Description
First published by artist Ruth West in 1984, inspired by Billie Potts’ A New Women’s Tarot, this much-loved deck has now been reprinted by Metonymy Press, working in collaboration with the artist.
These striking paper-cut images show images of diverse women of different colours, cultures, shapes, gender expressions. Some major cards have been re-named, and the court cards are named Child, Amazon, Daughter and Mother.
A perfect companion to this deck is She Is Sitting in the Night: Revisioning Thea’s Tarot by Oliver Pickle, an inclusive tarot guidebook which uses Thea’s Tarot as its core reference, rooted in a cross-queer-generational conversation with Ruth West.
About the new printing:
Ruth West took four years to create the first edition of Thea’s Tarot (1984), using the medium of papercut. Each image was then shot with a camera, photocopied in black and white, and printed. The artist described her work as “a women’s vision of the tarot deck … a personal interpretation of traditional tarot themes of human spiritual history.” Thea’s Tarot was inspired by Billie Potts’s A New Women’s Tarot.
The original printing decks have finally almost run out, and Metonymy Press has been granted permission by Ruth to reprint Thea’s Tarot.
The 2018 edition is very much like the original, and comes with the same 1-page instructional pamphlet. The 78-card deck has Ruth’s signature design on the back of each card, and the images are black and white reproductions of Ruth’s original papercut prints.
– Metonymy Press
NOTE: Faithful to the original 80s printing, this deck has a misspelling of ‘Hierophant’. In this deck it is spelled ‘Hierphant’.
Contents:
- 78-card tarot deck, plus information cards with the original text by Ruth West
- Presented in a simple organic cotton drawstring bag (exclusive to LRT)
Melly –
Thea’s Tarot deck and the companion book, She is Sitting in the night, by Oliver Pickle is the greatest combo! A feminist, lesbian deck, paired with a queer revisioning of the cards, their meanings and the perceived gender depicted within Ruth West’s paper cut artworks. I love this deck, bought it ages ago, I connect deeply with the artwork. I hope another run of the deck occurs, this world needs more of this deck!
Grace Quantock (verified owner) –
I absolutely loved this deck. I usually use more intricate decks but I found this really powerful & can see why everyone raves about it. It also feels wonderful to be connecting with a piece of queer history & accessing that part of my lineage. I wholly recommend the companion book She Is Sitting In The Night too. I used this deck for my 2020 month by month spread & the clear, deep, beautiful cards are helping me move through this year.
Sandrine (verified owner) –
Very good vibrations with this deck .. good feeling in hand and very pleasant, the illustrations simple and very speaking .. the cardstock is soft and makes you want to manipulate it, the feminist vision of the Tarot Thea’s is very interesting and makes you want to dig a little more the vision of the author.
I think I will soon get the book she is sitting in the night, to have a deeper vision of this great deck .
* sorry for my poor english..