Black and White Decks

Decks printed in black and white, that are without colour.

A Poet's Tarot A Poet's Tarot is a women-oriented 74 card deck from 1986. It has black and white non-traditional illustrations on one side, and on the back of each card is a linked poem in purple and silver (instead of a universal design). The suits of Sticks, Bowls, Knives and Pens are numbered from 1 to 13 - there's no distinction made for the court cards.

Act With Tarot Created to accompany a roleplaying game of the same name, the Art With Tarot has black and white illustrated art with a dark manga look. The card scenes are tarot-related, though non-traditional.

Alchemical Wedding Tarot The Alchemical Wedding Tarot is a somewhat dark deck with an otherworldly, dream-like quality. The sepia-toned art was created from collage organised on computer, featuring strong imagery of people appearing in masks and semi-animal forms. The 22 cards are now available as a limited-edition deck.

Ascension Tarot The Ascension Tarot is a positive view of the journey of the soul through the 22 (renamed) major cards. The uplifting, detailed pen and ink images were created in 1999, and the deck has just been published by Adam McLean.

Astro Tarot The Astro Tarot, published by Art Fair Inc in 1970, has just 42 cards. It's major arcana and court cards (there are no numbered minor cards) have a central black and white Marseilles figure inset into light and dark yellow borders. Titled in French and English.

B.O.T.A. Tarot Almost similar enough to the Rider-Waite to be classed as a clone deck, The Builders of the Adytum Tarot is printed in black and white only and is intended to be coloured by the user.

Book of Kaos Tarot The Book of Kaos Tarot is a compelling self-published 80-card deck. The imagery uses pagan and tribal imagery and its pen-and-ink art varies from simple to complex across the cards.

Brave New World Tarot The Brave New World Tarot is inspired by the Tarot de Marseille and modern city life, and is a 'direct deck for our brave new world'. The 22 major arcana cards are illustrated with linocuts in black and white. Available as single prints or as a 22 card deck.

Carvin Rinehart Tarot An original black and white photographic tarot-in-progress, the Carvin Rinehart Tarot uses images of people and scenes photographed by the artist.

Chat du Marseille Tarot The Chat du Marseilles Tarot is a trumps-only deck drawn in French style, based on the 1761 Conver Marseilles. It's quite traditional but for one thing - instead of humans, there are cats!

Color Your Own Tarot The Color Your Own Tarot cards are black-and-white illustrations with a matte surface, designed to be coloured to your own preference (though some parts of card designs as in the High Priestess have been inked in black already). The card symbolism is based on the Rider-Waite, but with a modern edge. Along with the cards, the set contains a 64-page book and six coloured pencils.

Compass of Fate The Compass of Fate is a hand-drawn Oracle deck of 144 cards. It is a variation on a Mahjongg set and is divided into six suits: Cast, Lands, Items, Season, Reason, Virtues, and Elements. The entire deck is available for download on the author's website.

Daughters of the Moon Tarot (B&W) This is the earlier black-and-white edition of the Daughters of the Moon Tarot. The 75 cards are round and approach Tarot from a feminist and feminine perspective.

David's Tarot David's Tarot is self-published and has 78 black and white cards. The Tarot scenes are simple and are meant to be used as a 'jumping off point' for the imagination.

Diary of a Broken Soul Tarot The Diary of a Broken Soul Tarot is an elegantly gothic deck in mostly black and white, and is the manifestation of artist Ash's shadow work. The deck is still in progress, with around a third of the planned 78 cards already complete. A 22 card limited edition is available from Adam McLean.

Discordian Tarot The Discordian Tarot is a black and white tarot with an interesting juxtaposition of images. Discordia was the Roman goddess of Strife, similar to the Greek Eris.

Dolphin Daze Tarot The Dolphin Daze Tarot is a pleasant black-and-white illustrated Tarot celebrating the artist's love of dolphins. The 78 original paintings show dolphins in representation, in fantasy, and in their environment.

Erotica Tarot Swedish-published, this is an erotic Tarot deck with some depth to it. The Erotica Tarot cards are black and white, and concentrate on the erotic aspects of Tarot, as well as Tantra and sex magick.

Esteban Lopez Tarot The Esteban Lopez Tarot was never officially published in deck form, but appeared as illustrations in a German Tarot book called Tarot und Liebe in 1989. The black and white 'cards' are very explicit and not at all serious.

Eternal Dream Tarot The Eternal Dream Tarot has 22 unlabeled and undefined cards with creatively expanded Tarot images. The cards are black and white and have skilled pen-and-ink illustrations. Self-published in a small limited edition.

Fantod Pack The Fantod Pack is an oracle deck - a humourous take on tarot. Amongst its 20 black and white cards are titles like 'The Limb' and 'The Waltzing Mouse'. Originally published in Esquire magazine in the sixties, it's also been published as a deck and booklet edition since.

Ferret Tarot The Ferret Tarot is an amusing, unique and readable Tarot focusing on the perspective and life of the ferret. The symbolism of the 78 cards is loosely based on the Rider-Waite. Printed in black and white on non-laminated card.

