Dark Wood Tarot

Yes the card-stock could be better. This is published by Llewellyn. Unless this is your first tarot deck you have purchased from Llewellyn or you suffer from the same unfortunate condition that inflicted Guy Pearce in "Memento", this should not be a surprise. The artwork is stunning, macabre, fun and simply fabulous. Abigail Larsen has a style that is one part Disney, one part Don Bluth, with a twit of The Addams Family and an altogether spark of magic that make it uniquely hers. My god, I love the artwork! The book by Sasha Graham is insightful, well researched and truly creative. I love the focus on the shadow. Most of the cards feature women, and I am a man but instantly bonded with this deck. It gets me. The court is perfection and both the majors and minors are fully fleshed out and detailed. The Six of Pentacles has to be my favorite incarnation of this card ever. Period. I am not counting the cardstock as a drawback, as again it is consistent to this publisher. I am not going to fault the talented artist and author for this and feel deducting stars for this is an absolute disservice to these two talented women. My sole complaint is that on the title page for each card in the book there are four different fonts used, which makes it seem rather amateurish, but that is such a small complaint This deck is creative, different and absolutely beautiful. If you want to explore the dark in a fun way, love Halloween or just have a soft spot for the macabre and spooky you will adore this deck.

This deck is so slept on. I rarely hear about any other tarot readers using it nor do I see it in pictures, which is a shame, because the scenes are so lush and gorgeous. There's a dark, sensual, even erotic fairy tale vibe to this deck that lends itself very well to those who use tarot for writing. Of course, it works great outside of that, too, but I bought this deck with writing in mind and was not disappointed. The cards are quite thin, so be aware of that. I know lots of readers don't like cards of this weight because they bend easily, but I actually enjoy thin cards because of their ease of use and shuffling. I've never handled cards heavily, so I don't have much issues with bends or tears. Thus, no stars removed for me, though I understand why others might have docked it for that. The accompanying paperback book is high quality, full color print and very helpful as a guide to this particular deck. All in all, I'm very glad I decided to get this deck.

Beautiful deck! Upon arrival, I lit a sage bundle and waved each card through the smoke while greeting it and introducing myself- then I left the deck to cleanse again in the light of a full moon. For me, this deck is spot on! Albeit it does enjoy playing a little joke on me with some answers. Artwork is beautiful with many ways to interpret the image based on who is reading. Cards are a bit thin, one peeled a corner on a shuffle but it doesn’t make me love them any less. Included book is a perfect companion, showing a large image of each card, offering some lore then giving two meanings- upright and inverted. Of course every single thing is subject to the reader but this is a fantastic guide for beginners and experienced readers as well. Treat them kindly and they will respond accordingly.

Lovely deck. Comes in a big box. Colors are grounding

I absolutely love this deck. I have it set aside for a deep dive this coming month and can't wait to really dive into each card. The quality is good, though I do prefer matte cards, these have a nice thickness to them and seem like they should hold up fairly well. The guide book is AMAZING. As someone who does not read reversals, having the shadow meaning of each card really help me push my readings farther.

I just received these cards today and was so excited to open them! They come with a beautiful huge box that holds them, the box is a bit shallow so the cards wont stay after opening nicely. The guide book is massive informationative and full color im excited to read it more but the cards! Oh laaawdy they are BEAUTIFUL! I connected with them instantly! The artwork is on point with almost every card theres a few im a bit meh on one is 4 of wands. Which is celebration union and happiness which should be a bright happy card but its very dark and kinda gloomy troll like critter but im still incredibly happy with them! They have great imagery and have enough other items to not just focus on just the main element. Now for some reason i have a niche for shadow work cards my other absolute favorite deck is the shadowlight deck think campy tim burtonesqe photos with a splash of whimsy they are my go to deck, these are a VERY close second now. Now there is a few cons though as people have stated the cardstock is flimsy and the edges do fry easily so beware there you need to be gentle with these gems which is why no 5 star rating. But i adore them they are my new babies and im over the moon about them. Ive already done a few readings and everyone has gasped ooohed and aaahed on how accurate the reading is. They would be good for beginners the photos are clear mostly as stated above the suits are labeled clearly the cards speak loudly and call you out accordingly the guide book is detailed and gorgeous! Im highly satisfied with my purchase and these will definitely be in my bag along with my shadowlight ones just incase anyone wants a reading <3

I was instantly in love with these cards. I had been admiring the art work for a long time but was put off by some of the negative reviews about the card stock quality, but the images are so, so gorgeous and the text is so detailed that I don't care if the cards end up fraying. I'll handle them carefully. I did a whole spread and I am familiar with some of the standard readings of these cards but the book added SO MUCH MORE to each and every card. I was just floored. The 9 of cups is one of my favorite cards and the book had unexpected meaning that I've been taking to heart since I got this deck. The box it came in is large and very pretty but I didn't like the way the cards sat nestled in the center. Once you unwrap them from their plastic I wouldn't trust that box for storage because they'll slide around. I have this similar complaint about other decks that are shipped in boxes like that-I always find a different way to store them that is more personal. I am storing these cards wrapped in paper, in a velvety pouch, inside a wooden box to show it extra love. I absolutely recommend this deck if you're drawn to the artwork and willing to take the extra steps to care for the cards. I don't think that the negative comments are justification enough to overlook these beautiful cards.

It looks so good… i don’t know what to say. It just so good. I thought the box must be small at first

I adore anything and everything created by Sasha Graham, my only criticism is that the cards aren’t big enough to do the gorgeous and detailed art justice. The accompanying book is stunning. I’m hoping an Oracle deck is in the works as the. The cards will be bigger.

The illustrations are really nice, the painting is good too, the cover and the guide book are also a plus! The diss appointment part is that the cards are too thin.

I ordered these on sale, because it was a steal and came at a very serendipitous time for me. But when I received the item, it was only the deck of cards and not the guide book as displayed in the images and other reviews. As the other reviews stated, the cards are rather small and thin, thus not doing the art justice, and without the guide book, for me it really takes away from the functionality of the item. I was however able to get a full refund to my discounted price from the lovely support agent without returning my already thoroughly cleansed cards - but unfortunately was not able to receive the guide book at this time and will be forced to look for it through a third party or pdf. Another side note being that the hardcover variant is in French, which someone who is not observant might miss, and to South African buyers that would be quite useless unless you were of that lingual ability. All in all i’m happy with my cards, just wish i had the beautiful book to go along with it without having to now go elsewhere and pay extra for what i thought was a full package deal.

¡Es oscuramente hermoso! Esta baraja es bastante intuitiva, sus ilustraciones cuentan una historia y su interpretación llega fácil. Sin contar con la super guía que trae, es bastante única. No es la típica baraja, no es un cuento de hadas lindo, es oscura. Tome eso en cuenta. Estoy bastante contenta de tener este mazo conmigo. ❤ Esta baraja te invita a adentrarte al oscuro bosque y ver sus profundidades, a conocer sus más oscuros secretos y, quien sabe, a encontrarte a ti mismo. Pero... ¿eres lo suficiente valiente para ir allí? Sumamente increíble y precioso. Llego justo a la fecha indicada, como siempre. Lo único malo es que la caja me llegó un poco golpeada, pero nada que no afecte su uso.

Such a well thought out and well executed deck + book. Well written and goes deep, provides excellent journaling questions, and provides a (possibly) new angles to at least some of the cards. I've had it for a short period of time but I've already learnt quite a lot and it has expanded my understanding of tarot. And myself. The large, full page size color images in the book, just a gem!!!