Show me your baubles!

Please be aware there is nudity in the tarot cards selected for this post!

Originally made by the Youtuber Candy Soul and Soil, (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phoo8_BSTK8), this is a creative, fun, holiday tarot tag that’s quite a bit out of the norm, but very relatable!

Prompts:

1: The Dusty Attic Deck …a deck that feels like a dusty attic full of treasure and secrets

Well, it’s hardly dusty seeing as it just arrived in the mail two weeks ago, but it definitely has that old photograph, vintage, and slightly campy vibe! It’s Baba Studio’s Bohemian Gothic Tarot! Like the old photo albums you might find in the attic, it’s been around awhile, but I have yet to explore it in any depth. It will be a fun holiday treasure to spend some time flipping through and taking for a few fun, silly holiday readings!

2: The Christmas Tree Structure Deck….tell me about the key tarot structure you love

I do love my RWS decks, BUT! I like very original takes on the RWS and I especially like decks that are internally very cohesive! I could choose at least a dozen decks that are RWS but really shake up the meanings in their own way, but I am feeling The Runic Tarot for the winter time of the year! What’s more different and unique than blood-lusty Vikings, channeling that Krumpus holiday spirit in the RWS structure?

3: The Tinsel Deck…. a deck you get wrapped up in and using it can make you forget about other decks.

The Prisma Visions Deck is one of those decks that can eat up all your time! It doesn’t help that I have the giant book that goes with it and its brother deck and I can really get lost in the sauce reading it. Prisma Visions is so unique and mystic; even though I’ve had it and used it extensively for years I still feel like I’m learning it and it still feels a bit like a stranger when I pick it up. Its on one hand very grounded in the seasons of the suites and profound nature imagery, but on the other hand it’s very ethereal with the art forms suggesting people and beings. I find Prisma is the “cool kids” deck that I always want to get better at using!

4: The Bauble Deck…. a deck that keeps rolling around and turns up over and over in your practice as you reach for it all the time

This one is easy; the Moonlight Tarot by Inessa Bondarenko! I love this deck to pieces, even though it follow a little bit of the RWS and a little bit Toth. It seems to fit “just right” throughout the year and I find when I have a question for a deck (or more often, a “I feel this way what do I do” sort of noncommittal question!) that I can’t imagine using any other deck, this is the one I reach for. It’s the Band-Aid deck when nothing else will do.

5: The Snowman Deck…. a deck that melts your heart

Introducing The Wild Child Tarot!

You know, I tend not to buy soft decks. I have recently looked several times at The Cozy Witch Tarot and I balk because there isn’t enough tension in the deck to feel balanced for me. I purchased the Oak Ash & Thorn with the intention of this being a soft deck, but IT IS NOT! It’s a pretty savage reader, and though gentle, it does not hold punches.

I really enjoyed the Wild Child Oracle that was a bit of an afterthought purchase when I bought the Seasonal Fox Tarot, and I had no idea that there was a sister Tarot deck, The Wild Child Tarot, until the tarot was completely sold out—well, they reprinted both the oracle and the tarot and I snatched up the tarot. It is the sweetest, kindest tarot I think I’ve ever used! But, its gentle and soulful without feeling cloying or coddling. It doesn’t hide difficulties behind “positive vibes” but rather frames them as part of nature and the ebb and flow of life.

6: The Handmade Deck… a deck that’s made extra special because of who made it or a deck that feels particularly hand made.

My best friend and co-Tarot reader and cartomancy enthusiast made her own deck (she has made several, but this is my favorite)—so obviously this has to be my most adored handmade treasure! I pick this up when I’m feeling stuck in a rut, because it’s cute as heck and always stirs the imagination. I call it Val’s Little Deck of Stories. There are several different pictures that are two by two cards across that tell a little story, but the images mixed together are quite interesting!

7: The Mistletoe Deck…. a deck that makes you think about love in the holiday season

I love this deck, it’s so beautiful and magical and mystical and lovely and awe-inspiring and seems to speak to times that feel just out of reach. While it’s not in particular a Yule deck nor even a winter deck, The Slavic Legends Tarot is probably the deck that for me encompasses the winter holiday spirit. I can easily imagine little me looking through this deck like I used to look through the pages of a fairy tale book, or the beautiful Jan Brett books on Christmas Eve.

8: The Fairy Lights Deck …..a deck that sparkles

I had a bit of trouble with this prompt. On one hand, I have a bunch of decks that are very ornate and/or glittery. With spot-gloss or foil accents, or really shiny edging. Some I’ve already included in this selection.

But, I must say there is something really *fashionable* and a smidgen avant-garde about the Divine Feminine Deck by Cocorrina that seems so ethereally beautiful and perfect. I have not used this deck much at all (it’s in next year’s list!) but I think I can introduce it here as the exceptionally, sparkly, mysterious beauty!

9: The Tree Topper Deck… tell me about your tree topper and find a deck that reminds you of it.

We don’t have a Christmas tree! So I don’t have a tree topper, but my favorite ornament which would be a top contender for a potential tree topper is “The Missile-Toad!”

There is only one deck that encompasses the spirit of the Missile Toad, and that would be The Medieval Europe Deck—silly, slightly violent, and tongue in cheek! ‘Nough said.

Now! What are your Christmas Tree Decks? What decks do you connect with during the holidays?