Review of the 78 Tarot Nautical

The 78 Tarot Nautical ~ Tarot of the Water, is a Global Art Collaboration deck. This Kickstarter funded deck is an 81 card deck (there are three wild cards), with each card being created by a different artist.

The deck comes with a little white book with all the card meanings, but you can opt to purchase a more detailed and fully illustrated companion book (more on that in a sec!)

Likes:

Variety! Since each card is by a different artist, this deck never gets boring.
Many of these cards beg to be contemplated (like The Devil)
Images are vibrant, alive and really POP!
Slightly bigger card sizes allow you to engage more with the images
The nautical theme!

Dislikes:

Because there is such variety, not all the art styles appeal to me
If I wanted to get nitpicky I could say that the big cards are hard to shuffle, but honestly I’d rather have bigger cards with this deck

I started thinking about this deck when it was on it’s way to me through the mail. I sometimes get a bit of a ladyboner for nautical themed stuff like mermaids, pirates and ships and so I pretty much peed my pants when I found out there was a new nautical themed Tarot deck!

On the day it arrived I was taking out the garbage in the pouring rain when this tattooed dude pulled up to the curb in a white van with gangsta rap blaring and asked “are you Kate?”

My first instinct was to run, but then I realized it was just the new postman and he was carrying my 78 Tarot Nautical deck!!!!! EEEEE! I ran inside, got comfy by the crackling fire and slowly looked through this deck.

There’s something special about going through a deck for the first time – it’s almost like discovering a new lover. Anyway, this deck was a real treat to browse through and so many of the cards – like Death, The Devil, The Moon and many others – really beg to be sat with and contemplated.

Because this deck features 81 different artists, there is a wide variety of artistic styles. I didn’t love all the cards – some resonated with me more than others, but I loved the variety of each card and all the unique ways the artists chose to portray their card. If you’re prone to quickly getting bored of your Tarot decks (like me – that’s why I have about a million!) then you’ll appreciate the diversity found in this deck.

When there are so many different artists involved, the deck runs the risk of feeling disjointed and incongruent, but I didn’t find this to be true for the 78 Nautical Tarot. The nautical theme is very present in each and every card and this seems to link all the cards together and give them a feel of connectivity. While it could feel like each card is from a totally different deck, it really doesn’t.

The deck comes with a very adequate LWB (little white book) that gives you the card meanings, but you do have the option to purchase a limited edition, hardcover companion book which is full color. This book is gorgeous and includes each artist’s explanation of their card – the LWB doesn’t have this bit.

It costs quite a bit extra to get this companion book and so if you’re wondering if you really need it or not, I will be totally honest with you: you don’t need it. If you are a deck collector and an art lover then you will appreciate this book and treasure it, but it isn’t an absolute must in order to do great readings with the deck.

I don’t know if my words so far have really captured the fact that this is a real gem of a deck – it’s beautiful, special and magical. The cards invite you to meditate on them to jump into them and explore. I always learn something new about Tarot each time I see how an artist has depicted a certain card in a different way and this deck is no exception.