or Running House Press “Tarot” mini deck. Review by Stacy

Is this even Tarot?

Acquired 2011. There are two versions, one with ultra mini folded accordion cards and a large book, and this semi mini version with a (admittedly really tough) tuck box, a LWB, and an absolutely useless paper foldout spread.

Overall: 5/10 Well, yes, this IS Tarot, despite first glance! This was my first deck of Tarot cards. My mother bought these for herself from Barns & Nobel to play a fortuneteller during a Halloween Party. I ended up “inheriting” them (i.e. saved from the landfill) when she was done. I didn’t “understand” the cards at the time and after flipping through them maybe a dozen times, they ended up collecting dust on my bookshelf for several years. Now with some Tarot under my belt I find this quite a cheeky little deck. 

Size comparison to a standard tarot deck.

This works well as a very compact traveling deck since I cannot bring myself to purchase another mini version of a deck I’d otherwise want in full size. It does its job. While it’s my “first” deck and I’m not going to get rid of it, I also don’t reach for it in my normal daily readings and sentimentality keeps it on my bookshelf.

At first this deck comes off as childish, but the more you work with it, the more mature and clever you realize it is. Much in the way fairy tales are “meant” for children, the themes can be quite dark. It has a sort of “comic strip” feeling to it as you read from one card to the next, like a medieval stain glass comic, with some Punch and Judy feel. There’s also quite a bit of myth/story lore embedded in the images.

I always think of the Redwall book series when I use it, though I cannot say why. Would I buy this deck again? Probably not. Am I going to get rid of it? Ungh…

I appreciate the suits being organized by color. Also, you can see how there are typical RWS imagery in some cards (like the VIII of Pentacles and IX of Cups) but then the VIII of wands is a ship’s helm and the King of Swords is referencing Aesop’s fable the Fox and the Grapes . This deck is all over the place.

Card Quality: 2/5 The compact size, more of a square than rectangle, is really pleasant to use and the card stock is very durable. And that’s kinda where it ends—these things STICK to one another and shuffling is incredibly difficult. BUT they are fairly waterproof because of the heavy, weird coating, so there’s that. This does loan itself well for jumpers so I don’t have to sit around waiting for cards to appear. 

You can see here some cards are very RWS reminiscent (like Temperance and The Tower) and others are completely doing their own thing (The Fool and The Star)

Readability: 2.5/5 I’m a bit on the fence. The deck seems to use some Thoth and some Rider-Waite interpretations, and other cards are just totally “Eh…?” But, on the other hand, the major and minor divisions are color coded on the corners so it actually is pretty easy to see at first glance what “corners” your issue is coming from, which is awesome.

The back design is arguably the best part of this deck—its SO charming!

Art: 4/5 I actually have learned to really like this folksy art style. The images are very simple with bright colors, and the backs are GORGEOUS! Some of the more non-traditional images are delightful to sit with and see where your intuition takes you, other cards I simply just don’t “get.” I will admit that I’m really fond of the backs of these cards!

The delightfully violent V of Swords and the odd Emperor.

Favorite Card: I really like the five of swords with this one!

Least Favorite Card: IV The Emperor–does anyone know why he’s a boot??? Can someone help me out here?

Season: Late Summer, Early Fall (got that old time harvest folksy vibe going for it!)

Boxes it Checks: Folk Art, Fairy Tale, Odd, Mini, Charming, Travel

Similar Decks: The Kawaii Tarot, Trungles the Very Little Tarot (which if I had the choice I’d get this one instead)