Everything you need to know about Tarot for Bros™ and the Standard Issue Deck. If your question isn't answered here, reach out via the Contact page.
WHAT IS TAROT?
A 78-card system developed in 15th-century Europe and refined over centuries by philosophers, mystics, and members of secret societies as a tool for structured self-examination. Each card represents an archetype — a universal pattern of human experience. It is not magic. It is one of the oldest frameworks for asking yourself better questions than you're currently asking.
DO YOU MEAN THE THING YOU ALWAYS SEE USUALLY-FEMALE PSYCHICS USING?
That's one deployment of the system — and a valid one. But tarot predates the crystal shop by several centuries. Freemasons, Rosicrucians, alchemists, and occult fraternities used it long before it became associated with any particular aesthetic or gender. The deck is neutral. Tarot for Bros™ brings forth a new way with the Standard Issue Deck.
ARE THERE ANY SPIRITUAL RISKS TO PULLING CARDS?
That depends on your framework, and we're not here to tell you what to believe. What we will say: the cards don't summon anything. They reflect. You're looking at symbols that surface what's already present — fears, blind spots, questions you've been avoiding. If you have specific theological concerns, run it by your own counsel. We're a publishing company, not a spiritual authority.
WHEN CAN I GET THE DECK?
The Standard Issue Deck is available now for preorder. This is a limited first run, produced in batches — once a batch sells out, the next ships as soon as it's ready. Expected delivery is shown at checkout.
WHAT IS RIDER-WAITE-SMITH?
Rider-Waite-Smith (RWS) is the blueprint most modern tarot decks are built on. It was published in London in 1909 by Rider & Company, designed under the direction of scholar and mystic Arthur Edward Waite and illustrated by artist Pamela Colman Smith. Before it, most decks showed the numbered cards as simple repeating symbols. Smith illustrated all 78 cards as full scenes, which made every card readable at a glance. That is why RWS became the standard.
The structure is 78 cards in two groups. The 22 Major Arcana are the big archetypes and turning points, from The Fool to The World. The 56 Minor Arcana are four suits of 14 cards: Wands (action and drive), Cups (emotion and relationships), Swords (thought and conflict), and Pentacles (work, money, and the physical world). Each suit runs Ace through 10, plus four court cards: Page, Knight, Queen, and King.
What that means for you: if you've learned tarot from any mainstream deck, book, or app, you already know this system. The Standard Issue Deck keeps the full Rider-Waite-Smith structure and all traditional meanings intact, so nothing you learn here is a dialect you can't use anywhere else. What's new is the look: hand-illustrated by Parker S. Jackson in an original Esoteric Americana style.
WHY IS THIS SO DIFFERENT FROM A NORMAL TAROT DECK?
It isn't different in structure — all 78 cards, all classical symbolism based on the Rider-Waite-Smith structure with all traditional meanings intact. The difference is aesthetic and cultural. No deck had been designed with men as the intended user — built in the visual language men already respond to. The Standard Issue Deck exists because that deck didn't exist yet.
WHO'S CREATING THIS?
Two people. Kristen Barnett is the founder of Tarot for Bros™ and its parent company, Highest Good Ventures. Parker S. Jackson is the illustrator behind all 78 cards, working in an engraving-style Esoteric Americana aesthetic — woodblock print meets field manual meets fine art.
I'M A GUY AND I PLAN TO BUY THIS FOR MYSELF. WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?
No prior knowledge required. The guidebook is written plainly — pull a card, read the interpretation, sit with it. That's the full protocol. No correct way to use it — morning pull, pre-decision check-in, full spread when something isn't adding up. The deck meets you where you are.
I'M A WOMAN AND I PLAN TO BUY THIS FOR A MAN IN MY LIFE. WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW?
The Standard Issue Deck was designed with this exact purchase in mind. Don't oversell it. Hand him the deck, pull a card or two, and let him come to it in his own time. The men who resist it most tend to get the most out of it.