Animism

Joanna Cheung's Animism Tarot hand-paints a different animal onto each of seventy-nine acrylic cards, and the review's parenthetical delivers the count's explanation with a wink: the deck (naturally) includes an extra Happy Squirrel card. The Happy Squirrel is indie tarot's inside joke made canon, born as a Simpsons gag card and adopted by deck-makers as the tradition's official patron of not taking itself too seriously; its presence certifies the deck's community fluency. Cheung's textured acrylics keep the charm structural: one animal per card across the full deck is the Birdqueen's strategy with a painter's warmth, each creature carrying its office by nature rather than costume. It suits animal-tarot readers who want full structure with individual portraits, indie-community members who smile at the seventy-ninth card, acrylic-texture appreciators, and collectors of the Happy Squirrel's growing lodge. The joke-averse may safely remove one card and own a serious deck, though the squirrel, being happy, forgives them in advance.