Alchemy 1977 is a brand well know for its gothic and steampunk imagery and products,that enjoys a vast number of followers and has a big catalogue of images.
The house-style is a mixture of sexy temptresses, sculls and skeletons, mystical creatures like dragons (lots of them - they even replaced the Kings in the courts by one) and all other kind of monster from popular culture all set in a world that is set in a magical medieval period with steam-punk elements (quite an explication isn't it - for something that seems to be very pomular and guarantee to sell well). Fitting into the old school fantasy book genre the decks is guaranteed to have it fans both from fantasy lovers as tarot lovers with a taste for the darker stuff
They matched pre-existing art to the 22 majors and court cards, what in most cases produced sometimes a great card (I love the Fool) but mostly just satisfiable good nor bad, giving a 'pretty' card that happens to correspond to...some can make you wonder why they used it, but never in a shocking way. The minors 1-10 are beautiful, elegant and...non-scenic only x times the suit symbol (wands have become roses, and i can see why a black rose is so much elegant than a stick..)
Every image is set within ornamental frames augmenting the cohesive feeling between the cards and also the dark gothic feel of the set.
All in all a very nice deck, no deep mystical secrets hidden in it, no high art, just 78 dark cards for those into something more dark.
The decks is available from the usual places like Tarot Garden or Alida or other shops near you or on-line that sell tarot.
The house-style is a mixture of sexy temptresses, sculls and skeletons, mystical creatures like dragons (lots of them - they even replaced the Kings in the courts by one) and all other kind of monster from popular culture all set in a world that is set in a magical medieval period with steam-punk elements (quite an explication isn't it - for something that seems to be very pomular and guarantee to sell well). Fitting into the old school fantasy book genre the decks is guaranteed to have it fans both from fantasy lovers as tarot lovers with a taste for the darker stuff
They matched pre-existing art to the 22 majors and court cards, what in most cases produced sometimes a great card (I love the Fool) but mostly just satisfiable good nor bad, giving a 'pretty' card that happens to correspond to...some can make you wonder why they used it, but never in a shocking way. The minors 1-10 are beautiful, elegant and...non-scenic only x times the suit symbol (wands have become roses, and i can see why a black rose is so much elegant than a stick..)
Every image is set within ornamental frames augmenting the cohesive feeling between the cards and also the dark gothic feel of the set.
All in all a very nice deck, no deep mystical secrets hidden in it, no high art, just 78 dark cards for those into something more dark.
The decks is available from the usual places like Tarot Garden or Alida or other shops near you or on-line that sell tarot.
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