The Wild Unknown Tarot Deck and Guidebook (Official Keepsake Box Set)

I wish I could write a second review, but I can’t, so I’m adding this to the review I wrote two years ago. This is unusual. Please bear with me. I know it’s TL, DR, but I plead with you to stay with me. I’m 61 years old and in poor health despite best efforts by myself and my medical team. I don’t know what time I have left on this earth plane. Let’s just say that due to several chronic illnesses—none of which are terminal—I’ll most likely be living out my natural days in a monstrous maelstrom of pain, crushing exhaustion, zero energy, weakness, nausea, immobility, frequent falls, migraines, being bedridden, and many other things I would not wish on my worst enemy. Also, when you’re chronically ill, you’re (well, *I* am) often hopelessly lonely. Cut off from people who are busy living their lives, and I never have any news about my life because I'm struggling every day just to stay alive. My illnesses keep me from being relatable. So my quality of life is pretty much nil.I am not a psychic. I’m an intuitive person and an empath who reads cards. I’ve read tarot since 1994. I collect decks because I love the art and often I like the different perspectives—different images, intuitions, energies, etc. I’ve switched “favorite” decks time and time again. Over the years I’ve honed my preferences for two decks—dear friends—that are my go-to when I need clarity, honesty, and insight. When I need to dig deep. When I need Truth.Over the past several weeks I’ve been in despair, physically, emotionally, mentally due to the effects of aforesaid cursed chronic conditions. I thought—I’m smarter than this. I reached for my Wild Unknown deck. As I shuffled, I thought and mulled over the state of my life. I planned to ask some very hard questions. Very hard questions and expecting very hard answers. I was more than ready to look the hard answers in the face and deal with them here and now. No going back.I shuffled. Asked my Very Hard Questions. Received answers. Did a number of different spreads, each asking various points/scenarios of my Very Hard Questions. As expected, the Wild Unknown gave me the unvarnished Truth. The Wild Unknown was honest and straightforward with me, as always. Again--a good friend.But…something else also happened. I felt the energy moving around me, holding me in a soft embrace. I was receiving compassion. I felt the support of the cards and the energy, woo-woo though that may sound. I dropped my face in my hands and wept. Hard. I hadn’t been able to cry in forever, it seemed. This deck understands me like no other.The Wild Unknown told me to not do anything drastic. To try to hold on. That there will be glimmers of light here and there. That life will continue to be the hardest thing I've ever done, but that there will be rewards worth waiting for. That the deck, spirit guides, animal guides, angels, whomever, would continue to work with me, to support me.In all my years of reading & study, I’ve never had that happen with a tarot deck. The Wild Unknown is indeed a powerful, magical deck that will support you when you need it. I swear by it. Many, many blessings to #KimKrans. Thank you.=-=-=-=-=February 2021: I’ve read tarot off and on for 25 years but had recently taken a break from reading because I had developed a problem. I could read accurately for my husband and myself, but whenever I read for someone else, I *read* the cards, but couldn’t *say* what I saw in the cards. Rather, I was telling the querent what they wanted to hear and not what I saw in the spread in front of me. I believed this happened in part because of my tendency to ruthlessly overthink *everything*. Alarmed and confused, I put my cards away for a while.Fast-forward a few years. I developed chronic illnesses, and in my search for answers to awful symptoms, I learned a lot about the mind-body-spirit connection. I realized that I’ve been living in my head for most of my life, which affected my ability to listen to and trust my intuition, and therefore affected the quality of my tarot readings.Somehow in my Amazon browsing, the Wild Unknown Tarot popped up. I hadn’t heard of it before because I—how should I put this—I wasn’t “active” in the tarot world. I hadn’t bought a deck in years, but felt strongly and peculiarly drawn to this one, so I purchased it, along with another deck that was clamoring for my attention.The Wild Unknown is the real deal. I’ve finally found *my* deck. The artwork is beautiful and, while understated, still holds incredible detail. This deck genuinely speaks to me. I love the fact that this deck features animals, nature, and energy, and that there are no people (which probably says something about me, lol).In my experience, this is not a negative deck at all; rather, it’s blunt, forthright, and truthful. It’s a no-BS deck that takes no prisoners. The severity of some of the images (e.g., 5 of Swords, 9 of Swords, 10 of swords) is so