The Ink Witch Tarot Deck Review

​Deck: The Ink Witch Tarot Deck
Artist/Creator: Eric Maille 
Publisher: Independent
Where to Buy in the UK? 
​thewootique.com/products/ink-witch-tarot
​U.S. www.ericmaille.com/store/the-ink-witch-tarot-deck

It's that time of the year when you might be looking to buy someone special a tarot deck or to treat yourself. So I wanted to review an independent deck that's still available and that hasn't been easy to find! However, thankfully the Wootique are still carrying this little gem. So here we have The Ink Witch Tarot. Just to be clear up front, this isn't a witchy deck. I don't know if the name refers to a nickname for the artist or not but although you'll find a cauldron, some magic wands and such like in this deck, you won't find anyone wearing a witches hat. It still has a magical quality though. And that comes in it's ability to enable you to become a storyteller extraordinaire. 

This is a fully illustrated deck but it isn't an RWS clone. The art work is kind of hard to describe, it's not cartoony but it's not too grown-up either. Maybe a little bit fairytale but with some gentle reality thrown in. The colour palette for the deck stands out in its muted tones. It's all pale blues, browns, beiges, black and white and as such has quite a calm and together feel. It's not too sparse but there's lots of space to enable you to see what's going on. 

The card stock is good quality, smooth playing card stock. So it's easy to overhand shuffle as well as to riffle and bridge. As you can see the images are borderless, with the exception of the footer at the bottom and the font is very easy to read. The traditional suits and titles have been retained with Strength at VIII and Justice at XI. For those of you who like absolute symmetry, do be aware that the footers are of different depths and shades.  

The cards come in a standard tuck box without any guide book. There is a guide book available for purchase, I believe in the U.S. but if you're in the UK, you can download a PDF copy from the artists website www.ericmaille.com/downloads
​I would recommend downloading it as there is some excellent information about why the artist chose to represent the images in a different way to the traditional decks.

There is diversity in age, sex and sexual orientation but not in skin-colour or culture. There are animals real and imagined. Its strength doesn't lie in its diversity. It's key point of interest is it's storytelling ability. It will transfer you to magical lands or just a slightly magical version of this land and spark your intuitive readings. While all the time blending nicely with your furniture, no doubt. Quite a remarkable little deck.