Yay!   I got a new deck!   This is the Wildwood Tarot by Mark Ryan and John Matthews.   I’ve gone back and forth in  whether or not I wanted this one,  and all the reasons why I was hesitant are legitimate.   The cardstock is flimsy,  the art on the back of the cards is OK,  just a little boring,  and the cards have white borders,  which I usually don’t like.   However,  that being said,  there’s something about this flimsy cardstock that makes me feel more comfortable about handling them/shuffling/etc.   Whenever I get a beautiful,  pristine deck of thick cards with gilded edges,  I’m always leary of actually USING the cards for fear of messing them up.   Not so with these bad boys.

And let me tell you,  the art is EXQUISITE.   The art and the reimagining of the major arcana create this really beautiful,  archetypal energy when reading these cards.   They’re Pagan in flavor,  but they reach into something older,  more transcendent than modern Neopaganism as we know it.   Honestly,  I may cut the edges off these to highlight the beautiful art.

I made a little extra money this month from odd jobs,  and knew that a deck was in my future.   I had chosen a deck and tried to order twice from Amazon,  but they sent the wrong deck (one I already had)  both times.   Then,  I was watching a YouTube video where the person said that the Wildwood Tarot was discontinued,  and she had to jump through hoops to find one.   So I looked,  and managed to find one brand new deck in my (low) price range.   So it was kismet.  I managed to get this one before I couldn’t afford it anymore.

I’ve been spending a lot of time with these cards,  gazing at them,  stroking them,  feeling their energy,  and I really dig them.   However,  the included book doesn’t cover reversals.   Normally,  that wouldn’t matter,  but as some of the meanings of these cards differ from a traditional deck,  I wanted to go by what the book says.

So I have a decision to make.   Do I read the reversals?   Or do I ignore them?   This is actually a question I’ve dealt with for a long time in general,  and for several years I refused to read reversals at all.   I would just rotate the card into an upright position and go on my merry way.   But now I do read them,  and I’m a little confused about what I should do here.   I think I’ll probably read them,  though it does significantly change the flavor of the reading.