Gaian Tarot

The Gaian Tarot is a contemporary Earth-based tarot deck that focuses on “the healing of the Earth and of the self.” Some cards feature people, some creatures, and many combine both. The people on the cards are for the most part really easy to relate to. Even if you haven’t directly shared the same experience, you can imagine what they may be thinking and or feeling – love, joy, sadness, enthusiasm, wonder, peace, strength, knowing, connection, overwhelm, calm – they’re all to be found within the cards. This deck doesn’t deal in abstracts.

The paintings are almost all people, scenes and elements the deck creator, Joanna Powell Colbert, has encountered in real life. She wanted to show that, “… the Divine is immanent in nature and not transcendent or separate from it” and she took her time to bring this message to life. The deck and guidebook took her nine years to complete. The Gaian Tarot is a well thought out deck with very important messages and ideas to share.

The Gaian Tarot Cards

To move away from the Rider Waite approach, whilst in many ways staying true to it, she has renamed the suits, the court and many of the Major Arcana. However, unlike some decks this doesn’t create confusion. Rather, in many ways it provides greater clarity. You don’t need to think about which suit depicts which element, she has named them that way. Thus the suits are Fire, Earth, Air and Water with the Court renamed to align with how she sees the stages of life – Children (pages), Explorers (Knights), Guardians (Queens) and Elders (Kings). The beauty of the assignation of the Court is that there is no gender attached. For example, the Guardian of Earth is a man tending to his corn, and the Elder is a women hand spinning wool outside. These are not just token gestures. They make sense.

In the Major Arcana The Fool is now The Seeker, The High Priestess simply The Priestess, The Empress is The Gardener, and The Emperor is The Builder. She has renamed The Hierophant The Teacher, The Chariot The Canoe, and The Hanged Man is now The Tree. The Devil has been replaced by Bindweed, The Tower is now Lightning, Judgement is Awakening and The World is Gaia/The World. For this deck these renamings feel completely natural because they align with the every day nature the cards. A Chariot would be out of place in the settings but a canoe fits perfectly and aligns with the water element associated with it. The association of the deck with an earth-centred spirituality is present. This is a gentle reminder that a connection with the earth is a spiritual practice.

Some of the cards have a different feel to the usual Rider Waite interpretations. For example, rather than focusing on acceptance and celebration, the 4 of Fire (pictured below) is about celebrating the essence of your own personal power. The 3 of Air (pictured below) provides another point of difference. It doesn’t limit itself to just heartache and/or loss. Instead it shows a man getting his thoughts down on paper. He’s looking at the traditional Rider Waite 3 of Swords card and journaling. In this way he is seeking to uncover/release what he needs to. This isn’t a stagnant energy. Rather it suggests a potential way to deal with, and move through, difficult emotions without any suggestion to dismiss or ignore them.

As for the cards themselves, they are huge. At 10cm x 14½cm they are even bigger than most oracle cards which can make them a bit unruly to try and shuffle. At least with oracle cards you’re not usually dealing with as many cards. When I first got the deck my first impulse was to trim them. Not that it would have made them much smaller. If you want to maintain the full picture you could only trim the blue because the picture overlays the white border in each image. I like the idea that these images are not “contained”. Besides, when I looked at a trimmed deck I personally felt that without their blue border they had lost their vibrancy. So, mine will be staying.

(Since writing this I have relented and trimmed this deck for practicality purposes. If you want to see what I did just follow the link at the end of the post)

Apart from the shuffling challenge another issue I found with their size was that when doing large spreads it isn’t possible to completely see all the cards unless you use a really large area for your readings. That may not be an issue for anyone else, but I like to see all the cards in my readings in full so I can take note of who is looking where, the preponderance of certain colours, numbers etc. This means that if they become available again in a smaller version I would be tempted to replace my current edition. Also I wouldn’t mind if they lost the silver gilding. I don’t feel it adds anything to the deck.

The Gaian Tarot Book

A beautiful 184 page, full colour book accompanies the deck. It is a wonderful resource on its own as it has the potential to increase readers knowledge and understanding of both the tarot and the symbolism as well as the self. In this sense the book reminds me of the one that accompanies The Star Tarot. If you found yourself on the fence about whether or not to buy the cards, the book could really persuade you.

Each entry for the Major Arcana begins with the card’s title followed by its more recognisable name and a basic catch phrase. For example The Seeker (The Fool) A new beginning. But then it adds a whole lot more. There’s a description of the card, the story if you like, followed by what it means if it appears in a reading in either the upright or reversed (here labelled the Shadow side) position. Then there’s a section on the themes, the symbols, and a comprehensive list of journal prompts followed by an affirmation. This section is titled “Deepen you understanding of (card name)” and they information presented is bound to do that.

The Minor Arcana section is not as comprehensive but it still provides some good information. The section begins with information on the elements, the numbers, and the people. She presents an interesting take on the numbers that differs to how the numerology of the cards is usually presented. The Minors are ordered numerically rather than by suit so each number begins with information on its themes and relevance. For the individual cards she provides the story, the meaning for both upright and reversed positions, and an affirmation.

The final section of the book “Working with the cards” includes a wonderful, albeit brief, section on reading intuitively. I love that she finishes that section with the message that after you’ve noted your own impressions you can take a look at the book’s descriptions rather than before. More importantly though is that she ends with, “What unique insights do you have?” I love this because it highlights that if your viewpoint differs it’s still valid – a very important message for those just starting out who may doubt their intuition if what they perceived is wildly different.

Spreads

There’s a lot on offer here. Thirteen to be precise.

• 3 x Three card spreads
• James Wells’s helpful all purpose spread (4 cards)
• Joanna’s New Moon spread (5 cards)
• Joanna’s New Moon spread #2 (9 cards)
• Beth Owl’s daughter’s “Predict your future by creating it” spread (6 cards)
• Joanna’s “Seeking Clarity” spread (10 cards)
• Joanna’s New Years spread (7 cards)
• Joanna’s “Elder’s of Fire/Whispers of the Ancestors” spread (5 cards)
• Carolyn Cushing’s “Soul Practices with The Gaian Tarot: Path, Practice, Posture” spread (3 cards)
• Carolyn Cushing’s “Aligning with the Earth” spread (7 cards)
• James Wells’s Gaian spread (4 cards)

So there is definitely plenty to get you started if you don’t have already have spreads that you like to use or if you enjoy trying new spreads. The Gaian Tarot caters to all. If you’re interested in earth-based spirituality, clear and accessible decks that transport tarot into the present without losing its power, or just want a deck that you can use to learn more about yourself and your place then this deck could be for you.

As promised here is the link for the deck modification.

Publishing details

Deck Creator:

Joanna Powell Colbert

Pictured Version:

Schiffer Publishing, 2016

Website and Social Media:

www.gaiantarot.com

www.joannapowellcolbert.com

www.facebook.com/joannapowellcolbertartist

www.instagram.com/joannapcolbert