FOO Tarot An unfinished work in progress, the FOO Tarot deck uses posed photographs and images in the 22 major arcana cards. Simple but effective.

Genege des Tarotas The Genege des Tarotas is an Italian deck of 22 cards, published in a limited edition of 160 copies in 1995. It has extremely detailed and intricate pen drawings in black on white.

Greylight Tarot Loosely based on the Thoth system, the Greylight Tarot is both deck and journal. The black and white images are annotated with notes and symbols and the cards are meant to be written on. Thoth keywords are printed at the foot of the pip cards and the pips also follow the symmetry of Freida Harris's illustrations. Available in an individually handmade edition from Chris Butler.

Hello Kitty Tarot The Hello, Tarot is a very cute black and white deck that uses the traditional Rider-Waite tarot scenes, but with Hello Kitty as the main character. Now out of print, the deck is unfortunately becoming harder to obtain.

Hermetic Tarot The Hermetic Tarot is black and white only, but is very highly detailed Tarot deck of 78 cards. It is an artistic recreation of a mysterious, esoteric Tarot deck by Mathers, a member of the Order of the Golden Dawn. Now reprinted and again available.

i Cani The "i Cani" deck has 22 major arcana cards and is wholly devoted to dogs of different breeds in Tarot poses. It's a limited edition Tarot, with unlaminated cardboard cards printed in black and white.

i Gatti The Gatti deck is an Italian Tarot of 22 cards, each featuring a cat illustrated in black and white. It's the cat version of the i Cani deck, also by Menegazzi, and is a limited edition with unlaminated and slightly differently sized cards.

Icelandic Tarot The Icelandic Tarot is an interesting black and white tarot deck. The art is simple and somewhat abstract, using blocks of solid colour rather than sharp detail. The cards have the titles in English, and short phrases and keywords at the base.

Jan Woudhuysen Tarot The Jan Woudhuysen Tarot is a 22-card deck published in 1979. It has simple, folksy, and lighthearted, pen and ink drawings in black and white. The cards and book are available for download at Jan's website.

Karty Tarot Karty Tarot is the title of a Polish deck of 78 cards, and it simply means 'Tarot Cards'. The images are mostly black and white inside dark gold borders, with some colour accents in the pip-style minor arcana. From the creator of the Jasniak Tarot.

Light and Shadow Tarot The Light and Shadow Tarot is a black and white deck symbolising contrast and balance, and inspired by a number of spiritual traditions, including Native American, African, East Indian and Medieval European.

Linde Famira Tarot The self-titled Linde Famira Tarot, from 1982, has 78 Rider-Waite-inspired cards in black and white. The cards have multicultural imagery and were originally published in a German Tarot book.

Marielisa Leboroni Tarot The Marielisa Leboroni Tarot has woodblock print illustrations of its own style in dark ink on light paper. This is the 78 card black and white edition of the Italian deck that was previously printed as 22 cards in colour.

Morgan's Tarot Morgan's Tarot is not really a tarot in the strict sense, but 88 cards of modern, alternative, amusing and strange archetypes and situations. It was first self-published in the seventies, and then later by US Games.

My Tarot My Tarot is a black-and-white edition of the Sharman-Caselli Tarot, especially designed to be coloured in to your own specifications. The cards have an uncoated face, and a laminated pastel green back. The set includes a booklet and eight coloured pencils.

New Egiptian Tarot Another Egyptian themed tarot deck, but with a Japanese flavour. The artwork of the New Egiptian Tarot is black on white, cards are titled in English and subtitled in Japanese characters. I believe there is another version of this deck with same art, but white on black.

New Tarot The New Tarot is a full, 78-card, black and white deck from the early 1970s. The strong, solid illustrations are a mix of Egyptian, Tahitian, traditional and modern symbolism, with religious and mythological influences.

New World Taro The first tarot deck printed in Salem, Mass., the New World Tarot, has black line drawings on a white background. Tarot scenes are pared down to the minimum, and magickal and astrological symbols appear frequently.

Numerical Tarot The Numerical Tarot, from the creator of the Isomorphic Tarot, is an alternative to traditional Tarot. It has 74 cards divided into four decks for the purposes of logic, balance and symmetry: 18 Majors, 36 Minors, 16 Court and 4 Quaternary cards. The cards are illustrated in black and white, and span the specrum of human experience, positive and negative.

Phantomwise Tarot The Phantomwise Tarot was painted in acrylics in black and white and shades of gray. The name is taken from a Lewis Carroll poem and the deck itself contains a bit of Wonderland whimsy and quirkiness. The full deck is still in progress, but there is a 22-card edition published by Adam McLean out now.

Ravenswood Eastern Tarot The colours in the Ravenswood Eastern Tarot are simple - black line drawings on plain white - but the theme is exotic and mixes tarot symbols with Middle Eastern art. The deck is meant to be coloured by the user.

Rotin Tarot The Rotin Tarot is an enigmatic, abstract black and white deck. It has 22 minimalistic cards that work with the polarities and dark and light. Now the eighth deck to be published in a limited edition by Adam McLean.

