Wonderland Tarot by Rodney Howington

Alice in Wonderland & Through the Looking-Glass by Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) are not only 2 great works of Western literature but it is also a great source of inspiration to create a tarot deck, what isn't really surprising knowing Carroll was a member of Society for Psychical Research (an organization for the study of spiritualism, ESP, clairvoyance and all type of paranormal activity)

This interpretation of these works looks very colourful, and outspoken, it could have been made by some characters, I'm thinking of the Mad Hatter, Cheshire Cat or the Caterpillar here strong,colourful, perhaps a bid insane even....a look that fits the more psychedelic aspects of the books. 

Artist Rodney Howington didn't hold back and went all the way in the chosen look making this a bold statement and powerful visual item popping right at you, in your face and proud of it a deck fit for 21st century lovers of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass. 

You can buy it at the artist Etsy shop here.

The Symbolist Tarot fundraiser 2nd try

The Symbolist Tarot sadly didn't make it's needed financial go last time, but rejoice, the artist is back on Kickstarter to make an other go at it!

So i really really hope this time the funds are raised and the deck gets printed (and yes into my collection it will go) I'm once again a backer, are you too?

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• Update: as of 16 august 2012, the tarot met its funding goals, and Richard expects receiving the final decks in October, shipping them out to the backers will follow quickly, so I expect getting mine mid-November.

Dante Tarot (Tarot of Dante's Divine Comedy) by Vera Sklyarova & Alexander Razboynikovym

I recently obtained a new Russian deck by prolific deck creator Vera Sklyarova, this time in collaboration with the artist A.Razboinikov.Published end of 2011 this is a fairly recent addition to the Russian subdivision of my collection, and as with miss Sklyarova's previous creations published in a very good quality set, with book in Russian (sadly, because I'd love to know moere about how she made her connections between the deck and Dante's work..) .

As with all her decks this one is themed and this time she used the Divina Comedia (an epic Dante Alighieri between 1308 and his death in 1321, the work written in the first person, tells of Dante's journey through the three of realms of the afterlife namely Hell, Purgatory (guided by the Roman poet Virgil), and finally Heaven (guided by Dante's personification of the perfect woman Beatrice).

The structure and imagery follows closely the book, so you need to know it or at least have the book close to you to grasp the deck and what the artist is saying in these 78 cards, the major arcana follows closely the WCS structure, the minors, as with all of miss Sklyarova, follow a more liberal, personal interpretation, guided by her own experience and the used theme.

The Symbolist Tarot Deck by Richard Fox

A quick round of snooping around the net and I found a new deck to my pleasing, well not an actual deck yet, it's still in the fund-raising stage at Kickstarter.com ... so fingers crossed it meets it's goals and materializes after some time into my always needy collector-claws.

The theme of the deck is masterpieces from the Symbolism Art movement a deck that will echo and interest many readers and collectors, I know, I've heard the longing for such a deck for many years on many and various tarot forums around the world.And from what I saw from the artist's Blog and Facebookpage the artist knows the subject matter at heart and has a very warm and passionate relation with it, what results in choices I do love and understand!

You can pledge to the project so it may be at the kickstarter page here and also follow it on twitter, yes it is a well documented  and represented project, one I hope will succeed, success can be an elusive thing and hard to predict or calculate... 

Alexander Daniloff Tarot - Majors

Alexander Daniloff an in Russia born and raised artist who since 2000 lives in Rovigo (Italy) has produced a very nice high art tarot series that where exhibited in 2010, and that wonderful work of art has found it's way to my collection, 2 times even.

On the occasion of an exhibition in Russia the 22 tarocchi where printed in a small edition in card-size format (9,5x15 cm) on thick pearled cardstock, not entire satisfied with the result Daniloff has made them now available in A4 format printed on normal thickness clear pearly paper with creates a stunning effect, I have both versions and even if the small format looks very nice the larger one brings out the details and presents the art in the most flattering way.

The style is reminiscent of medieval and early renaissance paintings, with a curious  detail almost all personages seem to wear masks (what is particularity noticeable in the A4 prints), reminds me of the phrase by Shakespeare: 'Life is like a play - we merely go through the stages of our life acting it out' 

The prints can be ordered directly from the artist through his website, expensive yes, but it's worth every cent and even more!

The artist wants to expand the 22 cards to a 'full' 78 cards tarot, something I look forwards to but that will take a looong time probably

Update: here

• The 78 cards version is ready to be printed (well actually 81  cards. 78 cards with 3 cards added: carte blanche and two variants of the numbering Arcane Force and Justice (VIII and XI).

• Limited-editionS , printed in 450 copies of each, numbered and signed. Cards are printed on paper of 350 grams and are covered with a protective varnish. Card size: 73 х 141 mm. 

