{"id":32860,"date":"2026-04-03T22:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-04T02:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/?p=32860"},"modified":"2026-04-03T22:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-04T02:26:11","slug":"review-memento-mori-deck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/2026\/04\/03\/review-memento-mori-deck\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Memento Mori Deck"},"content":{"rendered":"

Title: Memento Mori: 36 Cards to Embrace Life
\nAuthor:\u00a0 <\/span>Red Wheel
\nPublisher:\u00a0 <\/span>Weiser
\nDate:\u00a0 <\/span>October 6, 2025
\nPages:\u00a0 <\/span>36 cards<\/p>\n

\u201cMemento mori\u201d is Latin for \u201cremember you will die.\u201d This concept of remembering death is found in cultures around the globe and throughout history. In art, it is portrayed using skulls, withered flowers, timepieces, smoke, coffins, flickering candles, rotting fruit \u2013 objects symbolizing the fragility of existence, the passing of time, and the impermanence of life.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

While some find reminders of death morbid or distasteful, the tradition of memento mori is meant to remind people that death is inevitable and life is short, so not to waste any of it. The concept is often paired with the phrase \u201cmemento vivre,\u201d which means \u201cremember to live.\u201d \u201cCarpe diem\u201d and \u201cyou only live once\u201d are similar sentients, all noting anxiety and fear of death is useless.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Skeletons are the only symbol used to represent death in these cards. They are shown in mundane moments such as reading a book, drinking tea, playing chess, scrolling on a cellphone, dancing, picking vegetables in the garden, and looking in the mirror. Their life-affirming messages are simple: forgive, rewind and reset, for everything a season, choice feeds fate, and return. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The illustrations are detailed, colorful, and by no means threatening or morbid. If anything, some are light-hearted, even cute. Because skeletons do not portray a sex, ethnicity, sexual preference, social standing, or age, they can be any of us, stripped to the bone and making us all equal in death. And, what comes after that is irreverent.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This pocket-size oracle deck is meant for contemplation, for determining what \u201cyou need to focus on to be here now.\u201d As such, it points to what users need to embrace in the present to make the most of the moment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

No guidebook comes with these cards \u2013 only 389 words of introduction in tiny type on both sides of one of the 2.25-by-3.5-inch, Gold-guilded cards. That leaves users to trust their intuition when interpreting the images and key words. While experienced readers will have no difficulty, the vivid drawings and simple messages make this deck non-threatening to anyone seeking guidance to make the most of the present moment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

About the Reviewer:
\n<\/i>As an eclectic solitary practitioner, I travel the country in a converted school bus and share magick with those I meet. Find me at https:\/\/thewitchonwheels.com\/ and on Facebook.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Title: Memento Mori: 36 Cards to Embrace Life Author:\u00a0 Red Wheel Publisher:\u00a0 Weiser Date:\u00a0 October 6, 2025 Pages:\u00a0 36 cards \u201cMemento mori\u201d is Latin for \u201cremember you will die.\u201d This concept of remembering death is found in cultures around the globe and throughout history. In art, it is portrayed using skulls, withered flowers, timepieces, smoke, coffins, flickering candles, rotting fruit \u2013 objects symbolizing the fragility of existence, the passing of time, and the impermanence of life.\u00a0 While some find reminders of death morbid or distasteful, the tradition of memento mori is meant to remind people that death is inevitable and life is short, so not to waste any of it. The concept is often paired with the phrase \u201cmemento vivre,\u201d which means \u201cremember to live.\u201d \u201cCarpe diem\u201d and \u201cyou only live once\u201d are similar sentients, all noting anxiety and fear of death is useless.\u00a0 \u00a0 Skeletons are the only symbol used to represent death in these cards. They are shown in mundane moments such as reading a book, drinking tea, playing chess, scrolling on a cellphone, dancing, picking vegetables in the garden, and looking in the mirror. Their life-affirming messages are simple: forgive, rewind and reset, for everything a season, choice feeds fate, and return. \u00a0 The illustrations are detailed, colorful, and by no means threatening or morbid. If anything, some are light-hearted, even cute. Because skeletons do not portray a sex, ethnicity, sexual preference, social standing, or age, they can be any of us, stripped to the bone and making us all equal in death. And, what comes after that is irreverent.\u00a0 This pocket-size oracle deck is meant for contemplation, for determining what \u201cyou need to focus on to be here now.\u201d As such, it points to what users need to embrace in the present to make the most of the moment.\u00a0 No guidebook comes with these cards \u2013 only 389 words of introduction in tiny type on both sides of one of the 2.25-by-3.5-inch, Gold-guilded cards. That leaves users to trust their intuition when interpreting the images and key words. While experienced readers will have no difficulty, the vivid drawings and simple messages make this deck non-threatening to anyone seeking guidance to make the most of the present moment.\u00a0 About the Reviewer: As an eclectic solitary practitioner, I travel the country in a converted school bus and share magick with those I meet. Find me at https:\/\/thewitchonwheels.com\/ and on Facebook.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":210,"featured_media":32861,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10005],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32860","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32860","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/210"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32860"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32860\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32862,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32860\/revisions\/32862"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32861"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}