The Deviant Moon Tarot is an absolutely stunning deck that captivates with its dark beauty and unique artistry. For months, images of this deck have circulated online, capturing the imagination of Tarot enthusiasts worldwide. Now, Games has unleashed the highly anticipated Deviant Moon Tarot upon the world, exceeding all expectations with its exquisite, highly-detailed imagery.
This deck expands on Rider-Waite imagery with a gloriously twisted perspective, reflecting common associations in dazzling patterns, striking colors, and surprising juxtapositions. The figures in the cards are non-human, with layered faces and moon-like masks, wide staring eyes, bird-like feet, and often elongated bodies. Despite the lack of regular human facial expressions and body language, the figures are remarkably expressive.
Artistically, the cards are incredibly strong and consistent, from the Fool all the way through to the King of Pentacles. They are dark on the surface and underneath; photographs from cemeteries and tombstones have been morphed and twisted into other elements of the cards: clothing trim, headgear, and shoes. The backgrounds are urban and industrial; scenes are often set outdoors, but there is little natural environment; the moon rises over smokestacks, dull and dirty skies, fortified buildings -- all created from photographs of a mental asylum.
Unique Features of the Deviant Moon Tarot
Several aspects set the Deviant Moon Tarot apart, making it a truly unique and compelling deck.
- Borderless Edition: While a borderless edition is available, the standard deck includes white borders around the edges, along with smaller, colored borders. These borders don't detract from the deck's appeal and add to its distinctive look.
- Color Coding: Each suit of the Minor Arcana has its own color: Pentacles are black, Cups are blue, Wands are green, and Swords are red. The borders of the Major Arcana vary in color, coming in black, blue, green, red, and purple.
- Card Stock: The card stock is sturdy and seems like it'll stand up to several years of shuffling.
- Companion Material: The pack comes with the deck, a Little White Book (LWB), and a spread mat for the "Lunatic Spread," a ten-card spread of Valenza’s creation.
The LWB provides basic descriptions of each card’s divinatory meanings, upright and reversed. Despite its simplicity, the beauty of the deck itself compensates for the lack of a detailed companion book.
Read also: Leo Moon: Traits & Compatibility
The Deviant Moon Tarot is a Moon theme RWS based deck. The art appears very abstract, medieval and is inspired by ancient Greek art. It is a bit on the darker side, but it is a very workable deck and will appeal to many, both Readers and Sitters. This deck will be especially attractive to those who are fond of the non-traditional or maybe even looking for something a little creepy.
Thematic Elements and Symbolism
Patrick Valenza created the Deviant Moon Tarot, basing it on childhood images and visions seen through his imagination and brought with him into adulthood. Each card began with a drawing that was scanned into a computer, then manipulated. The background buildings were created with photographs that he took of a local abandoned insane asylum.
The cards depart from traditional elements of symbolism in many ways, but the card’s tarot meaning is still clear. For example, in the Nine of Cups, the well-dressed character releases a genie from the bottle and looks on with surprise; a very appropriate image for what is traditionally known as the ‘Wish’ card. The King of Wand isn’t seated on a throne, and instead holds woodland creatures by the hand and strides through the scene but still comes across as the confident, charismatic leader.
The Moon card is literally the puppet-master of the figures below, holding the strings that connect them and controlling their movements. Ugly but strangely elegant, Death has a red scarf wrapped around her skeletal horse head and a pregnant belly, signaling both the end and the beginning inherent in the transformation of Death. The cards do have an uncomfortable edge, even in traditionally positive and usually pretty cards like the Star.
The deck itself is largely sepia-toned, colored in various warm shades of brown and yellow with an occasional splash of red or blue. In addition to the white borders around the edges, each card has a smaller, colored border. Each suit of the Minor Arcana has its own color: Pentacles are black, Cups are blue, Wands are green, and Swords are red. The borders of the Major Arcana vary in color, coming in black, blue, green, red, and purple.
Read also: Libra Full Moon: Spiritual Awakening
There were little details that popped out during the readings, and I had to go to the source for some answers."Uh Patrick, I notice there are a few oddly placed clocks with unexpected times displayed, for example in the Eight of Pentacles the clock displays eleven fifty-eight.""Thanks for noticing" answered Patrick, with a wry smile, "Yup, two minutes to midnight ... all the work you do in a day, and there is always more to do the next. Day in and day out. Hoping for something to show after all of this work ... maybe you won't see it today, but maybe tomorrow."
Insights and Interpretations
Despite the unusual characters populating the world of the Deviant Moon, they still speak messages relevant and purposeful to discerning individuals. This would make a great journaling deck, too, as well as one for comparative Tarot studies.
The Deviant Moon Tarot is unlike any deck I’ve ever worked with and I mean that in the best possible way. The moment I opened it, I felt like I had stepped into a surreal dreamworld filled with hidden symbolism, distorted beauty, and unapologetic shadow. Patrick Valenza’s art is strange, striking, and deeply intentional. Each card feels like a story that refuses to be forgotten both haunting and oddly familiar.
What I love most is that this deck challenges the reader. It doesn’t hand you simple answers. It asks you to confront the truth, even when it’s uncomfortable. And somehow, that makes it even more magical. Thecharacters, while otherworldly, reflect real human emotions grief, jealousy, hope, madness, power. It’s a deck I reach for when I want honesty, depth, and intuitive clarity. It’s especially powerful for shadow work, past life insight, and dream interpretation.
The Deviant Moon strikes to the heart of issues, with the same ease that it pushes aside six hundred years of Tarot myth-takes; it dives directly towards the truth. It’s often difficult to remember, that the voices that whisper in the darkness from the peeling walls, often speak the truth.
Read also: Unveiling the Enigmatic Worm Moon
For me the first impression of the artwork was startling. But as I began to flip through the cards the little characters began to grow on me. They are sort of gothic and whimsical at the same time and as I looked even closer I saw some interesting symbolism coming through as well. I loved how the characters on the cards had lunar faces- the bright half of the face, which I took as being the conscious self, has an open eye while the dark half, the possible subconscious of the face, has the eye closed. All the cards have titles except Death and the numbered cards.
Many times when I'm looking at a deck that strays from traditional RWS imagery, I tend to see flashes in my mind of the RWS equivalent meanings as a comparison. While the Deviant Moon doesn't follow traditional imagery, as soon as I look at one of the cards, I automatically know what card it is, and I've found that before my mind is able to flash to the RWS "meaning" in my head, the artwork.
Table: Suit Meanings in Deviant Moon Tarot
| Suit | Color | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| Pentacles | Black | Materialistic void in their souls |
| Cups | Blue | Calm purity of the sea |
| Wands | Green | Earth and the natural world |
| Swords | Red | Strife and pain of the heart |