Crawling out of my hidey-hole to offer unmitigated praise for this new deck by Fabio Listrani, The Santa Muerte Tarot. Above and below you’ll see evidence of his stellar craftsmanship and devotion to classical symbolism, albeit within elaborate and strikingly modern illustrations.
My initial concern before purchasing was that skeletonized figures would not lend themselves to a dynamic range of expression, but Listrani has made me eat my words and pick my teeth with the bones. Between his use of color, his flair for anatomical figure drawing, and inventiveness with all the different types of bones (we have 206 of them, dontcha know), he has created a deck of indescribable beauty and emotion.
The four Aces above each set the stage for their respective suit in terms of palette, subject matter, and unique editorial style. See the spade cutout in the Swords card, how it overlaps cleanly with the skull’s nasal cavity? That kind of visual pattern-layering is characteristic of his work throughout, which makes this far more than just a pile of gorgeous illustrations (which is my main criticism of most of the art decks that people produce nowadays. I know, these are still great problems to have). Even just flipping through it, I see potential here as a powerfully effective divination tool – one which will seduce the querent’s eye while assisting the reader in unlocking a card’s meaning.
See the Tens here:
You might imagine from these that Listrani’s taken the easy way out in the Minor Arcana cards (again, like so many art decks), sticking to an easily-repeated structure that allows him to paint in broad strokes, adding flourishes of symbolism in the finer details. Not so, friends. His Minor cards present a panoply of visual upheaval from one image to the next.
This makes the symmetry he reserves for special occasions (like the Tens) all the more intriguing, inviting closer analysis. Phalanges vs. hip sockets vs. ribcages as butterfly hindwings! As a reader and teacher, this is exactly the kind of thing I like to sink my teeth into, and it speaks of artistic talent that goes beyond skillful illustration work. The tarot is an organizational system, no two artists will approach it quite the same way, but few demonstrate a willingness to cooperate with how the cards will actually be used in practice, by those for whom they’re more than a mere novelty.
See also: the symmetry in his Empress and Emperor cards (plus one thumb).
Here’s another batch of Minor cards: chosen to showcase the variety of Listrani’s composition while ALSO sticking to relatively familiar symbolic interpretations.
Last but by no means least, here are some of the Trump cards. This is as great an opportunity as any to point out the proliferation of references to Mexican culture, which serve to make this a bona fide Santa Muerte deck – as opposed to merely a Santa Muerte-flavored one.
First of all, Our Lady of Obliteration is front and center as the deck’s Death card, an radiant image which practically sparkles even without the use of any metallic inks or gold leaf. Muerte also sits atop the globe in The World and wields scales in Justice, both of which are customary props of hers.
Looking at some of the suit’s “darker” cards, such as The Hanged Man or The Moon, each new icon seems to top everything that came before it – another sign of a well-conceived deck. For many artists, the Major Arcana proves to be a creative minefield, broadcasting all the peaks and valleys of their creative inspiration. You can literally see where they ran out of ideas.
A good Trump deck weaves a story from beginning to end; when viewed in order it gives a steady sense of escalation, maturation, refinement. I know all of these cards so well, and yet Listrani’s work makes me want to go poking around in them all over again, turning over new stones.
As you can see, there is a celebrational or even devotional aspect to these cards that transcends “spookiness” or conventional attitudes toward death – we are treated to a full rainbow of life, death, and life-after-death experiences, with all the gladness and suffering that entails.
Another huge point of departure from artist vanity decks: it’s available for under $25. (So is his Night Sun Tarot.) I don’t know why, I don’t know how… and I don’t care. All that matters is that it’s mine, and I can recommend it to others without feeling like a snob.
Thanks very much to my friend Eric Thurnbeck for the recommendation – I will be enjoying this one for a long time.
