Cat Peeps - what would be your perfect cat Tarot deck?

[GreatDane]

Misterei mentioned in the pet companions thread about another cat deck.  I have never found a cat deck I really wanted to read with.  Some GORGEOUS cat decks out there, but as I am a reader, not a collector, it has presented a dilemma for me.  I follow RWS decks, so it has to be an easily readable, as in each card CLEARLY what it should symbolize, without having it too distracting with cats (love those cats!).  

 

I hope if independent or large deck publishers are reading threads here, more cat decks will be forthcoming.

 

For those of you deck designers in here, it would be so wonderful to have some of you think of designing a cat deck.  AGAIN, no dis to other cat decks out there, some are simply wondrous, but some focus more on the cat where I have to kind of look harder to figure out which card.  

 

SO, for ME, the perfect cat deck would be various types of cats OR just a black cat (I have a Tortoiseshell and a black cat), with VERY clear RWS symbolism on each card.

 

Great cardstock. 

 

Standard size.

 

ANY OTHER cat peeps who would like to see more cat decks and what would yours be like?  If you already found your PERFECT cat deck PLEASE mention.  😻    

[Misterei]

9 hours ago, GreatDane said:

Misterei mentioned in the pet companions thread about another cat deck.  ...

Actually it was my FANTASY  cat deck that doesn't actually exist. I WISH Ciro Marchetti would create a cat deck [after seeing his cat calendar].

I don't have any cat deck I read with other than Tarot of the Cat People ... but this is people with cats ... a sort of sci-fi type of scenario ... not a cat deck per se. I've never yet seen a cat deck I would actually read.

[DanielJUK]

I've moved this thread to the Tarot Decks section. We try to keep tarot in the forum's tarot areas and off-topic, personal and other discussions in the subscribers chatter room area 🙂

[Chariot]

For me it's The Cat's Eye Tarot, designed by Debra M Given, DVM.  It's been available since 2018, but I just discovered it and bought it about a month ago.  

I wasn't particularly looking for a cat deck, but looking for a deck that follows the RWS system closely but doesn't use scary images.  I don't like cutesy images either, so my search wasn't too successful till I ran across this deck.

As a vet, Dr Given undestands cats.  These cats are depicted realistically ...no cats in costumes, etc.  The cats are doing cat things, not human things, in the images.  Dr Given really understands the nuances of tarot as well. I found some of her images quite startlingly apt.

If the deck  has a weakness it's simply that some of the pictures are a little too 'watercoloury' to be distinct.  However, once I read the guide book included in the deck, I could 'see' the images better.  And it's a very very usable tarot deck ...card stock is excellent.

I've written a review in our Deck Library section that includes pictures, so I won't re-create them here. 

[Mi-Shell]

23 hours ago, Chariot said:

For me it's The Cat's Eye Tarot, designed by Debra M Given, DVM.  It's been available since 2018, but I just discovered it and bought it about a month ago.  

I wasn't particularly looking for a cat deck, but looking for a deck that follows the RWS system closely but doesn't use scary images.  I don't like cutesy images either, so my search wasn't too successful till I ran across this deck.

As a vet, Dr Given undestands cats.  These cats are depicted realistically ...no cats in costumes, etc.  The cats are doing cat things, not human things, in the images.  Dr Given really understands the nuances of tarot as well. I found some of her images quite startlingly apt.

If the deck  has a weakness it's simply that some of the pictures are a little too 'watercoloury' to be distinct.  However, once I read the guide book included in the deck, I could 'see' the images better.  And it's a very very usable tarot deck ...card stock is excellent.

I've written a review in our Deck Library section that includes pictures, so I won't re-create them here. 

Well, I have to admit, that I an not a cat person - but a big Animal person - and cats are Animals after all....

Sooo: There we were, in Nevada with our motor home  at the end of a nasty rutted gravel road with a free desert campground.

Desolate, nobody anywhere, so lots of spaces to choose from....

A rusty metal box with the "sign in sheets" and a slot for donations....

Oftentimes campers also leave a book or 2 -or more in these boxes - for the next camper that comes along.

This one however had a wet little velvet bag - with Tarot cards??!!

It was the Cat's Eye Tarot!

Of course I traded it in for several of my books and a few other goodies 🙂

For the rest of this and several more hot desert days I studied this deck and all the cat expressions  - most very much in unison with RWS 🙂

My one and only Cat deck!

[Chariot]

3 hours ago, Mi-Shell said:

Well, I have to admit, that I an not a cat person - but a big Animal person - and cats are Animals after all....

Sooo: There we were, in Nevada with our motor home  at the end of a nasty rutted gravel road with a free desert campground.

Desolate, nobody anywhere, so lots of spaces to choose from....

A rusty metal box with the "sign in sheets" and a slot for donations....

Oftentimes campers also leave a book or 2 -or more in these boxes - for the next camper that comes along.

This one however had a wet little velvet bag - with Tarot cards??!!

It was the Cat's Eye Tarot!

Of course I traded it in for several of my books and a few other goodies 🙂

For the rest of this and several more hot desert days I studied this deck and all the cat expressions  - most very much in unison with RWS 🙂

My one and only Cat deck!

That's a great story!
 

