The Lonesome World Tarot by Jessi Knight drew me in right away with its simple, yet powerful artwork. The visual style gives off a bit of a groovy 70s vibe, in the best way. On the Kickstarter page, Knight reflects on creating the deck from a place of solitude, which led to the crucial question: “What do you find within yourself when nobody else is around?” Without any people, animals, or humanoid figures, the deck gives one the feeling of being able to step into the world of the deck as a protagonist, or, alternatively, of wandering through a strange landscape and encountering powerful symbolic forces.
The deck is a standard 2.75 x 4.75″, printed on 330gsm black core cardstock, and comes in a simple tuck box. The cards feel sturdy enough to hold up to long use, while still shuffling beautifully right out of the gate. The deck is predominated by pink tones for backgrounds and Majors, with shades of blue for Cups, green for Pentacles, red for Wands, and purple for Swords. There is no guidebook, but as the imagery is largely reminiscent of RWS imagery, sans humans, it doesn’t feel like it needs one.
The Majors are where this deck really shines. I absolutely love the soft shades of pink contrasted with white and matte black, and Knight has distilled each card down to a few essential symbols. The simplicity allows me to focus on a few core meanings, and these images really pack a punch. Some of the images seem to invite the viewer into the cards. I feel as though I could take up the Fool’s bindle and be swept away by the forward momentum, or hold the Magician’s tools aloft and make my own magic. Other images give one the impression of stepping into a scene or meeting an elemental force – when I gaze at the Empress, I feel like I’m encountering an energy that could teach or overtake me.
The Minors are composed of vibrant and dynamic images. The flowing lines tell the stories of the suits perfectly well without the use of human or animal figures. Take the Two of Cups: under the light of a blue sun, we see two goblets tilting toward one another, blue streams of water flowing out from each and intertwining on the way down. We get the impression of emotional connection and harmony simply from the way the water flows together. In contrast, the Five of Wands shows us Wands clashing over roaring flames, the fire energy raging out of control. Many images recreate the scenes of the RWS without human figures. The Eight of Swords, rather than depicting a bound person, shows us a sword loosely wrapped in similar bindings. The image is instantly resonant.
The Court cards don’t work as well for me as the rest of the deck. Kings and Queens are represented by crowns, while the Knights are depicted as empty helmets with elemental plumes. The Pages feature the symbol for the suit resting on a bed of flowers in the color of the suit, and feel visually aligned with the Aces. The relative uniformity of the Court cards between suits means that there isn’t much of a visual impression of the unique energy of each card, how the Queen of Cups, say, is different from the Queen of Wands. The Courts just don’t stand on their own as well as the rest of the deck, and I think I’d have a hard time reading them if I was still learning the traditional meanings. Then again, the empty crowns and helms might invite the viewer to imagine placing them upon their own head — what might it feel like to embody this figure?
This is a solid, visually-pleasing deck, and one I think I will turn to regularly. Its simplicity is its strength. Normally I would recommend a deck with figures in it for beginning tarot readers, but most of the cards tell their stories so well, I could see this actually being a decent beginner deck (though again, there is no guidebook, so a separate book would be in order). For the intermediate or seasoned tarot reader, if the visual style appeals to you as much as it does to me, this could be a great deck for when you want get back to basics.
Currently available on Jessi Knight’s Etsy shop, Ghost Party Studio!