Review: Modern Love Tarot — Every Facet

First impressions

I opened the Modern Love Tarot and immediately understood: this isn’t a general-purpose deck with a “love slant.” This is a deck built exclusively for questions about love — and it goes deeper into that theme than anything I’ve seen.

The Fool shows a dark-skinned woman with glasses sitting among candles, crystals, hearts, and chalices, with Botticelli’s Birth of Venus on the wall behind her. This isn’t just the start of a journey — it’s a self-love ritual. The tone is set: love in this deck begins with you.

About the deck

Creator: Ethony, one of the most recognized modern tarot practitioners. Artist: Lucy Morningstar. The deck is independently published and comes with a 340-page guidebook — that’s not a typo. 340 pages.

The unique feature: each card has 6 different meanings depending on your relationship status — single, dating, committed, in conflict, separating, and healing. This makes the deck incredibly precise for love readings.

78 cards, 350gsm with matte UV coating. Solid, pleasant cardstock. The imagery depicts modern situations: dates, arguments, reconciliations, solitude, weddings. Racial, gender, and body diversity — everyone is represented.

Visual style

Lucy Morningstar paints in what I’d call “bohemian realism” — bright, saturated colors, real people in recognizable situations. The palette is warm and varied: greens, golds, reds, blues. Each card tells a small love story.

Representation is a strong suit. Same-sex couples (the Lovers shows two women kissing under an apple tree), people of various races and sizes, pregnant women, modern apartments and parks — all recognizable and relatable.

Core themes

Modern Love is an encyclopedia of contemporary relationships in tarot form:

• Every status — from single to married, dating to separating, conflict to healing
• Self-love as foundation — the deck constantly returns to: how do you treat yourself?
• Diversity — all body types, races, relationship types and family structures
• Practicality — 6 meanings per card make spreads specific and actionable

Favorite cards

Death (XIII)

A woman in a white dress whose body dissolves from the waist down into a stream of green butterflies. A skull on the altar table, white roses, candles, a small scythe. Dark background. Transformation as release: the old self breaks apart into hundreds of winged creatures and flies away. One of the most beautiful Death cards — tender yet irreversible.

The Lovers (VI)

Two women kiss under an apple tree heavy with fruit. One in a yellow-green dress, the other in pink-red. Bright colors, lush greenery. Queer love shown not as “special” but as normal. Just two people who found each other.

The Devil (XV)

A woman in a full black leather outfit with a riding crop, chains on the wall, a red tufted velvet chair, a potted plant. A modern apartment with BDSM aesthetics. The Devil as control and power dynamics — not a mystical demon, but real patterns that bind people together. Bold and honest.

The Star (XVII)

A couple lies on grass gazing at a starry sky filled with constellations. Forest silhouette on the horizon, deep blue tones. The quietest and most tender card. Hope here isn’t abstract — it’s a specific moment: two people, night, stars, silence.

The Empress (III)

A green-skinned pregnant goddess sitting among greenery and flowers. A wooden heart at her knees, white flowers in her hair. Mother Earth literally: fertility, growth, nurturing. Forest and earth colors.

How to work with this deck

• Status-based reading — identify your status (single, dating, committed, in conflict) and read the corresponding meaning in the guidebook. The precision is remarkable
• Daily love card — draw each morning and ask: “What do I need to know about love today?”
• Mirror spread — two cards: how I relate to myself, how I relate to others. The deck excels at reflective spreads
• Healing spread — three cards: what hurts, what heals, what will grow. The deck speaks about breakups with warmth

Who is this deck for

If you frequently do relationship spreads — this is an irreplaceable tool. 6 meanings per card by relationship status exists nowhere else.

For those who value representation — same-sex couples, body and racial diversity, modern situations. The deck says: love looks different for everyone, and every form is valid.

An honest downside: this is a niche deck. For career, health, or spiritual growth questions — look elsewhere. It’s built for one topic and goes deep, but loses focus beyond relationships.

Second note: the Devil in BDSM aesthetics may not suit conservative contexts.

Deck pairings

• Light Seer’s Tarot — a universal deck for questions outside relationships. Modern Love for love, Light Seer’s for everything else
• Modern Witch Tarot — another inclusive modern deck, but universal in theme
• Crystal Unicorn Tarot — if Modern Love feels too explicit, Crystal Unicorn is a gentle alternative for emotional questions

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