The Gaian Tarot, 2nd Edition: A Sacred Journey Reimagined

The Seeker stands at the edge of a cliff—pack slung over one shoulder, heart wide open, eyes fixed on the vast beauty ahead. This is where the journey begins. The Seeker, Joanna Powell Colbert’s reimagining of the traditional Fool card, is the very first card in the Gaian Tarot. It’s not a stumble into the unknown, but a sacred, conscious step into the dance of life. And now, it’s your turn. You are invited to walk alongside the Seeker—to rediscover the world with fresh eyes, open hands, and a spirit rooted in wonder. In Gaian Tarot: Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves (Second Edition), that journey has been lovingly revised and revitalized, offering deeper insight, greater inclusivity, and a renewed call to connect with Gaia, the living Earth: a heartfelt revision, re-tuned and re-rooted, crafted for both longtime devotees and a new generation of seekers.

What’s New—and Why It Matters

This new edition arrives fifteen years after the first Gaian Tarot guidebook was published, and nearly a quarter-century after Joanna began the first card. The passage of time is evident in the careful evolution of the deck: not in a way that abandons its roots, but in a way that honors the growth of its creator and the community around it.

The most immediately noticeable change is tactile: the cards are now slightly smaller—measuring 3 1/4" by 5"—making them much easier to shuffle and handle. For many, this will make the deck far more usable, especially during extended readings or contemplative work.

The second change is visual but no less symbolic: the card backs have been redesigned, featuring elements from the Gaia card laid over a birds-eye view of treetops. The result is stunning—a visual portal into the living systems the deck reveres. The design is not reversible, a deliberate choice that speaks to Joanna’s transparent reverence for directionality and transformation.

Perhaps most importantly, the guidebook has been meticulously revised—not simply polished, but rethought, with deeper inclusivity, more current language, and wisdom that reflects Joanna’s own spiritual and personal maturation. Gone are the affirmations; in their place are wisdom statements that begin with a simple, powerful word: “Remember.” It’s an invocation and a recognition—what we seek is already within us.

“Remember: Begin your journey with a light heart and an open mind.”

Let us consider the wisdom of the Seeker, Gaian Tarot’s revisioning of the Fool. This card alone could sell the deck—no exaggeration.

In many traditional decks, the Fool is a reckless traveler about to walk off a cliff, guided by naivety or trust. But in the Gaian Tarot, the Seeker pauses. They look before they leap—not out of fear, but out of reverence. There’s an understanding that this journey isn’t just about movement. It’s about communion.

The Seeker stands on the cusp of something vast and wild: a world that is not merely symbolic but spiritual, ecological, and immediate. Fox is their trickster companion; butterflies mark transformation; birds usher in freedom and messages from the skies. The mountain in the distance is not an obstacle but an aspiration. The river is not just flow—it is passage, between states, between realms.

This isn’t a card to interpret; it’s a card to live into.

The revised guidebook offers journal prompts that are as much invitations as inquiries:

• What am I carrying in my bundle?

• What kind of healing can I offer the Earth through the example of the Seeker?

This subtle shift—placing the Earth at the center of our spiritual quest—is precisely what distinguishes the Gaian Tarot. It isn’t about self-development in a vacuum. It’s about healing ourselves through our connection with the Earth, and healing the Earth by becoming more whole ourselves.

Holding a Mirror to the Earth

Joanna Powell Colbert’s background as a naturalist and sacred artist is infused into every card. Gaian Tarot’s imagery is multicultural, contemporary, and deeply inclusive. For many readers—especially women of color and those identifying as LGBTQ+—this was the first deck where they could see themselves in the archetypes. With the help of editor Sara Ferguson, the revised guidebook uses more inclusive pronouns and reflects greater cultural sensitivity throughout.

The archetypes of the Major Arcana have been renamed and reconceived with an Earth-centered ethos. The Emperor becomes the Builder; the Hierophant becomes the Teacher. The Wheel of Fortune becomes the Wheel—cycles and seasons, not fate. The Devil is transformed into Bindweed, capturing the idea of life out of balance with poignant ecological clarity.

The Minor Arcana retain traditional elemental associations—Air, Fire, Water, and Earth—but express them through Gaian symbolism. Instead of swords and wands, we see feathers, torches, rivers, and gardens. Court cards reflect life stages instead of hierarchy: Children, Explorers, Guardians, Elders. These changes aren’t mere aesthetics. They rewire the deck’s entire spiritual orientation—from dominion and dualism to reciprocity and interconnectedness.

The Gaian Tarot speaks the language of the land. It reminds us, card by card, that spiritual insight is not divorced from the body or the soil. The sacred is not only above—it is beneath our feet, in the roots and stones.

The Dark Moon Spread: Reclaiming Sacred Darkness

Among the many treasures of the revised edition is the inclusion of five new spreads—each a gift from the broader Gaian Tarot community. Perhaps the most profound of these is the Dark Moon Spread, a ritual framework that reclaims darkness as not only a place of grief or mystery, but of healing.

The spread unfolds in four cards:

1. Darkness / Dismemberment / Brokenness
   What is lost or grieving in your life? What feels dismembered or broken within you?
   Even a “positive” card here is read through its shadow.

2. Promise of Renewal
   Like the New Moon, not yet visible but felt—what quiet hope stirs beneath the soil?

3. Integration of Dark and Light
   Both/and. The simultaneity of grief and hope. What wisdom arises from their interplay?

4. Gift of the Darkness / Re-membering
   Not just restoration, but transformation. What is ready to be re-membered? What is the hidden gift?

What makes this spread exceptional is its philosophical underpinning. It challenges the binary thinking so common in spiritual discourse—the light as good, the dark as bad—and reframes it through a Gaian lens. Darkness is not the absence of light. It is the womb of transformation. A place to lie fallow, to dream, to remember.

In a world that often demands relentless productivity and positivity, the Dark Moon Spread gives us sacred permission to pause. To descend. To listen.

It is both deeply personal and politically radical.

A Tarot for Our Time

In an era of climate anxiety, cultural fragmentation, and spiritual disconnection, this second edition of Gaian Tarot offers not just insight—but medicine.

It’s a deck for dreamers and doers, for sacred activists and quiet contemplatives. It belongs in the hands of the beginner who pulls a card each morning over tea, and in the hands of seasoned readers who trace soul paths through the wheel of the year. It’s a writing prompt. A mirror. A love letter to Gaia.

It is, in many ways, the tarot deck our time calls for.

Whether you’ve held the original deck in your hands for years, or are just discovering it now, this second edition is worth the investment. The changes—while respectful of the original—are significant enough to breathe entirely new life into the deck. From the elegant new design to the reshaped guidebook, every element reflects a deepened wisdom and an ever-widening circle of care.

The Seeker’s bundle may be light, but what they carry is weighty: possibility, presence, and the gentle but urgent call to walk the Earth in reverence.

Joanna Powell Colbert reminds us, through image and word: We are all seekers. We are all stewards. And the journey begins anew, right now.

---

Gaian Tarot: Healing the Earth, Healing Ourselves (Second Edition) releases April 28, 2025, as a deck and guidebook box set from REDFeather/Schiffer. Preorders are now available wherever sacred tools are sold.