In the tarot community, there is an opinion that the Mad Moon Tarot deck, or otherwise the Deviant Moon Tarot, is dark. However, not everyone thinks so, the artist Patrick Valenza himself confirmed that the Deviant Moon Taro was never created like. Patrick explained that it was based on his childhood memories, the intricate world of youthful dreams and reverie, in which, along with a little sadness and melancholy, there are elements of humor. Indeed, the captivating and intriguing stylized images of the Moon inspire the imagination and can hardly be called a dark deck. The Mad Moon Tarot captivates with its originality and amazing power, drawing Patrick Valenza into the fantasy world. For some, this Tarot will seem too dark compared to ordinary decks, but this collector's dream is for those people whose tastes lean towards unusual decks, as well as those whose tastes and ideas gravitate towards dark fiction.

Major Arcana of the Mad Moon Tarot deck or Deviant Moon Tarot

Valenz's unique and captivating creation is stunning and sets him on the level of a work of art. There is a bit of Dali, a bit of Picasso and a bit of Cirque du Soleil in the Deviant Moon Tarot deck, however, the Deviant Moon Tarot has a peculiar and compelling bewitching beauty. Clean lines, crisp colors and textures give the impression of an almost hyperrealism based on photographic reproduction of reality in such a masterpiece of art as the Deviant Moon Tarot deck. All the more interesting is its vivid contrast with the fabulous surrealism of the scenes in these maps and the strange figures that move in them. The Mad Moon Tarot cards are filled with bizarre and grotesque characters that seem to have been inspired by a medieval bestiary or the imagination of a frightened child wary of monsters lurking under the bed at night. The symbolism of the images supports the traditional interpretations of the Arcana in most cases, but gives it a new twist. In addition to the traditional symbolism of the Tarot, Patrick Valenza used additional symbols on these cards, including in them everything that could pull his rich imagination out of the depths of the subconscious.

So Patrick Valenza created a deck based on the traditional Rider Waite-Smith look with a very personal touch of creativity. To say that the Deviant Moon Tarot is another deck in the Rider Waite-Smith tradition would be an understatement. Inserted into the images of the cards of the Mad Moon Tarot deck are images of tombstones of the century and drawings obtained by Patrick in psychiatric hospitals that will take you to another world of insectoids - aliens with many legs and arms, mutant creatures inhabiting a gloomy industrial landscape. The drawings of Patrick Valenza subconsciously transfer yin and yang to the world of extreme opposites, symbolizing the interaction of the sun and moon, light and darkness, day and night, sky and earth, positive and negative. Valenza, a talented surrealist, his images deserve more than just to belong to the Mad Moon Tarot deck, their place in the museum as unique works of art, each of which, in his interpretation, again makes the old new for our time.

The imagery of the Mad Moon Tarot is impressive, and one gets the feeling that such a deck has long been needed in the world of Tarot. Valenz's highly stylized drawings are evocative, provocative and fabulously unique. Each card is carefully illustrated and the colors of the drawings are amazing. The artist's use of color is amazing and creates a colorful feast for your eyes on each card, allowing you to notice the smallest details in the pictures, right down to the color of the toenails of the characters. Valenza in the booklet gives interesting descriptions of the cards and their interpretations, upright and inverted. The symbols of the Mad Moon Tarot deck, for the most part, are not manic or creepy, but unique and attractive, and not without emotion. When working with such a deck, the collapsible story of the cards that fell out in the layout is striking, as if the artist designed the selected cards specifically to be together. You can really have a conversation with the population in this world, and the characters of the Deviant Moon Tarot Deck speak clearly and understandably, they are full of humor and simple truth. This is a deck that really only requires card reading, not memorization, without any confusion. This deck requires you to pay attention not only to its beautiful drawings, but also to the meaning of the card, which is shown in the image itself. The "personality" of the Deviant Moon Tarot deck is crystal clear and refuses to compromise. There is absolutely no fog here, just an unabashed and insightful approach to traditional tarot reading.

Deviant Moon Tarot

The deck, which will be devoted to my today's review, is called one of the most popular. Another thing is surprising: someone falls in love with these infernal, bewitching, but at the same time frightening cards, at first sight, while someone spits in their direction and prefers to bypass any mention of the deck. Of course, this is the Mad Moon Tarot - the creative, surreal and mysterious creation of Patrick Walesa. So, are you ready to plunge into the real madness? Then let's go!

