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Deck Review: The Erenberg Tarot
I seem to be on a bit of a massmarket deck buying spree lately – there have just been so many fab new releases! My heart will always belong to Kickstarter, but it’s such a joy when interesting, layered decks become available at more affordable prices. My latest massmarket acquisition is the Erenberg Tarot by artist and designer Steve Erenberg, and, to the surprise of no one, I’ve got lots to say about it 😂. The deck is essentially a little lovesong to his bestie, the late Stuart R. Kaplan, founder of U.S. Games. The two spent decades “travelling the world together, exploring every antique shop and flea market along…
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Deck Review: The Tempest Tarot Deck
I hesitated before buying the Tempest Tarot Deck, as it’s a little too Pippish to be ‘fully me’, but, in the end, the gorgeous and intuitive art won me over. I’m also a nautical girl through and through. It was me and Mr TarotCake’s lifelong dream to live by the sea, and two years ago we made it a reality when we moved to sunny Southsea. We now live about a 12 minute walk from the beach, and I cannot tell you the wonders it has done for my mental health! There’s something about the sea – its limitless possibility, its hidden depths and luminous horizons – that makes everything…
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Deck Review: The Unveiled Tarot
I don’t often buy mass market decks these days, as I try to save my Tarot budget to support indie creators on Kickstarter, but occasionally one comes along that catches my eye, and the Unveiled Tarot was just that. The first thing I’ll say is this is one DARK deck. Like, dark dark. Mother’s-going-to-lock-us-in-the-cellar-and-feed-us-pins dark. Deep, dark, truthful, uncomfortable, almost abrasive at times. It doesn’t have that ‘I’m gonna kick your (metaphysical) teeth in’ vibe that some of my other ‘Dark Decks’ have right off the bat (e.g. the Nigredo Tarot, the Manny Garza Tarot Deck, the Tarot Restless, the Cursed Auguries Tarot). It’s not that obvious darkness. No, this…
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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 Craft Felt Tarot
It’s a lovely, bright, sunshiney day in Southsea, so it seems like a good day to review this lovely, bright, sunshiney deck – The Craft Felt Tarot by crafter and creator Gianna Lucci. The Craft Felt Tarot is a 78-card deck made from photographs of the creator’s original craft felt designs. The texturing and brightness of the images is really amazing – I can’t believe I’m not holding something 3D (well, I mean, obviously I technically am holding something 3D, it’s just a very flat 3D thing, whereas it feels like it should be a fully chonky 3D thing, so, you know what I mean 😂…) The colours are SO…
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Deck Review: The Ex-Lovers Tarot
Having previously reviewed a fairly intense deck, the light, healing, whimsical energy of The Ex-Lovers Tarot was very welcome! Designed and created by ex-lovers Naama Noach and Nadav Machete, the deck was a way to collaborate and reconnect after their break-up, “proving that sometimes the magic happens after the relationship is over”. Noach writes about how their separation “became a pivotal moment that propelled each of us on an individual path of discovery and growth… much like the Fool’s journey through the Tarot cards”. As someone who has maintained friendships with most of my exes (I had four of them as guests at my wedding!) the whole ethos of this…
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Deck Review: Fat Folks Tarot
I feel like I’ve been waiting aaaaaaages for this deck (its Kickstarter campaign finished on 01/02/23), so I’m very excited to finally have it in my chubby little paws. It is, of course, the second (and final) edition of the Fat Folks Tarot. The creating team note that, while Tarot is “meant to depict the entire realm of human experience”, many people have been left out of the imagery in traditional tarot decks, including fat people. Historically, as one of the co-creators, Cassandra Snow points out, when we see fat people in Tarot they are associated either with “gluttony or motherhood”. And that’s it. That’s all we get. So here…
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Deck Review: The Light Seer’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: Broken Mirror Tarot (5th Ed.)
Ah, the Broken Mirror Tarot… This deck, created by Sengia, was the first deck I ordered and didn’t imediately love (and the first Kickstarter Deck I had Backers’ Remorse over once it arrived!), and, after having it in my collection for two years, and working with it a fair bit, I’m still largely ambivalent about it. To start with, there is nothing particularly adventurous about any of the symbolism in this deck – it’s a pretty faithful RWS clone. There’s nothing wrong with that per se, I have plenty of RWS clones that I adore, including literal frame by frame re-craftings (like Jamie Sawyer’s stunning 1909 RWS Sawyer’s Redux Edition).…
