Tarot Fellow
Florana Tarot by James Ferry — 78-Card Rider Waite Smith Deck in Art-Nouveau Botanical Style
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Florana Tarot. James Ferry rebuilds the 78 Rider Waite Smith archetypes in a modern art-nouveau register with prismatic colors, flowing floral compositions, and a 72-page guidebook of card meanings.
Description:Quick Specs
- Type: Rider Waite Smith tarot deck with guidebook
- Cards: 78 cards
- Guidebook: 72 pages, card meanings
- Author and Artist: James Ferry
- Publisher: U.S. Games Systems, Inc.
- ISBN: 978-1-64671-301-1
- Aesthetic: Modern art-nouveau with prismatic colors and naturalistic flora and fauna
- Tradition: Rider Waite Smith
A Rider Waite Smith Tarot in a Modern Art-Nouveau Register
The Florana Tarot is a 78-card Rider Waite Smith deck rendered in a modern art-nouveau register, with bold line work, flowing floral compositions, and a prismatic color palette that borrows from both stained glass and vintage botanical illustration. James Ferry drew the deck out of what the introduction describes as a lifelong passion for nature and a fascination with bold graphic convention, and the finished cards make both influences visible. Figures wear crowns of roses and peonies, thrones grow into leafy archways, familiar Rider Waite Smith compositions get rebuilt with vines, grapes, rabbits, and rolling green landscapes. The 72-page guidebook covers card meanings in a working reading vocabulary that assumes the reader wants to actually read with the deck rather than just admire the art.
Because the deck stays inside Rider Waite Smith conventions, any reader already using a Rider Waite Smith base can pick this deck up without relearning the framework. The Fool still walks off a cliff, the Empress still sits with her wheat, the Tower still crumbles. What changes is the visual voice, and the naturalistic art-nouveau treatment gives every card a garden-adjacent atmosphere that pulls the archetypes toward growth cycles, seasonal work, and correspondences drawn from botany. For readers who love the Rider Waite Smith framework but want the imagery to breathe, this deck is written for you.
How Florana Tarot Fits in Your Practice
Reach for Florana when you want a Rider Waite Smith reading in a warmer visual register: seasonal spreads, garden practice, love and growth work, and any reading where the botanical layer adds meaning rather than distracts. The prismatic palette makes the deck easy to read in candlelight and on a covered altar. If you already own a classic Rider Waite Smith and want a second deck that talks in the same grammar but a different accent, this is that deck. Browse my Tarot Decks collection for decks that pair with or contrast to this one.
How to Read with Florana Tarot
The deck rewards a reader who already knows Rider Waite Smith and wants to see the archetypes in a botanical key.
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Recognize the Rider Waite Smith Bones
When each card lands, name the classic Rider Waite Smith composition first. This is Three of Cups with the three dancers becoming three figures under a rose arbor. This is Seven of Pentacles with the resting farmer becoming a floral figure with a golden pentacle. Naming the classical bones grounds your reading in the familiar framework before you let the imagery add its garden layer.
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Read Reversals as Botanical Cycles
When a card lands reversed, honor it as a companion voice to the upright meaning. The garden imagery gives you a natural metaphor for reversals: what happens when the season turns, when the plant goes dormant, when the seed is still underground. Reversal meanings are part of the whole tarot story here as much as in a classic Rider Waite Smith deck, and the botanical frame supports rather than replaces the standard shadow readings.
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Pair Card Imagery with Seasonal Practice
The prismatic palette and floral compositions make the deck a natural fit for seasonal spreads: wheel-of-the-year layouts, monthly moon spreads, and readings tied to what is blooming or dormant in your area. Pull cards for each phase and read the botanical details alongside the archetypal meaning. A card featuring roses in an early-spring reading carries different weight than the same card in a late-autumn one.
The Tarot Fellow Standard
I brought the Florana Tarot into the shop because a Rider Waite Smith deck done in a coherent art-nouveau botanical register is a specific pleasure that not many decks deliver. James Ferry keeps the framework intact while giving the imagery its own voice, and the prismatic palette holds up across every card without dropping into repetition. Browse my Celtic, Druidry and Nature collection for adjacent nature-forward practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Florana Tarot began as a successful Kickstarter that raised more than 7,000 dollars from 113 backers, and James Ferry then partnered with U.S. Games Systems for the wider trade release. The card art and the 78-card structure carry across both editions. The trade edition sits in a premium tuck box with a 72-page guidebook, which may differ from the original Kickstarter packaging. If you are a Kickstarter backer, the deck art is the same deck; if you are new, this is the widely available version.
Yes. The deck is steeped in Rider Waite Smith tradition per Ferry's own framing, and the classical compositions are recognizable inside the modern art-nouveau treatment. A Rider Waite Smith reader can pick this deck up and read with the same framework immediately. What changes is the visual voice: prismatic color, floral compositions, and naturalistic detail woven through every card.
The 78 cards are packaged in a premium tuck box at standard tarot proportions. The 72-page guidebook covers card meanings with a working reading vocabulary that assumes you want to actually read with the deck; it is not exhaustive on advanced spread work, but it is sufficient for a first reader learning the archetypes. Pair it with any standard Rider Waite Smith reference if you want more depth.