Sash's Tarot Entirely drawn in lead pencil, this fascinating deck is from an online artist, Sash. Unfortunately, it has yet to be published.

Seekers Tarot An interesting black and white deck with science fiction comic book type art. When finished, the Seekers Tarot will be a large tarot deck of 100 cards.

Sheridan Tarot The Sheridan Tarot images are black and white drawings from a book by Alfred Douglas, The Tarot: The Origins, Meaning and Uses of the Cards. Coloured deck editions of these cards are available as the Sheridan-Douglas Tarot.

Ship of Fools Tarot The Ship of Fools Tarot is a pen-and-ink tarot blending classical tarot symbolism with the illustrations and ideas of Das Narrenschiff (The Ship of Fools), a satiric medieval German poem warning against over 100 vices and follies.

Silver Era Tarot The Silver Era Tarot is a "new-age interpretation of classical ideas, historical ideas updated through technology and 21st Century artistic breakthroughs and change". It is a full 78 card deck modelled on the Rider-Waite, and has collaged, photographic art featuring real people. Complete, but as yet unpublished.

Simplified Tarot The Simplified Tarot is a black-and-white deck intended to be simple, easy to understand and accessible to all. It has undecorated pip cards in the minors; courts of Knave, Knight, Queen and King; Strength and Justice at XI and VIII respectively; and some rather satirical-looking characters on its cards.

Stick Figure Tarot The Stick Figure Tarot is a wonderful humourous deck, using all the essential Tarot symbology and artwork hand-drawn in black on white. Minimalistic tarot at its finest, but now unfortunately out of print.

Storm Tarot The Storm Tarot has 22 prints of original woodcuts from Czech typographer, Frantisek Storm, in an A4 folio. The black and white images are finely carved, dramatic and expressive.

Sylph Tarot The Sylph Tarot is a butterfly-themed deck with beautiful, ethereal images drawn freehand in pencil. The major arcana are complete and available as a limited edition set, though the minor arcana are still being created.

Taboo Tarot The Taboo Tarot brings the tarot trumps into the modern world - and then takes them to the extreme. It's a black and white novelty deck with some very amusing interpretations of the traditional archetypes. There are 23 cards in total, as there is are two versions of the Hanged Man.

Tarocchi del Cinema The Tarocchi del Cinema is a black and white Italian Tarot of 22 cards, each featuring a portrait of a movie star from the sixties. Not just any stars of the big screen, either, these are ae pictures of Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor, Jack Nichsolson and more.

Tarocchi della Buona Tavola The Tarocchi della Buona Tavola translates as 'Tarot of the Good Table' and has light-hearted Tarot images celebrating food. Not actually a tarot deck, these images are from a portfolio by Antonio Lupatella with the 22 cards on 11 sheets. A limited edition of 50 copies.

Tarocchi Tharbon The Tarocchi Tharbon is a black-and-white deck from Lo Scarabeo's limited edition range. The art features unusual and well-dressed birdlike characters in the 78 Tarot scenes.

Tarot de Gruyeres Le Tarot de Gruyeres is an unusual black and white, majors-only Tarot, created for a Swiss Tarot exhibition in 1993. Gruyeres is a small village in Switzerland, home to the museum of artist H. R. Giger, and the card imagery in this deck is similarly detailed and surreal.

Tarot Graphica The Tarot Graphica is a black and white major arcana deck in a contemporary graphic style. It's designed to have as few occult references as possible and communicate the psychological aspects of the cards instead.

Tarot Noir Tarot Noir, a self-published deck of 22 major arcana, has black and white printed cards with surreal and moody imagery. The cards are titled in English.

Tarot Poetico The Tarot Poetico is a Portuguese deck of 78 cards, with black and white collaged imagery. It has a cut and pasted look, and has internal borders printed with newspaper text. Includes some nudity.

Tarot ReVISIONed Tarot ReVISIONed has 22 black and white, symbolic, and extremely detailed cards. The postcard-sized cards also have quotes on the reverse side for additional insight into the imagery.

Thea's Tarot Thea's Tarot is a feminine-focused, non-traditional Tarot deck that was printed in 1984. Its cards are printed in glossy black and white cut-paper silhouettes, and some are oriented sideways. The cards feature only women, and the court cards have been renamed to Child, Daughter, Mother and Amazon.

Victoria Regina Tarot Made from a collage of Victorian era steel engravings of late nineteenth century figures and settings, these black and white cards in the Victoria Regina Tarot are complicated and fascinating.

William Blake Tarot Triumphs The William Blake Tarot Triumphs deck is the black, white, and brown coloured precursor to the William Blake Tarot of the Creative Imagination. The majors-only deck was published in a limited edition of 250 copies in 1991.

Word of One Tarot The Word of One Tarot is a set of 123 cards from three different decks - each deck designed to represent a different state of consciousness. There is a reprint of the 79-card T: The New Tarot for the Aquarian age, a 22 card Medieval-style deck, and a 22 card black and white deck representing the Atlantean Age. The cards have a heavy, sticky laminate and adhere together very easily. The publishers are currently looking for a buyer for the deck, including all the inventory and copyrights.