Explore the New Babylonian Tarot Cards
Browse the New Babylonian Tarot card fronts in deck order. Choose an official group to filter the Gallery, or select any card to open the larger Lightbox view.
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Aurica’s Quick Take
New Babylonian Tarot feels public and personal at once. Temples, gates, gardens, and royal rooms give every choice a larger setting, while the figures keep the reading close to ordinary motives: who acts, who waits, who protects, and who answers.
I start with gesture before symbolism. In Judgment, the raised arms answer the trumpet; in The Tower, fire and falling stone show a structure already under pressure. Those visible actions make a better first sentence than a memorized keyword.
Then I ask what the setting contributes. A wall may be safety or control; a garden may be abundance or work that needs tending. The neighbouring cards decide which reading earns its place.
My favourite use is a four-card responsibility spread: the call, the standard, the structure, and the next step. It gives every strong image somewhere practical to land. When this deck asks you to stand at a gate, trust yourself to name what matters and take the next honest step.
New Babylonian Tarot review
What is New Babylonian Tarot?
New Babylonian Tarot is a 78-card creator-published deck by Roxana Paul. It moves the familiar Major and Minor Arcana through imagined Babylonian temples, gardens, royal courts, waterways, and ritual spaces. The project was funded on Kickstarter in November 2017.
The art is bright, detailed, and deliberately human. Figures look toward one another, tend gardens, carry cups, raise staffs, and inhabit monumental architecture. That makes the deck especially useful when a reading depends on relationship, status, responsibility, or the way a person moves through a larger system.
Deck details at a glance
- Creator & artwork
- Roxana Paul
- Companion book
- Victor Paul, PhD
- Standard edition
- Creator-published, 2018
- Cards
- 78-card Smith–Waite system
- Card stock
- 350 gsm with gold-gilded edges
- Kit
- 120-page book and two-piece box
- Book title
- Divination Manual: The Sacred Mysteries of Babylon
- ISBN-13
- 978-0-9946085-9-8
- Imprints
- The Rising Sun Publishing House / Tarot Art Studio
Artwork shaped by city, garden, and gesture
Many cards pair saturated clothing with stone reliefs, palms, water, fire, and carefully staged architecture. The printed fronts have rounded corners, a narrow dark edge, and a black title band; they do not use a broad white printed border. Across a spread, colour and body language often connect cards before the titles do.
Begin with the visible action. Who offers, guards, waits, builds, turns away, or crosses a threshold? Then connect that action to the card’s established tarot function. This keeps the Babylonian atmosphere useful without pretending every decorative detail has a fixed historical meaning.
Card study
Judgment: answering the call with open eyes
An immense pale figure and white wings rise above a trumpet while shadowed people lift their arms from a flooded landscape. The scale makes the call impossible to ignore, but the water keeps the scene emotional rather than merely triumphant.
Use this card for review, accountability, and a decision that has matured. Ask what is genuinely ready to be answered, what belongs to the past, and what evidence supports the next step.
How the deck reads in practice
The deck is strongest with questions that allow both context and action: “What structure is shaping this situation?” or “Which responsibility is mine to accept?” Describe the scene first, connect it to the traditional card second, and finish with one decision that can be tested in real life.
Reversals are optional. The symmetrical card back supports them, but surrounding cards already show whether power is becoming care or control, whether abundance is being shared or hoarded, and whether a threshold is open or guarded.
Four-card reading
A four-card call to action
Read Judgment, Justice, The Emperor, and The World as the call, the honest measure, the structure required, and the completed cycle. Keep the reading practical: one truth to acknowledge, one standard to apply, one boundary to build, and one result worth carrying forward.
See New Babylonian Tarot on Etsy
A practical first week for beginners
Start with one card each morning. Record the strongest colour, the central action, the traditional card meaning, and one modest step the image suggests. Use the companion book after your first observations so it adds structure rather than replacing your own attention.
At the end of seven days, place the cards together and look for repeated settings and relationships. A garden beside a fortress says something different from the same figure beside open water; context is part of the reading.
Card study
The Tower: when the old structure is already burning
A stepped Babylonian tower burns beneath branching lightning, with debris falling through an orange sky. The image is direct: this is not a private worry but a structure under visible pressure.
Read it as a demand for an honest response, not a prediction of disaster. Name what is failing, protect what matters, and let the next card show whether the useful action is repair, release, or support.
Work, money, and creative direction
Pentacles in this deck make resources visible through coins, gardens, craft, food, clothing, and social position. Use them to ask what is available, what needs maintenance, and what would make success sustainable. Swords can then clarify the decision or belief around those resources.
