October 2016 saw the release of another innovative deck, by Nora Huszka & Steph Engert. The Starlight Dragon Tarot, a 79 card-deck inspired by dragons, stands out due to a strong elemental orientation and surprising art and shapes. With a name like that you’d expect the motherload in fiery breath creatures and scales, but that isn’t the case. The Starlight…
Uusi is renowned for their creative playing cards, but with the Pagan Otherworlds Tarot they’ve really conquered the world of divination. After falling in love with the examples shown on their Kickstarter campaign, I pledged and followed the deck’s progress on Instagram. I think I have been gushing and drooling over practically every card. Which makes this review a difficult one: can Pagan Otherworlds Tarot live up to the expectation or will I hear that record screeching in my mind?
When this deck came out, I was a bit ‘intimidated’ by it. I’m an analytical person up to a point, but when it comes to tarot I usually work with the art too. At first sight that seemed like an impossibility with the Orbifold Tarot. A deck that ‘just’ has orbs and is focused on numbers and elements. And then there was the mathematical inspiration behind it… However, here I am now: with a review on the Orbifold Tarot by Michael Bridge-Dickinson. Are first impressions correct or not?
Combine comic book artist Rex van Ryn, English history and Magic. What do you get? Red/Wheel Weiser’s newest tarot deck: English Magic Tarot. The deck uses a theme never used before (Magick throughout English history) in a dynamic graphic novel drawing style. And -here’s the kicker for everyone interested in something extra original: every card holds secrets to a puzzle. I got the chance to see if I could fit the pieces together and test this divination tool.
Sometimes I think I am on social media too much, but then I find a gem like this and think ‘Nah…’. The Filligree Tarot is a Disney-look deck without the cloyingly sweet overlay and -hopefully- meanings.
From what I have seen so far Teo Hoble, the artist behind the “work in progress”, really tries to embed the deck not only into a decent tarot system (RWS), but makes the court cards more approachable by depicting them as their ‘possible job’ or…