Deck Review: Housewives Tarot

Jude Buffum and Paul Kepple, Housewives Tarot: A Domestic Divination Kit with Deck and Instruction Book.  Philadelphia, PA: Quirk Books, 2004. ISBN: 9781931686990. (link to publisher)

Genre: Tarot and cartomancy

Subgenre: vintage, Americana

Format: 78-card deck with small instruction book in box

Source: I own this one  

The High Priestess-IV

I first used this deck in July 2025. The deck kit comes in a box in the style of a recipe box with a small instruction book and the 78-card deck. Inside the box, as I understand it, it should have dividers as you do in recipe boxes. I got my deck secondhand, and the dividers were missing. Still, I got the complete deck and book, so I am good to go. I also got it at a good price in the days before used bookstores got wise to cartomancy's popularity and starting jacking up prices for collectors. But I digress. 

The small book is arranged as follows: 

•  The Legend of the Mystical Housewives Tarot. A cute little story where Marlene Weatherbee reveals how Tarot is the secret of her success at home and even in a side business. We also get a note on domestic divination. 
• Conducting a reading. This has some instruction on how to read the cards. It offers 4 spreads you can try out. 
• The Major Arcana.  We get a one-page introduction and then the card entries. Each entry has a small image from the cards, some keywords, and a paragraph of interpretation. For some reason, the deck switches the traditional card order on the Empress, the Emperor, and High Priestess from the traditional card order to Empress-II, Emperor- III, and High Priestess-IV. There is no real reason for it to be honest. I suppose it's a quirk of the deck and its author. The rest of the cards do follow the Rider Waite Smith (RWS) order. The interpretations feature a bit of domestic humor. 
• The Minor Arcana. Introduction and entries are pretty much the same as the Major Arcana.

As mentioned, the interpretations have a bit of domestic humor with some vintage elements. Don't be fooled. The meanings can carry serious messages too. The esoteric elements are relatively minimal, and then text as a whole is easy to read. There is a light amusing tone throughout the text. By the way, a couple of the spreads included have 7 to 13 cards, so you get some large spreads to try out. 

King of Pentacles 

The cards feature some nice 1950s or so vintage style. It is bright, colorful, and playful at times. The artist gets creative. For example, The High Priestess-IV is a bottle of syrup (Mrs. Butterworth style). The deck features cheeky humor throughout. Still it reads very well, and it can deliver serious messages. It can be very straightforward. For me, this deck is fun, and it is a reliable reader. If you want a deck that is "not scary" for some folks, this can be a good choice. If you use the RWS system, this deck stays close to it. Still the art gives enough for intuitive readers too. 

On a side note, if you are one of those folks who need or want diversity and/or representation in your decks, look for another deck. This deck is very much the idealized 1950s or so Americana where everyone is white, the man works, the wife is a housewife, etc. It plays with the idea through humor, but there is no "color" here. 

The cards measure about 4 1/4 inches by 2 3/4 inches. The cards have a soft matte finish, and they shuffle with relative ease. The card borders are color coded: 

• Black = Major Arcana.
• Blue = Cups.
• Red = Swords.
• Yellow = Wands.
• Green = Pentacles. 

It is a small detail, but I do appreciate the colored borders. The card back has a simple picnic cloth style, and it is reversible. 

Overall, I really like this deck. It reads well, and it has a cheeky and playful sense of humor. I do recommend it, especially for folks who enjoy retro and vintage art. 

4 out of 5 stars.

 

Decks with similar appeal factors: 

•  The Zombie Tarot, also by Quirk Books. 
• Todd Alcott's Tarot decks.  

 

This kit qualifies for the following 2025 Reading Challenge: