Touchstone Tarot

Touchstone Tarot - baroque collages with Rider-Waite structure

Baroque portraits share one trait: they look right at you. The faces are exaggerated, the emotions clear to read, the colours richer than daily life. Kat Black used that quality to make a Rider-Waite deck where you do not need to interpret the cards, you just read them from a face.

The Touchstone Tarot consists of digital collages made from 17th and 18th century paintings. Black took portraits, landscapes and still lifes from museums and private collections and reassembled them into tarot scenes. Technically it is not real baroque, but a reconstruction using Photoshop. Visually it works: the cards feel theatrical, the colours dark and warm, the figures larger than life.

What you see on the cards

Every card follows the Rider-Waite template. The Magician has his worktable, the Lovers stand in a garden, the Ten of Swords shows someone on the ground. But where Pamela Colman Smith drew with lines and flat areas, Black used faces of people who once lived.

That makes the cards more direct. The gaze of the Queen of Pentacles is that of a 17th century noblewoman, painted by someone who knew her. The sorrow on the Three of Swords comes from a portrait where grief was the only subject. You see emotions that were meant to last.

The cards have a gold edge and are larger than average: 89 x 127 mm. That format shows the details, but makes shuffling harder if you have small hands. The cardstock is sturdy enough for regular use.

An extra card that does not have to be there

The deck contains 80 cards instead of 78. The extra card is the Happy Squirrel, an inside joke in the tarot world that originated in an episode of The Simpsons. Black included it as an optional card, not as a fixed part of the system.

You can leave it out or use it as a wildcard. The guidebook gives a brief explanation, but no fixed meaning. That fits the character of the card: it does not really belong, but it is there anyway.

Set the Happy Squirrel aside and only draw it when you want to break open a reading with something unexpected. It works best when you do not take it seriously.

How the deck relates to Rider-Waite

If you know the Rider-Waite, you recognise the Touchstone Tarot immediately. The compositions are almost identical, only the style differs. That makes the deck accessible for people who already work with Rider-Waite but are looking for a different atmosphere.

The baroque imagery adds drama. Where Rider-Waite sometimes feels flat, this deck has depth because of the painting technique of the original artworks. Light and shadow are heavier, the fabrics have texture, the faces have pores. That makes the cards weightier in feeling, even when the meaning stays the same.

The 108-page guidebook follows the standard Rider-Waite interpretations. Each card gets a short description, supplemented with information about the artworks used. Black writes clearly and without detours. She explains what you see, not what you should feel.

About Kat Black

Kat Black is an Australian artist who became known with the Golden Tarot, an earlier collage tarot based on medieval and renaissance art. For the Touchstone Tarot she focused on a later period: the baroque and early enlightenment.

She works exclusively digitally, with scanned reproductions of paintings that she cuts out, rotates and reassembles. The process takes time, she needs permission from museums and private owners, she searches for portraits that have exactly the right posture. The end result looks seamless, as if the paintings had always been tarot cards.

Specifications

• Number of cards: 80 (78 tarot cards + Happy Squirrel + blank card)
• Card size: 89 x 127 mm
• Finish: Gold edges, smooth cardstock
• Guidebook: 108 pages, English
• Packaging: Hardbox with magnetic closure
• Card language: English (titles on major arcana, court and number on minor arcana)
• Publisher: U.S. Games Systems, Inc.
• Creator: Kat Black
• System: Rider-Waite-Smith

Questions we often get

Does this deck work for beginners?
Yes, if you already have a basic knowledge of Rider-Waite. The structure is identical, so if you know those cards, you can start working with this deck right away. The guidebook explains the basic principles, but assumes you know what tarot is.

How heavy are the cards compared to a standard Rider-Waite?
They are larger and sturdier. The format is 89 x 127 mm instead of the usual 70 x 120 mm. That makes shuffling a bit more work, but the images are easier to see. The cardstock is thicker than average, which keeps the cards in good shape longer.