Deck Review: Tarot of Pagan Cats (mini edition)

Magdelina Messina and Lola Airaghi, Tarot of Pagan Cats (mini edition). Torino, Italy: Lo Scarabeo, 2021. ISBN:  9780738769745. (Link to Llewellyn, US distributor.)

Genre: Tarot deck

Subgenre: cats, miniature edition, pagan

Format: 78-card deck with small little white book in solid box

Source: I own this one

 

Five of Cups

I first used this deck in August 2023. This is the mini edition of the deck. It comes in a small solid box, which makes it easy to toss the deck in a backpack or travel bag and get going. 

The small kit includes a very small little white book (LWB) and the 78-card deck. It is your typical Lo Scarabeo LWB in multiple languages: English, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Russian. The LWB is 32 pages long; the English part is 6 pages long. The content is very basic. You get a very short introduction, then the card meanings. The meanings are basically a sentence or two. You do not get a lot, but you do get something. At least it's better than some of Llewellyn's mini editions which do not even include an LWB. By the way, this LWB includes a 7-card spread. 

Naturally, the highlight here are the cards. If you enjoy cats in general and/or like decks with cat themes then this deck is a good choice. The paintings depict cats in nature and in various regular life situations. These are cats out and about with a bit of a pagan theme. The imagery for the most part falls well within Rider Waite Smith (RWS) system. The deck can still work well for intuitive readers.

A small issue is in the court cards. Card identification is minimal-- usually a number and symbol. For the kings and queens, it is a crown and suit symbol. The crowns look a bit too similar; one is slightly wider than the other. The king crown is the narrow one. Often, you have to look at the cat; the more feminine looking one is the queen. This could have been done better, and for beginners it could be an issue. It took me a while using the cards to get the hang of which card is a queen or a king. The rest of the card identifications are fine. 

The Tower-XVI

The art overall is very good. I like the various cats and the variety of settings they are in. It is a mostly easy to read deck. The art is colorful and soft. This is a deck you can  use for pretty much any kind of reading. I would use this deck to read for myself as well as read for others. This is a light and easy deck overall. The art is clear in a realistic style. 

The cards measure about 3 inches by 1 3/4 inches. They have a thin white border, which is not an issue for me. The card coating is a light gloss, and they are easy to shuffle. The card back image is reversible. 

Overall this is a very nice deck you can use year round. I got this mini deck on sale and because I like cat themed decks. Despite some minor issues, I do enjoy this one, and I would consider getting the standard size edition. I am not sure I would recommend it for beginners, but beginners can work with it. I'd just suggest for them to get a good Tarot reference book to supplement. For intermediate and advanced readers it will be fine. This is a deck I still recommend.

Overall, 3 out of 5 for the package as a whole. 4 out of 5 stars for the deck itself.