Tarot of the Magical Forest

I’ve wanted Tarot of the Magical Forest for a long while.  I love the charming art- but the big thing with so many of the Lo Scarabeo decks for me is the representation of 5 languages on the cards.  As an aspiring polyglot, this is a huge draw for me.  So needless to say, I would *never* trim these borders like so many do.  I understand not everyone cares about the languages, but it’s helpful to me in learning as well as just seeing it and feeling that worldwide kinship with Tarot.  I also like the Lo Scarabeo card dimensions.

The cheap tuck boxes are my only Lo Scarabeo gripe.  I actually do like the card stock.  A lot of people hate it.  I’m only reading cards for myself though, and I *never* riffle shuffle- so my decks don’t get the kind of use as those owned by people who read for others regularly.

My favorites from the Tarot of the Magical Forest- an owl as The Priestess, just LOVE that!  Kangaroos for The Sun card, giving us a depiction away from the typical naked human baby that gives some people the creeps.  I just dig The Stars card, period.  The Strength card is lovely!  And the Ace of Pentacles really stood out to me because it’s the only Ace in the deck with a paw coming out of the cloud ❤️

Long post on my over 20 year hiatus from Tarot and excitement to begin again...

When I started reading Tarot back in 1992, things were different. You couldn’t find all the neat decks that are out there today, and there was no online community. Most of the time all you found were people steeped in their own hard fast “this is the only way” belief-system (i.e. someone must buy/gift your first deck). I bought my own.

Although I have always been attracted to what I call the 3 Cs (cards, crystals, and candles)- the crystals and candles have been more so for “setting the stage”. Not to say I’m putting on a show, but to give me the surroundings to be in the zone. This isn’t a religious thing for me. I’m not too ritualistic with this stuff- I practice *secular witchcraft*, very basically- a descriptor people weren’t using 27 years ago. I do put stock into the meanings of crystals for various reasons, but that’s another topic. I’ve learned even today there are a lot of people who say you can’t believe in more than one thing, but I believe in TONS of different things. No matter the issue someone else has in how I practice and believe, it changes nothing for me. I’m an Episcopalian... but I believe bigger than that. I’m not going to choose one side when there’s far more than one side to me as a person. I can’t shake my beliefs and just pick one thing so someone else will be satisfied. I’m not going to follow the pagan world blindly just as I won’t follow the Christian world blindly.

I appreciate other paths and I respect how other people approach things. But I would never say my way is the only way. I’ve noticed even in this community, you have the same kinds of mindsets found in judgy Christian spheres. In my 20s there was an older lady who worked with me who was very new agey- one day she saw my crystal pendant and told me I HAD to put it under my shirt or else it was vulnerable to soaking in everyone else’s energy and would put me at risk. She was over the top about it. But how does that make any sense when many of us where crystals as bracelets and rings? It doesn’t.

Everywhere I turned there were people spouting all the “wrong ways” and it seemed they were pointing at me- I was frustrated, and I’m sure it influenced my loss of interest in Tarot. That and the fact that the card imagery left a lot to be desired. Again, not enough variety. Mostly I could only find Tarot in major bookstores, but even then you were lucky if you found two different kinds. I was in the Marines and stationed in North Carolina at the time- hardly the hub for such things. Since I found myself stressing with certain card imagery, it wasn’t hard to couple that with overly critical people and then just put my stuff in a box and leave it. I’d read only for myself- and just for about 5 years.

I had no superstition attached to my way. I’d always felt strongly (and still do) that when I got a deck of cards, they were immediately mine and didn’t need a ceremony to make them so. The only thing I needed to do was handle them a lot and get to know their images.

People can touch my cards, but they can’t shuffle them. I’m only concerned with keeping them in good physical shape- no fear in getting other people’s “energy” on them.

I don’t read reversals- TONS of people don’t. You don’t have to. I think the cards have plenty of interpretations upright as it is. I think that reversals can trigger anxiety in people and it’s just not necessary. I think it also makes things confusing for some. And simply, this isn’t something you have to do. That being said- read reversals everyday and twice on Sunday if that’s your deal.

I’ve never slept with Tarot cards under my pillow. I don’t cleanse them in the moonlight, nor do I sage them. I have a deck on my nightstand and a couple cards out from another deck as focal points to help bring certain things to fruition. But that’s it.

Today, you can find hundreds and hundreds of different decks. It is absolutely possible to find themes you are comfortable with. You can find a deck of cards that allow you to do a reading and not freak out over anything that pops up. Not to say we don’t need to deal with our truths, but we can do that without the metaphorical jarring stab some decks give. We can also choose to use those decks when we feel that’s what we need.

So, now I have a full arsenal of cards that I can reach for no matter what angle I’m coming from, and I also have a community of people who are also secular witches. Countless other people just like me who use Tarot for the (mostly) psychological approach. Cards mirroring what you’re thinking and helping you reconcile those thoughts and personal trials. I am constantly pleasantly surprised when I learn someone I’m following on social media also comes from a secular standpoint. At the same time some of my favorites are those who *do* come from a religious, spiritual, magical direction.

I’m just glad there’s not only a place for the likes of me these days- but so many others who have this very point of view.

*****

All of this being said, this does not mean that I discount the magical world. It does not mean that I discount psychics. I have my own “abilities” but I don’t talk about them widely. They are raw, not honed, and hardly skilled. I have nothing to teach others on that specific topic and can’t even make them work “on demand”. While that's all true- I still feel strong in what I am capable of. It’s my personal journey. I just wanted to add that- because I can sense eventually someone is going to call me hypocritical. Not at all. It’s just that like Walt Whitman- “I am large, I contain multitudes”.

