Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #25741 in Books
• Published on: 2007-12-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 78
• Binding: Cards
• 78 pages

Customer Reviews

Excellent newly published deck, maybe not for everyone
This deck is newly printed (Summer 2008) as a mass market deck: some initial problems with supply seem to have been experienced although in my opinion this shouldn't panic anyone into parting with more than the list price for this deck. Amazon have had supplies both in the UK and in the US although they seem to be coming in fairly small batches at the time of writing and seem to be selling fast.

The Deviant Moon is a highly imaginative and well thought out deck set in a strange world. Both Majors and Minors are fully illustrated and anyone familiar with the Rider-Waite-Smith tradition will find the deck readable straight out of the box. The LWB offers short descriptions and key words specific to the deck. The cards are full of rich detail and this makes for a good reading deck. Some people (not all) find the images in this deck very dark and I would recommend that anyone considering purchase goes to the deck's website beforehand to read more about the deck and to view some of the cards.

It is a great deck and deserves a place in your deck collection. I'm not sure I would recommend it as your only deck since some of the images could be disturbing to some..... but go and have a look at some more cards to decide for yourself.

A dark delight
Firstly, I have to agree with the reviewer before me.
"Maybe not for everyone" is a very accurate, although slightly negative, tag line. This deck is beautiful in a dark, pleasantly-disturbing and surreal way, but to my view, that is where the appeal lies.

Patrick Valenza writes that the "Deviant Moon Tarot sets imaginative characters and evocative tarot imagery against moonlight backdrops. The stunning surreal artwork illuminates the darker side of the psyche and reveals the depths of human consciousness.", and this is precisely what it does.

The cards are standard size, and nicely coated with the promise of some usage. Attractively boxed, with a 10-card spread (paper) mat, and the usual accompanying book describing the meanings, with the addition of an insightful prologue sharing the inspirations of the artist and how the deck was created.

I haven't spent any respectable amount of time, since I purchased this item, using it, but on the occasions that I have, I found it easier to draw darker conclusions than I usually do from the Rider-Waite, or my other, lighter, decks. However, that said (and I'll admit that the imagery does help you to think like that), it gave me no reason to suggest it wasn't totally accurate. For a semi-abstract deck, it is both evocative and readable, which are the two major factors in tarot design.

Definitely worth your money, if only for the artwork.

Strange, bizarre and beautiful
This is a strange and beautiful deck, which, although it largely follows the Rider-Waite-Smith conventions (though Justice is 8 and Strength 11), brings new meanings to the cards. The artwork is grotesque and surreal; the backgrounds created largely through extreme photo-manipulation featuring images of cemeteries and abandoned buildings, with of the characters having started out as sketches to which manipulated textures have been applied.

Many of the characters have a strange double face, one side of the face is in profile while the other side looks straight out (think full moon/crescent moon) - difficult to describe but very striking to look at. Characters sometimes have extra or missing limbs, The Empress has three breasts, Death is pregnant, and the figure in the Nine of Pentacles has a wheel instead of a foot...

The level of detail is amazing: the more you look, the more there is to see. The misery of poverty is brought to new heights in the facial expression of the figure in the Five of Pentacles, and in the Three of Swords there's an almost knowing look in the eye of the figure transfixed by three swords: is she suddenly aware of what is happening, or is she, perhaps, playing up to her situation calculatingly looking for sympathy?

The Little White Book is good as far as it goes, but the deck really needs the book that Patrick Valenza is working on. Meanings are given for reversals, and the backs of the cards give no hint of whether the card is upright or reversed.

I wouldn't recommend this deck to a beginner as much of its imagery is quite dark and unconventional, but for a more experienced tarotist this deck has a great deal to offer.