The Angels Tarot — Kate Kalmykova
Every card in the Major Arcana is assigned a named angel, and the booklet tells you which one and why. Michael takes the Fool, Gabriel the Chariot, Raphael the Hanged Man, Azrael the Death card, Uriel the Sun. Lucifer holds the Devil and the fallen angels hold the Tower, which means the War in Heaven runs as a narrative thread through the deck's hardest cards. The Wheel of Fortune is the single Major with no angel attached; the booklet gives that one to God's Grace instead.
What you get
- 78 cards, standard tarot size, 4¾" x 2¾" (120 x 70 mm)
- 350gsm Caidie art paper, matte finish, rounded corners, gold and blue foil stamping on front and back
- Full-color companion booklet with upright and reversed meanings for all 78 cards
- Card weight 9 oz (255 g) as published; shipping weight 0.65 lb
- New, factory sealed
- ISBN 9780986089138, Da Brigh Publishing, Raleigh, North Carolina, first edition April 2020
About the deck
Kate Kalmykova built the imagery from Renaissance painting, with classical poses, bright saturated color, and drapery and wings handled like old altarpieces. She works professionally as a lead artist on game design projects and on illustrated books. Every figure in the deck, in both arcanas, is an angel.
Structurally this is a straight Waite-Smith deck and it will feel immediately familiar. Traditional Major titles and numbering with Strength at VIII and Justice at XI. Suits are Cups, Pentacles, Swords and Wands with no renaming. Courts are Page, Knight, Queen and King.
The booklet gives every card a meaning, a symbolism note describing what's happening in Kalmykova's specific image, the ruling angel where there is one, and separate upright and reversed keyword sets. The card interpretations themselves are built on Arthur Edward Waite's, modified and expanded by Philip Young, PhD, with the angelic material written for this deck. Da Brigh also hosts the booklet as a free PDF download.
The angelology draws on the classical nine-orders hierarchy: Seraphim, Cherubim, Thrones, Virtues, Powers, Principalities. It's a loose treatment rather than a scholarly one. As one example, the booklet lists Haniel and Netzach as two separate angels co-leading the Principalities; in the Kabbalistic material those two are the same association, with Netzach naming the sephirah and Haniel the archangel who governs it. Read the attributions as this deck's working system rather than as a reference source.
The framing throughout is Christian. The booklet speaks of God, Heaven, prayer, priesthood and the rebellion of the angels.
Provenance & tradition
Da Brigh is an independent tarot publisher operating out of Raleigh, North Carolina, under Siren Imports LLC. They commission working illustrators to create new art for classic tarot structures rather than licensing existing properties, and print with foil stamping and UV coating at a price point well below what those finishes usually command. Cards are printed in China.
Who this is for
Angel work and archangel devotion. Readers who want a named celestial correspondence attached to each Major. Christian, folk-Catholic and Christo-pagan practice. Anyone who reads Rider-Waite-Smith and wants a gentler, brighter face on the same bones. Beginners, since the structure is standard and every card comes with upright and reversed text. Gift buyers looking for a deck that photographs beautifully and reads easily.
