Birthed during the global pandemic, The Fool’s New Journey Tarot is a 60-card deck that reorganizes the familiar order of the traditional 78. “Sixty Triumphs for a New Dawn.”

Per the deck description on the box: “In 2020, the world changed. The arrival of a worldwide pandemic ensured it could never be quite the same again. In the same way, facing new issues at every level of life, it is time for Tarot to change. The Fool must begin a new journey.”

“The Fool represents the soul of everyman . . . and goes through the life experiences depicted in the 21 cards of the Major Arcana,” wrote Eden Gray over half a century ago. The Majors, noted Gray, were like archetypes of the subconscious.

But why only these 21 cards of the Majors, as depicted by Pamela Colman Smith no less, as the immutable model for every tarot deck produced?

So begins the questioning that led to The Fool’s New Journey, a new sequence of cards that speak with the archetypal voice governing all beings on earth (to borrow language from Caitlin Matthews).

John Matthews then collaborated with artist Charles Newington for these new archetypal tarot images. Together, the two set out to create imagery that would be stripped of the traditional imagery as much as possible, and to keep these picture cards simple. Matthews then set these images into a new order, a reset of the tarot.

These 60 trump cards present a new look at the tarot, literally a new journey for The Fool. And yet it’s funny that we think of this as a diverging path from traditional tarot, because in its heyday, circa 15th and 16th centuries, we had the Minchiate Tarot of 96 cards, the 50-card Mantegna, which was also considered a tarot, and the quite popular pre-Golden Dawn Etteilla Tarot that has an ordering of the Majors to confound today’s RWS readers.

The journey of The Fool represents the journey of life itself, and so the premise here would be that we, the everyman, all begin before The Maze (Key 1). In the natural course, we then must embody The Believer (Key 2), but before we can move into the role of The Magician, we must confront The Shadow (Key 3). If The Magician is skill and cleverness, The Priestess (Key 5)  is wisdom and intuition. I love that in this New Journey, The Priestess is Key 5, what had been the traditional position of The Hierophant.

The Hierophant shifts into Key 9, the position previously held by The Hermit. Then the first decade of this 60-card deck concludes with Wonder.

Card 11, Beauty, is connected to the previous Card 10, Wonder, which contains within it aspects of beauty. Whereas wonder is instinctual, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The Fool journeys from Beauty to The Lovers, and then into The Wasteland, where we lose our sense of purpose. We regain direction in The Chariot, which takes us to Justice.

I like how in this ordering, a novel addition, The Prisoner, follows Justice and precedes The Hanged Man, and then another novel addition, The Escape, connects The Hanged Man to The Hermit.

Energies from the traditional Minor Arcana have been integrated into this new set of trumps as well. For instance, you’ll find traces of the  Four of Swords in Card 20, The Sleep, and the Seven and Eight of Pentacles in Card 25, The Worker.

Card 29 The Sorrowful echoes elements reminiscent of the Three of Swords. Is it just me or does that Death card have some Baron Samedi vibes from Haitian Vodou? Per the guidebook, the three birds depicted here represent three souls journeying home, connecting this card to Card 13, The Wasteland.

The classic tarot Tower card has been expanded here to both The Tower and The Downfall. The Devil here is self-aggrandizement, power wielded for the self, rather than power wielded for the good of others. The Questioner represents those who question everything, and there’s something poetic about the skeptical Questioner side by side with the faithful Hope.

In terms of art style, this deck has a child-like simplicity that’s rustic, timeless, and minimalist, which gives it a universal quality. It’s unpretentious and straightforward, unearthing deep-seated emotions while tapping in to universal human experiences.

I love the inclusion of The Diviner as Card 39, closely linked to the card to follow, Card 40, Truth. The use of muted colors that appear painted in natural materials gives this deck an earthy texture, and the simplicity of the compositions bring a playfulness. It’s an intentionally unrefined look, stripping away unnecessary details to emphasize core elements. I really appreciate how the art style lends itself to transcending temporal boundaries.

Personally I don’t love the thick blank white border around the card images, which overpowers the image itself. I wish that the edges had been cropped closer to that drawn framing.

