aka The David Attenborough’s Tarot, acquired 2020, first edition, independently printed, book purchased separately

Some of the really charming and cute cards in this deck!

Important Note: The card colors appear brighter (and slightly redder) on the computer screen than in real life, but they are still quite vivid in reality! I find IRL they are just the right balance of color, where they are a bit too bombastic on the screen :-).

Overall: 10/10 Animals (that the artist thoroughly researched that actually make sense with the meaning of the tarot card)? Cosmic aesthetics? Compass Rose? Vivid colors? Crazy details? HOLOGRAPHIC EDGING???? F*CKING REALISTIC AMAZING SWORDS SUIT?????! Holy Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, was this deck made for me? For a person who actually is very scientific/logical minded and maybe a little emotionally stunted, this is a 10/10 deck. For people who love animals, and looking for animal spirit guides in tarot form, this might not resonate with you because the meaning of the cards are really tied to the animals biology rather than human cultural meaning. We’ll talk more in a sec.

Card Quality: 5/5 Amazing. I read once upon a time that someone said they were disappointed with the card quality but I seriously do not get that at all. What the heck do you want out of your cards, person?!? These are perfect!

I love that this deck includes unusual animals that you won’t find in other tarot decks!

Readability: for me, 4.5/5 but I do not think this is universal. This is definitely either in your camp or not sort of thing. The card meanings graft onto the nature and behavior of the animal, NOT what is popularly represented as the animal in culture. I can imagine this feeling very alien to people. There are animals that a person who isn’t a die-hard Attenborough fan might never have encountered before–all the more delight! There definitely are cards that I really have to study (and read the artist’s notes which are copious and illustrious) to fully understand, but I did it once, and it’s second nature after that. Also, because these are animals, there’s a sense of aloofness to them that if you really dig people-centered artwork, this might make it difficult for you. The book (which I had to buy separately when this was still an indie deck) is AMAZING and is a great casual read if you want to know more about animals all on their own.

Very sword, much wow!

Art: 10/5 This is right up my alley. The animals are of course incredible, the style is very unique and while portraiture-esque, there’s still movement and esoteric things of interest going on in the cards. A note—for those of us who are sword and pointy object freaks, I have mad appreciation for the artist getting the various swords and knives correct in proportion and design. OMG, much sword, very wow! Some are obviously extra decorated, but still, the artist learned the rules and tastefully broke them.

Favorite Card: There’s a TON that are amazing and I tend to change my mind a lot, but immediately I fell in love with the Ace of Cups–an adorable otter looking up from floating on his back. I also drew the Empress and the Emperor in my deck interview and they have stuck in my mind since. And the 10 of cups? Divine.

Least Favorite Card: Six of Swords—a lion fish being “impaled” but not really? I don’t find this the image of safe passage that I tend to associate with this card. The artist explains it, but the reasoning never seems to stick. 

Card I identify as: I think I’ve kinda always identified with the High Priestess with this deck fairly strongly. I remember lingering with II for a long time when I first flipped through the cards. Of all the high priestess’s I’ve encountered this one felt “right” with me.

The Deck Identifies me as: Knight of Swords (I see a trend, the spirits of Tarot are trying to tell me something D:). A vermilion fly catcher (something we don’t have where I live, but if this is the animal the deck chose for me I’m not complaining) and a one handed sword with a disk pommel.

I’ve been looking for a long time for an ocean or water themed deck, but its hard to beat these incredible water critters in this deck!

Season: Winter/Summer I originally thought this was called the Orion’s deck, which here is a winter constellation, but since we get some of our most fabulous star gazing in the winter I can’t help but associate this with winter with all the stars/space theme art. But there’s also a good dose of water animals which makes me think beach time/summer!

Boxes it Checks: Animal, Swords, Aloof, Cute, Galaxy colors/Space, Intellectual, Detail-Orientated

Similar decks: Guardians of the Night Tarot, The Wild Unknown, The Crow Tarot, Spirit Song Tarot, Animal Totem Tarot, Oak Ash & Thorn Tarot, The Hush Tarot, The White Sage Tarot, Tarot Familiars, The Foragers Daughter, the Brady Tarot, the Wooden Tarot