The Dark Mansion Tarot!

I don't know if I can adequately find the words to express and explain The Dark Mansion Tarot.  I also wholeheartedly realize these things are subjective.  So, do understand that I am a person who loves this art-style and vibrant color pallet.  I obviously got it because it is a Tarot deck, but I find myself at times solely zeroing in on the artistry aside from that.  Such clarity, such resolution, how in the world did they capture this quality of color on these cards?  It's far more than I imagined with watching people's YouTube reviews and social media image uploads.  It's like the wonder of the Yankee Candle company capturing the ocean in a scent, so utterly succinctly. 

My son is colorblind, and last year we got him Enchroma colorblind glasses for Christmas.  When he got them, we went straight to the movies to see "Spider-Man:  Into the Spider-Verse", because those reds in the movie he would see for the first time in such a way.  I thought about that when looking at this deck.  People getting Enchroma glasses should look at the deck without and without the glasses to see how incredibly they pop.

Sure the art-style is reminiscent of Tim Burton, but also the style you find in the Coraline cartoon, The Tale of Despereaux, and many others beyond and even before Burton that play with proportion in animation- there's a name for this and I can't seem to think of it.  Aside from style- the genre slides form Victorian to Steampunk, and Gothic.  A visual delight to be sure.

Whatever your optical magnetism, I hope you find it in your perfect Tarot deck.  This one is a surefire winner for anyone who adores the same kinds of things I do.  The quality is visual, physical, and mental/intuitive (as far as reading them goes).  I recommend them in SPADES.  #cartomancyreferenceonfleek

Impatience

Can I just reiterate how exited I am to get a The Dark Mansion Tarot???  I only have one other indie deck, and it was a gift from a friend- The Golden Thread (I love that one as well).

I just never thought I’d be able to get this.  I’m coming back to Tarot at a really tight financial time.  My husband gave me the money to order it for my birthday from his second job.  We really should not have done it.   But man... this is really one hell of a gift.  It’s pretty funny too because it’s not like I haven’t had gifts in my life that we’re far more valuable monetarily-speaking.   But independent decks don’t sell forever, and I’ve never had the absolute magnetism to any other deck as I have with this one.  I can tell even before it’s in my hands that I will regard it as one of my prized possessions.

And so I wait... it’s in the mail.  And mail from Poland is a bastard of an interval.

Gender balance in decks, for *me*.

I’ve never been into the goddess or angel decks- for these reasons... I really like decks to be balanced with both men and women- because the world has *both* men and women in it.  If the cards are to reflect things happening in our world, I want a deck to reflect the differences I deal with. 

I am a married woman with an adult son.  What’s happening in my personal world has more chances to deal with men than women - so I want to see both represented in my cards... getting the clearest picture is best for me.

This isn’t to say people can’t choose otherwise for whatever their needs may be.  And it’s also true I have a few animal decks where it’s ambiguous at times.  But I prefer ambiguous than a one-gendered deck.  It has nothing to do with me being adverse to female empowerment.  Of course I empower women and want to be empowered myself- but in the wide, wide world of life, we are all in this together, influencing and impacting everything that happens.  I want to keep my interpretations of the cards available to more than one thing.  Visuals go a long way with me being able to come to the best conclusions.  And if visuals weren’t important...we would have Tarot at all.  

Observation

What I want the most out of a journey with being a card reader- is growing in that gift.  I do find one of the biggest topics in many online social groups is the number of decks a person has.  More of a collection thing than a reader thing.  I may even seem a bit guilty as my first post here listed what I’d gotten so far.  I do want to be clear that collecting isn’t my goal or purpose.  I like getting new cards with the idea new visuals can spark more within me,  but that’s really it.  I have a list of things I want, sure... but I really want to talk about how those decks make me feel and what they conjure and bring to the surface.  I don’t want this to be about “shopping” and keeping up with who has what.  I want to go deep- not be shallow.  This isn’t to say all collectors are shallow... I am just not into some of the vibe I get.  I mean, Kelly from The Truth In Story has a big catalog of her own cards, but she truly assesses them beyond the surface on her YouTube channel.

Learning personalities in the Tarot community...

Over the summer when I decided to get back into Tarot after so long - I started googling for decks.  I found The Dark Mansion Tarot before I knew it was a big deal in the card community.  I had no idea how popular it was, although it didn’t surprise me.

After a couple months of binge-watching Tarot YouTubers, I learned which decks were the most commonly adored, which ones I wanted to own someday, and which ones I had no desire for.

The Fountain Tarot, The Wild Unknown, The Spiral Tarot, The Naked Heart Tarot- big deals among the masses... but not even a tinge of interest from me.  I feel like I should be ducking tomatoes, here.  And my beloved, coveted The Dark Mansion?  Lots of love out there- yet a couple of my favorite YouTubers were not too impressed with it.

I started to learn more about personalities and decks.  I wondered if readers size each other up based on the kinds of decks they use? Some do!  Some people even call into question the actual ability to read with decks they find to be “cutesy”.  I thought about the people who would question me and my Tarot journey in using the kinds of decks that attract me.  In the Tarot Nerds Facebook group- someone posted about people using cute decks as if they had a problem and couldn't be taken seriously.  Needless to say it started getting heated and the comments were disabled for review after a bit of back and forth and rising smoke.

Within every circle of life- as much as people seem to be cut from the same cloth, we all still have our own style and way of being.  While it may seem frustrating to some- I'm settling into it being fascinating.  I'm okay with being me!