Nicole LaRue is both a queer artist and graphic designer and is widely known for her iconic work on the Women’s March on Washington logo. Her latest work, the HeART Tarot, is a unique deck featuring beautiful, original illustrations incorporating the shape of the human heart and elements of the natural world into each tarot archetype, and reminding us that the heart and mind aren’t working in opposition.
This week on the pod, Nic hangs out with Joe and Elly to talk astrology, intuition vs the brain, publishing, and so much more.
Iron and stained glass, brick and stone, clouds and rain—Pittsburgh is arguably America’s most gothic city. Permeated with an old-world sensibility, this once perennially dark and smoggy metropolis that built its wealth through coke and steel is moody, atmospheric, melancholic, and beautiful.
Eschewing contemporary stereotypes that reduce the city to football or sandwiches with fries on them, The Pittsburgh Tarot expresses the complicated and conflicted period of the city’s greatest expansion and influence during the 19th century. This is the same era that inspired the iconic Rider-Waite-Smith Tarot illustrations, and each of the cards in this deck pays homage to those original designs. The Major Arcana features significant historical figures, while the Minor Arcana is divided into suits of Neighborhoods, Rivers, Nature, and Industry.
The Pittsburgh Tarot features people, events, and themes from the 19th century and through La Belle Epoque, with a special focus on the Gilded Age, the city’s period of greatest significance. With an aesthetic style that calls to mind the work of artist Edward Gorey, this is a beautiful and unique expression of a city that’s as much sentiment and disposition as it is location.
The Magickal Cats Tarot Deck is now on Kickstarter! This gorgeous, 78-card deck is full of whimsical, gorgeous art of cats ready to help you guide you on your journey. Are you looking for some mischief in your life? Or maybe you need a little reminder to slow down and take things at your own pace? Whatever you’re looking for, these cats can help you get there… they just might need a nap in a sunbeam first.
Also available to pre-order is the Magickal Cat Tarot Guide, with helpful info on interpreting each of the cards, and spreads you can do at home with your cat. Yep, that’s right. Tarot spreads you can do WITH YOUR CAT.
All of it is lovingly illustrated by Helene Lespagnard and her rescue cat, Bibi!
Here’s a little Q&A we did with Helene, with a look at the deck, her process, and her favorite tarot card spread to do with Bibi-
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your artistic process. Hi! My name is Helene and I’m an illustrator and comic artist from Belgium. I love drawing in my little sketchbook and get inspired by nature, animals but also a lot by other people. I love seeing everyone’s unique quirks and love to show that in my art. I drew a lot of little doodles that later on became ideas. Just like this deck. I was sketching my cat Bibi in different sleeping positions. I thought it could be fun to draw her as a queen. The idea was born there.
What inspired the Magickal Cats Tarot Deck? Bibi was definitely the inspiration for this deck. I got her two years ago from a shelter. It remains a mystery to us what life she had before us. She really is a mysterious and proud cat. We do know she likes to be on the road, and look out of the window of the car or train, when we take her on a vacation trip.
Do you have a favorite tarot card or spread? I have two tarot cards 🙂
I like the Nine of Cups card. I drew a cat with a little frog. To me he is very happy to have his friend there with him. He is very satisfied with his life. He has everything working out for him. He might be a little clueless at times and forget other people’s needs. But I feel that this cat is smart enough to do some introspection when needed.
I also like the Moon card. I drew a cat that at first looks a bit intimidating. But once you know her she is actually very kind in a tough way. I like this card a lot because the moon card can indeed be confronting at times. It’s not always easy to follow your intuition. But this card confronts you that it is time to do that.
My favourite cat spread is the “Nine Lives Spread”. Bibi tends to prefer lounging over action. She sometimes needs a little motivation to get moving. With the help of her favorite toy, we can get her a little energised. And when we do that for this spread, she seems to bring her own kind of quiet wisdom to the cards.
The Nine Lives Spread, from the Magickal Cats Tarot Guide.
If Bibi was a major arcana card, what would she be? If Bibi were a tarot card, she would be “The High Priestess”.
She has an innate sense of patience and a deep appreciation for life’s simple pleasures—especially good food and long naps. Her calm presence reminds me that not everything in life needs to be complicated. Sometimes, clarity comes from stillness. There’s something about her that feels almost philosophical, as if she knows things we can’t fully understand.
Joe, Elly, and Bernie sit down with Karen Krebser, author of “Tarot Through the Witch’s Year,” to chat about tarot in dark times, how to reconcile your practice with your privilege, tarot spreads for diving the future of publishing, and a bit of the history of tarot.