History of the deck

Patrick Walesa worked on Mad Moon Tarot almost three decades. He not only developed maps that were completely different from the classics, but also collected photographs of cemeteries, abandoned buildings, mental hospitals and other no less “evil” places, so that later, using computer editing, they could be rolled up and used here and there in the images of the Arcana: where - something is the shoes or headgear of the character, somewhere in the background landscape, against which the plot unfolds. At first glance, as they say, you won't guess!

As a result, when the deck went on sale (which happened for the first time in 2008), we saw bizarre, moonlit scenes with characters that were intimidating, but also attractive at the same time. It seems that these are people, but they are somehow “not like that”. The secret is simple: they are all absolutely insane. Why was it worth creating such a deck? What was the idea Deviant Moon Tarot? In fact, Patrick created it to work with his own shadow, with his unconscious, which pushes out the most hidden, deeply hidden fears. And the biggest fear is losing your mind. We can say that this is a kind of disclosure of the eighteenth Arcanum of the Moon.

After the publication of the Mad Moon Tarot, it quickly gained loyal fans. What can I say - they appeared even earlier, at a time when Patrick was still working on the deck and uploading fragments of that surreal puzzle to his Internet blog, which was fully formed later, after many months of fruitful work. But the deck also had ardent haters. As soon as these cards were not called names: both blasphemous, and vile, and nauseating. I have even heard stories of people buying this deck and burning it. In fact, this is also quite simple to explain: madness simply frightens many, therefore only those who are not afraid to step into the unconscious and will not push away from themselves what does not fit into the concept of “norm” can find a common language with these cards.

Personally, I've been going around this deck for over a year. She caught my eye every now and then, and I did not understand whether I wanted her or I was afraid to even take her in my hands. She repelled and attracted at the same time. As a result, at one fine moment, a big discount decided the matter, and for almost two years now I have been fruitfully working with her. Surprisingly, I quickly became friends with the mysterious "moonmen", and they answer my questions quickly, clearly and without sentimentality. And sometimes even visually show the situation with pictures. And yes - the Mad Moon Tarot sometimes manages to look much deeper than my other decks. In a word, I am extremely satisfied.

Key features of the deck

It is worth saying a few words about the key features Deviant Moon Taro. The tradition to which the deck belongs is unique. Despite the fact that some tarologists notice echoes of Waite in it, I personally found quite a few references to Crowley. Therefore, let it be better unique. Cards 78, suits are common - Wands, Cups, Pentacles, Swords, court cards are also traditional - Pages, Knights, Queens, Kings. Justice, to my great delight, comes at number 8, Strength is eleventh. The Major Arcana have classic names. There is probably nothing more to say.

Symbolism of the deck

In principle, I have already written a lot about the symbolism that Patrick Valensa used in his Mad Moon Tarot above. The characters, as I said, are residents of a strange city, similar to people with crazy button eyes. Many of them are two-faced - the faces of such heroes resemble a crescent moon, along with its invisible dark side. Great importance is also given to the moon itself - almost every map shows a night luminary in one of its phases. Somewhere the moon has human features, somewhere it looks quite ordinary. The images are amazing: at first glance, they scare away, but as soon as you start to peer into them, you get the feeling that you are plunging somewhere far, far beyond. What is beyond this limit? A complete departure from "normality", the swamp of the unconscious, the dark side of your inner "I"?

I can't resist and here is a quote from user asgeth from LiveJournal. Painfully accurately, she described my own feelings from these cards - just take my hat off!

“I was once asked why this particular deck can scare / repel people from themselves so much. What in it goes across perception so much that it makes sane and reasonable, in general, people shy away from it more than from the same Baphomet or Linda Falorio. I seem to have found the answer. This is madness. If just all sorts of vampires, devils and other relatively understandable chthonic vermin and abomination look from under the covers of the rest of the tarot decks, then Deviant Moon is not exchanged for demonic delights and is not covered by necromantic aesthetics. This is a slice of madness in its purest form; madness, not covered with ruffles, and not plastered beyond recognition at the level of "the patient is conditionally sane."

Moreover, this is not a “patient-doctor” level: if, in addition to the indicated Madness, at least a conditional Norm was present in the deck, then the “horror” of the deck would sharply decrease - the fortuneteller would receive his desired island of calm, the starting and reference point, and further would flirt with the other side of the mind almost with pleasure.

