Moon Angel Deck - tarot decks

Price: US $15.56

ProductID: alt0409

• Also known as Malakh Halevanah Cards

This deck has many unusual images and ideas - from the darkly poetic such as Floating Apparitions, the rather peculiar such as Boobies (then again given our social obsession with them, maybe not), the decidedly un-poetic like Poop On A Stick (an unpleasant facet of everyday life), while other cards embody concepts and ideas that a Seeker may need to allow or invite into their lives such as Cali, Hugging Diamonds, and Imagination. Yet other cards speak to the unspoken, the hidden the unacknowledged: Pain, Veils, Time, Fire Mountains.

This deck has 29 cards and being an oracle deck has neither a Major or Minor Arcana. Each card has an illustration and number, there are no borders on these images. The cards measure 90 x 100 mm making them much squarer than an average tarot deck, or even oracle deck. Their compact size and solid weight allows them to sit beautifully in one's hands.

The card stock is really good – solid but not particularly flexible, with a smooth low sheen finish. These cards are particularly easy to handle and shuffle very well without sticking or clumping, nor do they tend to fly out of one's hands due to excessive slipperiness. The print quality is excellent – the delicate colours, fine lines and detail are all reproduced with clarity. There are no misprints, or blurring and colour bleeds.

The artwork is largely abstract watercolour painting. The artist's palette focuses on delicate, almost misty colours – soft greys, blues, greens, offset by a rainbow of brilliant highlights. The artist's style is deeply personal – focusing on circular and linear patterns, as well as abstract shapes. The print on the back of the cards – abstract moons in circle and dash designs, in copper on a navy background – is not reversible.

The cards come packaged in a navy blue linen textured cardboard wrap-around, with titles and a description in rich copper metallic print.This lovely and tasteful colour scheme is repeated on the cover to the guidebook, and the backs of the cards themselves. Included in this package is the deck of 29 cards and a small guidebook.

The 69 page guidebook is written by the card’s creator – Rebekah. There is a small introduction which aims to familiarise the seeker with the concept behind the cards as well as providing some information about the use of Yiddish in the divinatory meanings. This project was originally created with the intent of using Hebrew the titles of the cards, the artist has instead chosen to eschew titles on the cards. No layouts are included for these cards, which is in keeping with the intuitive nature of the deck.

Each card is reproduced in black-and-white. A title is given in English, in Hebrew, and with a Hebrew translation which allows for precise pronunciation by a non-speaker. The divinatory meanings vary from eccentric and quirky to deeply sympathetic and compassionate. All offer us unusual insights into the reality of our everyday lives. The author suggests that the Seeker may choose to use or disregard her definitions as they see fit, without lessening or compromising the cards’ ability to divine accurately. As these cards are not intended to be used like tarot cards there are no reversed meanings given. Rebekah has many ideas as to the uses her cards may serve – from the serious such as divination, and dream blessings, to the whimsical such as gifts, refrigerator decorations and (laminated) drink coasters.

The Moon Angels cards are a totally eccentric deck, highly individualistic, quirky, and deeply intriguing. If you are looking for something that will challenge your concept of what a divination deck is then this deck might do it for you. If you are looking for a deck that speaks to the realities of modern life yet retains strong ties to the mystical then the Moon Angels cards are definitely worth looking at. If you are looking for a deck that is deeply compassionate yet irreverent then this is the deck for you.