The Light Visions Tarot

The Light Visions Tarot was created and illustrated by James R. Eads in 2013, with its guidebook written by Katherine Tombs. The suit cards join at their edges to form continuous panoramic landscapes, and each edition adds a different 79th “mystery” card.

Above: Alkahest is the 79th card, added after the 22 Major Arcana as an unnumbered "mystery" card that changes with each edition; this is the third edition’s version. Bottles suggest an alchemist’s laboratory, while the back at right has a maze-like pattern around an eye.

Alkahest is the unnumbered "mystery" card, different in each edition; this is the third edition’s version. The question mark replaces a number, while the bottles suggest an alchemist’s laboratory. The reverse has a maze-like pattern around an eye.

Eads is a Los Angeles-based artist who studied printmaking, painting and graphic design in New York. His method combines traditional printmaking with digital media: he uses a Wacom tablet to create digital art with a linocut-like appearance.

In a note to the guidebook, Eads says making art helps him “grapple with the existential questions” that fill his mind. When he makes a piece that resonates with him, he calls it “a little bit of my soul understanding its place”. He describes the Major Arcana as “the base cards of the classic tarot deck” that “represent core archetypes of human nature”.

The Light Visions Tarot began as The Visions Project, a Kickstarter campaign that raised $24,950 from 420 backers against a $16,500 goal. The campaign offered a hand-signed, numbered limited-edition 78-card Light Visions Tarot deck alongside the Prisma Visions Collection: 23 full-colour prints, one for each of the 22 Major Arcana and one for the special card. Following the campaign’s success, Eads launched Prisma Visions, a studio and shop, in 2014; the studio has since produced further decks and Kickstarter projects.

Eads presented the deck as a “unique and whimsical play on the classic tarot deck”, with each Minor Arcana suit created as a “continuous narrative”. The deck follows the standard 78-card sequence, with one unnumbered card added after the 22 Major Arcana. The guidebook presents these archetypes as “inner landscape”, while the four Minor Arcana suits unfold as continuous panoramas that tell separate stories or depict journeys.

Alkahest, the 79th card in this edition, shows bottles and vessels in a small laboratory; its name refers to the hypothetical universal solvent sought by alchemists. The additional card in each edition is listed in the table below.