The Textured Tarot Deck Review

Deck – The Textured Tarot
Creator/Artist – Lisa McLoughlin
Publisher - Independent
​Purchased - 2019

Introduction

The Textured Tarot is my working deck. I read for clients through an online community forum and have been using this deck since I picked it up earlier this year. I watched a side-by-side comparison video on YouTube by Integrative Healing with Sadhana(www.youtube.com/watch?v=P34dH7zTs08&t=5s) with the Textured Tarot and the Moonchild Tarot and promptly ordered both. When they arrived the Textured Tarot just slotted right into place as a reliable, easy to read deck. *Note: Moonchild Deck Review coming soon!

What's Good? 

• Beautiful colouring. Mixed colours throughout the deck, well saturated and overall a lot of blues and greens, nothing harsh or jarring
• Original imagery using mixed media digital collage that really works so well to depict the card meanings 
• Good firm thick card stock. Too firm to riffle shuffle but I shuffle overhand so I don't have a problem with that
• Borderless with clear unobtrusive font and numbering 
• Diversity in ethnicity, culture, skin-colour, sex, sexual-orientation, physical disabilities, size and age. Probably my most diverse deck
  
• The texturing. There are multiple images showing various textures but they blend so well. The texturing definitely enhances the deck while being effective and understated. It definately doesn't look like a sewing project 

What's Bad? 

• Packaging is a tuck box. It's roomy so there is less risk of damage to the cards as you don't need to ram them back in with a crow-bar like some tuck boxes. It also has a lovely soft but stong feel 
• The card backs are not reversible, although you'd have to be eagle eyed to see the pattern difference. I don't have a problem as I dont read reversals but bear it in mind if you do
• The deck is not edged. To be honest, it looks fine but these days with production standards rising I kind of expect edging. Especially on an independently produced deck. That may also have helped to prevent a bit of chipping that's just started to occur with repeated use
• The guide book (enclosed within the box) has a black and white image of each card and keywords or short phrases. Initially I found this disappointing and wanted to read more about the deck but the keywords and phrases have proved to be useful prompts

Favourite/Stand Out Cards

The "scary" cards, Death and The Tower are so beautiful. They convey the message without the scream-factor. The deck follows the tradition of having no name on the Death Card, just the number XIII and no number 0 on the Fool card, just the name. 

Folks with physical disabilities are represented, as in the King of Swords and the Queen of Cups. This is the only deck I've seen with someone wearing a blade and instead of going for the perhaps more obvious blade-runner style image, this King is in a sharp suit with peacock feather design surrounded by air symbolism. 

There are two cards in the deck showing fireplaces. The Four of Wands and the Devil. It's an interesting comparison showing the positive and negative sides of home comforts, ties and responsibilities. ​​

More diversity in the Queen of Pentacles and the 10 of Cups adding additional layers while still representing the traditional basic meanings. Of all the cards in the deck to show a voluptuous woman, the Queen of Pentacles is the most suitable. The couple in the Ten of Cups are ambiguous enough to represent a mixed-sex or single sex relationship. 

Summary

This is the best deck for........reading for clients or yourself. It's so quick to read right off the bat, you'll be able to pick it up and get great results straight away. Its diversity is its best feature. In a world where readers and clients like to feel represented, this deck will help you achieve that. It's not strictly an RWS clone as some of the images differ from the traditional style but not so much that it makes it difficult to read with. This would be a great option for anyone who wanted easy to read, modern images.

Where to Buy

I bought mine from Little Red Tarot littleredtarot.com/shop/but you can buy direct from the Artist's Etsy shop: LisaMcLoughlinArt (as always these are not affiliate links).