Recently launched as a Kickstarter campaign, The Desney Tarot collection is one of Deckstiny’s latest and most popular publications. Based upon World popular Disney animations, the Desney Tarot is a modern twist upon the traditional Rider Waite Smith Tarot utilising the long-standing figures, suits, and setup of the RWS alongside additional cards to celebrate famous figures within the Tarot community.
The Desney Tarot Collection
Created by Deckstiny and Eugene Long, the Desney Tarot collection is a novelty nineties-based deck that cleverly combines dreamy Disney-style cartoon imagery with the art of cartomancy.
Eugene and Deckstiny have created three decks in total; The Desney (standard-sized Tarot) Kickstarter Exclusive Tarot Deck, The Pamela Commemorative Collection, and the Desney Pocket Edition Tarot.
Who is Deckstiny?
Based in Thailand, Deckstiny first came about in 2020 when they released their first indy Tarot Deck – The Shuffle Tarot A & B. Formerly known as ‘Shuffle Tarot’, Deckstiny is a team collaboration of Mate Horonumber, Oomsin Phumphat, and a number of other artists and contributors, including Bigsho.
Over time Deckstiny, alongside their contributing artists, has designed and produced a wide selection of divination decks, all of which are available to purchase Worldwide via their Etsy shop.
The Desney Tarot
The Desney Kickstarter Exclusive Tarot deck is a standard-sized Tarot deck featuring seventy-eight cards alongside four additional cards; two special cards (A.E Waite and Pamela Colman Smith), a certification card, and an art card.
Presentation & Packaging
The Desney Tarot (Kickstarter Exclusive Edition) arrives in a two-piece sturdy cardboard box ideal for readers who may wish to store and display their decks. The box features colourful artwork (both inside and outside of the box) and gold-foil, glitzy stamping in places.
The Cards
Printed on Germany Black-core 330 GSM matt-coated card, the Desney (Kickstarter Exclusive Edition) Tarot is a standard Tarot-sized deck measuring 70mm x 120mm.
This exclusive Tarot deck features symmetrical, dark grey and gold card backs, gorgeous gold-glitter edging, and gold-foil stamping on both the front and back of the cards.
What, No Guidebook?
Though Deckstiny has included the odd guidebook with their decks from time to time, there aren’t many of their publications that have done so. The Desney Tarot collection comes without a guidebook thus beginner readers may wish to consider this.
The Major Arcana
The Desney Kickstarter Exclusive Tarot is a borderless deck featuring colourful cartoon-style imagery similar to that of the Disney films that many of us watched during our childhood. The Desney Tarot combines the magic of Disney with that of divination and the result is quite simply stunning.
The major arcana cards feature gold-foiled, italic-style titling fonts at the base of the card. This can be a little tricky to read and the cards may need tilting to the light from time to time for easier reading.
The Minor Arcana
Much like the major arcana in art style, the minor arcana features a range of familiar characters popped into the Tarot’s traditional imagery. The Desney Tarot has made use of the traditional suits (wands, cups, swords, and pentacles) alongside the traditional court card figures; Pages, Knights, Queens, and Kings.
The Suit of Wands
The Suit of Cups
The Suit of Swords
The Suit of Pentacles
Additional Cards
Alongside the standard 78 major and minor arcana cards, the Desney Tarot comes with two exclusive art cards commemorating Pamela Colman Smith and A E Waite. Readers can choose whether to include these when working with the deck or to put them to one side for safekeeping.
Certification Cards
Included within the Desney Tarot is a certification card identifying the unique copy number of the deck (Deckstiny prints only a limited amount of each of their decks, and each particular deck is stamped and certified with a unique number).
The Pamela Commemorative Collection
As part of the Desney Tarot Collection, Deckstiny has joined forces with Eugene Long to produce a special commemorative deck celebrating what would have been Pamela Colman Smith’s 144th birthday. This major-arcana-only deck is made up of twenty-two cards where Pamela fulfils each and every role within the deck.
Arriving in a slimmer but still very sturdy cardboard box matching in theme to that of the Desney Tarot, The Pamela Commemorative Collection is a major-arcana-only deck featuring Pamela throughout each and every one of the cards. Readers may therefore wish to swap and change the major arcana cards from their original Desney Tarot to those within the commemorative collection as and when they wish.
Printed on the same 330 GSM Germany Black-core card with gold-glitter-edging and gold-foil titling and decoration, this exclusive commemorative deck is, like the Desney Tarot, standard Tarot-sized.
The Pamela Commemorative Collection makes use of the same background imagery from that of the Desney Tarot, only in this deck, Pamela takes the place of each and every figure.
Pamela Takes Centre Stage
This cute commemorative collection arrives with three additional cards; a certification card (identifying the individual deck number), an art card featuring Waite Smith (which readers may wish to include/ put to one side to keep safe), and an art card.
Reading & Working With The Desney Tarot Collection
Being a huge Disney fan, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Deckstiny’s latest deck – the Desney Tarot though upon arrival I wasn’t quite as impressed as I’d have hoped. Whilst the imagery is indeed cute, colourful, and reminiscent of the dreamy Disney style, I had been hoping to immediately identify particular Disney characters and whilst a few figures bared resemblance to those from the films of my childhood, nothing really stood out as obvious.
I’ve spent the past week reading and working with the Desney Tarot and though the readings have been clear, I don’t feel a huge connection to this deck like I’d hoped that I would. Whether it’s the disappointment of it simply not being ‘Disney enough’ or whether it’s the powers above, I’m not entirely sure.
I had toyed with the idea of swapping and switching the major arcana cards with those from the Pamela Commemorative Collection however, I decided that I personally preferred to keep Pamela safely in her box on display in my Tarot room. For whatever reason, it didn’t feel right to have Pamela on each and every major arcana card – I would suggest that this is more of a collector’s item.
Delving Into The Desney Tarot Collection
I have put together a short video-walkthrough guide outlining and further explaining the Desney Kickstarter Exclusive Tarot Deck, The Pamela Commemorative Collection, and the Desney Pocket Tarot.
Purchasing & Pricing Information
The Desney Tarot Collection is available to purchase online via Deckstiny’s Etsy Page. The Desney KickStarter Exclusive (standard-sized) Tarot retails from £92.44, and the Pamela Commemorative Collection which may be added to this deck retails from £48.94. These prices exclude the £35.35 postage fee thus if you are considering purchasing both decks, it may be worth buying them together to save on postage costs.
To Summarise
Whilst slightly expensive, the Desney Tarot collection is certainly unique and will no doubt be high-up on many divination deck collectors’ wishlists.
Cute, colourful, and ideal for younger Tarot readers, the Desney Tarot collection is a glitzy, gorgeous, matt-feel Tarot deck that is super smooth to shuffle with easy-to-interpret imagery ideal for readers of all ages and abilities.
For further information on the Desney Tarot Collection or alternative Deckstiny publications visit www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ShuffleTarot
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The Desney Tarot Product Rating
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The Pamela Commemorative Collection Product Rating
Disclosure: I was sent the above products for the purpose of this post however all opinions are my own.