Hello Folk!
The last quarter of the year has been very intense for me, so i apologise profusely for my quietness. I have a bunch of decks waiting to be reviewed and i've backed many on kickstarter which are due to be sent in the new year, and i even got one for christmas! So i have a lot to give to you.
Towards the end of the year i tend to clear out my life, of anything that is not serving me. This starts from late December and goes all the way through to the spring. I like to start the new year standing firm in my truth, unashamedly myself in all the ways possible.
So! With that in mind, i thought it would be a great idea to tell you all who's works i won't be reviewing, and why.
Etheral Visions Tarot/ Luna Tarot & The Dreamscape Oracle - Matt Hughes
I really love Art Nouveau (As by now i'm sure you know) and don't get me wrong, this deck looks very beautiful. With clean lines, it's very striking and i do know other Tarot readers who have this deck. However, i have a few issues with this deck
Etheral Visions is a very eurocentric deck, very very Eurocentric which in this day and age really is not what i'm looking for. When this was remodelled and re-released (As Luna Tarot) as a More Multicultural deck, i feel this was actually a farce because only a handful of cards were changed. We've been here with the Light Seer's, and also The Inner Gems Tarot. Both decks where brown faces are used to generate sales. It's not for me
Plagiarism. Matt Hughes is embroiled in a Plagiarism row, as he very blatantly stole artwork (The Death Card, with no consent). It's very icky and i really dislike stealing artwork so it's a no from me.
Kickstarter controversy. When Matt sold his decks on Kickstarter he didn't honour the backers. At one point people who didn't receive the decks that they had paid for, yet the decks had started being sold through Amazon. It is detailed in this link Here. Full thread on reddit.
Tarot by Duck Soup Productions - All decks
For those who don't know, Tarot by duck soup made a Golliwogg Oracle - Link here and is unapolagetic about the history of the Golliwog and why people are rightly horrified. They simply do not care about it, refering to those it offends in derogatory and dismissive terms in this blog here, trying to control the discussion and discredit anyone who feels the work is insensitive.
Dressing their production of it as reminiscent of their childhood and their mother. I understand greately the need to tribute something to a parent who has passed, i myself lost a parent to cancer 20 years ago. This doesn't mean i need to make offensive decks just to carry on a legacy of memory connected our colonial past. The golliwog is a cariacature of black people from a time where anti-black sentiment was far more acceptable, times have moved on. History of the Golliwog
This Oracle is now out of production, and they have other decks to buy but i refuse to contribute my money towards creaters with harmful opinions, who choose willful ignorance.
Alana Fairchild - All of her decks which feature humans.
Alana Fairchild, her decks are ten a penny and you'll always see them in esoteric shops. I actually think they're in every single esoteric shop in the world. For me, besides her decks being really eurocentric, i also have a real problem with the way that she churns them out, there is something fundamentaly wrong with divination if creators are contracted to make so many decks over so many years.
Not ONLY that but some of them carry so much misinformation and cultural incensitivity that to use them is pretty insulting. Take the Kali deck as a prime example, this was reviewed really thoroughly by Queen Auset and Christina on the youtube channel Oya's girl. Link here.
Not only was it incredibly whitewashed, but it was full of constant misinformation about the Deity Kali Maa, that it was actualy pretty offensive.
I could say more, but you get my point. It was cultural appropriation at it's very best, and it's not the only deck. (Isis Oracle is a good example, i did have that deck but not for very long!)
Not only all of this, but Alana tends to churn out a lot of Love and Light decks, Angel decks etc etc. Neo Paganism is a minefield for me to navigate because sometimes it lends itself to White Supremacy and toxic spirituality. These are ideals i just don't want to spend my money on.
If i ever get a second hand deck or one is gifted to me then of course i will review this for you.
However, that being said i am happy to review her decks that are like or similar to the Rumi Oracle. Which are color based decks which look to be more channelled, more abstract art and less well produced. I simply feel like these come from the heart a little more.
Doreen Virtue - All Decks
Doreen has a lot of Angel Decks, A LOT, lots of woo woo eurocentric, new age love and light.
So besides how i feel about that (Which we already know) why am i anti Doreen?
In a nutshell Doreen has denounced tarot and oracle cards, and has called them the tools of the devil. She states that Jesus appeared to her in a dream and told her that she needed to distance herself from her work.
One problem this presents for people who DO follow her work, is the certified Angel Card readers.... to become one you need to do HER course. Where does that leave them?
She hasn't renounced her royalties though... (of course)
So unless someone donates one to me, you'll never see me review her work. I wouldn't want to fund someone who hates what i do.
Landback Tarot and Oracle
The Landback movement is something i feel needs to be highlighted more in the fight for equality, and this is a deck (actually it's 2 decks) was created for that purpose. Indigenous rights are often glossed over by the west, and it is high time that ex colonial countries and settlers started repairing the damage that they have done to these communities.
Unfortunately the creator made quite a few anti black and misogynoir comments towards black women in the tarot community, (including a tarot creator who was near the end of her kickstarter, conveniently). Actively trying to devalue their lineage, experiences of racism, and control their vernacular.
Whilst i am here to invest in BIPOC creators, Spiritual Leaders and people. I do not want to promote racism, colourism and prejudice beween the communities.
I did have this deck, but i have gifted this to an Indigenous person so that they enjoy a firmer spiritual connection. It was 100% the right place for it to be.
I will not be endorsing this kind of behaviour from anyone, or putting my money towards their future endeavors.
The Ghetto Tarot - Alice Smeets
I almost forgot this gem! Alice Smeets is an artist from Europe (Belgium i think.. but don't hold me to it) and she is the creater of the Ghetto Tarot.
The Ghetto Tarot depicts the characters of the Smith-Waite deck using people from Haiti as the focal point, these are not natural photos they are stylised versions of people playing the characters within the cards. My main issue here is how exploitive this is, yes she paid them a small fee for their time and work, but she is still a white woman profiteering from their image and it really doesn't sit right with me. Not only that, but the language used is important. When ghetto is often used in a derogatory way towards people of African descent across the world, it is not ok that it is used refering to this deck. It's damaging rhetoric and it's dressed up in (i've seen comments from her making this point) "Well they use the language to refer to themselves, so thats why i am doing so"......
Woah, we've all seen the argument about white women using the term "sis" to refer to black women, these terms take on entirely new meanings when they are used by white people towards people of color. We MUST be sensitive to this, and not uphold systems of supremacy just because it's what we want to do.
Collete Baron-Reid - Originally no but i've changed my mind. Here is why!
I already have two decks by Collete Baron-Reid, and i will review them but similarly to Alana Fairchild and Doreen Virtue i've noticed that Collete churns out work like she's laying eggs every day.
I was quite offended when i bought the Mystical Shaman Oracle (For quite a few reasons i'll divulge in a review) but i've done some digging, and i can hold my hands up here.... i can see she's taken the criticism on the chin and is now doing the inner work. As mentioned in this Guardian article.
It's not often that these well known deck creators hold their hands up and challenge their own implicit bias, and the harm which they are doing to other people. I have all the time for people who combat their own self, so her future works i'm open to. Especially since she's emphatically stated that she won't be using indigineous imagery in any of her new works, and has re-designed some existing cards.
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