Rainbow Heart Tarot

The Rainbow Heart Tarot is the deck Portland artist Rachel Rosenkoetter has been quietly perfecting for years — now in its fifth edition, every one of the 78 cards hand-painted in acrylic gouache, every iteration sharper and more confident than the last. It's a Rider-Waite-Smith clone in structure, which means the bones are familiar — the Fool still steps off the cliff, the Tower still falls — but the visual language is something else entirely. Rosenkoetter pulls from 1970s decks like Morgan Greer and Aquarian Tarot, from tattoo flash sheets, from Tibetan Thangka painting, from the parts of contemporary art that still believe color can carry meaning. The result is a deck that's body-positive, sex-positive, globally diverse, and unapologetically joyful — without ever tipping into saccharine.

At first glance the rainbows and the brightness might read as one note. They are not. Sit with the Five of Pentacles and feel the weight of it. Look at the Devil and notice what's actually being said. This is a deck that uses color the way the best poets use plain language — to slip past the part of you that defends against meaning and land somewhere deeper. It's an excellent first deck for a beginner, and it's an excellent fifth or fifteenth deck for anyone who's been reading long enough to recognize when an indie artist has done something genuinely original. The amethyst foil edges and the thick 400 gsm matte stock are the kind of details that tell you the maker cared.

Fun facts & details:

🎨 Artist: Rachel Rosenkoetter, hand-painted in Portland, OR
📅 Edition: Fifth Edition, 2023
📚 Guidebook: 24-page full-color stapled booklet with key words and card meanings
✨ Finish: Matte, 400 gsm card stock, amethyst foil edges
🎴 Card Count: 78 cards
🔮 System: Rider-Waite-Smith clone structure with retro acrylic gouache illustration
🎨 Art Style: Colorful, retro, body-positive, globally diverse — influenced by 1970s decks, Tibetan Thangka, and tattoo flash
📦 Packaging: Fully lidded two-piece box
📏 Dimensions: 3.5" x 5"