This gorgeous Tarot deck is designed for the truly modern reader. Clarity reveals the heart of the traditional imagery, stripped of monarchical hierarchy, binarism and ageism, to allow any reader, beginner or expert, to access new visions, reflections and power. The borderless design allows you to create visual landscapes and to deeply understand the elements of Tarot, and the correspondences within them.
The guidebook includes an introduction to the system of the Tarot, focusing on the rules of visual language such as symmetry, direction, repetition and connections. Learn how to read the cards for yourself and others, including four suggested spreads, as well as how to activate the deck and open space.
The Clarity Tarot publishes on the 11th of April, 2023, from Watkins Publishing. You can see the unboxing and flickthrough videos on TikTok.
One of my favourite things about Tarot is how different artists interpret the images. I love bright, colourful images, with plenty of details. So when I saw this deck was coming, I thought it would be a great chance to stretch myself a little, to try something I wasn't immediately comfortable with and see if I could incorporate it into my practise.
Clarity is a slimmed down deck in every sense bar physical size. The cards are black with very simple images on; the LBW is the thinnest I've ever used; there's nothing complicated here. I'm not sure it's a beginner's deck, but it certainly is a fascinating one to work with.
The cards are just a little taller but a bit wider than standard size. The box is sturdy and well made, with a lid that fits down over them from the top. The LWB is slim at 78 pages. There's some discussion about the deck and about reading Tarot - the language is a little esoteric but not too complicated - and I love that one of the pieces of advice is 'if it's not working it's not working, just take a break and try again later!' There's such pressure on readers to be perfect immediately and I love this gentle approach.
The Majors have a page each, with an image of the card and a short, poetic description of the meaning. There's no reversed meaning given; in fact, there's no mention of reversed meanings in the LWB at all.
Minors are a little more complicated. Presented as their elements, there's a couple of pages for each that discuss how that element might affect you, passing very rapidly through each of the numbers Ace through X on the way. The meanings aren't particularly close to the 'traditional' ones, but there is a note to say that they are just ideas, jumping off points for our own intuition.
Minors are a little more complicated. Presented as their elements, there's a couple of pages for each that discuss how that element might affect you, passing very rapidly through each of the numbers Ace through X on the way. The meanings aren't particularly close to the 'traditional' ones, but there is a note to say that they are just ideas, jumping off points for our own intuition.
The Court Cards get a little more attention, with a page each. Titled as Apprentice (Page), Essence (Queen) Guide (King) and Alchemist (Knight), they get a small image and a brief description. Again, it's not precisely a meaning, more a starting point for your own intuition.
Now; the cards themselves.
They feature this background, which is technically not reversable - the lines don't quite line up - but you'd have to be looking very closely to see which way up they are.
The cards are matte and shuffle beautifully; they're currently the deck I reach for when my hands want to be busy, just to shuffle and hold. The artwork is very striking; when I first started looking through the cards, I thought they resembled cave paintings, and it's an impression that hasn't left me as I work more. They're stark in their simplicity, but they're far from simple; there's a lot hidden in these images, once you start to really look.
Majors have their names printed at the bottom, but no numbers. Minors have their number and suit at the base; Ace through Ten are listed with the familiar names, eg Cups or Swords, while the Courts are listed by element - eg Apprentice of Air.
Cups Ace through Ten are all vessels of one kind or another. Wands are sticks or leaves. Swords are arrows or feathers. Coins are a bit more varied - there's something round in most of the cards, but they vary quite a bit, and the Seven has only one round item!
Here's a few examples (I had a lot of trouble narrowing these down, I wanted to just show the whole deck, so I hope you enjoy!):
This is a fascinating deck to work with; stripped of all my usual props and tricks, I had to lean much harder on my intuition. It's not a beginner's deck, in my opinion, and it's not a deck for a quick read; this is a deck to linger over, absorb and really work with. It's tough, but if you hang in there, you'll find it's absolutely worth it.
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