Here, the possibility of “returning to the starting position” does not exist in principle: the deck is like a pure language without borrowings - either you learn and speak, or you try to understand through an interpreter, but you don’t try to mix French and Nizhny Novgorod in one bottle. Either your own Norm, or her Norm, which is the same Madness in your personal coordinate system.

Major Arcana

After such a long and colorful introduction, it’s even somehow scary to describe the Major Arcana, because they are so multifaceted that everyone will see something of their own here. But let's try. I will not overload you with text from my own thoughts, I will try to capture only the most important. And then, as they say - think for yourself.

So, Jester of the Mad Moon Tarot. The character is dressed in a costume that is somewhat reminiscent of a mental hospital patient's pajamas. Only here in Russia they are usually gray, but who knows how it is there, over the hill? Personally, my first association arose just like that. Although, maybe this is not a hospital pajama at all, but a night suit in which our hero just got out of bed. He is absolutely insane, but his madness is kind of funny. He smiles gleefully, standing knee-deep in water from which piranhas jump out and are about to gnaw his legs to the very bones. The feeling that this person (being?) Lives in one moment. He has no fear of consequences, there is only some kind of insane ecstasy of jubilation. The gondola, which could be ridden without fear of being left without legs, disappears beyond the right edge of the map. Well, let me, and I have so much fun.

All this reminds me of a child who runs away into the street secretly from his mother in order to jump in puddles to his heart's content, pick apples from a neighbor's garden, gorge himself on ice cream and do, in principle, everything that he is constantly forbidden to do. The moon in the background is growing, which means that this crazy child is also going through a phase of growth, maturation, although the whole process seems to be an ordinary, albeit very dangerous game.

The Wheel of Fortune in the Mad Moon Tarot also looks abnormal. But what else was to be expected? The fair fortune teller grabbed the handle of the wheel and is about to turn it. Next to her sits a naked man in a red cap, very reminiscent of a circus monkey. The lady holds out her hand to him and it seems that she is about to utter her signature “gild the pen”. The Devil conducts here - at least, this character is very similar to him. Interestingly, the fish on the edge of the wheel are strenuously climbing up, while traditionally the characters of this card are located in different ways - one is on top, the other rushes down. On the wheel we see images of a broken heart, palm, skull, moon, star.

The Mad Moon Tarot never ceases to amaze: it is interesting that the handle of the Wheel is turned by a woman, but the Devil is in fact in charge, which means that Arkan can be viewed from different angles. On the one hand, these are equal opportunities, since the true ruler is that red conductor, and the pen is just an appearance that fate can be controlled. On the other hand, note that the “client” (or client?) has golden shoes on her feet, and the gypsy is barefoot. It turns out that someone who is higher in status than her and has more than her turns to her for help. At the moment, this person depends on the turn of the wheel, which the fortuneteller will launch. Another version that comes to mind: the wheel has already been launched, but the client didn’t like the prediction (his posture and facial expression can be mistaken for horror), and now the gypsy is asking for more money. Like, do not like the prediction? Pay and I'll change it! What is this if not madness?

Somewhere I read another interpretation: that a plump little man in a hat is actually a pregnant woman, and she came to find out the future of her child, and not at all her own fate.

Surprisingly, I almost went beyond the prescribed volume of the article, without even having time to talk about the Major Arcana. So I'll quickly show you another one and move on to the Juniors. Let it be 18 Arcana, the disclosure of which, in fact, is dedicated to the deck. I suggest you look for your own associations to this story. From myself, I’ll note one thing: the usual full moon shines in the sky, but what happens to the heroes of the map is what usually happens when our moon is black. It is known that it is the black moon that affects our energy much more strongly than the full moon. Perhaps this is due to the fact that in this surreal world created by Patrick Walesa, everything happens exactly the opposite? The moon has attached invisible tentacles to people, it manipulates them, makes them completely insane. And this whole picture seems, from a psychological point of view, much more terrible than the Devil or the Tower.

Minor Arcana

We continue our journey through the Mad Moon Tarot Gallery. Since we found out that I no longer fit into the allotted volume, we will go over the four Minor Arcana of different suits quite briefly. I'll just show the picture and write the keywords that I associate with it.

Eight of Wands: obstacles that arise on the path that you want to tear down to hell in one fell swoop, receiving news, hatred of restrictions, the ability to do several things at the same time (mow wands, read a letter, listen to a crow's speech).

