Deck Name: Solara Occulto Tarot
Creator(s): Solara Occulto Tarot
Publisher & Year: Self Published, 2019
Availability: https://solaraoccultotarot.com
The Solara Occulto Tarot is a hauntingly beautiful deck, let’s start with that. From the limited color palette to the velvet feel of the cards and the lush guidebook, it’s a great deck set for any collector or card reader alike. It’s a kiss of melancholy and whimsy, one that invites you to lean in and listen.
I instantly connected with this deck with ease and the imagery really speaks to me without even needing words. It’s like a ghost story that wants to be told and relished. There is something about this deck that I can’t quite put my finger on but it feels so incredibly special and different.
Favorite Cards
It’s truly hard to pick just a few cards as my favorite, but a few stood out to me immediately upon going through this deck.
The 2 of Pentacles is so sweet, the little furry creature trying to juggle the coins and do the best they can. This card is very RWS depicted, as with the whole deck, but I love how the water is so high and turbulent. It gives me an uneasy feeling, much like when I’m trying to juggle too much on my plate and the world feels as if it’s knocking at my door.
Another card I love is the Knight of Cups, I normally don’t gravitate towards this card in any other deck but this imagery reminds me of the creature in the film, The Shape of Water. You can’t help but fall in love with this tender soul who eagerly just wants you to accept their cup and love them full heartedly.
Card Imagery
This deck comes with 80-cards! You get two extra major’s called Hope and Prudence, and they fit so well in the deck. The card imagery is very melancholic and gloomy, as with the creatures and in the cards. When I first saw this deck show up on my Instagram stream, the art style reminded me of another artist I love, Bill Crissafi, but it is still unique to its own. The artist of this deck has such a beautiful and unique way of illustrating the cards that really speaks strongly. I love every inch of this deck!
Each card has a golden colored border with a simple, clear font at the bottom of each card. The cards are larger so the imagery really pops and captures the spirit of the messages. Not to mention the gold gilded edges really invite a richness to the cards. The whole deck is just beautifully present in all ways.
I love the use of a limited color palette of just gold tones, black and white. It’s striking, especially the cards that are more heavy with black – it’s like a moody setting on a rainy day. Like I mentioned briefly above, the Solara Occulto Tarot follows the RWS system so if this is a system that you are used to working with, you will find this deck very comfortable to work with.
The cards are larger at roughly: 3.25” x 5”
Card Stock + Shuffling
The cardstock of this deck is lush and feels like velvet, it’s smooth in your hands and shuffles like butter. The cards are larger but still fit well in my hands and quite comfortably. I have no issue with riffle shuffling these cards at all. The cards are thick but not stiff, they are quite bendy and I enjoy that. It’s a pleasure to shuffle!
Guidebook + Packaging
There is no tiny little white book with this deck, you get a full paperback guidebook and it’s gorgeous! I love when decks come with actual books and not just a quick flip through booklet. The guidebook is original with a fresh take on the cards, which makes the guidebook worth a read for sure! The book talks about each card as a whole and also the upright vs reversal meaning. There are two spreads in the front of the book as well.
The deck comes packaged in a gorgeous magnetic box that holds both the book and deck (also in its own tuck box). It’s truly a perfect gift set for readers or collectors of any scale. It’s stunning, and I can’t say that enough.
Where to buy – https://solaraoccultotarot.com/
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/solaraoccultotarot/
