The Portland Tarot Major Arcana Deck

I'm back and with a new funding campaign for a deck I would like see to happen.

After selling out the first edition of her deck, the artist is trying to gather the money to do an other print-run of her modern fun and vibrant majors deck.
Using digital collage she mixed views the city of Portland, Oregon in the USA with dynamic looking interpretations of the tarot-personages.

This new edition is an updated version of the first edition with:

• 23 4" x 6" major arcana cards with unique, digitally-collaged artwork (the more-or-less usual 22 plus a new "The Weird" card)
• 3 "Bridge Cards" with reading themes (great for use by pro Tarot readers)
• An instruction booklet with basic Tarot reading instructions and 23 interpretations

 You can find the fund-raiser here

Mon Tarot De Marseille by Tarotland (Emmanuelle Patrigeon)

I LOVE the tarot de Marseille pattern, in all it's facets from the reproduction (cleaned up or facsimile of the state they are now) to the most modern interpretations of it, and although I'm always hunting for new decks (my name is Stefan and I'm a tarot-holic) I must admit finding one that is part of the Marseilles family procures me some extra pleasure, perhaps because perhaps 1/5 decks (or even less) that come out are Marseilles.



Not as much a radical reinterpretation but more of a up to date view of the age old imagery, this deck has potential to open the TdM to new audiences it's not an earth shocking or complicated or even threatening deck but one that has commercial potential.

The thing that may bring new curious persons to the Marseilles is the one thing that makes it different from it's 'ancestors'  fresh vibrant colors, for the minors backgrounds that are not white or beige and above all the cards have something dynamic, opposed to the 'classic' TdM that for many look static that seems to keep many at a distance.

Off course this deck has it's weaknesses also (at least to me, but then who am I? What I may find a negative, others might be raving enthusiastic about...) and the biggest thing that bugs me is the use of a computer program style poser or alike to create the persons in the deck, such programs have grown a lot these last years, I can clearly see that when I order decks created by this precede in chronological order, yet still the lack something that makes the cards 'come' alive or pull me in the same way the original naive yet charmingly imperfect century old decks can.

From what I gather from her site the artist she was both inspired by the tradition with she followed and brought into the 21st century and  added her views upon it,  represented by the journey of the fool (the classic part) and she augmented it with the 12 works of Hercules representing to her the journey of the soul towards growth.

You can get the deck at the artists site here

Born in the USSR by Alexander Daniloff

True artists can never stay still our without creating anything for a long period, and behold less then a year after finishing and publishing his 81-card deck  (both Justice and Strength are twice in the deck both once at 8 and 11) he has managed to paint a new major arcana.

This arcana looks different than his previous creations, yet if one really looks closely at it one can easily identify them as both having the same author, or is it the authors Russian/East-European origins that shine through in both - or both artist and his roots that materialise into the finished works.

As the artist describes it himself as following: "Born in the USSR" is a series of Major Arcana inspired by Soviet propaganda posters of the '20s and '30s. Represents the human enthusiasm for the construction of a better future, a future so far away not to leave anything for the present, that turns into a nightmare.".....and continues with his experience and view upon that: "... is a look at the past of my country* many years later. The past quite sticky, still following us continuing to offer the splendor of the future for to rob us the present"
Whow what a definition, what a statement, and surely something that creates BIG expectations...well in my perception it does fulfil those perfectly!

The artist is not planning to expand the deck beyond the majors, nor is a publication something for the near future, it is only a project for the moment being, but who knows what the future may bring us, it just may be written in the cards...

You can admire this deck at his website here

* Daniloff was born in Donetsk (USSR) in 1963, and did his studies at the Theater School of Niznij Novgorod (Russia) in 1990, and successfully exhibited  both in Russia and abroad. In 2000 Daniloff moved to Rovigo in Italy.

The Hive IV Tarot by various artists

For the 4th year in a row the Hive Gallery & Studios in Los Angeles held their Tarot themed exhibition at the beginning of the year and produced the major arcana decks from the cards in  a limited edition of 100 sets.

As with previous decks/years and as can be expected from a collaborative deck the cards portray a wide range of styles and used techniques, and yes some do work better than others, but then these are artists, not tarot readers/thinkers who are also artists.

Entries for previous editions are to be found here:

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

2 Sola Busca Tarot edtions by Wolfgang Mayer; Giordano Berti - Osvaldo Menegazzi

Yesterday was a special and memorable day for my collection, 2 new decks arrived or to better put it 2 editions of this historical important deck.
Both editions are high quality reproductions of the deck faithful to the original! The difference are ever so slight between both editions of the Sola Busca, there where both are offering the deck in it's original size the Mayer/Berti cards have a very discrete border around the cards rendering them a bit larger than the one reproduced by Osvaldo Menegazzi, the second difference is that the Il Meneghello Sola Busca is a bit darker in hue.

