Abiding in the Sanctuary: The Waite-Trinick Tarot

The Waite-Colman Smith is probably one of the most famous decks in the world, printed in many different era's versions and editions since it first saw the light in 1909, but very few people know Arthur Edward Waite also created an other deck this time with the artists John Trinick and Wilfrid Pippet, all images from that deck are now published in a limited edition book by Marcus Katz and Tali Goodwin and available here.

The 23 cards, the 22 Major Arcana  + Da’ath, portrayed here are in shown in colour and B&W; in different versions (the finished B&W versions as well as many original variant illustrations and sketches of the same in both colour and B&W)

Subtitled "A Christian Mystical Tarot (1917-1923)"  where to be used in Waite's own mystical order the 'Fellowship of the Rosy Cross' in rituals as meditations on the 22 paths of the Tree of Life, correspondences who differer significantly from the 'Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn' ones.



The following details come from the publishers page: "80 colour and b&w plates, extensive commentary and biographies, with a preface by Mary K. Greer.
250 copies only limited edition (186pp, hardback, dustcover).
In this book you will be introduced to these mystical and sublime images, and given ways of using them for your own contemplation in an ancient technique termed "Lectio Divina". You will be shown how they correspond to the Tree of Life and discover Waite's hidden mystical system for spiritual development illustrated by the Tarot.The book contains original sketches and paintings by J. B. Trinick, forgotten for over thirty years in the British Museum, a full set of the b&w plates produced from the images, in addition to extensive research, family background and artistic context for the images." If that doesn't sound mouthwatering to every tarot lover and student.

Les 22 Portes by Nadine et Michel Auzas-Mille

Some tarot pearls are not published as decks but appear as illustrations inside a book,  as are these 22 wonderful cards do. They appeared in the French book with the looooong title and subtitle: 'Les 22 Portes - essai pour une approche spirituelle, au seuil du 3ème millénaire, à partir de la symbolique des arcanes de Tarot' (The Doors 22 - an essay for a spiritual approach, at the threshold of the third millennium, to the symbolism and the mysteries of Tarot) published in 2007 by Editions Cosmogone.

These big one page sized images follow the TdM tradition (in this case the artist took it's inspiration from the Grimaud deck) but interpreted and redrawn into 22 detailed works of art.

CBD Tarot de Marseille by Yoav Ben-Dov

I'm back and this time with a new Marseilles deck coming to us from Israel, a country which produces very very few deck (this is only my second deck I know of and own from there).Mister Yoav Ben-Dov, has been a tarot reader and teacher for 32 years, so he knows his tarot.

The deck he worked on, aided by 2 professionals, is one of the most popular TdM decks around, to know the Conver deck from 1760, but rather than making a historically correct restoration his version is one for our modern time, for a modern public (with al the advantages and weaknesses that goes with that).The CBD is an artistic remake, bringing the Conver up to date to contemporary printing techniques and visual tastes and sensitivities, what is especially noticeable in the face expressions and the color shades that differ from the original.

It is a high quality production self-published but printed in Belgium by Carta Mundy (still a guarantee for great card stock  and high end printing)

The artists site, with images of the deck is here and here you can order the deck from him.

The tarot design coloring book by Caren Caraway

There are many formats in which a tarot can be published, but this is as far as I know this is the only one in colouring book form. Published in 1980 by Stemmer House Publishers, a publisher specialised in children books and Designs from different era's, countries and cultures printed in black and white, as this work is.

Miss Caraway has rendered the arcana's in 78 flowing images with a 'cosmic' end of the 70ies feeling, especially pronounced in the majors, the minors are more adaptations of the familiar WCS-images to her personal style giving them all a soft and non threatening feel, an elegant child of it's time! Each  major and court-card are printed on a full (approximately) A4 pages sized, the Ace's and twos are put together and the remaining 8 cards are distributed on 2 pages.

Some cards have been renamed, so Strength became  Vigor, Justice Equilibrium,  and Judgement  is Transformation.

The Rosetta Tarot - Book of Seshet by Melissa M Meleen

There is a new Thoth-remake out, and knowing how few there are (especially when compared to the amount of  Waite-Colman-Smith and TdM-style ones) this is always a good news! Among those children of the Thoth this one is for sure one with the brightest and most vivid colours around so if you like a Thoth using a vibrant palette this might be one to look out for.


The artist wanted her deck to be a lovechild between the Thoth yet somehow during the elaboration of it the Thoth took over. In the portray of the archetypes and in structure it's a true Thoth with only here and there some stylistic WCS hints and traces, particularly in the minor arcana.

