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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).…
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Deck Review: Le Tarot Arthurien
I’ve been SO excited about the incredibly talented Ana Tourian having not one, but two, stunning looking decks coming out (as well as the touted second edition of the infamous Bonestone Earthflesh Tarot!) I’m happy to say I now have both of them in my collection, and they do not disappoint. Here I’m reviewing the gorgeous Tarot Arthurien* that Tourian illustrated in collaboration with creator Claire Duval – and Tourian’s new solo deck, The Tarot of Echoes, will be coming up for review soon! As you might have guessed, this deck is based on the legend(s) of King Arthur (particularly the works of the French poet Chrétien de Troyes), and…
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Deck Review: Sawyer’s Path Tarot
Prepare yourselves for some serious gushing because I really really really LOVE this deck, the Sawyer’s Path Tarot by Jamie Sawyer. It’s fun but it’s also deep. The art manages to be both quirky and cute, but strangely haunting and emotive. I first saw it on @tarottidbits78’s beautiful page and was like “oh noooooo” because I’d promised myself no more decks, especially not (understandably) expensive indie ones with international postage costs, but the minute I saw it I knew it HAD TO BE MINE! I bought it as a pair with the Tarot 336, and I also got the Tarot Transitions, but I’ll introduce them all separately, because they all have very different…
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Deck Review: The Prismatic Tarot
I’ve had this deck for over a year now, but I decided it was a good time to finally review it as the creator has launched a Kickstarter campaign for the second edition. This is a chance to get hold of a copy of this deck, which has been OOP for a while, so if you like it, now is your opportunity! I have the now sold-out first edition (which I am reviewing here), but the creator, Kelsey Showalter, has confirmed that there will be no major changes to the second edition, just some minor touch-ups, and a swap to more slippery cardstock to aid shuffling. The Deck: Look, Feel,…
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Deck Review: Green Glyphs Tarot
The Green Glyphs Tarot is part of the latest collection from legendary Tarot creator James R. Eads (he of Prisma Visions fame). I really like its simple style and muted palette; for some reason it reminds me of the 50’s art my grandparents used to be in to (and the overall G-Plan-chic vibe of their house when I was a little kid). Eads writes about how he created the Green Glyphs collection (there’s also a Lemonard and some Rune cards) to feel purposefully familiar. “It finds itself in your daily life. A yellow butterfly. A day old cup of coffee. The Sun. The Moon. You. Me. It’s all there, woven…
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Deck Review: The WayHome Tarot
I got the WayHome Tarot after it had sat on my wishlist for a little while. I was a bit uncertain about it, and now I own it I do find it a bit of a mixed bag. I feel some of Autumn Whitehurst‘s art, while gorgeous, is internally incongruent and it gives a haphazard vibe to the deck I don’t always connect to. But there are so many cards where the imagery is so clever that I am OBSESSED. Simple. Perfect. On point. You can tell the co-creator, Bakara Wintner, has a deep affinity with the message of the Tarot, and she has an uncanny knack for making difficult…
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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…