Hexen 2.0 Tarot by Suzanne Treister

All that's called tarot is not a tarot (or is it?)
At this very moment the Science Museum in London is holding an interesting exhibition by the artiste Suzanne Treister what is it about, what the theme? Well hold on to your seatbelt cause here comes the description from the artist herself: "HEXEN 2.0 looks into histories of scientific research behind government programmes of mass control, investigating parallel histories of countercultural and grass roots movements. HEXEN 2.0 charts, within a framework of post-WWII U.S. governmental and military imperatives, the coming together of scientific and social sciences through the development of cybernetics, the history of the internet, the rise of Web 2.0 and increased intelligence gathering, and implications for the future of new systems of societal manipulation towards a control society" if you're asking WHAT right now when reading that, don't be ashamed, everyone has that reaction.. I think...

These concepts/idea's/analyses/... are condensed and projected into heavy extremely busy and filled to the maximum images that look like alchemical drawings with influences from 60ies underground poster- & music album art, as seen through the the world of the occult, the supernatural, conspiracies or just plain bizarre views on modern (post WWII) world history, with some exceptions that go a bit furted back into time .

Personally I cant see it as a Tarot deck, or at least what conventionally and traditionally is seen as one, for me it's an art project under the form of a social/trans-social/analysis/visualisation (insert far-out-word-here) something that is titled tarot.It has 78 cards divided into 22 majors 4 suits 4 court cards so yes the basic structure is there but the links and correlations to what they mean are gone and replaced by the artist personal world-view. But then any deck containing Aldous Huxley as The Fool, Cybernetics as The Wheel of Fortune,  Nikola Tasla as the King of  wands and Hackers as 6 of Wands is bound to at least be worthy of some attention and curiosity. 

All the works are also published in the HEXEN 2.0 book and HEXEN2.0 Tarot both by Black Dog Publishing. 

 

I Tarocchi Dell' Amore Sacro E Profano by Franco Coletti

Ah love, no one can live without it, merely survive and it inspires us to create great works of art. This deck is not only inspired by the artist for his beloved muse but has love as a theme.A true work of art and testimonial to Love.

The decks title roughly translates to 'Tarot of love the sacred and  the profane', from the highest to the most corporeal, all aspects are linked to the 78 cards in the tarot and this in a style that combines both aspects, all at the same time dreamy elegant and earthly sensitive. The artist also linked each card and image to parts of songs or literary excepts to evoke the correct mood and kind of love best fitting each arcana.
The king and queen of Pentacles are depicting 2 special friends and inspirations in the Artist's life the queen being Morena Poltronieri from the wonderful Museo dei Tarocchi and the king is Osvaldo Menegazzi from Il Meneghello


This wonderful tarot comes in a very very limited edition of only 12decks, you can check the availability and order directly from Ill Meneghello by email.

There is also a 'follow-up' deck to this one you can find here

The Sacred India Tarot by Rohit Arya & Jane Adams

India is one of those countries that despite being depicted in deck or it's mythology being used in many decks has produced very little tarot decks itself,  this one is only the second one I have that is produced there.

All cards where stripped down to their archetypes, transported from western esoteric thoughts and concepts into India and dressed up in it's still living mythology (with elements drawn from Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism to form a coherent system) 

It is a 82 cards deck consisting of the classic 78 + 2 versions of both death and the world and also 2 'blessing cards' Blessings of Ganesha & Blessings of Blessings of Babaji. The style is directly identifiable as Indian, not the opulent rich golden one but the contemporary swirling vibrant version of it.

  

The majors depict the Indian Gods & Goddesses while the minors are retelling the epic stories from the Ramayana and Mahabharata, the life of the Buddha and the love story between Shiva and Parvati, poured in a narrative form best suiting for each suit. All information you need and even more about the cards and what they stand for, their background and meaning is found in the well-written 350 pages handbook.

Silent Tarot by Esmeralda Rupp-Spangle

One of my big soft-spots when it comes to tarot are decks who have been created by collage, and I recently obtained one from this Etsy shop.The tarot has a limited print run of only 125 decks  so be quick to grab one if you like it too.

I'd describe the style as (neo)Victorian & romantic, a multi-media project combining old images with various techniques to obtain 78 little works of art that would fit everyone with a love for decks that have a well balanced nostalgia vibe.
Despite being well filled up, but in a good way, these cards do not feel heavy or overwhelming, partly thanks to it's larger than standard size, partly to the whole way they are made up. Balancing out the busy fronts of the cards, the backs have a soothing, classy red fleur-de-lys pattern.
Opulent could be a perfectly fitting term to describe them.