One interesting technique used by the artist is the fact that for each suit and the majors she used the techniques that where closest to the meaning and spirit of that suit, for example for the Cups connected to the element water  she used a mixed media technique of watercolor, water-based ink and acrylic, the acrylic comes back in all cards to create an unifying force throughout the deck.

The tarot is independently yet professionally printed in a limited edition of only 777 deck and comes in a well-constructed box together with an informative LWB that gives more info about the cards and the structure they are build on - in addition the artist also wrote a companion book for those wanting more.

The artist's site is here,  to find more about the deck and if you like it even buy it!

Update: The deck is now available as an app for iPhone and iPad  here (as well forTarot of the Holy Light and others)

Tarot Collectors Forum 2011 Collaborative Deck

Le nouveau Tarot Collectors Forum tarot has arrived! Yes it's that moment of the year again, for it's 4th consecutive year members of the Tarot Collectors Forum have put together their efforts, creativity and love of tarot to create a 78 card deck - and once more the harvest from all that labour of love has been a good one.

As with the 3 previous decks style and materials used where up to the participants what resulted in a wide array of possible variations in result; mix that in with a background of people who have and know literally hundreds of decks and or even created at least one (some among us are even artist with deck that are self published or published by a big company). My personal contributions this year where The Chariot, the Page of Swords and shown below the Page of Pentacles (and I think I may be proud of my creations)

A big project like this one brings its problems with it, many persons working together on the same project but in their own manner, their own speed and personality means there is need for a good organisation with some strong personalities to keep the reigns, but we reached the finish all together and even faster than previous years. Bravo for us all!

It is a very exclusive deck, not meant for sale, there is one deck for each participant + one deck for the forums host Adam McLean and one fro the "Museo dei Tarocchi".

See also:
Tarot Collectors Forum 2010 Collaborative Deck
Tarot Collectors Forum 2009 Collaborative Deck

The Tarot Cards Of Francesco Clemente

End of August I blogged about the New-York artist Francesco Clementes exhibition in the Uffizi museum in Florence, about the 78 tarot paintings he created. 

This month a book was published showcasing all 78 paintings + some background about tarot in general, the artist and the creation of the tarot series. An second part of the book is about an other series he maid portraying him as the 12 apostles.

You can find my original blog entry here

The ISBN of the book is: 9783777445212 available at bookshops, Amazon and Bookdepository among others

 

Glass Tarot No. 2

The artist behind this deck, Krzysztof Glass (1944-2000) was a busy, engaged and creative person: painter , graphic artist , poet , journalist and political analyst where the fields where he was active in. As artist he began exhibiting his paintings, drawings and lithographs from 1970 onwards in Poland, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Austria. His main interests and concerns in his artistic expression where concerned with both the working class and social themes, but he also created 2 tarots.

The second of his 2 tarots came recently into my possession by pure chance and to my great joy of course (all interesting decks always are, and this one is both interesting and extremely difficult to find). This deck was published in 1977 in a limited edition of only 99 decks, and made in a very time and work intensively manner: hand-pulled, with the (very bold) colors added in separate steps a true work of art and great craftsmanship. The only part of the deck that is a bit less are the simplistic pip cards (only the number of suit emblems they represent) but the majors and court cards are stunning and worth every attention they can get, being both very in your face as well as mysterious because of they are shown with dual or split profiles .

Triomphes De Paris by Bertrand Saint-Guillain

This deck is the result of a grand love affair, passion even the artist, Bertrand Saint-Guillain, has for the craftsmanship and art of the 17th & 18th century French cardmakers. Published this year, in a first edition run of only 6 (I have  number 5 and I adore it, it feels like a paper made treasure, an ancient manuscript in card form) if you wouldn't know what date it was published it could have come from any era (well 20th century that is, otherwise there would have been deterioration)

The artist told there could be 50 decks made if the molds can take the printings and if there is enough demand.

Inspired by the Jacques Viéville tarot as a lead, a source without following it slavishly.The black & white trumps are small sized, printed on heavy unlaminated stock, red backs are glued onto them. Worth of the great artisans this decks execution has been entirely traditional, excepted only for the substitution of linoleum for printing, in stead of woodblocks, and also for use of modern papers and a light powered heat source.

You can see them all and even contact through his website
Sadly the original hand-made edition is now OOP
Update: a new edition of the deck is available 

Stolen Child Tarot - a Major Arcana Deck, by Monica Knighton

I'm back with a new deck that seeks the means to be finished and get published through the use of a fund-raising site (this time that site is Kickstarter). And yes I'd love to see it published!

The artist of this deck in the making is Monica Knighton, who we know as the creator of the Tarot Of The Dead, someone who knows about tarot and self-publishing (she published the first edition of her deck herself).

