I was bombarded with images of this deck on my Tumblr and Instagram feeds for quite a while, until I finally succumbed and bought it from Dame Darcy’s Etsy shop.
What attracted me to this deck? It wasn’t the idea of the mermaids theme, but I loved the hint of burlesque, naughtiness and a bygone world of sailors, pirates and far away tropical islands.
There is nothing twee about the mermaids and 18th century ladies appearing in this deck, quite the opposite: feisty and sexy, and those sailors are quite dashing, too…
Yes, welcome to the delightfully seedy world of Dame Darcy’s Mermaid Tarot!
Think Pirates of the Caribbean joyfully mixed with Cabaret.
Some of the men / boys / merblokes / ladyboys (?) look like they’ve escaped from a 1930s Berlin nightclub to chase freedom, faraway lands, love and luck across the seven seas:
And here are some of the ladies:
The illustrations remind me of vintage comic strips, and the watery colouring and tea-stain coloured background give the cards a distressed antique look.
This is a standard 78-card deck, although two cards – the Ace of Cups and Wheel of Fortune – are duplicated.
The cards shuffle extremely well, and their 70 x 120 mm size is perfect for me.
The deck comes shrink-wrapped in a white organza bag, which is just a wee bit small but perfectly adequate. However, I bought a little box for this deck, as I feel it deserves special treatment:
The Mermaid Tarot is based on the Rider Waite tradition, but has been successfully adapted to the nautical theme without deviating too much from the RWS imagery.
I have been using this deck extensively over the last couple of months for client readings and must say it’s a joy to work with.
Is there anything I don’t like? Well, perhaps some of the images look as if they’ve been rushed, but that doesn’t lessen the overall appeal for me.
So, if you would like to get your hands on it, you can buy it from Dame Darcy’s Etsy shop.
And if you own this deck, I’d love to hear how it works for you. Just leave a comment below, and I’d be thrilled.
Warmest wishes,