Fitting the whole theme and look the suits are named Sticks, Coins, Swords & Hearts adding to the turn of the previous century, gipsy (perhaps even a bit decadent) feeling.

Tarot Droga by Barbara Marzena Mirewicz-Czumaczenko

There are interesting decks to be found on eBay that do not seem to pop up elsewhere (or at least not at locations one can easily find/aces) like this Polish tarot for example.The first print-run of the deck is limited to 100 decks (but not a numbered edition)

 From what I was able to gather (all info thus far is in polish, and translation programs are not that good for that language, so you end up with some chaotic gibberish at the end adding nothing to your knowledge) the artist engraved and painted each 'card' in the period between 2005-2010 upon clay tablets.

The title of the deck is the road, and by lying out the deck in the correct way in 2 rows you can see this road connecting each major arcana, as can be seen on her website. In the minors this road-system is abandoned in stead each suits has his own characteristic colour and backgrounds are formed by digitally mixing engraved clay images and images of fire, water, sky and stone for the cards Ace through 10, the court cards are in feeling and technique similar to the majors. Once the 'cards' where ready they where photographed and treated to give this coherent and natural earthy feeling deck.

Floriography Tarot Deck by Ana Haydeé Linares

At the moment there is a revival it seems, of all things vintage or new with a vintage-feel, a trend that also can be felt in tarotdecks.

This collage deck mixes images from various ethnic and periods in black and white, sepia or 'age-discoloured' replacing the peoples heads with flowers, herbs, plants, and trees to represent their characteristics the whole set against decorative non-scenic backgrounds and surrounded by different coloured borders. The minors are pip cards and the suits are renamed to: Woody Trees (Wands); Sunflowers (Pentacles); Birds of Paradise Flowers (Swords) & Tulips (Cups)

Although the artist has put lots of efforts into the deck and into the research to link the best fitting plants to each card the whole looks elegant and airy, nothing heavy but 78 cards of elegance and nostalgia.

You can get the deck from the artist's Etsy webshop or her website and yes she is also on FaceBook.

Le Tarot Des Archétypes by Bernard Chaumeil

The last few years and even decade the  tarot has left the traditional places where he was to be found and entered a more mainstream phase of its existence, one of these are the Jungian (based) therapies.

The creator of this deck who approaches the person as a whole taking into account the psyche and  body but also the social dimension of the person has created this deck as a way to help us identify problems and linked to them strengths and so proposing a solution to mend those.

All 22 cards in this colourful and semi (or in some cards almost entirely abstract) deck have been renamed and received 2 'titles', representing polarised archetypal dynamics, 22 human resources linked to 22 problems, called archetypes. These 22 archetypes correspond relatively well to the classic tarot archetypes or some of their aspects.

Tarocchi di Sigismondo by Umberto Giovannini

Tarot's come in all kinds and sizes from the minuscule to the HUGE, this one fits in the second category, size- and prize-wise, but is was so worth it.The Italian artist printmaker Umberto Giovannini, who has a special love for the polychrome woodcut technique used this love and his mastery over it to create 22 large (20x14 cm) tarot artworks.

The deck was inspired by, and took his name from Sigismondo Pandolfo Malatesta, an 15th century Italian nobleman and patron of the arts, a special print representing him was added to the 22 tarot prints.(shown here on the left)

The whole 'deck' was showcased during an art exhibition at the "Palazzo Gambalunga" in Rimini (Italy) during April 2004 and printed in an edition of 99 decks (XV in Roman Numbers for the artist, 9 with letters for libraries and contributors and 75 copies of the normal edition), beautifully displayed in precious dark green passe-partouts bordered with gold. and bound into a book encased in a green box, truly an exceptional production and work of art and craftsmanship.

The Incidental Tarot by Holly DeFount update

Last year in August I told you you about the fund-raiser for this deck, well recently I received the printed deck in my mail, and I like it very much!

Miss DeFount did a great job with the money she harvested on IndieGoGo, the printing quality, card-stock and boxes are of a high quality and do her art really pride (and bring joy to me).

While the settings (medieval and early renaissance) & the images images themselves she drew look like classical tarot images, a lot has been changed between this deck and a classical deck.Individual major arcana cards, suits and court cards have been renamed and even substituted by different images but who's  signification are similar.The images themselves look peaceful, nothing dark or dangerous, but rather 78 holiday postcards from the tarot-side-of-the-world.

The renamed majors are: The Red King (Magician), Cathedral:(Hierophant), Gryphon (Strength), Blue Buddha (Hermit), Triskelion (Wheel of Fortune), Eclipse (Hanged Man), Polarity (Temperence), Chimaera (Devil),  Phoenix (Tower), The Grail (Star) & Awakening (Judgement) not really a substitution but a translation is La Lune for the moon.and on top of that you get 2 extra cards: Labyrinth & Ariadne whom she describes as Tarot Talismans in stead of wild-cards or significators.

