Wheel of Time

Above: Front of the Wheel of Time box (Колесо времени), a historical reconstruction by Evgenia Zhade.

Presented as a historical reconstruction project, this deck was created by artist Evgenia Zhade and publisher Aleksey Orleansky. Issued in a limited edition, it explores the attire, weaponry, and daily life of Rus from the 10^th through the 17^th centuries, mapping each suit to a distinct social and cultural stratum:

• Diamonds: This suit represents the wealthy eastern trading stratum, with merchants, rich attire, and animal and floral medallions evoking Rus' trade contacts with the East.
• Spades: This suit represents the pastoral and peasant world, with sheep, rams, plain living, and a more austere palette.
• Clubs: This suit represents the craft and domestic labour stratum, with spinning, household work, and ornament rooted in Scythian and early Slavic animal style traditions.
• Hearts: This suit represents the feminine domestic and lyrical sphere, including the home, carrying water, courtship, and harvest.

Although the suits depart from the classical Western convention, where they are largely abstract and carry no social meaning, the deck’s illustrated pip cards use transformation-inspired designs. The suit symbols are placed within historical scenes and ornamental compositions while retaining their recognisable forms, so each card functions as a small ethnographic vignette.

Evgenia Zhade consistently weaves historically rooted elements of ancient Rus' and Slavic ornamentation into the deck:

• The falcon on the Spade Jack echoes the Rurikid princely emblem, a diving falcon associated with the later "trident" sign.
• The raven on the Club Jack is a folkloric bird associated with omens, with a possible Norse parallel. This is fitting for a deck rooted in the "from the Varangians to the Greeks" trade route.
• Interlace and knotwork ornament on the decorative pip cards echoes miniatures in illuminated manuscripts and carving in white stone.
• Animal style motifs, including hares, horses, and birds, reflect a legacy of Scythian and Sarmatian decorative traditions and early Slavic traditions.
• Kolty and pendants in the ornamentation are stylised versions of genuine temple ring jewellery worn by noblewomen.
• Faces resembling masks in the higher pip cards are a probable reference to protective ritual masks worn by mummers.

The deck contains 52 playing cards measuring 89 × 58 mm, along with two Jokers and two descriptive cards. The card back directly echoes the deck's title. It features a spoked wheel evoking the Slavic solar symbol (kolovrat), surrounded by foliage and two crescent moons representing lunar symbols dating from before Christianisation. See the back .