Hello, soul friends!
After a brief hiatus, as life got a bit too busy, I decided to get back to completing some of these deck reviews I had on my list to do before I forget to add them on here. I am not going in any order, so that is helpful. Today's review is covering a deck that was caught my attention as soon as I saw it! It's vivid imagery, bold colors, and standout artwork set my deck collector's heart thumping away.
I hope you enjoy my review and generous pictures!
Eight Coins Tattoo Tarot AKA 78 Cards
This is a beautiful deck that I had my eyes on but missed out on purchasing. I was lucky enough to have someone gift it to me, and it has quickly become a fave and must have deck in my collection. The artistry and unique tattoo design and aesthetic just resonate with me very deeply. The deck is set to be republished from US Game Systems in 2017. I am not sure when they will publish or be available for purchase at the moment, but maybe checking their site may give you an idea.
About the aRtist
Lana Zellner, (aka Eight Coins) is a tattoo artist, painter, and designer based in the mountains of Missoula, Montana. Lana is currently tattooing at Blaque Owl Tattoo in Missoula. Pulling from her previous professional experience as an architect, Lana’s art and tattoo work is heavily focused on line-work, bold design elements, and detailed ornamentation.
My Personal Review
This is a 80 card tarot deck which includes a lot of traditional elements, exquisite depictions, and artistically unique cards. As I shuffled through the deck the first time, I was taken aback by the beautiful artwork. Laura did a fantastic job of interpreting each Tarot archetype and traditional character with her own spin.
I love the tattoo influence and how there is a small note at the bottom of each card to let you know what order they were conceived in. A lot of the cards have a slight variation in stylistic approach, but overall you can tell that the same artist was responsible for the deck. Laura has created a card for each of the traditional Tarot cards and two extra cards were included. They are "The Forest" and "The High Priest". The High Priest gives me a similar vibe to the The High Priestess and perhaps something similar to a Pope, so that card has been easy for me to add in to the mix when doing readings, but the Forest has been a slightly more difficult card for me to interpret in a tarot perspective, unless I were to look at it as a need to ground, refocus, recenter, and reconnect for the self out in nature and understanding the beautiful ecosystem of a forest. Either way, the artwork is absolutely stunning!
The card stock is not super thick, but lacks the shinier finish that newer decks I have in my collection have, and also allows you get a nice bend without cracking the card stock. They do bend very easily. I also love that these beauties are great to take pictures of since they are a slight matte finish that doesn't take away from the beauty of the artwork.
Each card has the traditional name of the card on there, and they all include very RWS influences. Of course, Laura did her own unique take on all of the cards, but you can look through all of the cards and recognize the familiar symbolism. As you can see in the picture here, I have included the Strength card and I love that the woman is wearing the Lion instead of seen as trying to tame the lion, as in most traditional depictions of the Strength card. The Queen of Pentacles is also recognizable here, but almost given a softness that is not often shown in other decks.
The backs are reversible, as most traditional Tarot decks have, so you can easily use upright and reverse meanings for your readings. They are simple, but not my least favorite backs. I actually prefer these simplistic symbols on the back of the decks that allow an opportunity to pull cards either upright or reverse. This symbol looks like a mix between the flower of life and a snowflake design.
I wish I would have purchased the Guidebook - 78 Cards - The Book of Meanings is a 6"x9", paper back, divination book featuring large full color illustrations of each card and descriptions of the meaning of each card. The Book of Meanings features writing from four well known card readers from around the world, as well as by the Artist of the deck, Lana Zellner. Each author contributed their own individual writing style to one suite of the deck.
Authors:
Major Arcana - Kelly-Ann Maddox, The Four Queens Wands - Christy Talbot, Tarot Girl Next Door Cups - Sebastian Åkesson, Father of Wands Swords - Ethony Dawn Pentacles - Lana Zellner, Eight Coins
As I don't have the book, I am not going to review the book, although it looked very in-depth, and I love the work from all of the Authors who contributed. Enjoy the gratuitous deck porn below. It seriously just photographs so well!
Overall, I found this to be an exceptionally well executed Indie Deck - enough to be picked up by a well-known publishing company. The artwork is unique, crisp, timeless - even. There is a very definitive look to the deck, and I just love the amount of love that went into each card. Laura did a stellar job, and I highly recommend this deck to anyone who loves Tarot and Tattoos!
My overall opinion is that this deck is a 5 star choice.
Artwork - 5 stars
Card stock - 4 stars (although US Games may change the card stock)
Ease - 5 (if you already are familiar with Tarot)
Guidebook - N/A
I hope that you enjoyed my deck review, and also enjoy other deck reviews that I add to this site. I have a passion for exploring new decks and also finding various ways of connecting to my intuition. I appreciate you checking out my site and taking the time to read my review.
Happy Reading!
