The Santa Muerte Tarot

Interest in the mysterious folk deity Santa Muerte appears to grow with every coming year, as the festival of Dia de los Muertos also expands itself further and further into modern pop culture. The recent award-winning Pixar film Coco, itself saturated with art and music inspired by the Mexican ancestor festival, even takes its protagonist into the realms of the Dead.

Illustrator Fabio Listrani, who has been gracing band shirts and comic book covers with his brilliant craft for years, seemed particularly inspired by the Lady of the Shadows, for his new Tarot deck (his second) is a work of brilliance.

A patently gorgeous tarot deck, with each card positively dripping with detail and depth. The artwork is not only fluid, but bold and striking, channeling the art nouveaux attention to detail of Mucha and Klimt, as well as the modern ‘heavy metal album’ iterations of Pushead and John Dyer Baizley. Highly colorful, but not overbearing or bright, with deep, shadowy inkwork making everything pop beautifully.

Of course, if skulls and skeletons aren’t your thing, this isn’t your deck. There are bones drawn on every single arcana, including the wonderfully-designed card backs, which hearken to a blue Aztec motif with the occasional crimson blush of red flowers (and twelve skulls grinning back at you). However, if necromantic meditations help your spirit soar, then this deck may be just what you were looking for.