“Enter a world at the edge of the senses, a dreamscape barely reachable by the mind.” – Nathalie Hertz
My first encounter with the Fantastical Tarot was after taking a “Which Tarot Card Are You?” online quiz. The automatic results generated The Moon, which was supposedly “my” card based on my answers.
Intrigued by the mesmerizing image, I decided to buy this deck based on that card, as well as an online review displaying six cards from the Fantastical Tarot.
Unfortunately, that site shows six of the most attractive cards in the deck!
After getting this deck from Amazon, I was greatly disappointed at the bizarre imagery. For example, the insectile The High Priestess has a horizontally elongated face, which makes her look like the queen of an alien race. The eye-less faces of all the humanoids are disconcerting, as is the literal rendering of The Hanged Man.
Granted, there are some attractive cards in this deck—including Death, The Tower, 9 of Cups and, yes, The Moon. I also love the star-filled indigo sky behind each of the Knights.
However, the over-exaggerated bone structure and eyeless sockets of the humanoids is a bit too bizarre for me.
When I first opened the Fantastical Tarot, I noticed that there were gold flecks of paint on some of the cards. There is a dull gold border on these glossy cards (not gilt edging, mind you—actual borders) and I assumed the small chunks I found were merely remnants from the factory.
To my surprise, as I shuffled them for the first time, I realized that this “flaking” was actually paint peeling from the borders! From ONE shuffle, some of the cards now have spotted borders (as if water got to them) because the golden paint has flecked off!
The LWB that accompanies the Fantastical Tarot is decent, providing brief upright and reversed meanings. The card backing is fully reversible and has a surprisingly attractive motif: a pale double-imaged dragon with soft blue and green highlights with an indigo background.
If you’re into anime and comic-book fantasy art, you may very well like Fantastical Tarot. For me, I feel the Universal Fantasy Tarot is a MUCH better fantasy deck; in fact, that deck is one of the most beautiful that I own!
Below are 10 images from this deck:
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Content copyright © by Janet Boyer. All rights reserved. This review was written by Janet Boyer. If you wish to use this content in any manner, you need written permission.
