The Camena Tarot by Lou Benesch and Laetitia Barbier

The Camena Tarot is a collaborative project from Scarlet Hound, an independent publishing platform founded by Laetitia Barbier and Lou Benesch. This deluxe box set includes a full tarot deck and a comprehensive guidebook, designed to offer a visionary divinatory experience. The deck draws on Barbier's extensive background in art history and visual esoterica, combined with Benesch's distinctive watercolor style, which is deeply inspired by folklore, animals, anatomy, and nature.

The collaboration aims to bridge scholarship with surrealism, creating a deck that speaks to intuition, symbolism, and the enduring magic found in both images and words. The campaign successfully raised $83,288 from 799 backers, indicating strong community interest in this unique blend of artistic and scholarly approaches to tarot. The deck is positioned as a tool for deep introspection and connection to mythological resonance, reflecting the creators' shared passion for the magical and the visceral.

Laetitia Barbier, known for her work at Morbid Anatomy and her book "Tarot and Divination Cards: A Visual Archive," brings a profound understanding of historical and symbolic systems to the project. Lou Benesch, a French-American artist, contributes her lush, dreamscape-like illustrations, which have been featured internationally. Together, they offer a deck that is both aesthetically rich and intellectually grounded, appealing to those who value both the art and the academic rigor behind their divinatory tools.

The artwork, created by Lou Benesch, is characterized by a lush watercolor style that evokes dreamscapes and mythological scenes. The color palette observed in the image is rich and varied, featuring earthy tones, deep blues, and vibrant reds, with a noticeable use of subtle gradients and washes typical of watercolor. Figures, animals, and natural elements are rendered with an anatomical looseness and surreal quality, suggesting influences from classical art, folklore, and perhaps even anatomical studies, as mentioned in Benesch's description. The overall aesthetic is both magical and visceral, with intricate details and a sense of narrative depth in each card. The image shows a central card depicting a goddess-like figure emerging from reeds, surrounded by snakes, holding what appear to be two birds, all rendered in muted greens and blues, contrasting with other cards that feature brighter, more fantastical elements like winged figures, ornate costumes, and mythical beasts.

This deck is ideal for experienced tarot readers and collectors who appreciate art-historical depth and a surreal, folkloric aesthetic. It will appeal to those interested in the intersection of scholarship and intuitive practice, particularly individuals drawn to mythological themes, animal symbolism, and lush watercolor artwork. Readers who value a deck with a strong artistic vision and a grounding in esoteric knowledge will find the Camena Tarot particularly resonant.

The Camena Tarot is the inaugural project from Scarlet Hound, an independent publishing platform co-founded by Laetitia Barbier and Lou Benesch. Laetitia Barbier, a French-born independent scholar and professional tarot reader, brings her extensive background in art history and her acclaimed book "Tarot and Divination Cards: A Visual Archive" to the partnership. Lou Benesch, a French-American artist and illustrator, contributes her unique watercolor style, drawing inspiration from folklore, animals, anatomy, and nature. Their collaboration aims to blend Barbier's scholarly rigor with Benesch's surrealist artistic vision, creating divinatory tools that are both intellectually rich and aesthetically captivating.