For high-stakes financial choices, let tarot support reflection rather than replace qualified advice. A useful spread compares options and names risks; it does not promise a fixed return.
Four-card reading
Build value one step at a time
Use Ace of Pentacles, Eight of Pentacles, Queen of Pentacles, and King of Pentacles for the opportunity, the repeated work, the care that sustains it, and the durable outcome. This spread keeps career and money readings anchored in resources, craft, and realistic timing.
Love, friendship, and emotional boundaries
The human scenes are well suited to relationship readings because posture and distance carry so much information. Notice who meets another person’s gaze, who reaches, who holds an object between them, and whether the surrounding space feels shared or controlled.
Keep the question reciprocal. Ask what each person contributes, what has not been said, and which boundary could protect warmth without becoming punishment.
Card study
The World: belonging at the threshold
A woman in red stands before an ornate turquoise Babylonian gate, holding rings while the architecture frames her arrival. Completion here looks less like an ending than entry into a larger place.
In a reading, it can mark integration, recognition, or a cycle finally understood. Ask what has become whole and what responsibility comes with crossing the threshold.
Who will enjoy New Babylonian Tarot?
This deck suits readers who enjoy vivid photomontage, ancient-city atmosphere, expressive figures, and traditional tarot names. It is a particularly good fit for narrative readings, journaling, and questions about leadership, community, responsibility, or material life.
Readers who prefer minimalist line art, muted palettes, very small cards, or strict historical reconstruction may find it less comfortable. Browse the complete gallery and check whether the figures invite questions rather than merely impress from a distance.
Four-card reading
A relationship reading about choice and care
Read The Lovers, Two of Cups, Queen of Cups, and Ten of Cups as choice, reciprocity, emotional maturity, and shared belonging. If the promise of one card is not supported by the others, treat it as a wish that still needs honest conversation and lived action.
New Babylonian Tarot pros & cons
Pros
- All 78 cards are fully illustrated with realistic Babylonian people, temples, gardens, and ritual objects.
- Standard tarot titles and familiar suits keep the imagery connected to a readable Rider–Waite–Smith structure.
- The creator’s current kit includes gold-gilded 350 gsm cards, a 120-page companion book, and a sturdy two-piece box.
- The dark reversible backs use a symmetrical gold floral design that works cleanly with reversals.
- Strong human gestures and architectural settings make the cards useful for story-based readings.
Cons
- The dense photomontage style can feel busy when many cards are placed together.
- Readers seeking historically academic reconstruction should treat the deck as imaginative tarot art, not a museum reference.
- The rich colour and black title bands feel heavier than minimalist or borderless decks.
- The standard cards are tall at 2.75 × 4.75 inches, which may require smaller spreads on a compact table.
- The premium creator-published kit costs more than many mass-market decks.
Buying guidance and the deck’s golden rule
Match a listing to Roxana Paul’s current creator-shop description: 78 standard-size cards measuring 2.75 × 4.75 inches, 350 gsm cardstock, gold-gilded edges, a 120-page book, and a sturdy two-piece box. Marketplace editions and included materials can differ.
New Babylonian Tarot’s golden rule: let the setting widen the question, but let human action answer it. Name what the figures are doing, connect it to tarot structure, and leave the reading with one grounded responsibility or next step.
Final thoughts on New Babylonian Tarot
New Babylonian Tarot builds a complete world without abandoning tarot’s familiar structure. Its best images turn architecture into context, colour into emphasis, and gesture into a readable relationship between people and power.
Read slowly enough to separate what the card visibly shows from what the atmosphere suggests. When those two layers support each other, the deck becomes direct, memorable, and surprisingly practical.
See New Babylonian Tarot on EtsyNew Babylonian Tarot FAQ
Who created the New Babylonian Tarot?
Roxana Paul created and illustrated New Babylonian Tarot. The photographed first-edition packaging credits Victor Paul for the companion book.
How many cards are in New Babylonian Tarot?
The deck has 78 cards: 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana across Wands, Cups, Swords, and Pentacles.
What comes in the current creator-shop kit?
The creator lists 78 standard-size cards on 350 gsm cardstock with gold-gilded edges, a 120-page companion book, and a sturdy two-piece box.
Is New Babylonian Tarot suitable for beginners?
Yes for beginners who learn visually. The standard card names and suits provide familiar anchors, while the detailed scenes reward a simple see–connect–apply reading method.
What do the card backs look like?
The back is a dark starry field with a mirrored gold floral and geometric motif. The design is reversible and the physical deck is shown with gold-gilded edges.
Where can I buy New Babylonian Tarot?
See New Babylonian Tarot on Etsy. Check current stock, price, shipping, and included materials before ordering.
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