Gary Hall,
Liminal 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-9126-3437-8
Gary Hall is a magick and tarot enthusiast, as well as an illustrator. Combining his long art career (including a stint at Disney), and his love of goth, magick and occultism, he has created sheer joy in his rubberhose cartoon deck.
I mean it, I love everything about these cards! I usually opt for a "serious" deck, so originally, I got the Mystical Medleys just to review, but they made it straight into the "keep pile". The 1930's rubberhose style is used flawlessly, with a pallette and composition that draws from the Rider Waite Smith deck, featuring friendly feeling cartoons in a style we all know and love, who each seem to be bursting with character and movement. Everything that can be given this character has, from tables to flowers, to pillars.
Gary Hall has done the impossible, he's made something that instantly evokes vintage cartoon, as well as the Rider Waite Smith.
With any deck that's in a fun style, there is always a risk of the creator going too far and getting lost in the stylistic choices, forgetting the meanings of the cards. Gary Hall met the mark here for me, and satisfyingly, the portrayals of the card meanings are beautifully well thought out, making this an authentic and symbolic deck rather than an aesthetic novelty. Even where he has strayed from traditional imagery, he has perfectly encapsulated the card meanings. Take the 7 of cups, "a cabinet of curiosities". It's simply perfect.
The deck has some neat exclusive cards called the Happy Squirrel and Sad Squirrel. Each comes with its own meaning, pertaining to emotions of course.
The book doesn't give any additional guidance for using these cards, so I suppose you can include them in a reading or choose to take them out of the deck depending on personal preference. I really like the oppositional mirroring in these when you pop them sude by side. The tree's expression, the colour palette, even the little sun and storm cloud.
Onto practicalities! The cards are published by the rising stars, liminal11. This publishing company are renowned for their excellent quality products, and that includes the Mystical Medleys. The box is THICK. It's probably the sturdiest box I've come across, to date. It flips open at the bottom to reveal a print of the devil card, and there is a box within the box. They slot perfectly together, and the inner box again has that devil card imagery. A peek in the bigger box reveals the star, hidden away at the too. As the cards and book slide out of the inner box, you may notice the sun hidden away inside this box. The bar was set high here, and as Dolly Parton would say "it's all in the details"
The cards are a standard size, but thick and chonky, making for a good hardy wedge to shuffle. It could get a bit clumsy. The entire set is pretty hecking heavy duty.
The edges are cut perfectly, though the top border is quite tall and this looks a bit empty on the minor arcana (the majors are numbered here).
The print quality is spectacular. These are the epitome of high quality. One thing I love is how the borders are printed with ink smudges to give a dose of authenticity to vintage style.
The card backs are absolutely boss, combining esoteric elements into an iconic and expressive design.
The quality extends to the book. No corner cutting here! It's heavy duty like the rest of the deck, and comes in gloriously high quality full colour, with illustrated features from the deck emblazoned across the pages. The pages have that old style print press ink smudging.
I've read other reviews of this deck, which mentioned limitations of the book. And I heartily disagree. You see, the book that comes with the set is never intended to be your entire tarot learning journey. That would be bang for your buck right?! This book does what is required of it, and does so beautifully. It has a very relatable foreword by Leah Moore, followed by an introduction by Gary Hall.
The major arcana are then introduced, with each having a couple of paragraphs about the card. The interpretations are well thought out, and it is obvious that Hall knows his onions here. These can only be the words of an experienced reader.
What I really like here is the absence of reversals. What Gary has done is encompass both the light and dark sides of each card, in a way which gives wholeness of both the upright and reversed meanings. I love this as it is how I read personally. Life isn't just light or dark, why not include one extended meaning that covers both sides?
The minor arcana meanings have a smaller paragraph. These are shorter and limited, and ideally require the reader to have an extra resource if they want more info. That said, they are a whole little paragraph, not just "key words".
The book ends with a short "how to" guide, which includes some gentle and inspiring encouragement to just start, in your own way, followed by 4 nice small spreads. I liked the spirit scale spread, as I've never seen tarot used in this way, as a chakra meditation.
Move over Steamboat Willy, the Devil has come to play! This deck is the perfect blend of esoteric and aesthetic, and I absolutely adore it. I wouldn't use it for a professional reading, mainly because I don't think people would "get it", but for me, this deck is perfect for personal use, and is likely to be adored by anyone who loves tarot, occult, goth, vintage, cinema, comics, animation... it's just an all rounder. Plain and simple! The readings it gives resonate beautifully, as it really is an authentic tarot rather than a novelty. Under all the cheeky whimsy lay the true and esoteric meanings of the cards. It's meant to be used as well as being delightfully aesthetic.
I can only finish this review by suggesting you go follow Gary Hall and see what else he is on with (did someone say new Oracle deck?!) over at his mystical medleys insta and his clothing range
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