Stacy’s Decks

January is probably the toughest month for me. It is not that it is particularly more dark than December (December and February here are really miserably dark months) but it historically becomes bitterly cold. It gets so cold that I don’t want to be outdoors, and I suffer when I cannot be outside.

I find it is natural when you’re trapped inside swaddled in sweaters to end up spending quite a bit of time doing retrospective thinking, and planning. To stave off some of the seriousness that is involved with this rumination, I usually indulge in reading a fantasy book or two, the likes of which I used to read as a kid. This month I wanted to actively focus on treating the inner child with kindness. It’s been a rough couple years and said inner child has been neglected, and boy oh boy can tarot help with that journey.

To that end, I think I picked a set of decks to use for this month that are actually perfect, and I must say that the month’s reading is also right on point! I set the intention to be kind and loving to my child-self and the cards did not disappoint in our first read!

January decks starting from the upper left clockwise: the Monsoon Tarot (Kickstarter edition), Tarot of the Abyss, The Brady Tarot (second edition), Tarot of the Divine, center The Drifting Moon Tarot (Kickstarter majors edition). Reading cloth is from The Tarot of Sorts Kickstarter.

The first deck is the new Kickstarter release of the Monsoon Tarot by Woh Studios. This is certainly a dark horse deck, and I was really on the fence backing it, but man-oh-man am I glad I did! This sweet yet eerily surreal deck seems to take on the premise of what would the world look like if there was a great flood. It’s very loosely based on RWS but really has its own internal workings and is a stellar emotional reader. I haven’t had it long, but I’ve been using it quite a bit already and I really like how gentle, yet stern and serious it’s artwork is. There is an uncanny depth to this deck that I just love. It has a pale, pastel sort of coloration that seems to be very dream-like. For January’s fruition, this deck gave me the Six of Air (Swords) where a little girl that is floating helplessly on her bed finds a cheerful rabbit family–finally you have found safety.

The second deck is Tarot of the Abyss. I bought this deck last year because it immediately spoke to my inner child. I’ve actually found myself avoiding it because it really stirs my emotions, but now is the time! The deck agrees with me because it gave me the stunning spiritual metamorphoses XX Awakening card for January’s Inspiration, and that really warms my heart.

The third deck is the Brady Tarot–an animal deck of wood cut beauty, it’s hard not to fall head over heels all the details and inspiring images and homage to nature and wild life. I must admit though that I find this deck very challenging since it does not sugar coat the harsh realities of life. I can wax on about this deck, but the art speaks for itself. As a child, I loved (and lets be real, I still do!) all that is the natural world and this deck invokes that sense of wonder. For my monthly obstacle I got the Three of Feathers/Vantage (Wands). The leopard is planning its next move. Yes, already we’ve been struggling to see ahead and plan for our next five, ten years!

And, as I planned from the very get go of monthly decks, the fourth deck I’ll be working with is the famous Yoshi Yoshitani’s Tarot of the Divine. All children love stories and I’ve always loved telling and writing a good yarn! The colors are wonderful and images so clear yet thought provoking, and I love relearning or learning for the first time new tales from other cultures. Perfect for the cold days of January. For ingenuity of the month, I drew XXI The World–the world awaits and you have everything you need to figure it out. This fun world card also suggests partnership–I can share my adventures with my husband and loved ones!

Finally, in addition, I’ll be using the majors tarot The Drifting Moon (from a recent Kickstarter) as a supplement deck–the sweet story book images seem to really fit the feeling of the rest of the decks.

What decks are you using this month?

PS also, my tarot challenge of the month is I am going to read ONLY upright cards! I want to try it! Maybe I’ll continue a while with uprights only, we’ll see how the month goes.