So, you’re thinking about picking up the Dark Days Tarot? Man, I gotta tell you, it was quite the journey for me getting my hands on these, and even more so learning to really vibe with them. Let me just walk you through how it all went down from my end, because there’s stuff I wish someone had told me before I hit that ‘buy now’ button.
I first stumbled across the Dark Days Tarot when I was just casually scrolling through some witchy Instagram accounts late one night. You know how it is. One minute you’re looking at a pretty crystal, the next you’re deep down the rabbit hole of indie tarot decks. The art style immediately grabbed me. It was raw, a bit gritty, definitely not your average sunshine and rainbows kind of deck. I’d been working with Rider-Waite for ages, and while it’s solid, I felt like I needed something that spoke to a different, maybe darker, part of my journey. Something that acknowledged the messier bits of life, you know?
My initial thought was, “Okay, these look cool, but are they actually good for reading?” I started poking around online, looking for reviews. What I found was a real mixed bag. Some people absolutely raved about them, saying they were super intuitive and piercing. Others just couldn’t connect, or found the imagery too stark, even depressing. That honestly made me even more curious. I hate it when everyone agrees on something. If it’s polarizing, it usually means there’s something genuinely unique about it. I saw a few flip-throughs on YouTube, trying to get a feel for the card stock and the booklet.
After a couple of weeks of umming and ahing, and putting them in my cart only to empty it again, I finally bit the bullet. I found them on an independent seller’s site – felt good to support a small business, rather than some giant. The price was a little steeper than your average mass-market deck, but I figured it was an investment. Shipping took a little longer than I expected, but when the package finally arrived, I tore into it like a kid on Christmas morning.
First impressions? The box itself felt sturdy, real good quality. When I cracked it open, the smell of fresh ink and cardboard hit me, always a good sign. I pulled out the cards and immediately noticed the stock. It’s a matte finish, not glossy, which I prefer. It shuffled like a dream straight out of the box – not too stiff, not too flimsy. The size was also just right for my hands, not massive, but not tiny either. The art… man, the art. It’s even more striking in person. Lots of black and white, with pops of muted color. Very evocative. It really felt like a piece of art.
I spent that whole first evening just going through each card, one by one. I didn’t even try to do a reading. I just wanted to absorb the imagery, feel the texture, listen to what each one was trying to tell me. The little booklet that came with it was actually quite good – it wasn’t just a rehash of Rider-Waite meanings, it really dug into the specific vibe of the Dark Days deck. It gave me a foundation, but it also encouraged me to find my own interpretations, which I really appreciated.
My first few readings with them were… interesting. They definitely didn’t sugarcoat anything. If there was an uncomfortable truth, these cards were not afraid to put it right in front of my face. I remember pulling a card that just nailed a deep, underlying anxiety I’d been carrying around, even though the image itself wasn’t directly literal. It just resonated with that feeling. It made me realize these weren’t just pretty pictures; they were powerful tools for self-reflection.
Over the next few months, these became one of my go-to decks, especially when I needed to get real with myself. They’re fantastic for shadow work, for digging into those areas of life you usually try to avoid. They’ve helped me process some pretty heavy stuff, just by offering a different perspective, a way to frame the darker moments without making them seem overwhelming. It wasn’t always comfortable, but it was always insightful.
So, if you’re asking me, “Should I buy the Dark Days Tarot cards?” my answer is: if you’re ready for a deck that doesn’t pull punches, that embraces the spectrum of human experience, including the tricky bits, then absolutely. If you’re looking for something light and fluffy, maybe hold off for a different deck. But if you’re like me, and you’re craving something that feels more grounded in real life, with all its beautiful complexity and sometimes painful truths, then these cards might just be exactly what you need.