Also, I think someone like me, with my background, is going to notice that this deck, with the intention of it being universal for a new globalized  and post-pandemic society, can leave people of some skintones feeling excluded. So I see that as a bit of a missed opportunity.

Back to the sequence – here, Matthews has re-ordered from Star (17), Moon (18), and Sun (19) to Moon (42), Sun (43), and The Star (44), then adding Nature and The Lost. Interesting how Card 46, The Lost is connected to Card 1, The Maze and Card 10, Wonder (i.e., 4 + 6 = 10, 10 = 1).

In the final decade of the Fool’s New Journey trumps, we get all new cards except The World. There are so many symbolically poignant depictions here, such as the neighboring cards The Road of a straight path and Wisdom of a winding path. The cubist art on Fear really stands out and is dissonant compared to the consistent art style throughout the rest of the deck.

In the Fool’s New Journey, instead of ending on The World, this becomes the second to last card, with the final card now 59, Eternity. The World card is completion, whereas Eternity is timelessness, unbound possibilities unfolding, wider perspectives, and looking ahead at the bigger picture. I’m seeing a lot of resonance here with the sequence of hexagrams (and their meanings) in the I Ching.

In working with the deck, I’ve found that it reads really well. I use Key 0: The Fool as my significator card and do the Opening of the Four Worlds from the OOTK First Operation. I read with reversals with this deck, so it’s by coincidence that all the cards pictured above are upright.

The guidebook is very helpful in getting you started on reading these cards, including reverse card meanings. The Clown reversed, for instance. is backward logic, wild wisdom of the clown, escape, and the opposite of the “False Fool” — true wit and wisdom. The Clown reversed is a moment of raw honesty.

The Worker card reversed can mean lacking attention to details due to dissatisfaction with the work that one is tasked to do or reluctance to be diligent with one’s daily grind.

I’ll end on some notes on the production value. I love that it has that cardboard paper sleeve you can slide off, and thus you get a non-descript beautiful blue keepsake box you can store your cards in. I love this design approach.

I don’t love the card back design. Per the guidebook, the card back is supposed to represent The Fool full circle, but here, caught in the midst of his journey dancing around the world.

It’s functional for those who read reversals, and I like its consistency with the theme of the Fool, but it’s just a bit meh to me, and rather than evoke wonder, it strips a bit of that mystical vibe away.

The guidebook is fantastic. It contains all the information you would want, detailed card meaning entries and starter ways to begin working with the deck. Part Two of the guidebook is my favorite — it’s a series of narrative fables that help to place the cards in sequence as a memorable story. Definitely worth your while to read.

For those interested, the above page spread shows you this new ordering of 60 trumps. If you’re worried about having to “learn a new system,” I didn’t really feel like I had to. You start with what you already know of the traditional tarot Majors and the additional cards are fairly self-explanatory.

The artwork, with great credit to Charles Newington, pulls you in to the core essence of the card, so I didn’t need to “learn” anything.

Sure, there were times I wasn’t quite sure how to approach the upright versus the reversed meaning of a new card, so I’d consult the guidebook. After a few times reaching for the guidebook, I learned it. Which is all to say the learning curve is easy, promise.

Matthews and Newington’s new order and expansion of the Fool’s journey to 59 cards is a compelling and masterfully executed presentation of a tarot. It is an expertly conceived and fresh, innovative system that challenges traditionalist readers. I love this bold reimagining of the Fool’s journey, and the re-sequencing reflects a narrative arc that invites you to explore the tarot in an exhilarating new way.

It is evident that each card’s placement has been meticulously considered, creating a flow that feels both logical and deeply spiritual. The Fool’s New Journey Tarot: Sixty Trumps for a New Dawn was released earlier this year by REDFeather, an imprint of Schiffer Publishing, and has been one of the more intriguing tarot projects to come out this year.

FTC Disclosure: In accordance with Title 16 of the U.S. Code of Federal Regulations Part 255, “Guides Concerning Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising,” I received this deck and guidebook set from its publisher for prospective review. Everything I’ve said here is sincere and accurately reflects my opinion of the deck.