The Five of Cups of the Mad Moon Tarot evokes in me associations with feelings and romance that everyday life killed, the desire to command instead of just loving, manipulation. The expression “become the shadow of your partner” is also very suitable for this Arcana, because earlier this couple had already met on the Deuce of the same suit and then the man’s face was black - now it has turned black and has become the same as his wife.

The Nine of Swords is remorse, painful experiences due to events that have already happened, fears, devouring oneself with the mind, intellectual masochism, soul-searching. It seems to me that even the cat lying on the bed is already tired of the eternal whining of its mistress and is ready to cling to it.

The Six of Pentacles of the Mad Moon Tarot is generosity, but generosity is extremely ostentatious. In fact, a person has much more than he gives. With one hand he gives alms, and with five more hands he collects money from other sources. Personally, it seems to me that the card can be lost by any of its sides: either you have to literally “scratch out” your money or be content with the little that you gave, or you yourself - in the role of this greedy man who sacrifices something not out of the kindness of his soul, but , for check. Although Arkan can be called successful for business, as it promises to receive money from several sources at once.

court cards

Royal Court of the Mad Moon Tarot, I suggest you consider for yourself. But each image created by Patrick Walesa is actually very deep and multifaceted, although sometimes it borders on real madness. In the layouts, curly cards surprisingly accurately describe the character and behavior of people, and sometimes also point to specific characters recognizable literally “from the picture”.

Features of the interpretation of cards

The meaning of each card of the Mad Moon Tarot is so comprehensive that turning them over in layouts, sorry for the tautology, seems like madness. Here, and so the whole world seems to be turned inside out. Can you imagine what happens if you use the reverse positions? Although, surprisingly, shifters are still described in MBC. But personally I don't use them and don't intend to. In my opinion, what is visible on direct maps is quite enough: here you have light, shadow, mirroring, visible, hidden - do you really need something else?

What issues is the deck suitable for?

Of course, the Mad Moon Tarot focuses primarily on the psychological and shadow aspects of the situation. But personally, I used them for the most common layouts. I will say even more: once I did the “Radiu Wheel” on the creation of Patrick Walesa (who doesn’t know - this is the layout of the whole deck). The information received just the sea, and such that neither I nor my client even expected to hear. The Deviant Moon dug so deep that nothing was left hidden. Therefore, I believe that for those who understand its language, it may well become universal. I heard that many use it as an additional shadow deck - they make a layout in two layers: the top (visible) is laid out with a regular deck, the bottom (shadow) is the Mad Moon Tarot. They say that it turns out very informative, but I have not tried it yet.

Who is the card for?

Buying the Mad Moon Tarot can only be recommended to those who do not seek to drive themselves and those around them into the framework of a certain “norm” and are ready to plunge into the dark sea of ​​the unconscious. In general, if you are crazy with "you" - feel free to buy. In all other cases - categorically do not recommend.

Until recently, there was only one book on the Mad Moon Tarot - written by the author himself in English. But, having rummaged on the Internet, it was possible to find interesting interpretations and personal studies of the deck by its fans. And more recently, the creation of the Russian author Veronika Nikitenko called "In the Power of the Mad Moon" saw the light of day. At the moment, I ordered this book - at the time of writing the review, it is on the way to me. From the excerpts and video reviews I found online, I got the impression that the book is quite interesting. The author considers all the Arcana of this deck from a psychological point of view, which significantly expands their perception. So I definitely recommend it.

On this, perhaps, everything. I earnestly ask the opponents of this deck not to express their "fi" in the comments. In the end, different decks are needed, different decks are important. If you don't like something, it doesn't mean that someone else won't like it. Have a nice day everyone!
(c) Victoria Kotlyarova

Each of the tarot decks is unique and answers certain questions, despite its versatility. Before working with the Mad Moon tarot, we recommend that you take a closer look at your inner feelings.

If you like bright images, it would be better to work, for example, with the Lenormand tarot deck, or with the Mirage Valley tarot, and leave the lasso of the crazy moon alone. The artist who created the images used moonlight and photographs from cemeteries and tombstones. Although a companion book is included with the cards, it is not recommended for beginner tarot readers. Images are based on unrealistic and asymmetric images.

Interpretation of the Major Arcana of the Mad Moon Tarot

Consider the interpretation of the major arcana, taking into account the specifics of the deck:

Gallery of the Mad Moon Tarot Deck

What questions does the Deviant Moon Tarot deck answer?