The name and inspiration for this deck came from one of her favourite poems, the Stolen Child, by William Butler Yeats  -- in particular the refrain:
“Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world's more full of weeping than you can understand.”



There are more images on Monica's Facebook page
The KicksSarter page  for it is here

Tarot of the Holy Light by Christine Payne-Towler and Michael Dowers

If there is one deck I'd advise to get it would be this one (in my humble opinion worthy of the title deck of the year, decennium or even bigger...)

It is an, as they artist state (and strongly emphasize), a traditional Continental-style deck, nothing modern, nothing (post) Golden Dawn to be found, not in images nor in the underlying system. Here the images project us in the world of the 16- and 1700's science and magic, the images used in alchemical, gnostic & hermetic texts...all the esoteric knowledge of the time - the art itself is consistent throughout the deck and what i would call in equilibrium, between the positive and negative energies represented by each arcanum. The framework these images where build upon, as by a skilled architect (or would I in this context use mason), by Michael is from that same period and world view, forming an alchemical marriage of flesh and mind. To know more about the correspondences uses Christine advises to get a copy of The Occult Power of Numbers, by W. Wynn Westcott, but i think Agrippa's three books of occult philosophy could also provide a wealth of information.

So indeed an impressive work deep mysterious and powerful, BUT you do not need to get your study books out and spend hours immersing in the esoteric systems, the deck can be used right out of the box.

The cards are printed upon nice quality textured (linnen-like) card-stock, sturdy yet not stiff supple without being bendy, so they will stay looking good for a very long time!

You may notice the art upon the box is completely different from those in the cards, the reason is simple, box and cards where made by 2 different artists -  Michael found it important his brother made the art for the box, and that he did his own thing to it.

The deck can be obtained through here and there is a lot more of information to be found about it there also.

Update: The deck is now available as an app for iPhone and iPad  here (as well for the The Rosetta Tarot and others)

IL Diavolo & l'AcquaSanta Tarocchi Fantastici - Various artists

Some decks, like this one, seem to have a slow-moving effect with me, getting into my collection quite some time after their publication and being blogged about even later. This effect is in no way a negative judgment on it from my part – far from it even, it’s just one of those things that happen without any specific reason.

The IL Diavolo & l'AcquaSanta Tarocchi Fantastici was part of a grand event celebrating the Millennium of the Cattedrale di San Vicinio (housing the tomb of St. Vicinio a Bishop miracle worker) and was held in Archaeological Museum of Sarsina from November 15, 2008 till May 31, 2009, date of completion of the Jubilee Year.

22 contemporary artists, some emerging and some already established, were invited to create a work, of art , interpreting each one of the majors and using techniques as varied a painting, sculpture, mixed media, photography and even and processed X-rays. The exhibition was curated by Antonio Paolucci who is also director of the Vatican Museums, and architect Marisa Zattini, a well know art director and curator of significant exhibitions in that region of Italy.

 

For those who like names (and what they did in this project) here are the participating artist: Adriano Bimbi (Fool), Stefano Mazzotti (Magician),Richard Hess (High Priestess), Andrea Guastavino (Empress), Enrico Lombardi (Emperor), Moreno Bondi (Pope), Luke Piovaccari (Love), Francis Bombard (Chariot), Silvano D'Ambrosio (Justice) Nicholas Samorì (Hermit), Black (aka Alexander Neretti) (Fortune), Brutus Tomato (Strength), Ana Hill (Hanged Man), Mark Kostabi (Death), Pablo Echaurren (Temperance), Ugo Nespolo (Devil), Maximum Pulini (Tower), Aldo Rontini (Star), Daniele Masini (Moon), Alberto Mingotti (Sun), Gesine Arps (Angel), Paola Campidelli (World)

Winnipeg Tarot created by Lorri Millan & Shawna Dempsey and illustrated by Bonnie Marin

There are not many decks that came out of Canada, despite it's size there where, to my knowledge, less than 40 decks published these last 40 years, so every one I can find is received with great interest and curiosity.

The project this deck came out of was a part of the Winnipeg Cultural Capital of Canada 2010 ARTS FOR ALL initiative. So indeed once more artistic and/or cultural events and tarot join forces, a trend that has been asserting itself these last few years, and through their interaction bring forth something new worth discovering.

As the title suggest the theme of the deck is the city of Winnipeg and its region, and with a city that size and diverse there is a lot to showcase! The style used here is a distorted mix between playful, caricature and semi 50 & 60ies-vintage. The characters histories and mythologies depicted are a mix of pure local elements and global, multicultural influences (how many decks do you know depicting among others a Gay Pride and a wholesale event?).

