First Impressions

I didn’t instantly love this deck. And I think that’s important to say, because a lot of people do. When I first picked it up, my first reaction was a little bit unenthused.

But a lot of that is because of what I personally like. I love lots of color in a tarot deck, whereas I feel this deck is very stripped back. Lots of black and white and muted colors, and then just animals (which I actually love). No big scene, nothing dramatic happening. And because I like something a bit more visually engaging, something that pulls you in straight away. This deck wasn’t really doing that for me.

It felt a bit… plain. But the more I used it, the more I realised that’s actually part of why it works. Because there’s less going on visually, I found myself paying more attention than I normally would. With other decks, especially ones with a lot of colour and detail, it’s easy to just take it in quickly and move on. But with this, there’s not really anything to hide behind. So I ended up noticing smaller things.

The shape of it, how balanced it felt, whether it looked calm or a bit tense. Things I probably wouldn’t have picked up on if there was more going on in the image. And weirdly, that’s what makes it work. It slows you down just enough to actually look at the card properly, instead of jumping straight to what you think it means.And I think this is where I started to understand the deck a bit more.

There were times where I’d pull a card, look at it for a few seconds, and it would just land straight away. Nothing complicated, just a very clear:

“Yeah… that makes sense”

And then other times, I’d look at a card and just sit there like:

“I could take this a few different ways” And none of them felt like the obvious one. At first I thought that was a problem. But the more I used it, the more I realized it’s just how the deck works. It doesn’t really push you in one direction.

It kind of just shows you something and leaves you with it. I noticed as well that the more I tried to force a meaning, the worse it got. Like if I sat there thinking:

“What’s this supposed to mean?” I wouldn’t really get much from it.

But if I just looked at it and paid attention to whatever stood out first, it felt a lot more natural. It’s a bit weird to explain, but it’s almost like the answer is there straight away… you just have to not overthink it. And I’m definitely someone who overthinks things, so that took a minute to get used to. So yeah, I wouldn’t say it’s a deck that guides you. It’s more like it gives you something simple and then just waits to see what you do with it. And depending on the day, that either works really well… or you kind of wish it would just tell you.

What I Like About The Deck

It’s easy to connect with (when it clicks)

When this deck works, it feels really straightforward. There were times where I’d pull a card, look at it for a few seconds, and just think:

“Yeah, that’s exactly what this is about” No overthinking, no having to search through the meanings book, it just made sense in the moment. But it wasn’t like that every time, which I think is important to say.

The Guidebook

The guidebook that comes with it is actually amazing as well. It goes a lot deeper than I expected.

Instead of just giving you a quick meaning and moving on, it properly breaks things down. You’ve got more to work with if you want to understand the card on a deeper level, rather than just relying on your first reaction.

I didn’t use it loads once I got comfortable with the deck, but early on it definitely helped fill in the gaps when a card didn’t land straight away. It’s one of those guidebooks that feels worth having, rather than something you look at once and forget about.

It makes you rely on your own reaction

What stood out to me is how quickly it forces you to stop looking for “the meaning.”

With other decks, you can fall back on what you already know. With this, there’s not really anywhere to go except your first reaction. You look at the card and it’s more like:

“What do I think about this?” And whatever comes up first tends to be the reading.

It feels very clean and focused

And obviously as you can guess by now, there’s no clutter in these cards. It’s one image, placed very deliberately, and that’s it.

I actually started to appreciate that more the longer I used it, because it keeps the reading focused. You’re not jumping between symbols or trying to piece things together, you’re just dealing with what’s right in front of you.

It has a very specific feel to it

There’s a kind of calm, slightly serious tone to the whole deck.

It’s hard to explain exactly, but it feels a bit more emotional than I expected. Not in an over-the-top way, just more grounded. It doesn’t try to make things feel better or worse than they are, it just shows them as they are.

Court Cards as Animals

One thing I really like about this deck is how it handles the court cards. Instead of people, you’ve got animals. And it’s not random either, it actually lines up in a way that makes sense.

For example, snakes are tied to Wands. And I love that, because Wands are all about action, drive, doing something… and snakes naturally carry that sense of movement. But at the same time, snakes also represent transformation.

So you’ve kind of got both ideas working together. It’s not just “take action,” it’s more like:

this action is what changes you

That extra layer makes the cards feel a bit more thought-through, rather than just swapping people for animals for the sake of it.

What I Didn’t Like About The Deck

It can feel a bit empty at times

Obviously from what I liked about the deck, there is also the other side where there were definitely moments where I wanted just a bit more to go off. Sometimes I’d pull a card and think:

“Is that all I’m getting here?”

And if I wasn’t fully feeling things, that’s where it could fall flat. Because if your initial reaction isn’t strong, there isn’t loads else in the image to build from.

Not every card hits straight away

And in the same vain, not every card makes sense straight away. Some I knew exactly what they were trying to tell me. Others didn’t, at least not at first.

There were a few where I had to sit with them longer than I expected, or even come back to them later. And if you’re trying to do a quick reading, that can be a bit frustrating.

It doesn’t guide you much

This isn’t a deck that helps you along. It gives you the image and then steps back. So if you’re used to being guided through a meaning, or having something like the system the Rider Waite deck has to help, this can feel like it’s not giving you enough.

It’s not the easiest starting point

I wouldn’t personally hand this to someone completely new. Not because it’s complicated, but because it doesn’t explain itself. There is a booklet that comes with it, but obviously it’s not like a Rider Waite where you can sort of make out what’s happening from the image itself.

You’re relying on your own interpretation quite quickly, which can either feel freeing or just confusing depending on where you’re at.

If you’re starting out, something more structured (like my Star & Strength deck, where the meanings are on the cards) is just easier to work with straight away.

When I Actually Reach For This Deck

I don’t use this as my main deck. For me, this is the one I pick up when I don’t want to be told what to think.

If I’m overthinking something or going round in circles, this works well because it doesn’t give me loads of information. It just puts something in front of me and makes me react to it.

It’s also good when I don’t want a long reading. Just pulling one card and sitting with it for a minute tends to work better than doing a full spread. It’s less about getting an answer and more about cutting through whatever noise I’ve got going on.

How It Compares To Other Decks

If I had to place this deck, I’d say it sits on the opposite end of something like Rider-Waite. With Rider-Waite, everything is clear. You’ve got a full scene, you can see what’s happening, and you can pretty quickly understand the message. With this, you don’t get that at all.

You’re not being shown a situation, you’re just being given one image and left to react to it. It’s much more stripped back, and because of that, it relies on you a lot more. Compared to something like the Voyager Tarot, it’s a completely different experience. Voyager gives you loads to work with. You’re picking things out, connecting ideas, building something from the card.

This is the opposite. There’s nothing to build, you’re just looking at what’s there and deciding what it means to you. And then compared to something like my Star & Strength deck, where everything is clear and guided, this is much more open. It’s a lot more about stepping back and seeing what comes up.

So for me, it’s not better or worse than those decks. It just fits a different kind of reading.

Final Thoughts

I didn’t expect to like this deck as much as I do. At first it felt a bit too simple for me, especially because I usually prefer something with more colour and detail. But the more I used it, the more I understood what it’s actually trying to do. It’s not trying to show you everything. It’s giving you just enough, and letting you figure out the rest. Some days that works really well, and other days it feels a bit too open. But when it does work, it feels very natural.

For me, it’s not a deck I’d use all the time. But it’s one I come back to when I don’t want to be told what something means, and I just want to see what my own reaction is. And I think that’s where it stands out.