I have the extraordinary privilege to preview the galleys for the Major Arcana of the upcoming Mystic Mondays Tarot by artist and designer Grace Duong. She’s launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund her deck, so be sure to check it out here.

The deck is called “Mystic Mondays” in reference to its use as a projection or divination tool to use on Mondays, for setting intentions, connecting to spirituality, and personal empowerment, every Monday. It’s about beginning each week mystically. The Mystic Mondays Tarot is for you to set intentions on Monday and set forecasts for the rest of your week. “By creating space to connect with your inner voice,” says Duong, through the Mystic Monday Tarot, “you learn to trust your own intuition and to let it be a guiding force.”

Duong based the deck on the Rider-Waite-Smith, but gave the classic imagery a modern-mystic makeover. Utilizing color symbolism and color psychology to showcase the archetypal expressions of each card, Duong has created a vibrant, visually stimulating deck that has a chic vibe to it.

I’m previewing galleys that Duong made herself, and here we’ve got just the Majors, but what I see so far, I’m excited about. I’m envisioning a swanky house party in Williamsburg– Brooklyn, New York, with a crowd of artists, writers, and poets gathered around this tarot deck… counter-culture progressive Millennials slinging cards for each other in a Stanford or USF dorm room. The Mystic Mondays Tarot is fresh, youthful, and full of so much energy. The deck energizes you.

In Mystic Mondays, the classic Hanged Man has been changed to The Hanged Woman. Much of the classic RWS imagery has been revised to reflect women and femininity. I like the detail of the black nail polish on the hand holding the balancing scales in Justice.

The deck distills the complex symbolism of the RWS down to its minimal archetypal expression. That is rather on-trend right now in terms of what I see going on in tarot culture at the moment.

Also, Duong has written thoughtful card meanings, which you can access on her site at http://www.mysticmondays.com/. On her site she features images of each card, which are hyperlinked. Click on any card to read what she has to say about it. You can order prints of any single card and hang it up as incredible wall art and, of course, as a tarot talisman as well. For instance, I really love the Devil card in Mystic Mondays for wall art.

I somehow ended up with two Lovers cards. Neat! I love the flamingo imagery here. They say flamingos mate for life, so this deck leans toward romantic interpretations for Key 6. (I don’t always read Key 6 as relating to romantic love, though certainly in specific contexts, it will and does.) Love how the two roads unite into one, and it’s at that point that our two flamingos embrace.

I gotta admit, I don’t love the current draft  for the card backs. I hope for the final production of the cards a more creative card back design is used. This could be me, however. I’m generally against writing the name of the deck on the card back. Doing so pretty much guarantees that I will never actually use the deck for readings, especially professional readings. I am so not into card backs with the name of the deck on them or overly-commercial brandy logo designs, but hey, that’s just me.

If you’re active on Instagram, be sure to follow the progress of the deck @mysticmondays. Also check out the deck creator’s account, @grace.duong.

I leave you with words straight from the artist.

Be sure to connect with the artist via social media:

• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter
  

FTC Disclosure: In accordance with Title 16 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Part 255, “Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising,” I received galleys to preview the Mystic Mondays Tarot from the deck creator for prospective review. Everything I’ve said here is sincere and accurately reflects my opinion of the deck.