In the minors things get a bit more complicated with 4 renamed suits en in each suit the page and knight received a different name,so that gives us the following courts:
Court cards are:
- For Oak (for Earth (Pentacles)):The Steward, The Builder, The Queen & The King
- For Quills (Air (Swords)): The Oracle, The Alchemist, The Queen & The King
- For: Roses (Water (Cups)): The Muse, The bard, The Queen & The King
- For the Arrows (Fire (Wands)): The Messenger, the Archer, The Queen & The King

The artist has an Etsy shop, her own website and one especially for the deck here and even a FaceBook page, sadly for the moment on none of these there seem to decks available (for the moment?)

Golden Dawn Temple Tarot Deck Meditation Set by Harry Wendrich & Nick Farell

This is a deck form the 23 majors (2 versions of the Temperance card) that has been long in the making and long on my want-list full 79 card deck and of whom you can see some images here at Nick Farell's website.

The deck are not just 23 pretty (and large at A5 size prints) images to look at but are designed for meditation and/or as ritual talismans.The whole underlying system has been researched by Harry Wendrich and Nick Farell and is explained in the accompanying book, where you can also find a consecration ritual and various techniques.
The art is by Harry Wendrich, following the Golden Dawns manuscripts and teachings and using the colours of the paths. Incorporating real life persons from the authors life's like Harry's wife who was model for the Empress and Nick's partner who is the High priestess give this work besides an esoteric also a human and personal side I think. 

You can get the deck that was printed in an edition of 100 sets, here or here. 

Tarot Saka

Indonesian decks are few in number and extremely hard to obtain outside Indonesia, so I was extremely lucky to obtain this one directly from the artist (here is is blog where you can see more images from this deck and also contact him if you would like to obtain the tarot)

It is a nice 78-card WCS remake in warm colours and with Indonesian influences that takes the Waite-Colman's vision on a voyage to this exotic and far away archipelago.

Playing with Pamela & Eward's tarot Project by Gillabel, Guido

Some tarot collectors are also tarot creators, and Guido Gillabel who's collection is that important he has build a a Tarot Museum under the name of TarotHaven out of it, where he also gives tarot-courses, readings and relaxation sessions.Besides all that he also designed & self-published quite a few interesting decks himself. 

This all-round warm and wonderful man has put out his latest majors only deck beginning of this year, a long lasting project, he started it in 1999 but only now has finished and released it in a limited edition of only 22 decks.

The white on (mat) black deck showcases the so very well know images from the WCS-deck, rearranged and manipulated to form a new point of view of it accompanied by a phrase that represents its energy.

 

A Photo Based Tarot Journey on the Evolution of Becoming

It seems that one interesting fundraiser ends and there is always a new one to jump into it's wagon, it looks like that self-publishing artist really discovered this way of getting their project of the ground this last year.

The latest one in that row is this one with the rather long title mentioned above (no i'm not going to repeat it) it is photo based but in such a way treated that they become like images right from a daytime reverie or a sweet misty dream you cant really recall but that felt sooo good and comfortable. All information and lot's of promising looking images can be found at the kickstarter page for it here and if you want to know more about the artist you van look here at her personal website full of nice images to drool over.


And off course I hope enough people get interested and fund it so it can become a real physical deck.

22 "Massonici" in Una Libera Interpretazione

One of Italy most senior, respected AND prolific tarot designers and publishers (through his very well known brand Il Meneghello has put out some new decks these last few years each time in 3 "formats" 2 deluxe sizes in wooden hand-crafted, decorated and individually different boxes in a very limited edition and a third more moderately priced set in normal cardboard boxes in editions of 250.

This is one of his newest publications from 2011, a majors only deck showcasing key-masonic symbology linked to the tarot archetypes. Differently to many masonic themed decks here the images are not presented in a stern, hermetic, veiled, mysterious or even threatening way but rather light even dare I light-hearted and sunny.

You can find more information about it and how to contact him here, his website created, updated and managed by the wonderful Arnell Ando or you can email Il Meneghello through here.

Tarot de Marseille Millenium Edition

I'm back with a new TdM (I do tend to post a lot of those don't I?)

This time it's not a historical reprint or a modern interpretation but rather a 'reconstruction'. Wilfried Houdouin worked more than 10 years upon this deck, and took as base for it the TdM type II and  the sacred geometry of the Metatron's cube this in an effort to create what in his opinion would be a the  true TdM as imagined by the original master cardmakes.
The cards first appeared in his book "Le code sacré du Tarot" (in French) and where later the same year published as a deck.

You can find more information (in French of English - to change languages go to the bottom of the page) on his website.