Deck Review: The Corrupted Tarot
Exploring the dark meanings of Tarot reversals through the collaborative Wyrmwood Gaming project.
An Instagram Impulse Buy
I bought The Corrupted Tarot after seeing the ad come up in my Instagram feed multiple times. Targeted ads, y’all… There was hesitancy in my purchase. Many of the comments lamented the delays with shipping; serious delays in shipping. However, my deck arrived within a week, and I am pretty sure that the delays were for the initial release from a Kickstarter. Also, global supply chain shortages are real right now. I was pleasantly surprised to find my deck shipped right away and arrived quickly.
At First Glance…
The box is pretty nondescript. It is a box that you pull apart rather than open like a book as some decks do, and it is sturdy and black. Nothing really to note here, other than sometimes it is difficult to get the guidebook and cards to slip back into the box. The guidebook itself is quite beautiful; full-color pages feature each unique artist (with their social media handles for ease of following) and offer both the “corrupted” and traditional meanings for each card. There is not a lot of detail in the book, so this deck would probably require additional research materials for someone new to Tarot. The cardstock is flimsy, but as someone who has a few gilded decks, the cards do not stick together, which makes it all the easier to enjoy the flashy silver gilding on the cards.
In Readings
Let me start out by saying, I do not read Tarot reversals. The approach I learned for “reverse” energy is from Josphine McCarthy’s work Tarot Skills for the Twenty-First Century. Tarot reversals are not necessary if you use the card positions in a reading for an indication of the flow of the card’s energy. For example, if you are using a Pathways, three card spread and have cards positioned in the “heart of the issue”, “action to take” and “action to avoid” format, a card in the “action to avoid” placement would likely represent “reversed” energy. I have been quite pleased with this simpler approach. With that being said, having a deck solely devoted to “reversed” or “corrupted” meanings gives me the opportunity to engage deeply with the artwork and to stretch my understanding of the cards. Any deck that gives me enough detail in the image to apply my own intuition is a win in my book, as long as the imagery is faithful enough to traditional RWCS depictions.
For the purpose of this review, I snagged a picture of the cards that displays the beautiful artwork on the back of the cards, as well as a couple of different styles of art that really stand out to me. Here is an example of some of the art I was instantly drawn to:
Here we have the 10 of Swords in the top left, illustrated by Valentine Smith (@valentinemsm1th), Nine of Pentacles in the top right, illustrated by Lauren Cannon (@laurenkcannon), the Page of Swords in the bottom left, illustrated by Quintin Gleim (@quentingleimart), and the Death card in the bottom right, illustrated by Tawny Fritz (@tawnyfritz). The art is quite diverse in this deck, and I appreciate the variety of styles and level of detail in the artwork.
In any deck, a reader should find the space to work with and come to conclusions that do not always align with the intent of the artist. This deck feels particularly liberating in that respect, and I found that most of my initial “hits” from the cards were not far from what I found in the guidebook. I will say, this deck is best used in high lighting, as some of the images are quite dark and hard to decipher at first glance. I am open to this being a personal shortcoming; my eyes are not the best, but I do think that each card bears an intense study for the most potent results.
The Spirit of the Deck
This deck has got an attitude. It’s interesting to think of the spiritual implications of decks that utilize the art and inspiration of several different artists, but in this case, I believe it lends the deck some spunk. It is hard to separate the “attitude” of the deck from its intent. This deck has proven to be quite vocal and opinionated on matters of dark magic and really seems to click with my mother-in-law1. I haven’t had enough time to apply too many of my own queries to the deck, but I can see that its best purpose may be in examining more shadowy subjects. An astounding conclusion, I know. There are a few oracle decks in my collection that I know will get along just fine with this deck, and I am excited to introduce them.
Here’s a photo featuring my personal cards, The Star, and The Hermit (my astrological card and soul card, respectively. Yes, I am that cool). Also, as a nerd that loved Magic The Gathering cards just for the art and who consumes High Fantasy novels at an alarming rate, I can’t rave enough about the art found in this deck. However, you will have to buy it to see it all for yourself. And no, this is not a paid review, nor are there any affiliate links or anything like that. This is just the ramblings of a Tarot-obsessed soul who has a lot of Tarot decks. Also, my hope is to create a video version of the review to give folks more glimpses into some of my favorite cards. We’ll see. I’m camera shy.
Not to say my mother-in-law is a dark sorceress (yet). The deck just really likes her vibe. Hi Kathy!