This deck of cards is specific in nature and is not suitable for standard layouts for love, relationships, financial matters and health conditions. It helps the fortuneteller look beyond reality into the subconscious, fears, doubts and look into their faces in order to win.

When working, you need to work out each lasso separately, so it is recommended for experienced tarologists who want to create a psychological portrait of a person and determine what prevents the client from moving forward.

Deviant Moon Tarot

The deck, which will be devoted to my today's review, is called one of the most popular. Another thing is surprising: someone falls in love with these infernal, bewitching, but at the same time frightening cards, at first sight, while someone spits in their direction and prefers to bypass any mention of the deck. Of course, this is the Mad Moon Tarot - the creative, surreal and mysterious creation of Patrick Walesa. So, are you ready to plunge into the real madness? Then let's go!

History of the deck

Patrick Walesa worked on Mad Moon Tarot almost three decades. He not only developed maps that were completely different from the classics, but also collected photographs of cemeteries, abandoned buildings, mental hospitals and other no less “evil” places, so that later, using computer editing, they could be rolled up and used here and there in the images of the Arcana: where - something is the shoes or headgear of the character, somewhere in the background landscape, against which the plot unfolds. At first glance, as they say, you won't guess!

As a result, when the deck went on sale (which happened for the first time in 2008), we saw bizarre, moonlit scenes with characters that were intimidating, but also attractive at the same time. It seems that these are people, but they are somehow “not like that”. The secret is simple: they are all absolutely insane. Why was it worth creating such a deck? What was the idea Deviant Moon Tarot? In fact, Patrick created it to work with his own shadow, with his unconscious, which pushes out the most hidden, deeply hidden fears. And the biggest fear is losing your mind. We can say that this is a kind of disclosure of the eighteenth Arcanum of the Moon.

After the publication of the Mad Moon Tarot, it quickly gained loyal fans. What can I say - they appeared even earlier, at a time when Patrick was still working on the deck and uploading fragments of that surreal puzzle to his Internet blog, which was fully formed later, after many months of fruitful work. But the deck also had ardent haters. As soon as these cards were not called names: both blasphemous, and vile, and nauseating. I have even heard stories of people buying this deck and burning it. In fact, this is also quite simple to explain: madness simply frightens many, therefore only those who are not afraid to step into the unconscious and will not push away from themselves what does not fit into the concept of “norm” can find a common language with these cards.

Personally, I've been going around this deck for over a year. She caught my eye every now and then, and I did not understand whether I wanted her or I was afraid to even take her in my hands. She repelled and attracted at the same time. As a result, at one fine moment, a big discount decided the matter, and for almost two years now I have been fruitfully working with her. Surprisingly, I quickly became friends with the mysterious "moonmen", and they answer my questions quickly, clearly and without sentimentality. And sometimes even visually show the situation with pictures. And yes - the Mad Moon Tarot sometimes manages to look much deeper than my other decks. In a word, I am extremely satisfied.

Key features of the deck

It is worth saying a few words about the key features Deviant Moon Taro. The tradition to which the deck belongs is unique. Despite the fact that some tarologists notice echoes of Waite in it, I personally found quite a few references to Crowley. Therefore, let it be better unique. Cards 78, suits are common - Wands, Cups, Pentacles, Swords, court cards are also traditional - Pages, Knights, Queens, Kings. Justice, to my great delight, comes at number 8, Strength is eleventh. The Major Arcana have classic names. There is probably nothing more to say.

Symbolism of the deck

In principle, I have already written a lot about the symbolism that Patrick Valensa used in his Mad Moon Tarot above. The characters, as I said, are residents of a strange city, similar to people with crazy button eyes. Many of them are two-faced - the faces of such heroes resemble a crescent moon, along with its invisible dark side. Great importance is also given to the moon itself - almost every map shows a night luminary in one of its phases. Somewhere the moon has human features, somewhere it looks quite ordinary. The images are amazing: at first glance, they scare away, but as soon as you start to peer into them, you get the feeling that you are plunging somewhere far, far beyond. What is beyond this limit? A complete departure from "normality", the swamp of the unconscious, the dark side of your inner "I"?

I can't resist and here is a quote from user asgeth from LiveJournal. Painfully accurately, she described my own feelings from these cards - just take my hat off!

