I was sent this deck to review as a member of TABI, you can read my article here.

The newest tarot deck in my collection, The Good Karma Tarot was written by Kerry Ward and illustrated by Amy Blackwell, the deck was released in 2021.

The deck arrived in a sturdy cardboard box, the size of which is big enough to fit the approximately A5 guidebook. The tarot cards are split into two piles, each bound with a plastic band, they sit in a black plastic tray. Once unwrapped the cards are a little unruly and do not easily sit tidily in the tray, it is also tricky to get them all out as there is no ribbon to pull for easy retrieval.

There are 78 cards, each roughly 3.5×5” and made of decent card stock that feels nice in the hand. They have a glossy finish, which combined with the slightly larger size, makes shuffling them a bit of a wild ride – as someone who pays attention to jumping cards, this has added a few cards to almost every reading I have done so far with this deck.

The art style used in this deck is clear and simple, it feels modern without being sparse or intimidating. The colour palette is cheerful yet slightly muted resulting in a colourful but not overwhelming look. Almost all the cards feature human figures, the people depicted show a variety of skin tones and gender presentations but not sizes or visible disabilities. Most of the characters appear feminine except the Kings, Knights and most of the Pages of the minor arcana.

The Good Karma Tarot largely follows the Rider-Waite-Smith system, most of the illustrations are reminiscent of the originals by Pamela Coleman Smith with some deviations, the guidebook also gives a description of the original drawing to pull in additional meaning to the paired back designs. As is typical in the RWS system, all of the minor arcana are fully illustrated, with the suit of pentacles being named the suit of coins. The Majors are unnumbered so there could be some flexibility in how you read them, but the book has Justice as the eighth card and Strength as the twelfth.

My first impression is that it probably won’t be a most-used deck in my collection, although I find the imagery charming and can absolutely see the benefit of such a straightforward beginner’s deck, it smacks a little bit of “girl boss energy” which isn’t something I’m in any hurry to integrate into my practice. All that aside, I am looking forward to pushing myself to get the best out of the deck, I will follow-up with a full review when I’ve had more time to get to know the real character of The Good Karma Tarot.

The Good Karma Tarot can be bought here.