Spolia Tarot

The Spolia Tarot is a unique collaboration between artist Jen May and experienced tarot reader Jessa Crispin, designed to offer a rich, layered reading experience. The deck's name, "Spolia," refers to the architectural practice of using rubble as building material, a concept that resonates with the deck's collage art style and its creators' belief in rebuilding societal norms through intuition. This deck moves beyond a simple reinterpretation of the Rider-Waite-Smith system, drawing deeply from the history of tarot, alchemy, mysticism, mythology, and the natural world.

Crispin, a tarot reader for six years prior to the deck's creation, brought her extensive knowledge of tarot symbolism, astrological associations, and occult studies to the project. This meticulous research guided the selection of colors, flowers, crystals, animals, and other imagery for each card. The deck is not just a visual feast but a tool for deeper introspection, intended to help users navigate personal and societal transformations. The accompanying 32-page manual provides guidance on using both the standard and the additional cards.

Inspired by the Minchiate, an older Italian deck, the Spolia Tarot expands on the traditional 78 cards by including additional cards for each astrological sign and each of the four elements. These extra cards are integrated to provide more nuanced readings, reflecting Crispin's personal experience with their utility in client and personal readings. The deck represents a three-and-a-half-year labor of love, combining artistic vision with deep esoteric knowledge.

This deck is ideal for experienced tarot readers and collectors who appreciate art-forward decks with a strong foundation in esoteric history. Readers interested in the Minchiate tradition or those seeking additional layers of astrological and elemental symbolism will find this deck particularly engaging. Its rich, collage art style appeals to individuals with an aesthetic preference for vintage, surreal, or art-historical imagery, and those who value a deck created with deep research into tarot's historical and mystical roots.

The Spolia Tarot is a collaboration between artist Jen May and tarot reader Jessa Crispin. Their journey began when Jen was illustrating pieces Jessa had written about specific tarot cards, leading them to embark on creating a full deck. Jen's background in colorful, earthy art with historical influences, combined with Jessa's six years of experience as a tarot reader and deep interest in the history and symbolism of the deck, formed the foundation of their three-and-a-half-year creative process. They named the deck "Spolia" to reflect the collage art style and the contemporary need to rebuild societal structures using existing elements.