If you’re wondering yes the do have a site (and yes the deck is still available it seems – but for how long more as it was created for an event last year…)  

78 cards

Renamed suits: Blizzards, Floods, Drought and Lightning

Eroteme Fashion Tarot Cards by Oleg Mitrofanov

This deck fits the category 'when art meets tarot', and what for an art: the world of opera with all its stories filled with passion and drama, THE perfect backdrop for a deck.

Each  major arcana and court card has been linked to a personage from an opera, some very famous, others less,  the minors are non-scenic but portray arms and hands, decorated and with accessories and jewelry in various combinations, a fascinating view to look at. Each person/character is portrayed by not so standard yet impressing models draped in striking theatrical dresses,  each card is both a work of art and a whole story in itself.

The deck was published in 2 super limited editions: one big sized (13x20 cm) of only  5 decks, and a  regular (7.5x13 cm) edition of 30 decks, so if you're interested you need to be very quick.... More info, and images of the deck can be found here

Francesco Clemente's New York City tarot

There is an interesting exhibition at the Uffizi in Florence from September 9th to November 6th 2011 by the Italian born New York based artist Francesco Clemente. Born out of an interest in the tarot started only 3 years ago we are confronted here by a modern artist and his view upon the 78 images we all know.

All the figures in the Major Arcana and quite a few of the minors feature the artists New York friends (who are well known artists) as well as his 4 children and his wife who appears as The Star. The artist himself appears twice in the deck once as the fool and as the Ace of Swords. some of the cards do not feature any personality, like for example the Ten of Swords.

You can see some of the cards here
Here below you can see Francesco Clemente as The Fool, Diane von Furstenberg as The Force, Salman Rushdie as King of Swords and the Ace of Cups.

There is an article by Calvin Tompkins in The New Yorker.
 

Bohemian Cats Tarot third edition

Good news for all lovers of the Bohemian Cats Tarot after being OOP for some time Alex Ukolov and Karen Mahony of Baba-store are about to release a third edition of it! Off course they did some adjustments to the cards, to make them look even better than the first editions.

Pre-orders will open at the end of August/beginning of September.
Details will be published on the Bohemian Cats Facebook page, the Baba Studio Facebook page, and also sent out on their newsletter.
 

Disegnare non stanca - Tarocchi ed altre Figure

Some wonderful tarot creations get little or no attention by many tarotlovers because they are not printed in card format but inside a book, this is one of these treasures that merits to be noticed.

The book is perhaps a bit difficult to find/obtain but is sure worthy of making an effort! This work, published in 2001 by Sellerio is an overview of the work of Nicolo d'Alessandro, not only his tarot, all his prints are black and white very detailed images that kind of draw you inside their specific slightly bizarre universe.

The Incidental Tarot

Yesterday I told you about the fund raising for the Alchemical Tarot on the IndieGoGo site, well i did some searching on that site and I found an other deck that attracted my attention and I hope will find the needed budget to be able to get printed.

The artist Holly DeFount has set as goal to her self to create a piece of art every day of 2011 - and among the art created is this deck. The incidental does not refers to the art or symbolism, cause it is good, well executed original and  not always following the classical imagery or symbols, yet it stays a true tarot.

You can find her fund-raisersite here
She is also on facebook, ond Deviantart on Etsy and has her own website a busy bee indeed


For more recent info look here

The Alchemical Tarot: Renewed - Third Edition

The first 2 editions of this great deck went sadly out-of-print, but luckily we won't have to fear prices exploding like they did when  the first edition went OOP. Robert Place is planning to launch a third &; improved edition.


In conjunction with the new printing, Robert is finishing an updated version of the companion book and working with software engineer, Tony Newell, to create an app. version of The Alchemical Tarot.


To raise funds Robert Place has turned to IndieGoGo (a site designed so artist can raise the money they need to make their projects come reality), you can find his fund-raising page here

Kojiki Tarot

How would a Marseille deck look like if the TdM was invented in Japan? Well this deck published in 2010 comes pretty close to answering that, and the resulting majors only receives my 2 thumbs up appreciation.

The artist behind this deck Akiko Miyazaki connected the 22 cards of the tarot to the Kojiki ( "Record of Ancient Matters") an ancient Japanese mythological book from the early 8th century, and is a collection of myths concerning the origin of the four home islands of Japan, and the stories of the Kami* that shaped it, and is one of the sources of the Shinto religion.The result is a coherent deck, a child that has a Japanese father and a mother straight from Marseilles (or vice-versa).



* Kami are in Shinto (the Japanese religion)  the spirits, natural forces, or essences the world is also sometimes translated as "god" or "deity," a translation that is contested under Shinto schollars.