Hello wonderful Blog Readers!
I hope you are enjoying your Wednesday so far. I am really excited because NOT only is my first deck review of the renewed blog something I am so excited about BUT the person who curated this deck has been an absolute dream to work with, sending me my copy early so I could get a true review up in plenty of time to help them sell as many as humanly possible. She’s also just been so kind and complimentary!
I am speaking of Ruby N. Ball and the Fat Folks Tarot. As soon as I heard about this project I was elated. I could not wait to get my hands on a copy. I am also fat, queer, obsessed with groups of fats and queers. It felt tailor made for me but also SO MANY OTHER people in need of this project. I did something I don’t often do - I introduced myself as the writer of Queering the Tarot to see if I could get an advance copy. I’m not an influencer and I don’t want to be. I take gifts, but in this case I was adamant that I was paying. I just wanted it literally as soon as humanly possible. Ruby obliged and days later, there it was!
I was honestly nervous opening the deck. I’d seen it online and new the artwork was good. With any new deck though, I’m afraid of one of two things: that it either won’t look as good in person or that it will be great but I won’t “feel” anything when I hold it. I absolutely did not need to worry about that with this deck. It is stunning, and I have probably flipped through just to take in the art more than I have with any other deck. I’m including my Slow Holler and Collective Tarot in this, and you KNOW how I feel about my Slow Holler and Collective Tarot. It is also IS very magical and gives stellar readings! I almost wish I had more questions or had a more full client roster because I want more excuses to use it. That’s how much I love this deck. I don’t think I’ve actually ever said that about a deck before except the Collective Tarot, and that was because I waited literally years and years and years for it to come to me.
I love this deck so much that when Fire Lyte invited me to do a chat with his Patrons with Meg Elison about expertise & general writing and witchy things, I put this deck on a short list of things I wanted to make sure I talked about. I have rarely done that with a deck, though this is certainly not the first in that case.
That’s a lot of praise so here’s some actual meat and potatoes about the deck: this is a collective deck of all fat artists. Many of them are queer, BIPOC, disabled or a combination of those things. Each card manages to incorporate traditional ideas and symbols of the card and yet take it in a totally new direction. A lot of new decks do this, but add this one to that list too. The card stock isn’t notable, but whew, there have been a lot of terrible card stock in decks lately. This stock won’t blow your mind but it does what it needs to do. In some ways, it’s better this way because the cards really do speak for themselves.
Some people will complain that the deck feels mostly cohesive but a few cards stand out. I like this in a collective deck, but not everyone does. Some people will certainly feel ways about certain styles of art versus others. I will admit there are cards that aren’t my favorite of the deck - but there’s none I wish weren’t in the deck. Some people may feel more strongly about that if they’re more averse to certain styles. I really don’t have much else to put in the critique section! There’s not much to critique - it’s really going to come down to personal preference. I do wish this deck had a booklet. I love LWBs and I love when truly creative decks like this have more supplemental info for me to read. That being said, there is one online right here which has all of the artist info and their statements. I would also argue that this deck goes well with almost any tarot book that you just really like!
The Good, specifically: In addition to being a densely knowledgeable deck, a beautiful deck and a deck giving the spotlight to marginalized artists, it’s also a straight-up good tarot deck! By that I mean I have done a number of readings with this bad boy and they’ve all been spot on. I’ve tested it via cards of the day, interviews, tarot challenges I’m doing, serious questions from clients and lower stakes questions from clients. It’s been great every time. Literally every time! It’s also tireless. When I use my decks this much it often feels like they need a break, but this one is ready to just keep going and going.
There’s enough new ideas or concepts in it this deck that if you’re like me and you just like to explore a deck for a long time, it fits your needs perfectly. Even so, it’s aces for beginners too and has a lot of easy access points “in” to the tarot.
(One final pic because I am honestly very attracted to the figures in these two cards).
The money from this deck goes to benefit the Trans Lifeline, and the deck is only $30. (It probably didn’t have a booklet to keep costs down, actually.) Pre-orders are open until July 3rd. Go snag your copy right meow!
