The Hive III Tarot

As the French would say: "Le nouveau Hive est arrive" (or something like that). Last year I already  mentioned the Hive I and II decks here. This is now the third edition of this yearly art exhibition and deck using the art from it organised by the Los Angeles based Hive Gallery.

As for the previous 2 decks it showcases a wide array of stiles and techniques all blended together and bound by the Tarot-theme, some relatively  traditional other with a big "what where they thinking"-factor, but within this deck knowing it's background and set-up they make sense.

Besides being a new and completely different deck than it's 2 predecessors there are some identical element like the backs & the borders and the fact that this too is a numbered limited edition of only 100 decks.

You can find more info about the deck and the Hive Gallery at their website here.

Entries for previous editions are to be found here:

• The Hive I & II Tarot's 
• The Hive IV

The iTongo Tarot for Transformation

This one of these decks that stay in the back of my mind waiting for a good moment to be posted here, and this despite all its merits! It's a great deck with an original twist, taking all the original icons of the Tarot and taking them down, out-of-the box and deep into a wild and mysterious world, down into South Africa

This is a well thought out deck is entirely based on African mythology, lore and concepts for the majors and depicting the people of Southern Africa, their living and their environment in the pre-colonial period for the minors. The deck is purely African in archetypes not Afro-American, Afro-Cuban or any other hybrids, what is pretty unique in it's genre.

The information needed for those who are interested in but know very little about the African culture and tradition used in the deck can find everything they need and more in the very clearly written box that make up this set.

The decks website is here and you can get it here or here.

The Way Of The Fool Tarot

This deck by the native Venezuelan artist Beatriz Inglessis is vibrant has something very primal, brutal yet also tender and both at the same time very artistic. Miss Ingelessis has been exposed to many influences in her live, born in Venezuela, currently living and working in Tokyo, Japan. She attained her Bachelor degree in Fine Arts from The Art Institute of Boston in Boston MA (1999), and a MFA degree, with a specialization in Japanese Woodblock Printing, from Tokyo University of the Arts (2010) and all these must surely have had an influence upon her art although to me me I can only see the style of an adult artist sure of herself and her creations.

The deck of smallish cards is the third incarnation of these images there are large sized posters which you can see on her site here, there was also a scroll created that you can see here 

The technique used is that of the woodcut that gives it's very strong look and unity.

The edition of 50 decks that make up this edition isn't sold out, so i'd say get one as long as you can the decks are for sale here  a great opportunity to get a piece of contemporary tarot art that is true to the spirit of tarot and yes also usable, not only pretty top look at.

The Regretsy Tarot Project

The name of the decks sounds whimsy and that's exactly what the deck is! It is a collaborative project between 25 artists all over the world active on the website Regretsy.com (a site that's a humorous view of all strange stuff that can be found on the Etsy site )  and who call themselves 'April's Army'. last year they organised a successful fund-raiser and there are still some of the 1144 decks that make up this edition available at this location.

The cards are as a result of the regretsy origin full of fun and general (and specific) strangeness, and yes some of that is of an adult nature (for example the suits are called Tools, Genitalia, WTF, and Whimsicles and with extra card Towel Mike). The occasional hint to the WCS-deck, keeps it recognisable as a tarot yet viewed through an hilariously mad mind, the majors have been renamed to go with the vibe of the whole, some title work some are just bizarre - but as part of this deck what could you expect.

Darkana Tarot Deck

And once again I'm here with a deck in the fund-raising stage of it's creation/publication life, it seems lately many artists who want to self-publish have discovered this way get their project off the ground.

The deck was seeking the needed money to go through and get published, and meanwhile already succeed in, (after only 4 days) but it is still possible to obtain one though his kickstarter page here.

It is a full 79 cards modern, black and white deck with non conventional imagery, the extra 79th card is called the Badass, a clear illustration of the artist's sense of humor. Tongue in cheek, irreverent, comic or just plain fun, well these impressions are correct the deck creator Dan Donche (aka Tarot Junkie) is the man behind the Inappropriate Tarot Readings application on Facebook.

The Holy Card Tarot

Many people think Christianity and tarot do not mix, well this is a very extreme example they do, you have to know and recognize many many saints. Every card in this deck is the depiction of a saint

Patty Gallagher made her deck entirely out of  holy card images ranging from classical art to anonymously created religious art that so many of us recognize and have a both vintage and religious look and feel.A great deck for those wanting to combine a Christian background with tarot.

The homepage for the deck is here

Stolen Child is Re-launched!

Last year (here) I mentioned that artiste Monica Knighton (known for her Tarot of the Dead) was launching a fund-raiser to get the means to finish and self publish her new deck the Stolen Child Tarot - a Major Arcana Deck, this was unsuccessfully sadly enough.

But rejoice, Monica is back with a new go at it, so perhaps this time it will work out just fine (and it looks out it will be) you can see more about it, and fund it here and on her Facebook.