Today I’m coming atcha with a review of the Ostara Tarot! I don’t usually do reviews of tarot decks because I feel like it really all comes down to personal preference, maybe even moreso than with oracle decks. People have SUCH different tastes on everything from the thickness of the cardstock to the type of artwork on the deck, so there’s really no right or wrong when it comes to tarot decks – unless the cards literally fall apart in your hands or are terribly misprinted, Ithink it’s pretty hard to find a deck that would universally be considered bad. But there are a lot of interesting things about the Ostara Tarot that I think could make or break it for some people, so I thought I’d throw this post out there so you can see for yourself if it would be your jam!

The Ostara Tarot is a deck I’ve been in love with from afar for a LONG time and only just got my hands on. I’ve heard a lot of stories about people getting their preorders canceled or pushed back which is a huge bummer, but they’re available in some Barnes and Noble stores if you want to snag one for yourself. They’re also back in stock on Amazon!

Okay, let’s get into the review!

The first thing I noticed was that the box is really nice. It’s sturdy and pretty and has a magnetic closure so it stays closed. The cards are in two piles inside but there’s room for them to move around, which irks me a little – I like when the cards fit snugly so I don’t have to worry about them getting banged up. You can see how there’s a gap between the bottoms of the cards and the edge of the box. The divider between the two piles isn’t connected to the box, which makes it kind of hard to get them back in. It’s kind of a downside but not a huge deal – I can always glue it in myself.

There were two unfortunate things I noticed about the cards right away. First, they were completely stuck together in huge chunks from the gilding. I was able to unstick them all with no damage to the cards, but the gilding flaked glitter all over my hands and workspace. I like glitter so I was fine with it, but I’ve had plenty of decks with gilded edges that never gave me this problem (the Fountain Tarot, the Starchild Tarot, the Faerie Enchantments Oracle, and the Sacred Creators Oracle, to name a few.) That tells me there’s a better quality gilding out there that just wasn’t used in this case. Like I said, it was pretty easy (if time-consuming) to unstick them. Just not a great first impression.

My second issue is that all four corners of every single card are bent upward. I think it probably happened when the cards were being cut. I’ve literally NEVER seen this in a deck before and I’m actually pretty bummed about it. From pictures I’ve seen on Instagram, I don’t think this is just a one-off problem, either – it seems like every copy I’ve seen out there has this problem, and I’ve heard for some people it’s not all four corners which would bug me even more. I guess I’m glad that it’s every card because at least it’s uniform, but still, it’s kind of crappy when your cards arrive bent. It’s subtle, but you can see it in the picture below:

The negatives end there, though. The artwork on these cards is beautiful and the gilding still looks intact despite flaking all over the place. I personally like the cardstock – it’s thin but it feels laminated, which does make the cards slippery but makes me worry less about bending or scuffing them while shuffling. I love that four female artists worked to create this deck and even though their styles are very different, I think all the cards work wonderfully together. (And I’m in no way faulting the artists for the production issues. I’m pretty sure that was 100% on the publisher.)

The guidebook is really nice, too. It’s full color! That doesn’t usually happen. Each page has some keywords for the card, a picture of the card, and a description of both the meaning and the reversed meaning.

Looking at the cards themselves, it’s interesting to note that the minor arcana cards don’t say which suit they are. It’s pretty easy to tell in most cases just by looking for wands or pentacles or whatever in the image, but in some of them it’s actually kind of tough to tell from first glance. I don’t think this is a bad thing – if anything, I think it could be a cool way to work with your intuition, and it might be good practice for a tarot newbie to try and figure it out on their own. (But if you’re really stumped for some reason, they’re all in the guidebook.)

Overall, I really love this deck despite the bent corners. It’s a little thicker than your standard tarot deck but my boyfriend Dave from Gear Box Leather made a custom case for it so I don’t have to worry about keeping it in the box. (You can get your own tarot case in his shop and take 15% off with the code “LAVENDERMOON”, because he’s a nice guy!) I can tell I’m going to use this one a lot and have been carrying it around pretty much everywhere since it arrived so I can bond with it a little better. The cards are rich with imagery and I’m so excited to do some readings for myself with it before I use it with clients!

So those are my thoughts! Have you ordered the Ostara Tarot? What do you think about it? Let me know in the comments, I’d love to hear!