, because it’s an absolute cracker. (NB While I immeasurably grateful I…
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Deck Review: The Bon Sequitur Tarot Deck
Just look at this bright little bundle of joy! If the Bon Sequitur deck was music, it would be acid jazz: playful yet unexpectedly profound. And I knew the moment I saw it that I had to get my little (jazz) hands on it. Make no mistake, despite the exuberant, fun style and colours, this is not a lightweight (nor even particularly gentle) deck – it definitely doesn’t pull its punches. The Bon Sequitur was created by graphic artist and printmaker Zephyr Pfotenhauer in the aftermath of her husband’s sudden death. She describes the process of making the deck as a way to “build another life from the rubble of…
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Deck Review: The Alleyway Tarot
I own Publishing Goblin‘s first Kickstarter Tarot deck, The Alleyman’s Tarot, and, while it’s a bit unwieldy to work with, I still love it for reflection purposes, and for thinking about the ways different artists interpret the traditional card meanings. The guidebook is also a cracking read, as opposed to the normal fairly generic guff. So I didn’t hesitate in backing this new deck, The Alleyway Tarot, that follows the same principles as its predecessor. Each card in the deck is designed by a different artist, and the concept is that this is a ‘found’ deck, cobbled together with individual cards that ‘The Alleyman’ has magpied into his life over…
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Deck Review: Austin Osman Spare Tarot
One for the collectors and the Tarot-history enthusiasts is the Austin Osman Spare Tarot, which you can currently order via the publisher’s (Strange Attractor) website for £35. Being a skinflint Trying to control my Tarot addiction in a sensible manner, I only forked out for the deck when I backed the project on Kickstarter, so I didn’t get the accompanying book, Lost Envoy: The Tarot Deck of Austin Osman Spare, or the AOS Tarot Sourcebooks (How to Tell Fortunes by The Cards*, by Rapoza (1906), a key source for Spare’s Minor Arcana attributions, and The Tarot, by S. L. MacGregor Mathers (1888) from which he assigned his Major Arcana meanings). This…
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Deck Review: The Journey Tarot Deck
I’ve been a big fan of The Journey Tarot Deck by Teagan Michael Turner ever since its inception (you can see me raving about it on Kickstarter here and here), and now it finally exists in the physical world (and in my collection :-)) it does not disappoint. I will say off the bat that this is a pretty pricey deck, probably one of the more expensive ‘new’ decks in my collection (we won’t mention the painful amount of money I’ve spent acquiring some rare secondhand OOP gems, looking at you Bonestone!) However, you can tell the money has gone on the excellent production values (the box really is a…
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Deck Review: The Lacuna Tarot
This is a weird little deck (N.B. I got mine through Kickstarter, but you can now buy it from the creator’s Game Crafter page). I definitely would NOT recommend it for novice or inexperienced readers, or folks who prefer a straight-talking, to-the-point, traditional-type deck. Hell, I feel I’m a reasonably experienced Tarot reader by now, and I’m not sure I’d recommend it for me! None of this is to say I dislike this deck: I like it. But it’s a very personal deck; it’s basically like wandering into someone else’s brain while they’re in the process of giving a reading. Everything is veiled and imprecise, like the thoughts that flash…
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Deck Review: The Twice Told Tarot
I fell in love with the Twice Told Tarot when I saw it on Kickstarter last year, and immediately backed it. Created by Travis McHenry, alongside artist David Scaglione, its quirky style really appealed to me. Unfortunately the Kickstarter was cancelled – boo. But then the deck was included as a possible add-on to McHenry’s next project, the True Oracle of Nostradamus – hooray! So I bought the TOoN just to get my hands on the Twice Told Tarot (as I thought that would be the only way to get hold of a copy). Turns out you can currently pick up a copy via the Bloodstone Studios online store –…
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Deck Review: Tarot of the Crystal World
One of the most recent Kickstarter decks to land in my hot little hands is this amazingly weird creation from the genius brain of Brooke Penrose. The creator describes the Crystal World as “the world reborn inside a fun-house mirror”, and that ‘beautiful-freak’ air permeates the whole deck. It really is just brilliantly odd. Part unsettling, part hugely up-lifting. The aesthetic is quite Country & Western (more than anything else, it feels like a deck a fortune teller would be using in one of my sadly missed favourite TV shows, Carnivale), and the colours are very muted. Almost sludgy; bruise coloured; the sky right before a storm – which I’m…
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Deck Review: The Wyrd of Sarah Howard
Ever since The Wyrd of Sarah Howard reached me from half a world away a couple of weeks ago I have been OBSESSED. Like, totally head over heels in love. The artist and creator, Gabi Angus-West, recently did a small reprint of this previously out-of-print Oracle Deck. I spotted it on Fairlight Tarot‘s Instagram feed when they posted about receiving their deck, and it was like that bit in movies where the camera zooms in on the love interest and everything slows down and goes all glow-y and shiny swimmy. It was very unexpected, because I am not an Oracle person at all. I have two Oracle decks (as opposed…
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Deck Review: I Am The Artist Tarot by Sakki-Sakki
My most recent deep dive was into the ‘I Am The Artist’ Tarot by Monicka Clio Sakki. I love the OG Sakki Sakki Tarot, but by the time I got into Tarot it was already out of print, and second hand copies were $$$ 🥵. So I was super excited when the creator announced she was doing a second (revised) edition. It’s such bright, beautiful, joyous deck! Also: hooray, Spring is here and I can photograph with proper flowers in my garden/local park again! The deck comes with a thick, paperback sized guidebook, Playing With Symbols, that gives plenty of detail on each card, as well as an overall guide to…
