I’ve been on the edge of my seat for a while to get this deck. Back in early May of 2019, the two lovely creatrix’s Leah Shoman and Jackie Rye, teamed up to make the Dreamweaver tarot deck. Inspired by nostalgia, these polaroid-esque tarot cards are truly unique and deeply thought out. The photo’s themselves were inspired by Leah’s stunning travel photography, while Jackie illustrations, complete the deck. The gal’s at DW had a few hiccups in the printing process but kept their backers in the loop. I know myself, a backer, never once was concerned they’d figure it out! And they did! The deck was fully funded in less than a month on Kickstarter, meeting stretch goals to follow.
These two had me at polaroids. I myself have always had an obsessive, dew-eyed, millennial’s outlook on film photography, (I have finger mustache tattoos, I’m 100% that annoying bitch) and this deck did not lack for nostalgia. It invokes a real emotion for me, right off the bat, and I feel it will for a lot of other people too. And if your tarot deck can instill an emotion before even drawing a single card… well we are cooking with fire then, aren’t we?
Now, something I found incredibly interesting about this deck, (over some other’s I’ve seen) the shape totally aside, is the holographic foiling. Upon talking to the DW gals, it was brought to my attention that this wasn’t just an aesthetic choice. The holographic images, that reveal themselves at certain times/lighting, actually are there to further tap into your emotions, and your pineal glads- there to aid in your intuition. It also furthers its namesake, Dreamweaver, being an artistic representation of flitting between sleep and awake states.
Now let’s start getting down to the nitty-gritty, shall we?
The Dreamweaver Tarot is based on the traditional 78-card Rider-Waite deck and consists of a Major Arcana and Minor Arcana. Each card is 88mm x 110mm and comes in a matte black hard box (and by now you should know how much I consider a hard box, a must).
The suits appear as following:
- Matches (Wands)
- Vases (Cups)
- Stones (Pentacles)
- Blades (Swords)
My Take Away:
Okay, enough of the formalities. Is the deck any good? To put it simply, absofuckinglutely. The care and thought that has gone in to this deck is not missed by me. And although I may be biased, as this is a deck I backed myself from its birth, I had my early reservations. For example, I was genuinely concerned about sizing. We know I am a shuffle-ability whore. I was worried, that due to its shape, size, and inspiration, that it would be so hard to shuffle. But they have really taken this into consideration, and it shows. I have had absolutely no issues with shuffling this deck. It holds in my hand with comfort and ease. The velvetized coating on the cards, helps them slide through each other, without a problem.
My other main concern was the holographic and silver printing. Other decks in my collection, who will not be named nor ever reviewed, have had this coating, and it’s been… less than great. I was concerned about quality, because of past experiences (nothing to do with the DW crew). But again, they met my fears with high quality and thought out production. The back of the cards having a silver foil, while the front has the holographic foil discussed earlier.
I feel like their point, of the duality of sleep/awake is clearly met. Not to mention the dreamy photos included on the polaroids themselves, do give us a very “dreamlike” quality. Honestly, this deck has surpassed my expectations, and they were already pretty high, to begin with. My concerns, pre-receiving it, were clearly concerns that Leah and Jackie had too, and they addressed them. The tier I purchased came with a crystal and a tarot cloth, both clearly thought out as well, and not lacking in quality.
They have also informed me, that although the booklet that came with it, may not be a guidebook, an app is coming soon! So keep your peepers peeled! And snag one for yourself. You won’t be disappointed.
Simple Ratings:
Shuffability
Artwork
Finish
Quality of Card Weight
Suitable for Beginners