straightforward that it slices through my overthinking brain and allows my intuition to radiate forth and just read the cards. The stark beauty and accuracy of the artwork really, really helps me to read from the heart, from my soul, rather than giving voice to my overactive monkey mind that's wondering if I’m reading correctly.Ms. Krans has numbered Strength and Justice according to the Tarot de Marseilles method of numbering. It isn’t incorrect; it simply isn’t RWS.Also, this is not a racist deck. Regarding the information in the book about skin, hair, and eye color relating to different types of people, this interpretation is actually very traditional. I’m surprised Ms. Krans puts this information in her book because, while it *is* traditional, it’s also very old-fashioned and outdated. As a woman of color, when I first learned tarot, I pretty much ignored the implied racism of 15th century Italy (where tarocchi originated), and just read the cards. The skin/hair/eye color issue had always seemed redundant to me anyway.Regarding the court cards: I appreciate that Ms. Krans uses family relationships in lieu of the traditional King, Queen, Knight, and Page. There are other decks out there that have similarly changed the titles of the court cards for modern sensibilities.The Wild Unknown Tarot has helped me grow as a reader, as it blasted through the intellectual roadblock I used to experience when reading for others. This deck is truly a gift to me. If this deck resonates with you, don’t hesitate to buy this. A huge thank-you to Ms. Krans for such an insightful and honest deck.Update 5/17/21: Ok, I've finally made the leap from just reading for myself to reading for other people ;) I don't have words for how laser-accurate and emotionally moving these cards are. Even for the hard answers, I get a feeling of empathy--that the readings/the cards somehow have my querent's back even if the answers are hard news. I'm blown away by how much I, my intuition, and this wonderful deck work together. Beautiful art, beautiful font, beautiful and stunningly intuitive images. My intuition is absolutely *not* at a loss of words with the Wild Unknown. Ms. Krans, my hat is off to you. Thank you.

I resisted buying this deck for a long time. My resistance was based on two things: first, it was so wildly popular that I was reluctant to be part of a fad. And second, one of the cards features a worm cut in half by a sword, an image that initially creeped me out and caused me to avoid the deck. But it kept coming into my line of sight, and many of the cards are so poignantly beautiful that I just had to have it.This boxed set is an incredible bargain. It is beautifully made. Within the outer protective cardboard sleeve is the large, sturdy box, which has a flap with a magnetic closure. I love that; it's so easy to open and close. A silk ribbon lifts the guidebook out, to reveal underneath the actual deck, in its own box. That box too has a silk ribbon to help you easily lift out the cards.The guidebook is all hand lettered, and offers some excellent interpretations. They really get to the heart of the matter. Some Tarot books give so many possible meanings to the cards that they almost have no meaning at all. That has its place, because we all know that meanings shift and change depending on the individual, the other cards in the layout, etc. But it can also be refreshing to have a simple, straightforward, no-holds-barred "this is what's happening" interpretation.This is an honest, tough-love deck, in my opinion. I don't think it's a deck I will go to when I (or a client) am feeling emotionally very fragile. It incorporates all the raw, primal, honest energy of nature-- not fluffy, airbrushed nature but blood-and-bones nature-- and you really need to be ready to hear and accept the raw truth when you use this deck. Some days I feel very drawn to use it; other days I feel I can't handle it. It's that kind of deck. But that's part of what makes it such a great deck. Reading for oneself is always hard, because we have a tendency to want to see in the cards the outcome or the meaning we desire, and so it's difficult to be objective. With this deck, you really have no choice. It's going to get right to the heart of the matter. If you're ready to face the deepest truths, this is your deck.For that reason it's a great deck for shadow work, for working with our innermost fears and secrets. In this sense the deck can be very healing, used with journaling, meditation, etc.The artwork is stunning and absolutely unique. Some people have likened the pip cards to the Marseille deck. I can see that, and yet they aren't really in the stylized, almost geometric patterns of the Marseille. If you study the card, there really IS a picture there, though the absence of any human figure or even an animal figure makes it more difficult to perceive. The Major Arcana are especially beautiful and evocative.One of the most unique Tarot decks that I've seen or own.