The Wandering Moon Tarot

I first saw this minimalistic black and white deck whilst watching Scorched Earth Tarot on YouTube. Having seen only a few cards, I paused the video and went in search of it. I was pleasantly surprised to discover it was an Indie deck designed by an Australian and shipped from Australia. Often times, living in Australia means the shipping on Indie decks is nearly as much, if not more in some cases, as the deck itself. Not in the case of The Wandering Moon Tarot. Yay!!!

The Wandering Moon Tarot Deck

This original deck is designed to be read intuitively. The creator wants you to position yourself in the card. However, I feel to get the most from this deck some tarot knowledge is necessary. After all, in order to create it, the creator had an understanding of tarot. Those who have worked with tarot for a while can tend to forget what their first foray into the cards was like. In my experience, those who advocate for ditching the books, read the books, and not just one.

Please know that this is not the advice of the creator. She actually includes a further reading section in the back of the guide book. But this is something I feel is important to think about if you’re an experienced reader guiding someone new to tarot or if you’re new to tarot and you feel that reaching for the book is “cheating” or any other negative association you might have.

I understand the idea behind the notion of ditching the book and I too encourage people to trust their own reactions and perceptions of the cards. But, if you’re a beginner looking at the cards and not getting a lot of insights from them to begin with, that’s completely normal. It doesn’t mean you can’t read tarot. It just means you’re a beginner, like we all were, and like anyone learning a new skill, it takes time and practice. Enjoy the process. Being able to combine a basic understanding of the Rider Waite Smith system with the creator’s vision makes this unique deck wonderful to read with. I find The Wandering Moon Tarot opens up new avenues to explore and adds to your overall tarot practice. The minimalist artwork cuts out the noise and distraction allowing you to sink into the card and discover what it means to you.

Some cards feel very direct and easy to interpret. Take the 4 of Swords and the 6 of Swords pictured above for example. On the 4 of Swords we see someone sitting in a meditative pose with their back to the world. Pause, stillness, reflection, finding peace seems to radiate from the card fairly readily without the need for prior tarot knowledge. Knowing that Swords represent thoughts, ideas and communication adds an understanding about what it is the person may be detaching from. Importantly the swords are positioned in front rather than behind, so they are not being ignored. Rather she is taking a break from them for the moment to either understand them better or to simply quieten the chatter. This isn’t discrediting the healing aspect of the card.

The 6 of Swords shows her walking away from the thoughts, ideas and words that no longer serve her. The swords are planted deeply in the earth. As in the Black Cats Tarot, I like that the Swords are being left behind. Once you’ve learned what you need to, there’s no need to carry what you’re attempting to leave behind with you. The 8 of Wands and the 8 of Stars (pentacles) pictured earlier provide further examples of how direct many of the cards are.

However, there are others that challenged my way of viewing the cards. Take the tens for example. My initial reaction to the 10 of Stars in this deck was more 2 of Cups or maybe the 10 of Cups happily ever after vibe. When I read the book though I could see the creator’s vision and it offered me a different perspective on the card. For one, it made me consider my concept of abundance.

My husband and I like to lie/sit and look at the stars. In fact, one of the reasons we like to go camping is because there is less light pollution. In those moments I really do feel abundant because I want for absolutely nothing. This suggests the power of placing yourself in the card. If I had placed myself in the card straight up rather than observing the people on it, I may have triggered that feeling organically. But, nevertheless I got there.

When I look at the 10 of Wands I sense the burden the card is associated with. I know I would want to put some of those crystals down because I wonder how long I could balance them all in my hands without dropping any. So yes, I see that and it was indeed my first reaction. I also see an equal exchange. A swap maybe? And I like that. It feels like a solution. Can we swap some responsibilities etc with someone else so rather than doing it all, we work with, and on, what we are better suited to? That’s an option that I believe we could embrace more often than we do.

Now onto the 10 of Swords and the 10 of Moons (cups). The 10 of Swords I find wonderful and the descriptor of the card and what the picture is showing perfect. However, in reverting then to keywords for the meanings – the agony of endings, someone or something stabbing you in the back, destitution – I feel it is all undone. Do they refer to the possible 10 of Swords card meanings – yes, but do they relate to the card pictured – no.

Yet the 10 of Moons I only understood once I read the meaning. Looking at the image alone, I felt a sense of isolation and a lot of hurdles to come. It’s only if I pictured myself on the top of a mountain, say the one the figure on the 10 of Swords had climbed, that I “see” and feel the sense of contentment. I like what the two cards together represent as one can be the impetus to get us through the other. That is, the feeling of contentment that’s possible once we overcome something that was challenging us.

But more so, what this affirms, is how much we can gain from combining the information we find in the book as we are getting to know the deck with our own experiences and way of looking at things. Besides, the book has some beautiful ways of expressing ideas.

To be honest, I didn’t initially grasp the concept behind the Knights either. However, the book did help them make sense. Yet, when I look at the Knights cards, rather than seeing the feathers representing the knight, I see myself as the feather. The Knight of Swords could serve as a protector, but they could just as easily block my communication and dismiss my thoughts and emotions in the process if they believe and act as if they know what’s best.

