tarot
BlueDogRose
Watercolor tarot using domestic animals as suit symbols from TaRat creator.
by Nakisha VanderHoeven · Self Published 2011
Find a copy →We link out and never sell decks. Buying through links may earn us a small commission.
The Canon's read
Tarot Canon's own assessment, written for this catalog.
BlueDogRose is Nakisha VanderHoeven's imprint, and this watercolor deck extends her TaRat's project to the whole domestic menagerie: Swords are cats, Cups are birds, Pentacles are rodents, Clubs are dogs, with goldfish and guinea pigs joining the majors, the household's entire animal population given tarot's org chart. The suit assignments are quietly witty, cats naturally holding the swords, and structurally serious; a consistent species-per-suit system is genuine design, not decoration.
VanderHoeven's watercolor simplicity keeps the register gentle, pet-portrait warmth doing the work her rats' cuteness did, and the deck reads as the fuller statement of her single-species experiments. It suits multi-pet households completely, VanderHoeven's collectors bridging from the TaRat, suit-system appreciators, and readers whose actual familiars are domestic. The wild-animal shelves roar elsewhere; this deck's wisdom comes from creatures who already live with you, which is arguably the harder credential.
From the archive
An excerpt from a review at the Aeclectic Tarot archive, in the original reviewer's voice.
The BlueDogRose Tarot is a watercolour deck of animal art, with simple images of domestic animals. In the suits, the Swords are Cats, Cups are Birds, Pentacles are Rodents, and Clubs are Dogs. The major arcana also feature goldfish, guinea...
If you like BlueDogRose
Stay in the loop
From the Canon
Updates from Tarot Canon, when there is something worth sharing.