The Deviant Moon Tarot is one of my all-time favorite decks. Now U.S. Games has released a borderless version of the deck, making the brilliant and edgy illustrations even more powerful.

If you’ve seen any of Patrick Valenza’s work, you won’t be surprised to learn that, as a child, he loved spending time in cemeteries. The intensely lyrical look of moonlight casting shadows at midnight, common in 1940s black and white movies, lends a tinge of something deliciously eerie to Valenza’s offbeat cast of characters.

He began drawing tarot cards at the age of nine. This deck was decades in the making and the final product demonstrates what he has learned during those years of study. Nearly grotesque, but never morbid, I wrote in a review of the original deck that it was Valenza’s humor that pulled the illustrations back from the edge. My current evaluation is that it is his passion for and knowledge of the tarot wisdom that elevates the deck from “zombie chic” to transcendent 60s edgy.

Whether in this bold version or the original format, this remains one of my symbolic and creative favorites.