One of the things in life that gets my back hair up is an anthropomorphic attitude towards animals.  Animals are themselves with their own natures that often differ from ours. They deserve respect for what they are, not what we want them to be.  I feel angry when I see people putting cutesy costumes on their pets. How disrespectful is that?  Pictures of monkeys 'laughing' when, in fact, the monkeys are distressed—grinning is a submissive and frightened behaviour in monkey culture.  And so on....

So when I saw this deck and realised that the author really is familiar with cat behaviour and doesn't put an overtly human spin on it, I was very impressed.  These cats in The Cat's Eye Tarot live in our world, and we love them,  but they are not our 'babies' or dolly substitutes, even if we are responsible for their welfare.  They are companions and friends.  

Edited August 9, 2024 by Chariot

[Mi-Shell]

12 hours ago, Chariot said:

That's a great story!
 

One of the things in life that gets my back hair up is an anthropomorphic attitude towards animals.  Animals are themselves with their own natures that often differ from ours. They deserve respect for what they are, not what we want them to be.  I feel angry when I see people putting cutesy costumes on their pets. How disrespectful is that?  Pictures of monkeys 'laughing' when, in fact, the monkeys are distressed—grinning is a submissive and frightened behaviour in monkey culture.  And so on....

So when I saw this deck and realised that the author really is familiar with cat behaviour and doesn't put an overtly human spin on it, I was very impressed.  These cats in The Cat's Eye Tarot live in our world, and we love them,  but they are not our 'babies' or dolly substitutes, even if we are responsible for their welfare.  They are companions and friends.  

YES!♥

That is exactly how I feel!

I dislike images of Animals in dresses sitting at a tea party wearing rings on their paws.....

But this deck showed me, what a car could look like, when representing a human archetype.

[Little Fang]

Mystical Cats and Pagan Cats. I like cats doing cat things, but I also like cats living in a spiritual society.

Pagan cats has been my tried and true deck for years. I have so many cat decks though!

[gregory]

Pagan cats, no contest, no ifs, no ands, no buts. The cats are totally cat - and they speak. (I have very very many other cat decks, but this one stands out by a mile.)

[Laura Borealis]

I think the only one I've got currently is Chat du Marseille by Elaine Moertl, which is a self-published, majors only deck and I do love it, but it's not a reader for me. I just take it out now and then and fondly flip through it.

 

I haven't seen the perfect cat tarot for me yet. I love cats more than the normal amount, but for some reason that's not a category of deck I have felt like I needed to fill. I do like a lot of the cat decks out there. Cat's Eye has beautiful art; there's one I think called Soul Cats? Again, beautiful (though iirc I didn't like some of the cards). I like the Pagan Cats too. Just never got around to getting one.

 

I don't have a problem with cats dressed up and doing human things, myself, and I've thought about getting the Lo Scarbeo Marseille Cats. The Death card is very sweet! Makes me think of Death in the Discworld books. But again, never got around to it. There's also the White Cats which is RWS based. Dressed up doing RWS things and I'm okay with it! But my wallet stays in my pocket.

 

Cutesy or cartoony cat decks are pretty much a no. Not that I hate cute cat art, but I don't see myself using such a deck. There's a Fournier cat deck with odd, funny art (definitely not cutesy) that appeals to me but I haven't watched any flip-throughs to see if I'd actually want it.

[Morwenna]

I already have two perfect cat decks--Cat's Eye and Pagan Cats. Both are gorgeous, read beautifully, and have naturalistic cats. The focus is a little different in each--CE has no overt Tarot imagery but the situations are pure RWS, while the PC has completely natural cats inhabiting Tarot imagery while still in ordinary surroundings. 

 

Believe it or not, many years ago I used both of them to read for our actual cats--and they worked fine! (Yes, you can read for pets!) 

[katrinka]

The preorders for the large format Bohemian Cats Theatre Tarot just closed. But preorders for the standard size deck will open in May. It will be sumptuous (and much easier to shuffle!)

https://baba-store.com/collections/bohemian-cats-theatre-tarot

 

This will be the final Tarot from Karen and Alex. As always, they've put an impressive amount of work into this deck. And I've never met a Baba deck that didn't read true and clear. 💖More information here:

https://bohemiancats.com/

 

(And yes, the cats are clothed. No cats were forced into little outfits. Those were handmade separately and photographed on little mannequins. It's all Alex's magic manipulating the images. The lighting is flawless. Nothing looks collaged. And the cats manage to remain very cat.)

 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2025 by katrinka

[gregory]

It’s lovely, but doesn’t read as well as Pagan Cats. I think there’s too much detail, perhaps.

[Nemia]

I'm a cat person, and I have a number of cat decks. The Kissa reads best. The Pagan Cats - I don't know, I don't like the art. I know it's a good deck but I can't warm to the art. The Considerate Cats is lovely and dreamy, but too positive for me if that makes sense. I haven't tried the Grimalkin's Cat deck yet but it looks promising. 

 

Grimalkin's:

 

 

 

Very busy collages, the Surrealist vibe that all Cullinane decks have, with very expressive cats. As I said above, I haven't tried it for reading yet, only for my Planetary Week reading. 

 

So it's the Kissa for me. A Finnish deck with a beautiful atmosphere and a weird, dark colour scheme. It works for me. 

 

[gregory]

Yes the kissa is lovely too.

[katrinka]

The Kissa art reminds me a lot of that James Bond Tarot. That's a good thing.