“I was once asked why this particular deck can scare / repel people from themselves so much. What in it goes across perception so much that it makes sane and reasonable, in general, people shy away from it more than from the same Baphomet or Linda Falorio. I seem to have found the answer. This is madness. If just all sorts of vampires, devils and other relatively understandable chthonic vermin and abomination look from under the covers of the rest of the tarot decks, then Deviant Moon is not exchanged for demonic delights and is not covered by necromantic aesthetics. This is a slice of madness in its purest form; madness, not covered with ruffles, and not plastered beyond recognition at the level of "the patient is conditionally sane."

Moreover, this is not a “patient-doctor” level: if, in addition to the indicated Madness, at least a conditional Norm was present in the deck, then the “horror” of the deck would sharply decrease - the fortuneteller would receive his desired island of calm, the starting and reference point, and further would flirt with the other side of the mind almost with pleasure.

Here, the possibility of “returning to the starting position” does not exist in principle: the deck is like a pure language without borrowings - either you learn and speak, or you try to understand through an interpreter, but you don’t try to mix French and Nizhny Novgorod in one bottle. Either your own Norm, or her Norm, which is the same Madness in your personal coordinate system.

Major Arcana

After such a long and colorful introduction, it’s even somehow scary to describe the Major Arcana, because they are so multifaceted that everyone will see something of their own here. But let's try. I will not overload you with text from my own thoughts, I will try to capture only the most important. And then, as they say - think for yourself.

So, Jester of the Mad Moon Tarot. The character is dressed in a costume that is somewhat reminiscent of a mental hospital patient's pajamas. Only here in Russia they are usually gray, but who knows how it is there, over the hill? Personally, my first association arose just like that. Although, maybe this is not a hospital pajama at all, but a night suit in which our hero just got out of bed. He is absolutely insane, but his madness is kind of funny. He smiles gleefully, standing knee-deep in water from which piranhas jump out and are about to gnaw his legs to the very bones. The feeling that this person (being?) Lives in one moment. He has no fear of consequences, there is only some kind of insane ecstasy of jubilation. The gondola, which could be ridden without fear of being left without legs, disappears beyond the right edge of the map. Well, let me, and I have so much fun.

All this reminds me of a child who runs away into the street secretly from his mother in order to jump in puddles to his heart's content, pick apples from a neighbor's garden, gorge himself on ice cream and do, in principle, everything that he is constantly forbidden to do. The moon in the background is growing, which means that this crazy child is also going through a phase of growth, maturation, although the whole process seems to be an ordinary, albeit very dangerous game.

The Wheel of Fortune in the Mad Moon Tarot also looks abnormal. But what else was to be expected? The fair fortune teller grabbed the handle of the wheel and is about to turn it. Next to her sits a naked man in a red cap, very reminiscent of a circus monkey. The lady holds out her hand to him and it seems that she is about to utter her signature “gild the pen”. The Devil conducts here - at least, this character is very similar to him. Interestingly, the fish on the edge of the wheel are strenuously climbing up, while traditionally the characters of this card are located in different ways - one is on top, the other rushes down. On the wheel we see images of a broken heart, palm, skull, moon, star.

The Mad Moon Tarot never ceases to amaze: it is interesting that the handle of the Wheel is turned by a woman, but the Devil is in fact in charge, which means that Arkan can be viewed from different angles. On the one hand, these are equal opportunities, since the true ruler is that red conductor, and the pen is just an appearance that fate can be controlled. On the other hand, note that the “client” (or client?) has golden shoes on her feet, and the gypsy is barefoot. It turns out that someone who is higher in status than her and has more than her turns to her for help. At the moment, this person depends on the turn of the wheel, which the fortuneteller will launch. Another version that comes to mind: the wheel has already been launched, but the client didn’t like the prediction (his posture and facial expression can be mistaken for horror), and now the gypsy is asking for more money. Like, do not like the prediction? Pay and I'll change it! What is this if not madness?

Somewhere I read another interpretation: that a plump little man in a hat is actually a pregnant woman, and she came to find out the future of her child, and not at all her own fate.
Surprisingly, I almost went beyond the prescribed volume of the article, without even having time to talk about the Major Arcana. So I'll quickly show you another one and move on to the Juniors. Let it be 18 Arcana, the disclosure of which, in fact, is dedicated to the deck. I suggest you look for your own associations to this story. From myself, I’ll note one thing: the usual full moon shines in the sky, but what happens to the heroes of the map is what usually happens when our moon is black. It is known that it is the black moon that affects our energy much more strongly than the full moon. Perhaps this is due to the fact that in this surreal world created by Patrick Walesa, everything happens exactly the opposite? The moon has attached invisible tentacles to people, it manipulates them, makes them completely insane. And this whole picture seems, from a psychological point of view, much more terrible than the Devil or the Tower.

