Review: Cats Rule the Earth Tarot — Cat Kingdom

I wasn’t expecting to love this deck as much as I do. I thought I was getting a cute novelty for the shelf, and I got a fully functional tarot deck that just happens to star cats. And somehow — surprisingly — it works beautifully.

Cats Rule the Earth Tarot is one of those decks worth taking seriously, even when the concept sounds like a joke. And it’s one of the best starter decks I can recommend right now.

First Impressions

The first thing you notice is the style. This isn’t childish or cutesy art. The graphics are clean, the lines confident, the palette sits in warm earth tones: yellow, brown, muted red, grey-green. It reads more like a contemporary graphic novel than a children’s book.

The second thing is the cats. They’re everywhere. But not as a joke — as a serious interpretation. The Fool is a cat reaching for a butterfly on a cliff edge. Death is an enormous cat skull. The Moon is a white cat between two towers. And you know what? It works. It carries the same archetypal weight as the classic Rider-Waite imagery.

The third thing is quality. Gilt edges, thick card stock, smooth matte finish. It feels like the deck was made by people who themselves love good decks. Liminal 11 rarely disappoints in that department.

About the Deck

Cats Rule the Earth Tarot was written by Catherine Davidson with illustrations by Brazilian artist Thiago Correa, and published by Liminal 11 in 2024.

78 cards, classic Rider-Waite-Smith structure. Standard suits (Cups, Pentacles, Wands, Swords), traditional courts (Page, Knight, Queen, King). The defining feature is that every human figure is replaced by a cat. Not carelessly — very deliberately. The poses, gestures, and compositions correspond precisely to the Rider-Waite-Smith originals; it’s just cats instead of people.

The deck ships with a 120-page companion book that has drawn enthusiastic praise from the community. It’s called one of the most useful tarot guidebooks published in recent years — practical, modern in tone, and refreshingly free of esoteric jargon.

Visual Style

Visually, the deck feels very balanced. This isn’t an attempt to draw “cartoon cats” — it’s a graphic style closer to contemporary illustration for comics or board games: clean outlines, flat colors, moderately complex compositions.

The palette stays consistent: warm shades (ochre, amber, olive, brick) for most cards, deep blue and black for the night cards (Death, Moon, Star). Backgrounds are simple but detailed — stylized pine forests, mountains with small clouds, starry skies with schematic stars.

What impresses me most is that the cats behave like cats. They don’t pose like humans pretending to be cats — they act in cat situations, and those situations carry the arcana’s meaning. The cat with firewood on the Ten of Wands looks tired in a way only a real cat can look tired. That’s the trick.

Core Themes

The universal through the specific. The deck’s theme is cats. Sounds narrow, but in practice it produces surprising universality: feline scenes make sense to anyone who has ever lived with a cat. Which is most of us. The arcana symbolism stays the same — just routed through a familiar language.

Warmth and humor without childishness. A rare combination. Usually “funny” decks lose their depth and “serious” decks lose their warmth. This one pulls off both: the Fool-with-butterfly card makes you smile and gives you a precise meaning at the same time.

Access without fear. Many beginners struggle with human figures on cards — especially the dark ones (Hanged Man, Five of Swords). That barrier disappears here: cats let you look at the archetype without the immediate emotional weight.

A bow to the classics. The deck doesn’t claim interpretive originality. It’s more like a translator: everything in Rider-Waite-Smith is present — just in feline. That’s precisely what makes it so valuable for learning.

Favorite Cards

The Fool — a calico cat stands on its hind legs at the edge of a cliff, reaching a paw toward a red butterfly. Mountains below, sunrise with radiating rays behind, small clouds around. This is the Fool at its purest: a creature so fully absorbed in chasing a butterfly it doesn’t notice the cliff under its paws. If you’ve had a cat, you’ve seen this. That’s where the depth lives.

The World — a black cat lounges on top of a globe, framed by a green laurel wreath with red ribbons. In the four corners: sword, cup, pentacle, wand — the four suits and four elements. A starry night sky. This is the World rendered through a cat: the undeniable appearance of a creature that has defeated all laws of gravity and ownership and is now confidently lying on the entire planet. A surprisingly perfect metaphor for completion.

The Empress — an orange-and-white mother cat with a golden starlight crown sits beside a small kitten. Behind them, a forest of stylized trees. At the bottom, a red heart with the Venus symbol. This is one of the warmest Empress cards I’ve ever seen: not a pompous goddess, but a mother cat whose power is the soft defense of her young. A reminder that maternal strength isn’t always loud.

Death — a large cat skull dominates the card center, with ears, fangs, and that distinct feline muzzle. The background is a dark blue night sky with gold stars. Minimalism works better here than any complex composition: the skull reads as feline but also universal enough not to repel. Death as a reminder, not a threat.

The Moon — a white cat with yellow-green eyes sits between two stone towers (hello, Rider-Waite). Behind it, a large yellow crescent moon with a human face gazing at the cat. Starry night sky. The cat’s “time for the night rounds” energy — that familiar moment cat owners know when the cat starts its real life after sunset. The Moon through a cat is a perfect pair: both of them see what others can’t.

Ten of Wands — my favorite. A ginger tabby sits with a single small stick in its mouth in front of a massive pile of firewood. A fire burns to the side, and a small cabin with chimney smoke sits in the background of a pine forest. The cat’s expression is exactly, “I am delivering these sticks to my human, one at a time, because my work is important.” The burden of the Ten of Wands rendered as a helper cat is somehow both funny and painfully accurate.

How to Work with This Deck

Perfect for learning. If you’re just starting out, this is one of the best decks to learn with. Pure Rider-Waite-Smith — but without the barriers. You learn the meanings, then move on.

Great for card of the day. Light, warm, legible images. Every morning you pull a small cat story for the day — and it still works as a real compass.

Everyday questions. The deck is ideal for questions like “how does my day go,” “what should I do right now,” “how do I approach this person.” It gives practical answers, not philosophical depths.

Working with cat-loving querents. If you work with clients who love cats (there are many), this deck is a direct path to their heart. They engage immediately.

Not ideal for deep esoteric practice, Kabbalistic work, or astrological correspondences. The deck consciously doesn’t go there.

Who Is This Deck For

Beginners. One of the best first decks. Clear, warm, non-threatening. The companion book is a major plus.

Cat lovers. Obvious, but worth saying: if you’ve had cats, have cats, or just love their photos on the internet — this deck will resonate.

Those uncomfortable with human figures. If people on cards make you uneasy (especially in dark cards), animals as the primary actors completely remove the barrier.

For daily practice. Thick stock, pleasant size, uncluttered compositions — the deck is made to be shuffled every day, not stored in a box.

Who it may not be for: lovers of esoteric depth (there isn’t any), those seeking meditative and atmospheric images (this deck is graphic rather than atmospheric), those who expect strict mystical aesthetics from tarot.

Deck Pairings

Everyday Witch Tarot — another cozy, beginner-friendly deck with plenty of cats and animals. If you like the Cats Rule the Earth vibe, this is its natural extension.

Halloween Tarot — a deck where cats, pumpkins, bats, and other autumn creatures are the cast. Playful aesthetics close to Cats Rule, but with a more fairy-tale mood.

Modern Witch Tarot — if you want to stay in the friendly modern aesthetic but return to human figures, this deck is the gentle bridge. Like Cats, it’s deeply faithful to Rider-Waite-Smith.

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