The Sola Busca is an important deck for many reasons, first it's age at the beginning at the official history of the Tarot, and it is the only complete 78 cards deck that has survived into our age. It was also the FIRST deck (and only for many centuries) to portray all minor arcana cards as ilustrated images not solely as a numerical representation of the suit emblems + court cards. The deck is said to have been a great inspiration to Pamela Colman-Smith who has drawn the Waite-Colman Tarot one of the best known, used, sold and used as inspiration for other tarot's deck of the 20th century, the influence can for example be seen in the 3 of Sword.

As a food starting point more information about the Sola Busca visit the Tarotpedia page dedicated to it.

The edition printed  in 1998 by Wolfgang Mayer is the full 78 cards deck, published in a limited hand numbered and signed (on the information card that is on side in German the other in English) edition of 700 decks and is now being offered by (tarot) historian Giordano Berti who obtained some copies and commissioned an Italian artisan to create a book shaped box for the deck.There is also a LWB provided with it by senor Berti
You can find more out about this deck at Berti's Facebook page here or at his website here or you contact him via email here.

Il Meneghello obtained from the Ministry of Heritage and Culture and Pinacoteca di Brera (where it is housed) the exclusive rights to reproduce the deck directly from the original cards, and is offering it in a limited edition of 400 majors only decks.
For more information about this edition see the Il Meneghello Facebook page here, this deck's Facebook page here or contact Christina Dorsini here.

Both decks deserve my 2 thumbs up and made this collector extremely happy and proud by their presence in my collection.

The Gypsy Palace Tarot by by Nora Huszka.

Yesterday I was contacted by miss Huszka about her crowd funding campaign on Indiegogo to fund her deck. The artist is from Hungary, living in Berlin and at the moment travelling through Italy, and yes she is also a tarot reader herself so it seems she is living the gypsy part of her deck's name herself, isn't it.

Curious to see it, a bit sceptical perhaps, one hears lots of themed decks comming out each day that are for the most part just flat uninspired images but here  I must admit I like what I see, it's fresh, innocent looking but also playful and yes bathing in the gypsy atmosphere. 

You can see her indigogo campaign here and if interested help in funding it.

Journey into Egypt Tarot by Julie Cuccia-Watts

After 4 years of working on it Julie Cuccia-Watts' new deck is finally ready for pre-order.

A voyage started with the Blue Moon Tarot published more than a decade ago and continued with the MAAT Tarot ,  seems to have found a new and interesting culmination (dare I say oasis seen the Egyptian theme?). 

But behold this is not 'just another pretty Egyptian themed deck' to use the artists own words (and who better to describe her creation to us): "Four years in the making this new deck explores the idea of RealSky Astrology using the ancient 12 month/3 ( 10 day) week calendar of ancient Egypt. Explore ancient Egypt thru the lens of 4 different cultures that once ruled in Egypt. Experience the astrological signs from an Egyptian point of view." So a deck with a mind of it's own and that dares to be (very) different of those around not a clone but an original creation!


To find out more about it, see some images, read her post about how some of the images came into being, learn about the system behind the deck and/or yes also to pre-order the deck you can visit her website here.

I Nuovi Tarocchi Dell'amor Sacro e Profano - Franco Coletti

Almost a year ago I made a post here about the 'I Tarocchi Dell'amore Sacro E Profano' the deck that was inspired by the passion of the artist for his muse D., so overwhelming this desires for her are that almost at the same time as the first, Il Meneghello published the second instalment of this trilogy. 

The  entitled I Nuovi Tarocchi Dell'amor Sacro e Profano - (aka A New Tarot of Sacred and Profane Love) continues in the same style and vein as the first one, reigning from poetic to a bit...explicit. One can see each card has been executed by a skilled artist who's form of expression lies somewhere between gentle elegance, brute and raw strength, between wild passion and calm rest. Indeed the way I described the used the art is the way I would describe the whole set of 78 cards, the entire Sacred & Profane trilogy and by extension the whole body tarot-creations from Coletti inspired by his feelings for his muse, the always secretive D.

The cards in the major arcana are where the artist poured his own writing into each image while each of the 4 suits is given a literary backbone by:  Goethe for coins; the Italian poet, essayist and philosopher Biacomo Leopardi for Wands; Emily Dickinson for the suit of Cups and John Keats for the Swords.

As the previous set in this trilogy this one is published in an extremely limited edition of only 12 decks, to learn more about it (and why not see if it is still available and if so order one) you could contact Christina through the Il Meneghello Facebook page or look up the page Arnell Ando has created for this deck here. 

Fundraiser: Stolen Child Tarot, the 78 CARD DECK!

I'm back after some time having taken a break from my blog, during a period I could describe using the following quote: "Double, double toil and trouble" picking up where I stopped to once more share my love of tarot and present some of my finds.

Returned and already  with some good news, one year after her first passage by the kickstarter site to fund the majors only version of this deck, tarot artiste Monica Knighton is back and this time its for the whole shabam, a full 78 cards edition of the Stolen Child Tarot is awaiting funds to manifest itself.

You  can find the campaign and all the information needed to form an opinion, and I hope be enthusiastic enough (as I am) to contribute to this wonderful project an the Kickstarter page