The Pages are represented by vines. I have a daily practice of drawing leaf-inspired designs so these cards should speak clearly to me you would think. At first I wasn’t convinced but sitting with the cards changed my mind and I really came to like the symbolism. I think that’s the thing with this deck. You need to sit with it. Ask questions of yourself and it. Then it comes to life just as the creator intended.

The Wandering Moon Tarot is a deck you grow with. You need to take time with it in order to understand it more. I found once I did, something really clicked. These cards are worthy of your time and effort. They are beautifully presented in a solid two-part box that, just like the card backs, incorporates holographic stars. This really is well put together.

The cardstock is good and at 7 x 12cm the cards are easy to handle and shuffle. They have a high quality holographic silver gilding that adds to, rather than detracts from, the experience of working with them too. Straight from the box the cards separated nicely, unlike some gilded decks that clump, and the edging felt smooth and nice to touch, not sharp and a tad scary to shuffle. I’ve never been cut by a tarot deck but some gilded decks feel like a paper cut waiting to happen. Not this one. The print quality is good and the service provided in packaging and shipping the deck was really good too. That’s a lot of goods I know, but The Wandering Moon Tarot deserves them.

A few things I should point out are that Pentacles are Stars and Cups are Moons. Yep, seems straightforward enough. After all, pentacles have stars within them and the Moon is water energy just like cups, so no biggie. Nevertheless, as alluded to earlier, I did find myself second-guessing my understanding of which was which sometimes when I first began to use the cards. Secondly, there are no numbers printed on the Major Arcana, which is fine if you’re familiar with tarot already. However, if you’re not you have to flick through the book in order to find the card you’re looking for. If you skip the page you’re after, easy enough to do without realising when you’re flicking, you won’t know until you get to the Minor Arcana. Plus, it stops you from being able to work with the numbers in any way.

This minor technicality could be improved with the inclusion of an index. Yes the number could be printed on the cards but it may seem out of place to do so since the card numbers are written out in full in the Minor Arcana. Obviously, once you’re familiar with the numbering of the Major Arcana this isn’t an issue and you get to decide the numbering for the Strength and Justice cards.

Three additional Major Arcana cards are included with The Wandering Moon Tarot: The New Moon, The Full Moon and The Wanderer. The Wanderer to represent the ‘I am’ presence. The New Moon to represent retreat and shadow work, and The Full Moon for release, shedding and starting anew. You can use these however you see fit. If you’re a purist you can remove them all together.

The Wandering Moon Tarot Book

The card-sized, 189 page book has the holographic Milky Way starscape on the cover as well which further adds to the overall presentation of The Wandering Moon Tarot. The book opens with an about section that shares what drove the creator to draw the cards. This is followed by a “Using this deck and guidebook” section which includes a couple of paragraphs on the creator’s experiences of learning tarot and thus adds to her reasons for creating these cards. You’ll also find some journaling prompts included as a means to help and encourage you to develop a deeper connection with the cards.

The card meaning section provides brief yet valuable information. Both the Major and Minor Arcana are afforded the same attention. Beneath the card title is a message from the card followed by Upright and Reversed keywords. Some of these feel tokenistic as, whilst they are established meanings, they are not represented in the cards. Therefore, in my opinion, they go against the premise of the deck as suggested earlier. I do understand why they are there though.

However, it is the description of the artwork that follows that helped to really connect me with the deck. It lets you enter into the creator’s mind and allows you to see and understand her vision. This opened the cards up to a whole new level of interpretation and intuitive hits and makes this guidebook invaluable. The book wraps up with information on its writers and the “Further reading” section mentioned previously.

Spreads

If you count all the suggestions for possible three card spread positions as one spread, three spreads are included in the book:

• Three Card Spreads (eg Pro-con-best choice / Morning – afternoon – evening / Dreams – fears – reality / as well as the standard Past, present, future and Mind, body, spirit suggestions amongst others.
• Interview your Deck (6 cards)
• Am I Ready to Wander (5 cards)

I conduct a deck interview with all my decks and include some of what I discover in these reviews so I was pleased to see an Interview your Deck spread. Some people aren’t fans of this approach and yet I gain a lot from conducting the interviews. My personal spread is a little different but the concept is the same. Besides, as with any spread, you can always modify your questions to suit your needs.

I wouldn’t consider this deck a beginner’s deck but that being said, if you’re attracted to it and willing to put the work in to getting to know it, then it is a much better choice than a deck you don’t gel with at all. The quietness, and I would suggest stillness, of this deck helps you to clear away any unnecessary chatter in order to get to the core of a situation. Unlike the action-oriented Earth Warriors Oracle I recently reviewed, this deck has a powerful Feminine energy that promotes contemplation and understanding. It urges you to find a quiet space so you can hear your true self and I reckon that that’s a pretty nice place to be.

Publishing Details

Deck Creators:

Rachael Jean (artist and author), Marion Kirk (author)

Pictured version:

This is the second edition. It was self published by Rachael Jean in 2020 and is available on Etsy from The Wandering Moon Co or through the link you’ll find on her Instagram account @TheWanderingMoonCo