Wildwood Tarot

This is a pretty cool deck - the imagery is inspired by Germanic and Norse folk beliefs and practices, which is something I've become very interested in pursuing myself. The cards are oversized - about 3×5“, which makes them harder for me to shuffle.

The book that accompanies this deck is thorough and explores the philosophy behind the deck and the group of men who designed it. I will note something here, though - the author goes out of his way to connect the images and symbolism of the cards to the leftist ideological and spiritual worldview, particularly in emphasizing the damage wicked humans have caused to the planet, and in attempting to globalize the archetypes and ideals depicted by the cards. I would love a different, less “woke” book for this deck.

My biggest beef with this deck is the art style, which is very well-done but has a comic book feel to it because of the heavy outlining throughout the illustrations. The artwork is still quite good, though, and it doesn't detract enough from the deck to keep me from reading with it. In fact, I found myself reading more intuitively than I ever have before, which was surprising and interesting.

The print quality is very good. I dislike that the numbered suit cards include reference words printed next to the card name. The imagery in these cards is complete, and the suggested correlations detract from reading intuitively and with the subconscious mind. I ended up using correction tape to cover up the captions on the numbered suit cards. I haven't decided if I'm going to leave it that way, but for now I think I prefer it.

The book is nicely bound, but the box is pretty terrible. The cards are divided into two stacks, placed in a molded plastic tray, similar to what you'd see with a board or tabletop game. I would have much preferred the standard magnetic-box closure Llewellyn uses when their decks are packaged with large books.