tarot card deck design

I’m having quite a bit of fun designing my own series of tarot cards. Since Tarot cards date back to the mid 15th century, it is interesting to note the patterns in human nature that remain true throughout the centuries. Even though our lives are drastically different than our ancestors, our ambitions, feelings, beliefs, and characteristics have remained the same.

My challenge for this deck was to remove all humans, and replace them with animals that symbolise the ideas instead. I wanted to do this to get away from any gendered interpretation, and get back to the true meaning symbolised on the cards. For each card I research the symbolism in the illustrations, noting key traits. I then look towards folklore to find animals that symbolise those traits.