Tarocchio - I Tarocchi Di Pinocchio by Massimiliano Frezzato

There are a few decks inspired by the story of Pinocchio the wooden puppet that came to live and wanted to be a "real boy" made famous internationally thanks to the Disney adaptation. This tarot adaptation is a portfolio (sized 377 x 285mm) by the artist Massimiliano Frezzato a well-known Italian comic book author.

This Pinocchio is fresh and with strong colours, mister Frezzato knows his art, and how to tell a story within a given frame - here that of the tarot and this without changing its structure. The scenes linked to each of e 22 majors are well chosen like for example Geppetto inside the whale as the hermit and as the World Pinocchio after his transformation into a real boy.

I Tarocchi Surrealisti - Emilio Ortu Lieto

This month saw the addition to my collection of Emilio Ortu Lieto's latest tarot, limited to only 30 decks it's not a inexpensive one but to me its worth every cent i paid.

Mr Lieto's has been productive these last five years with 4 decks, published in a limited editions these are  the:Tarocchi Gay Orsi , I Tarocchi Metafisici and the I Tarocchi Sardi.
The artist being a set and costume designer he knows how to create an atmosphere and hold it working and alive over the 'period' of 22 cards, this time the world he created was a surrealist one reworking the images we know all to well into something surprising and fresh.

With some luck you can find one on eBay or here

Revised Edition of The William Blake Tarot by Ed Buryn

This will be a first on my blog - I'm telling about a deck that's not yet out (but you can preorder it at now before October the 1ste a nice special discount). I am always happy to hear about great decks getting a second (or third) youth and the William Blake sure deserves to reach as many persons as it can, and 15 years after its last run a whole new generation of Tarot lovers of any kind will be able to get one!

For the creator of the William Blake tarot this deck has been a long standing passion, first he tried pushing Mary K Greer (to whom he was married at that time) to create one, but then after a (not that gentle push) did it himself. The first was as a majors-only edition in black, white and dusky browns printed upon thick cardboard-like stock. These majors only decks where sold at BATS where someone from HarperCollins saw them, was impressed and thus a new incarnation followed a full deck with a 79th card Eternity.

This new revised edition has had hundreds of changes - such as cleaning up images, reducing the size of the white borders, modifying the borders of the Science and Poetry suits, changing some of the images to make them less cluttered (as in the Ace of Science and 10 of Poetry), brightening some of the images and many other improvements to them.

The price of this new deck will be $32 plus $5 shipping, for a total cost of $37 each. For California orders, add $2.85 sales tax, for a total cost of $39.85 each. Orders to Canada and Mexico are $32 plus $7 shipping, for a total cost of $39 each. Orders to other overseas countries are $32 plus $10 shipping, for a total cost of $42 each.

ADVANCE ORDERS: Orders received before October 1st 2010 will be $26 plus $5 shipping, for a total cost of $31 each. For California advance orders, add $2.35 sales tax, for a total cost of $33.35 each. Advance orders to Canada and Mexico are $26 plus $7 shipping, for a total cost of $33 each. Advance orders to other overseas countries are $26 plus $10 shipping, for a total cost of $36 each.

The Major Arcana by Jak Flash

Supported by BCU's Students' Union and a Grant from Birmingham City Council artistic photographer Jak Flash recently has put on a photographic exhibition and consequently published his tarot inspired work as a book simply called "The Major Arcana".

The result of this project is a very personal and stylish creation, with many many deviations from the classical way the archetypes are portrayed and yet it all fits in.

On his website the artist says about this project: "I developed my own themes based around things like geometric shapes so that I could encode my images with meaning. The images link to each other and can be read to some extent almost as a progressive story, or commentary. Various signifiers are used throughout the images such as cubes, triangles and spheres to help communicate my ideas...." well in my humble opinion the artist has succeded in creating something worthy to be admired and shared - so I'll do just that with you.

Below you can find the images of the Lovers, The Wheel of Fortune and the Moon.
all images van be seen here

I Tarocchi Dell'Archetipo Blu by Claudio Parentela

At the complete opposite, and strangely enough perfectly balancing out the previous deck is this creation by Claudio Parentela, an illustrator,mail artist freelance journalist & cartoonist, very active in the international underground scene. He collaborates with numerous zines, magazines and publishers in Italy and around the world.

Mister Parentela is no stranger to the tarot, previously he collaborated to the Tarocchi eVoluti, "Tarot Christmas Tree Postcard Mail Art Project "and created a black and white deck that was later released in a very boldly colored version as the I Tarocchi Dell’Iride. This very latest of his Tarot endeavorments is true to his style, busy & chaotic yet also playful and original, the result is a art deck fit for the collector who is looking out for something different that leaves a strong impression - good or bad like it or hate it it will not leave you indifferent.
It's published in a limited edition of 100 signed and numbered decks available from the Museo dei Tarocchi (or for those from the USA through the wonderful Arnell Ando)

Daimon Tarot by Jari Casagrande

There are many sorts of collage decks some busy some elegant but they are for the most part figurative this one is the complete opposite of that minimalistic and abstract. The artist crafted these cards with craft papers and a handful of vintage images to form strong yet restfully images that capture the essence of each archetype.
These meditative tableau's invite those looking at it to take a journey into the collective unconscious, there you will meet Daimon.

The deck is published in a limited edition of only 100 decks by the Museo dei Tarocchi (or for those from the USA through the wonderful Arnell Ando) and comes in a big sturdy hinged box that closes thanks to a magnet fastens the overhanging lid nicely to the bottom portion.

Black Tarot by Masahiro Obara

I recently acquired this majors only deck after some considerable efforts by myself and my usual contact for Asian tarots. This stunning black & white deck was created by the (for me) unknown Japanese artist Masahiro Obara . The art is stunning and powerful and has a massive appearance without being crude or heavy the technique used is reminiscent of wood of lino prints but I'm uncertain that that was the technique used here.

The cards are unnumbered and untitled but are easily recognizable yet have definitely a look of their own. A true find and new pearl to my collection