The Mechanics of Tarot

By Vanessa Decort

The Sun and Moon Tarot by Vanessa Decort is a very interesting and versatile deck.

When I first picked it up, I was drawn to the simplistic art. All the people depicted are faceless and wearing modern attire. The background in the minor arcana is very minimalistic. All the wands are set in a desert against a starry night sky. The cups are set in a body of water also set at night, but instead of stars, each card is accompanied by the moon. The swords have blues skies and fluffy white clouds while the pentacles have yellow skies with either fields or deserts.

I highly recommend this deck to any tarot enthusiasts. While I find the art very beautiful, this recommendation is based on more than its visual appeal. The value of this deck lies in its amalgamation of the Rider-Waite-Smith and the Thoth decks.

The images on the minor arcana shares a lot of similarities with the RWS deck:

However, the naming convention of the cards are taken from the Thoth deck. The major arcana are also more aligned with the Thoth deck in its images and order (with Justice as VIII and Strength as XI).

Furthermore, while the minor arcana doesn’t show the astrological association of the cards, the booklet that it comes with do mention them in the card descriptions.

All these factors combined makes this deck one of the cleverest combination of the two most authoritative decks in tarot. To me, this really represents the hallmark of modern tarot – and spirituality in general. It is neither blind acceptance or arrogant rejection of tradition and authority. Rather, we study what has been passed down to us and consciously decide what elements to incorporate into our work.