Last March I saw an Instagram post by the Mesquite Tarot that it was on its final print run. They were giving out discounts to sell off their remaining stock.
Now this deck wasn’t really at the top of my wishlist, but I suddenly felt a mild panic about the idea that I won’t be able to find it anywhere anymore in the future. I mulled it over for about a couple of days, even pulling a card or two to help me decide. I’m pretty sure the cards said something about “need vs want” and “maybe now’s not the time to be impulsive” and all that, but clearly I had decided that I needed this deck. So I bought one and told myself it was a birthday gift. Haha.
I used a delivery service so I didn’t have to worry about my package getting lost (our postal system kinda sucks) and decided to get a couple other things from somewhere else to maximize the shipping. Yeah, it was a little pricey but I don’t regret it one bit. :)
A quick look at the Mesquite Tarot deck
The Mesquite Tarot deck arrived in my hands in mid-April. It came with a cute canvas pouch with a simple ourobouros design, a sticker and a softcover guidebook.
When I finally held it in my hands, the first thing I noticed was its size. I don’t know for the life of me why I didn’t realize that this was a small deck. My dudes, it’s TINY. I actually chuckled to myself, wondering how I could have missed this little detail.
The card quality is pretty good though. It’s also pretty sleek and kinda slippery so you really have to be careful when shuffling or handling the cards. They will fall right off your hands. I eventually got the hang of it (kinda) and learned to appreciate how easy it was to shuffle.
I’m still a total noob to all this so I can’t say much about the meaning of the cards or how they relate to the traditional meanings of tarot, but the art on this deck is beautiful. It’s simple and uncomplicated, with soft muted colors. Every review I’ve read describe this deck as soft and gentle but packed with meaning and that’s exactly how it feels when I look at this deck. I may not know the meanings outright but the cards do look like they have a lot to say if you really look.
The deck does away with a few traditional things: it uses arrows instead of swords and Leader, Knower, Student and Novice instead of King, Queen, Knight and Page – a bit gender neutral, which is cool. And the guidebook is not your typical guidebook. It’s a work of art by itself. The description of each card is poetic and has a gentle way about it. The book was a great help to me the newbie when I used the deck for the whole month of May.
Overall, this deck is a lot of fun to play with it. I’m using a different deck this month, but I’m looking forward to getting to know this deck more.
The Mesquite Tarot is no longer in print but, as of this post, I think it’s still available in limited stocks in some shops around the world.