Minor Arcana

We continue our journey through the Mad Moon Tarot Gallery. Since we found out that I no longer fit into the allotted volume, we will go over the four Minor Arcana of different suits quite briefly. I'll just show the picture and write the keywords that I associate with it.

Eight of Wands: obstacles that arise on the path that you want to tear down to hell in one fell swoop, receiving news, hatred of restrictions, the ability to do several things at the same time (mow wands, read a letter, listen to a crow's speech).
The Five of Cups of the Mad Moon Tarot evokes in me associations with feelings and romance that everyday life killed, the desire to command instead of just loving, manipulation. The expression “become the shadow of your partner” is also very suitable for this Arcana, because earlier this couple had already met on the Deuce of the same suit and then the man’s face was black - now it has turned black and has become the same as his wife.

The Nine of Swords is remorse, painful experiences due to events that have already happened, fears, devouring oneself with the mind, intellectual masochism, soul-searching. It seems to me that even the cat lying on the bed is already tired of the eternal whining of its mistress and is ready to cling to it.

The Six of Pentacles of the Mad Moon Tarot is generosity, but generosity is extremely ostentatious. In fact, a person has much more than he gives. With one hand he gives alms, and with five more hands he collects money from other sources. Personally, it seems to me that the card can be lost by any of its sides: either you have to literally “scratch out” your money or be content with the little that you gave, or you yourself - in the role of this greedy man who sacrifices something not out of the kindness of his soul, but , for check. Although Arkan can be called successful for business, as it promises to receive money from several sources at once.

court cards

Royal Court of the Mad Moon Tarot, I suggest you consider for yourself. But each image created by Patrick Walesa is actually very deep and multifaceted, although sometimes it borders on real madness. In the layouts, curly cards surprisingly accurately describe the character and behavior of people, and sometimes also point to specific characters recognizable literally “from the picture”.

Features of the interpretation of cards

The meaning of each card of the Mad Moon Tarot is so comprehensive that turning them over in layouts, sorry for the tautology, seems like madness. Here, and so the whole world seems to be turned inside out. Can you imagine what happens if you use the reverse positions? Although, surprisingly, shifters are still described in MBC. But personally I don't use them and don't intend to. In my opinion, what is visible on direct maps is quite enough: here you have light, shadow, mirroring, visible, hidden - do you really need something else?

What issues is the deck suitable for?

Of course, the Mad Moon Tarot focuses primarily on the psychological and shadow aspects of the situation. But personally, I used them for the most common layouts. I will say even more: once I did the “Radiu Wheel” on the creation of Patrick Walesa (who doesn’t know - this is the layout of the whole deck). The information received just the sea, and such that neither I nor my client even expected to hear. The Deviant Moon dug so deep that nothing was left hidden. Therefore, I believe that for those who understand its language, it may well become universal. I heard that many use it as an additional shadow deck - they make a layout in two layers: the top (visible) is laid out with a regular deck, the bottom (shadow) is the Mad Moon Tarot. They say that it turns out very informative, but I have not tried it yet.

Who is the card for?

Buying the Mad Moon Tarot can only be recommended to those who do not seek to drive themselves and those around them into the framework of a certain “norm” and are ready to plunge into the dark sea of ​​the unconscious. In general, if you are crazy with "you" - feel free to buy. In all other cases - categorically do not recommend.

Until recently, there was only one book on the Mad Moon Tarot - written by the author himself in English. But, having rummaged on the Internet, it was possible to find interesting interpretations and personal studies of the deck by its fans. And more recently, the creation of the Russian author Veronika Nikitenko called "In the Power of the Mad Moon" saw the light of day. At the moment, I ordered this book - at the time of writing the review, it is on the way to me. From the excerpts and video reviews I found online, I got the impression that the book is quite interesting. The author considers all the Arcana of this deck from a psychological point of view, which significantly expands their perception. So I definitely recommend it.

On this, perhaps, everything. I earnestly ask the opponents of this deck not to express their "fi" in the comments. In the end, different decks are needed, different decks are important. If you don't like something, it doesn't mean that someone else won't like it. Have a nice day everyone!
(c) Victoria Kotlyarova