Alright, so I’d been hearing whispers, you know, people finding tarot decks at Five Below. Five bucks? For tarot cards? Sounded kinda wild, so I figured, why not check it out myself? Gotta see what this is all about.
So, the other weekend, I actually drove over to the local Five Below. You know how those stores are – bright lights, loud music, tons of stuff crammed everywhere. Made a beeline past the candy and the phone cases, heading towards the book and games section. Wasn’t sure they’d even have ’em.
Found Them!
And bam, there they were. Tucked away on a shelf near the journals and weird little gadgets. Saw a couple of different boxes, different art styles. Grabbed one that looked kinda classic, familiar Rider-Waite style pictures on the box, you know? For $5, felt like grabbing a burger, not a spiritual tool, but hey, curiosity won.
Took it to the checkout, paid my five bucks (plus tax, ha!), and headed home. Felt kinda funny carrying this little box out of that store.
Getting Them Home and Opening Up
Got back, sat down at the kitchen table. Ripped the plastic off the box. The box itself felt, well, like a $5 box. A bit flimsy.
Inside, I found:
- The deck of cards
- A tiny little paper fold-out thing, like, super basic meanings.
Pulled the cards out. Okay, first impression? The cardstock is thin. Like, really thin compared to my other decks. Definitely wouldn’t want to shuffle these too aggressively, felt like they might bend easy. The size was pretty standard, though. Fit in my hands alright.
Looking at the Art and Trying a Shuffle
Flipped through the images. They were bright, colorful. Clearly based on the Rider-Waite-Smith system, which is good, makes ’em easy to recognize if you know the basics. The print quality wasn’t bad, honestly. Clear enough to see what’s going on in each card.
Tried shuffling them. Yeah, they felt slippery and light because of the thin cardstock. Not that satisfying thwack sound you get with heavier cards. More like a soft flicker. Managed to shuffle them okay without disaster, though.
Doing a Quick Reading
Decided to just pull three cards. Laid them out. The Tower, the Ten of Swords, and the Queen of Cups. Okay, dramatic! Read the tiny pamphlet for their take – super brief keywords, basically.
Did I feel a deep mystical connection? Nah. Let’s be real. It felt like playing with a novelty item. But, the pictures were there, the symbols were there. If someone knew nothing and just wanted to see what tarot cards looked like, it does the job visually.
Final Thoughts?
Look, for five bucks, what do you expect? It’s a tarot deck. It functions. The cards have the right pictures on them. Is it high quality? Absolutely not. The cardstock is flimsy, the little guide book is almost useless.
But… if you’re super broke and just desperately curious? Or you want a cheap deck to maybe cut up for crafts or journaling? Or just for a laugh? Then yeah, sure. It’s five dollars. It wasn’t a total rip-off. I got exactly what I paid for: a very, very basic tarot deck.
Would I use it for serious readings? Nope. Sticking to my sturdier decks for that. But the experience of finding tarot cards nestled between squishy toys and phone chargers? Kinda funny, actually. Worth the five bucks just for the story, maybe.
