25th Anniversary Edition (large deck) acquired 2020. Zerner/Farber edition (small deck) acquired 2024

*Mild nudity warning

Overall: 7/10 There was a while in 2020 when I really was keen to started branching out into learning other Tarot decks, when The Enchanted Tarot was one of the best-known collage-style decks on the market and it was hella difficult to get a hold of a copy. Now it seems that there are multiple printings available, so you don’t have to fight over a used copy or pay way too much for a new OOP. The art is photos of absolutely stunning handmade tapestries the artist created for each individual card. That alone makes this a contender for me to consider this deck a “must have” in my collection, never mind it is thirty-some years old at this point and I think has truly made a niche for itself in the Tarot art community. If you were to ask me to list off ten “classic” decks that have been made in my life time, this one would certainly come to mind.

That being said, even though I’ve been using this deck steadily for five years, and in well over a hundred readings at this point, I still feel like I’m warming up to it. I have split feelings about The Enchanted. There are some days this deck feels truly magical and gives really on-point readings with its clever and creative imagery. And there are other days it just feels busy, fussy and lacking depth. Unfortunately, it’s not just a deck which I’m in the mood for or not (as many of my decks are) seeing as it has given great readings when I only reluctantly pick it up out of a sense of obligation, and has great readings when I’m purposefully using it as well, and it also gives shit readings when the feeling seems to strike it. I dislike talking about my decks as if they have a sense of agency seeing as I don’t really believe that, but if a deck did have a mind of its own, it would be this deck.

You can see while even the minor and court cards feel “busy” with textures and images, the majors really go overboard including borders that sometimes are cut short in the smaller Zerner/Farber edition which either is a relief because it feels overly-busy, or annoys me to no end as I can see there’s more that is missing.

The book differs with each of these two versions I have, and both are fantastic and excellent Tarot literature in general and worth the read even if you don’t pick up the deck very often as they are incredibly insightful and even give dreams/meditations/actions to do for each card that are great exercises in themselves. In this way, the deck offers a rather different approach to working with Tarot and I’m here for it, even if I don’t necessarily have the energy to expend on such activities when I pick up this deck to do a reading.

While I prefer the in-hand feel of the Zerner/Farber (right) I do really really love the backs of the 25th Anniversary edition. They are nearly the same thickness though the Zerner/Farber given it’s smaller than standard size feels stiff in hand.

Card Quality: 2/5 for the 25^th Anniversary or 4/5 for the Zerner-Farber.

The 25^th anniversary cards are MASSIVE, and there is a huge nonsense border. As such, they are made quite flexible and can, if you’re determined, be shuffled, but they are not as durable as I typically like my cards to be. There seems to be a slight texture to the backs, so they’re not slippery; honestly I love slippery cards, but if these giant bad boys were slippery they’d be flying everywhere. I like the large images on these cards as you can see the small details better, but the oversized borders on an already large deck ruins it for me.

The almost mini size of the Zerner-Farber makes them more manageable, and the cardstock is quite a bit stiffer and they sport a matte gold edging that is really nice in hand. Overall they are the better quality card, but I do wish they were a larger size minus the dumb borders of the jumbo 25th. It would be nice in the future if they’d consider a lux print run with a black-cored center. I’ll never be happy with this deck, I think. 

A random draw I pulled for this review. Lets look at the Queen of Hearts (Cups). Is she petulant, saucy, concerned, brazen, or even ignoring what is to her right, rolling her eyes? I wonder if she is sporting a black eye or if she’s done thicker eye makeup on her left side. Is she not as she seems, or two sided? This deck leaves much ambiguity in its images and is not for the reader who wants a straight answer.

Readability: 3.5/5 I’d consider this an intermediate, edging to advance deck with an asterisks*—I found personally I really needed to have some significant Tarot reading under my belt to get the full benefit of these cards. But I shall acknowledge that there is a whole generation of Tarot readers who had this as their first, or an early deck in their Tarot journey and while these stick to the RWS model (more or less, the court cards and the odd-card-out seem a wee bit Thoth inspired), these are not clean-cut meaning cards and there are times I need the book to help me along. Perhaps part of the problem is I tend to lean more analytical and Jungian in my readings rather that tapping into an emotional state, but this deck for me is hard to wrap my head around some days.

I love the ingenuity of the Aces in this deck, but I find them the hardest to read.

There’s a lot of interpretation and imagination that goes into each image and they tend to tell their own story and the images seem to morph in meaning for each individual reading. While this really keeps me on my toes every time I pick it off the shelf, due to its consistent inconsistencies, I like the idea of using this deck to read for others as it is very beautiful, but I dislike how I am unsure of its performance. I’d say if you are drawn to the images and are ready for a challenge in a deck, this will give it to you.

The book(s) is(are) great fun, with lots of extra information, waxing poetics, dream work, and manifestation magic, but you’re going to have to listen in to your inner intuition to make a smooth reading at the end of the day. I personally have gotten great readings, quite cheeky and flirty actually, but it takes some skill on the reader’s part. I think that this deck loans itself particularly well for readings about relationships (friends, lovers, family, enemies, etc.), and I personally consider this a Shahrizad-esque deck in that it evokes images of old-as-time stories with a bit of a satirical twist.

The 25th Anniversary Edition has the full images and imo slightly better image quality. The borders are distracting at best, but I see the thought process of not wanting the titles overlaying the image. The cards also have a slightly waxy finish that causes glare, as you can see.

Art: 5/5 I typically don’t care for collage decks, but I’ll make an exception for The Enchanted Tarot. I am particularly drawn to the Art Nouveau/Orientalist style a lot of these cards have. The fabrics in the tapestries really make these feel rich, layered and just sumptuous. I know a few years back The Textured Tarot was having a moment, but to be perfectly honest I feel this deck has a lot more texture to the images, and it reminds me that one day I’d love to have an actual fabric Tarot deck in some shape or form. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with the fact that the images are of people all over the historic spectrum and I struggle to have a mental “place” where I feel the setting of this deck occurs. In this sense The Ink Witch Tarot is very reminiscent of The Enchanted Tarot, but I feel there is a lot more story to each image with the Enchanted/Z.F. which becomes a blessing and a curse in readings.

Favorite Card: The High Priestess

Least Favorite Card: I don’t have a card I dislike in this deck

Card I Identify As: Queen of Hearts (Cups) I love how every time I read her it’s different.

The deck Identifies me as: The Princess of Cups (? I don’t know why, I almost never relate to the Page of Cups)

Season: Valentines Day, Late Winter to Early Spring, also, the sultry days of Summer

Boxes it Checks: Collage, Textured, Fabric, Sumptuous, Story Telling, Romantic, Flirty, Cheeky, Art Nouveau, Orientalist

Similar Decks: Tarot of Mystical Moments, Moon Child Tarot, Star Child, The Textured Tarot, any deck that uses mixed media, The Ink Witch Tarot