Ritual Tarot Deluxe Edition - hand-built collages with no card titles
Tiera May cuts figures, animals, landscapes, sacred objects and fragments of existing art from their original context and reassembles them into new compositions by hand. The result is the Ritual Tarot Deluxe Edition, an 81-card tarot deck in which familiar tarot imagery stays recognisable, but is approached through myth, poetry and unexpected connections.
This edition comes as a deluxe set in a matte black slipcase box. Inside you find the cards in a black fabric bag and a hardcover guidebook of 179 pages. The cards are large, matte and carry a matte gold gilt edge, printed on 320 gsm board with a black core.
What the cards look like
The slipcase box is printed with a white circular ornament of interlocking figures and serpentine forms, with the title in a white gothic typeface and the maker's name and year in Roman numerals. The card backs show a full moon with an owl at the centre, a coyote or wolf, red rock formations, a white dove in orange hands, a rabbit, prehistoric Venus figurines and a female figure, all in photographic collage with no text. Card fronts such as The Fool's Journey combine skulls, a skeleton, a brain model, nude figures, a sun with a face and a galaxy background in a mix of black-and-white and colour, with the line 'I AM THE END AND THE BEGINNING.' along the bottom.
In the guidebook, The Fool's page features a collage of figures with flowers for heads, a dog, a bull and butterflies, with the text 'I AM THE TRACKLESS PATH.' The facing page uses experimental typography with text in varying sizes and directions, including the phrase 'THE MADCAP, THE JESTER, THE WILD WANDERER'.
No titles, three extra Major Arcana
None of the cards carry a title on either side. The previous edition still had small card names on the backs; those are gone here. Nothing directs your eye before you have had a chance to look. A figure, an animal, a colour or a small detail can be your way into a card.
The deck loosely follows the traditional structure of tarot but expands the Major Arcana to 25. The three additional cards are Lust, The Fool's Journey and The Aeon. The Aeon is new to this edition. Tiera May drew inspiration from the Crowley-Harris Thoth Tarot and sees this card as the cosmic child of Isis and Osiris, standing for primal fire, renewal, awakening and becoming. The 56 Minor Arcana are divided across Wands, Cups, Blades and Coins.
The guidebook: mantra, meditation and divination
The 179-page hardcover guidebook goes beyond card definitions. All 81 images are reproduced in full colour. Each card entry includes a guiding mantra, a poetic meditation, a description for divination and a reflection for the reversed position. Tiera May presents these texts as starting points, not fixed answers. You can read intuitively, follow the traditional tarot structure, work with Tiera's poems and interpretations, or move between all three.
About Tiera May
Tiera May is an occult artist and independent publisher from Northern California, now living and working in the Pacific Northwest. Ritual Tarot began as an exhibition of twenty-two large collages depicting the Major Arcana. From there it grew into a full deck, with a first crowdfunded print run of just 50 copies. That campaign made it possible for Tiera to work full time on her art and publishing practice. Her work is published through Hedge-Rider Press.
Specifications
- Author and artist: Tiera May
- Publisher: Hedge-Rider Press
- 81 cards: 25 Major Arcana (including Lust, The Fool's Journey and The Aeon) and 56 Minor Arcana (Wands, Cups, Blades and Coins)
- Card size: 90 x 125 mm
- Matte cards with rounded corners and matte gold gilt edge
- Card stock: 320 gsm with black core
- Hardcover guidebook: 179 pages, all cards in full colour
- Deluxe slipcase box: 250 x 168 x 58 mm
- Black fabric bag for the cards
- Language: English
Questions we often get
Is there any text on the cards themselves?
The cards carry no titles on either side. Some card fronts do include a short line of text at the bottom - The Fool's Journey, for instance, reads 'I AM THE END AND THE BEGINNING.' Full descriptions for each card are in the included hardcover guidebook.
What exactly comes in the box?
The deluxe slipcase box contains the 81 cards in a black fabric bag and a 179-page hardcover guidebook.
